218 UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION 



It seems, the further experiment is carried, the greater 

 the evidence for unity, in both function and structure. 

 The five peripheral senses of the body may perhaps, in 

 ultimate analysis, be reduced to one. the primal, from 

 which all the others have been evolved. That is touch. 

 The eye, and the ear. are morphologically identical 

 with the vibrissae, or most perfect organs of touch. 



Every observing individual is aware of the extreme 

 sensitiveness of touch, in all parts of the body. Even 

 on the soles of the feet, which are quite thick, a par- 

 ticle of sand, scarcely perceptible to the eye, will be 

 instantly felt by the brain. The touch at the end of 

 the fingers, and at the end of the tongue, is much keener, 

 and that of the eye is aroused by the faintest ray of 

 light. Even the quality of a substance is disclosed by 

 touching it with a stick held in the hand. The impres- 

 sions are carried, through the inorganic matter of the 

 cane, to the sensitive skin of the hand. 



An individual deprived of all senses except touch, in 

 course of time, by repeated experiment, becomes in cor- 

 respondence with an environment, not greatly inferior 

 to that of all the senses. This has been explained some 

 pages back, as the result of the brain centers of the 

 same organs, being so intimately connected by wonder- 

 ful complexes of nerve fibres. If the claim of Max 

 Meyer is true, that the ganglia have the power of throw- 

 ing out new threads of nerve tissue, under strong ex- 

 citation, the example of the wonderful development of 

 mind in Helen Keller by education through touch alone, 

 is thus accounted for. Touch can well be called con- 

 sciousness. It is the sense that is not specialized. If 

 the other four senses can be called mere modifications 

 of touch, then the latter may be designated as the 

 method of the organism's correspondence with environ- 



