GOING TO BREAKFAST. 209 



the bell. There are vibrations in the bell which produce 

 the sensation of sound in us, but no such sensation can ex- 

 ist in the bell. 



Another very striking illusion may be created by the 

 sense of feeling. If you cross your middle finger over the 

 fore finger, and place a pea, or any other small round ob- 

 ject, between the ends thus crossed, and roll it between 

 them in the palm of your hand, you have a sensation of 

 two peas, especially if you shut your eyes. The illusion is 

 very strong if you perform the experiment upon another 

 person a little child, for example not letting him know 

 beforehand how many peas there are. Indeed, the effect is 

 produced, though not so strikingly, by feeling of any small 

 object, as the end of your little finger, with the two fingers 

 crossed as above described. 



No one will have any difficulty in admitting that these 

 sensations are illusory, but I do not expect the reader will 

 see quite so easily how our senses deceiva us ir. the other 

 cases of illusion that I have named, such as that of the col- 

 ors in nature, the rainbow on the cloud, and the arch in the 

 sky. 



Lawrence was talking on this subject one day in Paris 

 with John when they w r ere on their way to breakfast, 

 about twelve o'clock. In France the midday meal, which 

 in the cities in America is known as luncheon, is called 

 breakfast. They have dinner there at from five to seven 

 in the afternoon. It is true that they generally take a cup 

 of coffee and a roll early in the morning, when they first 

 rise, but they call this simply " taking coffee." The regu- 

 lar breakfast comes about noon. Lawrence and John had 

 taken coffee that morning at their lodging and now were 

 going to a restaurant for breakfast, and their way took 

 them across the garden of the Tuileries, which are beauti- 

 ful public gardens in front of the palace of the Tuileries, 



