ORGANS OF PERCEPTION. 167 



the first of these meanings, and Idea the last, and could we 

 succeed in restricting Perception, to express the inclination, 

 to examine, and the means which we employ, no inconsider- 

 able portion of ambiguity would be removed from the state- 

 ments of moral science. 



In giving a general view of these organs of Perception, 

 we shall offer a few remarks on their structure, mode of act- 

 ing, and the kind of information each is calculated to con- 

 vey to the mind. 



1. SENSE or TOUCH. 



The organ of Touch is widely distributed over the sur- 

 face of the body. In the higher classes of animals, as qua- 

 drupeds, birds, and reptiles, it is supposed to be seated in 

 the villous surface of the skin, where the cutaneous nerves 

 terminate. In those places of this part of the corium, 

 where the greatest inequalities prevail, the sense of touch 

 is observed to be most acute. 



In many animals, there are parts of the skin to which no 

 nerves are distributed, as the hair, feathers, and horns, 

 which, in consequence, are termed insensible. In such 

 animals, the organs of touch are limited in their extent 

 But even in those whose skin possesses few of these insensi- 

 ble appendices, there are particular parts of the body where 

 the skin is more sensible to the impressions of external ob- 

 jects, than in other parts ; and where the sense of touch is 

 considered more particularly as residing. Thus, in Man, 

 the hand and foot convey to us the most accurate informa- 

 tion connected with the sense of touch. The lips and 

 tongue are likewise employed for a similar purpose. Among 

 Quadrupeds, the monkeys have their sense of touch, in many 

 respects similar to that of man ; in others, it is seated in 

 their lips, snout, or proboscis. In Birds, whose bodies are 

 covered, to a great extent, with feathers, the sense of toudb 



