♦ KNO\VLEDGE 



[July 17, 1885. 



tip of the nose : for now, not only does the nose appear 

 double, but o«e nose appears to he longer than the other. 

 One can easily understand why this is. Under ordinary 

 conditions the first and little finj^ers cannot at the same 

 moment feel two bodies which are equidistant from the 

 observer, — or let us say from tlie palm. If for instance 

 we place the forefinj^er tip ou the end of a white note on 

 the ]n';ino, the little fms,'er tij) can only rest ou the end of 

 auuih.r „l,i(e iiuie by bending the hand: we can how- 

 evn- murli mi ,iul of a black note with the forefinger tip 

 while the third linger tip touches the end of a bkck note, 

 without bending the hand. The lesson taught, then, by 

 constant experience (unnoticed through its very fami- 

 liarity) is that two bodies so felt extend to different 

 distances. But in the experiment with crossed fore- 

 finger and little finger, the finger-tips t..urh i,t tin- same 

 moment the same nose-tip: which ajijn :irs double 

 because touched by the outside edges of the linmi-s, and 

 the two noses appear of unequal length because it seems 

 as though the little finger touched one while the fore- 

 finger touches the other, each of them at the tip. 



Other singular effects may be produced by crossing the 

 fingers, varying the combinations. If tin; f(.i\ hiiger a,nd 

 second finger of the left hand be ctossimI ;,s urll ';,s those 

 of the right, and a small object be liehl l.etuctn the 

 crossed pair of each hand, the most ineorn ct i.has of the 

 shape of the object are given. I have just tried the 

 experiment for instance on a small box of pen-nibs, 

 holding two opposite corners, one between the crossed 

 finger-tips of the right hand the other between those of 

 the left hand ; it was impossible to realise that the object 

 thus held had any regularity of .shape at all. 



Another experiment on the sense of touch depends on 

 the circumstance that usually the outsiiUs of the hands 

 are so placed that if both touch tun sui-faces at the same 

 time those surfaces are not in tin- h;iin ■ direction. Of 

 course the two hands can be placid ^ide by side with 

 their backs uppermost and a fiat surface may so touch 

 both ; but usually the palms are towards e.ach other, and 

 this is especially the case when both hands are used in 

 holding anything. Place the hands together palm to 

 palm, then cross the arms so that the hands are back to 

 back; if now a book is held between the backs of the 

 liands its edge appears bent. The force of tliis illusion 

 is different with different persons ; but let not tliose who 

 are not affected by it rejoice as being le.ss easily deceived 

 than their fellows ; for, as Sir David Brewster remarks 

 in speaking of an illusion affecting sight, it often happens 

 that the most observant are those most completely 

 deceived by such illusions. 



There is another curious illusion of touch which 

 appears to depend on the teaching which the hands and 

 arms have had (unconsciously) in estimating the dimen- 

 sions of bodies held in the normal way, in front of the 

 body. Suppose a book lying on a table before you, the 

 back of the book being towards the right. Take liold c^f 

 it by the nearest right-hand corner (that is, holding it 

 by the end of the back nearest to you) and pass it over 

 the right shoulder so that the face which had been 

 uppermost lies against the back of the right shoulder in 

 a nearly vertical position. Now pass the left hand round 

 behind you under the left shoulder-blade till you can 

 grasp with it the edges of the leaves. You will now find 

 that though you know from the feel of the edges that your 

 left hand holds a side several inches fi-om the back 

 held by the right hand, that side of the book appears 

 to be a continuation of the back of the book, — 

 so far as direction is concerned. The explana- 

 tion appears to be simply this : — When an object 



like a book is held in front of the chest, the right hand 

 holding one side, the left hand reaches the opposite side 

 without effort or stretching ; while with a slight amount 

 of stretching the side held by the right hand can be 

 reached : now when the book is held behind the back in 

 the way described above, an effort is required to reach 

 with the left hand the side opposite that held by the 

 right, hence the same effect is produced on the mind as 

 when in the normal way of holding objects of the kind 

 the left hand is stretched over to the riglit hand's side of 

 the object ; thus instead of the left hand touching the 

 side opjx)site that lield by the right, it appears to touch 

 the same side. 



So much for illusions affecting touch. Or rather, 

 these afford sufficient evidence that the sense of touch 

 may be readily deceived. But in reality, scarcely a day 

 jia.sses without our noticing, if we are at all observant, 

 illusions affecting this sense. If we observe the circum- 

 stances under which such illusions occur we generally 

 find that they arise when some organ of touch is used in 

 a novel or unusual way. But in the majority of cases 

 arising in ordinary life the sense of touch acts in com- 

 bination with either the sense of sight or the sense of 

 hearing, and consequently the illusions arising are not 

 .such simple examples of errors in the evidence afforded 

 by the sense of touch as those considered above. 



{To he continued.) 



LIFE IN DEATH. 



Br William Cukran. 

 ( Continued from p. 26.) 



LET n.s now turn to another jihase of the question, and 

 see how far that deviates from credibility, or accords 

 with the experience of our common life. Dwelling, 

 apparently with much complacency, on what ho calls 

 the Horrendus Maximini interritus — alias the painful 

 death of the tj-rant ]\Iaximinns — Lactaiitius says {Be 

 Mortihiis I'rr.<' r ::!,>r'i :..) : ■■!> /;'/-■ ; .) ' i' I'n gravesrjue 

 cruriiifiix, riin< ■■': ' :'■■'!'' ' '■ ■■ ', i.riliemnt 



orvli ijiiK ,1 ' ■■ : , 1 ■ i '. ■ 1- li \. hile asking 



whether any our, s;,;,.; . r ,.i\, ■■)■■.; i , r :n^.. ,■ . "dash out 

 his own brain.s," or cause his own eyes to start or jump 

 out of their sockets. Grave writers and " able editors," 

 as Carlyle woitld call them, say the thing is possible, and 

 we occasionally read of such performances in connection 

 with police-cells, lunatic asylums, and the like. Thus 

 the reverend author of a little book called " A Popular 

 History of the Insurrection of 1798," after mentioning 

 the dreadful sufferings that were endured by those who 

 were subjected to the horrors of half-hanging and the 

 pitch-cap in that year, says, p. 72, that the victims of 

 these pleasantries " dashed theii- brains out, in the mad- 

 ness of intolerable pain, against some neighbouring wall, 

 and thus put an end at once to their life and misery " ; 

 and the following occurs in :\Ir. O'Hagan's translation of 

 the Song of Rowland " :— 



On the golden crest he amote him full, 

 Shattering steel and bone and skiiU ; 

 Forth from his head his eyes he beat, 

 And cast hini lifeless before his feet,* 



vhere we may safely leave hi 

 * Somewhat akin to this is the ci 



a for the j resent. 



me or occnrrence mectioned ii 



