570 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTIONS. 



between those of touch and hearing ; while De 

 Blainville and Jacobson regard it merely as the 

 organ of a finer touch. 



The perceptive powers of Insects must em- 

 brace a very different, and, in many respects, 

 more extended sphere than our own. These 

 animals manifest by their actions that they per- 

 ceive and anticipate atmospheric changes, of 

 which our senses give us no information. It is 

 evident, indeed, that the impressions made by 

 external objects on their sentient organs must be 

 of a nature widely different from those which the 

 same objects communicate to ourselves. While 

 with regard to distance and magnitude our per- 

 ceptions take the widest range, and appear infi- 

 nitely extended when compared with those of 

 insects, yet they may, in other respects, be 

 greatly inferior. The delicate discrimination of 

 the more subtle affections of matter is perhaps 

 compatible only with a minute scale of organi- 

 zation. Thus the varying degrees of moisture 

 or dryness of the atmosphere, the continual 

 changes in its pressure, the fluctuations in its 

 electrical state, and various other physical con- 

 ditions, may be objects of distinct perception to 

 these minute animals. Organs may exist in 

 them, appropriated to receive impressions, of 

 which we can have no idea ; and opening 

 avenues to various kinds of knowledge, to which 



