TOUCH. '351 



the Pachyderniata, where this greater sensibility of 

 the parts about the face seems to have been be- 

 stowed as some compensation for the general 

 obtuseness of feeling resulting from the thickness 

 of the hide which covers the rest of the body. 

 Thus the Rhinoceros has a soft, hook-shaped ex- 

 tension of the upper lip, which is always kept 

 moist, in order to preserve its sensibility as an 

 organ of touch. The Hog has the end of the nose 

 also constructed for feeling; though it is not so 

 well calculated for distinguishing the form of 

 objects, as where the organ is prolonged in the 

 form of a snout, which it is in the Tapir, and in 

 a still higher degree in the admirably constructed 

 proboscis of the Elephant, which as an organ, both 

 of prehension and of touch, forms the nearest ap- 

 proach to the perfect structure of the human hand. 



The Liion, Tiger, Cat, and other animals of the 

 genus Felis, have whiskers, endowed at their roots 

 with a particular sensibility, from being largely 

 supplied with nerves. The same is the case with 

 the whiskers of the Seal. 



The prehensile tails of the American Monkeys 

 are doubtless fitted to convey accurate perceptions 

 of touch, as well as the feet and hands ; as may be 

 inferred from the great size of the nervous papillae, 

 and the thinness of the cuticle of those parts. 



The sense of touch attains its greatest degree of 

 excellence in the human hand, in which it is asso- 

 ciated with the most perfect of all instruments of 

 prehension. But as the structure and functions of 

 this organ are the exclusive subjects of another of 

 the Bridgewater Treatises, I shall refrain from any 

 further remarks respecting it. 



