1690 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



reason are designated anthropomorphous apes, is 

 very much smaller than that of man. 



The senses, taken individually, are not more devel- 

 oped in man than they are in certain animals; but in 

 man they are characterized by their harmony, their 

 perfect equilibrium, and their admirable appropria- 

 tion to a common end. Man, it will at once be ad- 

 mitted, is not so keen of sight as the eagle, nor so 

 subtle of hearing as the hare, nor does he possess the 

 wonderful scent of the dog. His skin is far from 

 being as fine and impressionable as that which covers 

 the wing of a bat. But, while among animals, one 

 sense always predominates to the disadvantage of the 

 rest, and the individual is thus forced to adopt a 

 mode of existence which works hand in hand with 

 the development of this sense, with man, all the senses 

 possess almost equal delicacy, and the harmony of 

 their association makes up for what may be wanting 

 in individual power. 



Man is certainly better off, as regards the sense of 

 sight, than a large majority of animals. Instead of 

 being placed upon different sides of his head, look- 

 ing in opposite directions, and receiving two images 

 which can not possibly be alike, his eyes are directed 

 forward, and regard similar objects, by which means 

 the impression is doubled. 



The sense of touch in man reaches a degree of per- 

 fection which it does not attain in animals. How 

 marvelous is the sense of touch when exercised by 

 applying the extremities of the fingers, the part of 

 the body the best suited to this function, and how 

 much more wonderful is the organ called the hand, 



