THE STORY OF TACTILE IMPRESSIONS loi> 



The physical changes are great and obvious. l)ut as 

 possibilities of progress in evolution they are trivial, 

 compared with the new avenues opened up for cerebral 

 development. 



The enormous difference which the translation of the 

 receptive mechanism for touch impressions makes in 

 animal economy is difficult to appreciate. Change of 

 conduct, however, makes apparent the more striknig 

 lines of progress. The picture of the lowly animal which 

 noses its w^ay through life smelling with its nose, and 

 examining with its snout all novel objects with which it 

 comes in contact, is familiar to everyone, and is one that 

 contrasts strongly with the behaviour of an animal that 

 has become arboreal. Although it is a very long step 

 to take, much may be learned by going straight to a 

 Lemur and watching its treatment of novel objects. 

 Here, handling obviously takes the place of nosing, 

 although the scent test is by no means omitted, especially 

 m all cases where the suitability of the object as an 

 article of food is concerned. If Nycticebus is given some 

 fruit which is new to it, it will examine the fruit \\ith 

 its fingers, pick it up with its hands if it be small, and 

 then, as a rule, it will hold it to its nose. It will also 

 smell its hands, and if these tests produce no result, 

 some animals wdll proceed to rub the fruit, or hammer 

 it on the ground, in order to obtain the scent from a 

 bruised or scraped surface. All this is done before any 

 attempt is made to eat any unfamiliar object. .Aluch 

 the same behaviour is shown when the animal tests an 

 object which is merely a novelty, and is not regarded as 

 a possible article of food. The superiority of hand- 

 tactile information is at once seen by watching such an 

 animal, and the possibilities of education of this new- 

 touch organ are easily realized. Even before the jiower 

 of grasp is developed, we may imagine the dawn stages 

 of educational advances initiated by hand touch. In 

 the first place, the mere physical separation of thu nu-^i 



