i64 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



among us, without teeth, or with very bad teeth : And it is well 

 known that many of our children die in getting a part fo neceflary. 

 This cannot pofTibly happen to any animal in the natural ftate ; nor 

 does it happen even to fuch animals as we have tamed. Among wild 

 men, or thofe in the firft ages of fociety, I think it is impoflible that 

 there can be any thing fo unnatural : And we know very certainly, 

 that the teeth of favages are remarkably fine, and laft to extreme 

 old age. The wild girl, I faw in France * , lamented nothing in her 

 tame ftate more than the lofs of a very fine fct of teeth, w^hich fhe 

 had when fhe was firft houfed. Then, as to the Senfes, what de- 

 feds are daily to be feen in them ? They are but five ; and there 

 are forae perfons who want altogether two of them, Tafte and Smell ; 

 And they, who have not that defed naturally, acquire it by the im- 

 moderate ufe of tobacco or fpirits ; for a great fnufFer, or a great 

 brandy drinker, can fcarcely be fa id to have either fmell or tafte. 

 Then, that moft valuable Senfe of Seeing ; How imperfed is it in 

 many ? In my younger days, old people only ufed fpedacles ; 

 but now we fee young men ufing them, and even walking the 

 ftreets with that ornament on their nofes. And, indeed, we are 

 fo much obliged to the modern invention of glafl'es, which fupply this 

 defcd of Nature, that, without it, many people would be altogether 

 unfit for the bufmefs of life. Among the antients, we have no com- 

 plaints of this kind, except in old age : And, among Savages, this fenfe 

 is more perfed than we can well conceive. — There is another moft 

 valuable Senfe, and moft ufeful for all the purpofes of life, in which 

 too we are very defedive ; I mean Hearing. This defed likewife we 

 endeavour to fupply by art, but in a very clumfy and imperfed way. 

 Now, where there are fuch defeds in thefe necefiTary parts of every 

 animal, is it poflible to believe that we are not impaired in every 



other bodily quality ? 



There 



* Origin and Progrefs of Language, Vol. i. p. 193.— 24^. Second Edition. 



