37.] [ 369 ] 



CHAP. XXXVII. 



TOUCH, AND ITS ORGANS. 



T'/je moft exienfive of the Senfes,- Organs of Touch.-*- In "what Mart" 

 ner it enables us to judge of the Qualities of Bodies, Towng Man 

 couched by Chefclden.- Remarks on his Cafe. 



IN order to protect the body from injury, almorl 

 every part of it is fo formed as to give warning to 

 the mind when any thing injurious affails it. The 

 whole body may therefore, in the moft extenfive fenfe 

 of the word, be deemed an organ of touch. The in- 

 ternal parts of the body, however, though they are 

 capable of feeling, yet convey no other idea but that of 

 pain, and give us no information with refpect to the 

 nature of what is applied to them. The furface 

 of the body is endued with a much more extenfive 

 power, and informs us of feveral qualities of matter ; 

 but the lips, the tongue, and, above all, the fingers, 

 afford us the moft accurate information of thofe qua- 

 lities of bodies which are the objects of this fenfe. 



When the epidermis is removed from the true fkin, 

 we obferve fmall obtufe papillae, which feem to be 

 the parts which more particularly receive the impref- 

 fions of external objects. Thefe papillse are fome- 

 what more remarkable in the (kin at the ends of the 

 fingers, and here we may perceive, that they have 

 nerves, though from the extreme minutenefs of them 

 they are hardly obfervable. We judge of heat and 

 cold from the object being hotter or colder than our 

 fingers * ; of the weight of a' body, from its degree 



* The tongue is a more nice teft of the warmth of a body than 

 the fingers, for we can feel a warmth at the larger end of an egg 

 with the tongue, which is not perceptible by the fingers. 



VOL. III. B b of 



