TOUCH 1 . 179 



was at 90, the concentrated rays were applied to a 

 piece of black kerseymere, made tight round the arm 

 twelve minutes, without giving pain, or leaving any im- 

 pression on the skin. 



Emily. Did not the cloth in this case serve to pro- 

 tect the skin, and would not the same result have fol- 

 lowed, if white cloth had been used ? 



Dr. B. No ; for the experiment was repeated with 

 white kerseymere, the heat being at 86 ; in fifteen 

 minutes, a blister was formed and coagulable lymph 

 thrown out. At another time, a white handkerchief * 

 was used, loose upon the hand, and an inflammatory 

 blush was produced over the surface, of several inches 

 extent. 



Emily. So, then, the colour of the negro serves, in 

 a measure, to protect him from the scorching effects of 

 a vertical sun. 



Dr. B. But we must drop this digression, and go 

 back to the sense of touch. All the skin is endowed 

 with feeling though in different degrees ; the palms of 

 the hands and soles of the feet, you know are exceeding- 

 ly sensible. The sense seems to reside more immedi- 

 ately in the cutaneous papilla, a set of minute bodies to 

 be seen on the surface of the dermis, and composed of 

 blood-vessels and the extremities of nerves. The touch 

 resides chiefly in the hands, whose structure eminently 

 fits them for this function. Their integuments are thin 

 and flexible, and abundantly supplied with nerves and 

 vessels. The motions of the hands are likewise free 

 and extensive, and by means of the fingers, the object 

 is touched at several points at once. 



The sense of touch is far more perfect in man, than 

 in the brutes, and has often been considered by philos- 

 ophers as contributing in a very high degree to his eleva- 

 tion in the scale of being. 



Emily. BufTon, I believe, even thought that much 

 of the difference in men's minds arose from the differ- 

 ent degrees of perfection in which the sense is possess- 



