322 



THE AXIXAL KINGDOM. 



but to some extent in the palate or roof of the mouth ; it 

 appears to be a modified sense of smell, combined with 

 common sensation or touch, and is much diminished by loss 

 of smell. 



Touch, next to sight, is the most important of the senses. 

 The whole skin possesses this sense, but in some parts far 

 more than others, the finger-ends being the most perfectly 



FIG. S7. XIGER'S HEAD AND ELEPHANT'S TRUNK. 



endowed with it ; and in the lower animals the parts which 

 are used as prehensile organs, are in them the most acutely 

 sensitive to touch, as the end of the proboscis in the Elephant, 

 and the lips of most other quadrupeds. In the Feline tribe, 

 the smellers or hairs from the side of the face, appear to be 

 true organs of touch, and enable them to feel their way in the 

 dark. By the sense of touch we are informed of the amount 

 of resistance of matter (and consequently its weight), of hard- 

 ness, smoothness, roughness, and other qualities of surface, 

 and by the amount of extension of the hand to reach them of 

 their distance from us, and also of the form and size of things. 

 The human hand is the most perfect organ of prehension 

 possessed by any animal, for although Monkeys have hands, 

 yet these are so imperfect as to serve chiefly for clinging to, 

 and climbing amongst the branches, they cannot take any 

 small substance between the thumb and finger, while the 

 human hand, besides enabling its possessor to grasp firmly 



