Human Physiology. 183 



ness, and carefully wax over a window to the hive if it is left 

 for any time uncovered. 



Through the touch also we receive pleasures that seem to go 

 much deeper than the forms and surfaces of objects. Our grasp- 

 ings of hands, strokings, caresses, kisses, are all exercises of the 

 sense of touch, or at least complicated with it. We show our 

 affection, and we enjoy its manifestation, by contact with those 

 who are pleasant to us; and the sense of touch rises to its 

 highest power of sensation in the voluptuousness of amative 

 embraces. But, in this case, there is something deeper than 

 any ordinary exercise of the sense of touch. The entire nervous 

 systems of animal and organic life participate when the lives of 

 two individuals flow together in the most important function of 

 physical life the continuation of the species. 



Touch is not only diffused over the whole surface of the 

 body, but -a sort of touch, or feeling of pleasure and pain, may 

 be felt in the deep-seated regions of the viscera, for we feel not 

 only in our mouths, but vaguely in our throats, stomachs, and 

 intestines. And there seems to be no reason why we should 

 not refer to this sense the comfortable and pleasant feeling we 

 have in the use of our muscles when we exercise with vigour, 

 and the languor of fatigue, or the pain of inward maladies. An 

 inner ache of rheumatism, or gout, affects the nerves much like 

 an external pinch or smart. If they do not belong to touch, 

 we cannot exclude them from the sense of feeling. 



Taste is a sense more special and circumscribed. It is con- 

 fined to the mouth, throat, and nasal cavities, but centres 

 specially on the tongue, and on the end and outer margin of 

 that curious organ. A nauseous pill, placed on the centre of 

 the tongue, and well back, may be washed down without being 

 tasted. Still, I can often perceive a very distinct flavour in, 

 and perhaps beyond the tonsils, or glandular bodies which help 

 to form the hinder walls of the mouth. 



The nose assists taste, or taste and smell are so blended 



