390 HISTORY or 



seeing. The light alone seems to make the great- 

 est impression upon them. The eyes of infants 

 are sometimes found turned to the place where it 

 is strongest ; and the pupil is seen to dilate and 

 diminish, as in grown persons, in proportion to 

 the quantity it receives. But still, the infant is 

 incapable of distinguishing objects; the sense of 

 seeing, like the rest of the senses, requires a habit 

 before it becomes any way serviceable. All the 

 senses must be compared with each other, and 

 must be made to correct the defects of one an- 

 other, before they can give just information. It 

 is probable, therefore, that if the infant could ex- 

 press its own sensations, it would give a very 

 extraordinary description of the illusions which it 

 suffers from them. The sight might, perhaps, be 

 represented as inverting objects, or multiplying 

 them; the hearing, instead of conveying one 

 uniform tone, might be said to bring up an in- 

 terrupted succession of noises ; and the touch 

 apparently would divide one body into as many 

 as there are fingers that grasped it. But all these 

 errors are lost in one confused idea of exist- 

 ence ; and it is happy for the infant that it then 

 can make but very little use of its senses, when 

 they could serve only to bring it false informa- 

 tion. 



If there be any distinct sensations, those of pain 

 seem to be much more frequent and stronger 

 than those of pleasure. The infant's cries are 

 sufficient indications of the uneasiness it must, at 

 every interval, endure ; while, in the beginning, 

 it has got no external marks to testify its satisfac- 



