OF FISHES IN GENERAL. 



243 



and serving not only to defend, but to assist the 

 fish's easy progress through the water. Beneath 

 this, in many kinds, is found a strong covering 

 of scales, that, like a coat of mail, defend it 

 still more powerfully;' and under that, before 

 we come to the muscular parts of the body, an 

 oily substance, which supplies the requisite 

 warmth and vigour. 



The fish thus protected and fitted for motion 

 in its natural element, seems as well furnished 

 with the means of happiness as quadrupeds or 

 birds; but if we come to examine its faculties 

 more nearly, we shall find it very much their 

 inferior. The sense of touching, which beasts 

 and birds have in a small degree, the fish, 

 covered up in its own coat of mail, can have 

 but little acquaintance with. 



The sense of smelling, which in beasts is 

 so exquisite, and among birds is not wholly 

 unknown, seems given to fishes in a very mo- 

 derate proportion. 1 It is true, that all fishes 

 have one or more nostrils ; and even those 

 that have riot the holes perceptible without, 

 yet have the proper formation of the bones for 

 smelling without. But as air is the only me- 

 dium we know for the distribution of odours, 

 it cannot be supposed that these animals, re- 

 siding in water, can be possessed of any power 

 of being affected by them. If they have any 

 perception of smells, it must be in the same 

 manner as we distinguish by our taste; arid, 

 it is probable, the olfactory membrane in fish 

 serves them instead of a distinguishing pa- 

 late ; and by this they judge of substances, 

 that, first tincturing the water with their va- 

 pours, are thus sent to the nostrils of the fish, 

 and no doubt produce some kind of sensation. 

 This most probably must be the use of that 

 organ in those animals, as otherwise there 

 would be the instruments of a sense provided 

 for them, without any power in them of en- 

 joyment. 



As to tasting, they seem to make very little 

 distinction ; the palate of most fish is hard and 

 bony, and consequently incapable of the 

 powers of relishing different substances. This 

 sense among quadrupeds, who possess it in 

 some degree, arises from the soft pliancy of 

 the organ, and the delicacy of the skin which 

 covers the instruments of tasting ; it may be 

 considered, in them, as a more perfect and de- 

 licate kind of feeling : in the bony palate of 

 fish, therefore, all powers of distinguishing 

 are utterly taken away ; and we have accord, 

 ingly often seen these voracious animals swal- 

 low the fisherman's plummet instead of the 

 bait. 



Hearing in fishes is found still more imper- 



1 There is now no doubt but that fishes possess the 

 sense of smelling. Indeed, it seems to be mostly by 

 their smell that they'discover their food. 



feet, if it be found at all. Certain it is, that 

 anatomists have not been able to discover, ex- 

 cept in the whale kind, the smallest traces of 

 an organ, either within or without the head 

 of fishes. It is true, that in the centre of the 

 brain of some fishes are found now and then 

 some little bones, the number and situation of 

 which are entirely accidental. These bones, 

 Mr Klein has supposed to constitute the or- 

 gan of hearing ; but if we consider their en- 

 tire dissimilitude to the bones that serve for 

 hearing in other animals, we shall be of ano- 

 ther opinion. The greatest number of fishes 

 are deprived of these bones entirely ; some fish 

 have them in small numbers, and others in 

 abundance ; yet neither testify any excellence 

 or defect in hearing. Indeed, of what advan- 

 tage would this sense be to animals that are 

 incapable of making themselves heard ? They 

 have no voice to communicate to each other, 

 and consequently have no need of an organ 

 for hearing. Mr Gouan, who kept some gold 

 fishes in a vase, informs us, that whatever 

 noise he made, he could neither disturb nor 

 terrify them ; he halloed as loud as he could, 

 putting a piece of paper between his mouth 

 and the water, to prevent the vibrations from 

 affecting the surface, and the fishes still seemed 

 insensible : but when the paper was removed, 

 and the sound had its full play upon the 

 water, the fishes seemed instantly to feel the 

 change, and shrunk to the bottom. From 

 this we may learn, that fishes are as deaf as 

 they are mute ; and that when they seem to 

 hear the call of a whistle or a bell at the edge 

 of a pond, it is rather the vibrations of the 

 sound that affect the water, by which they are 

 excited, than any sounds that they hear. 2 



Seeing seems to be the sense fishes are pos- 

 sessed of in the greatest degree ; and yet even 

 this seems obscure, if we compare it to that of 

 other animals. The eye, in almost all fish, 

 is covered with the same transparent skin that 

 covers the rest of the head ; and which, pro- 

 bably, serves to defend it in the water, as they 

 are without eyelids. The globe is more de- 

 pressed anteriorly, and is furnished behind with 



2 It was well ascertained by Dr John Hunter that 

 fishes possess the sense of hearing, and that water is an 

 excellent medium for the conveyance of sound. Their 

 organ of hearing is placed on the sides of the skull, or the 

 cavity that contains the brain ; but, differing in this 

 respect from that in quadrupeds and birds, it is entirely 

 distinct and detached from the skull. In some fishes, 

 as those of the ray kind, the organ of hearing is wholly 

 surrounded by the parts containing the cavity of the 

 skull ; in others, as the salmon and cod, it is in part 

 within the skull. In structure it is by no means so com- 

 plicated as in the quadrupeds and other animals who 

 live in the air. Some genera, as the rays, have the ex- 

 ternal orifice very small, and placed on the upper sur- 

 face of the head ; but in others there is no external 

 opening whatever. 



