48 MAMMALIA—MAN. 
sense —that it 1s in effect the principal organ of feeling; on the contrary, 
We can say, that there are parts more sensible, and where the sense of feel- 
ing is more delicate, as the eyes, the tongue, &c.; but it is merely because 
the hand is divided into many parts, all moveable, all flexible, all acting at 
one and the same time, and all obedient to the will; it is because the hand 
is the only organ which gives us distinct ideas of the form of bodies. Ani- 
mals which have hands, appear to be the most acute: apes do things so 
resembling the mechanical actions of man, that it seems as if they had the 
same succession of corporeal sensation for the cause of them. Animals which 
are deprived of this organ, cannot have any knowledge distinct enough 
of the form of things; as they cannot grasp any object, and as they have 
not any part divided and flexible enough to be able to adjust itself upon the 
superficies of bodies, they certainly have not any precise notion of the 
form, any more than of the size of them. It is for this reason that we often 
see them in suspense, or frightened, at the aspect of objects with which they 
ought to be the best acquainted, and which are the most familiar to them. 
The principal organ of their feeling is the muzzle, because this part is 
divided in two by the mouth, and because the tongue is another part, that 
serves them at the same time to touch bodies, which we see them turn and 
turn again, before they take them between their teeth. 
It is, therefore, to the sense of feeling, that we are indebted for the power 
of usefully exercising all our other faculties. One man does not, perhaps, 
possess more ingenuity or capacity than another ; but because in his earliest 
infancy he made a greater and a readier use of this sense. As soon as 
children are indulged with the liberty of their hands, they presently bring 
them into action, and are fond of touching whatever is presented to them. 
They are seen to amuse themselves, and take pleasure in handling every 
thing they are capable of grasping: they seem as if they were endeavoring 
to find out the form of bodies, by touching them on every side; and, fora 
considerable time, they amuse themselves in this manner, or rather they 
inform themselves of new objects. In the rest of our life, we ourselves, it 
we reflect upon it, amuse ourselves ina different method, in doing, or in 
seeking to do, any thing that is new. 
Of the senses of smELLING and TasTING, there is little to be said worthy 
of observation. It is evident, that, with respect to the first of these, there 
are animals which are infinitely superior to man; and perhaps there may 
exist creatures which, in delicacy of taste, may as much surpass the volup 
tuary, as the beagle does in acuteness of scent. 
Of the numerous varieties of the human race, Cuvier mentions three only 
as eminently distin:t, viz: the white, or Caucasian; the yellow, or Monge: 
lian; and the negro, or Ethiopian. Blumenbach conceives they may be 
divided into five distinct varieties, viz: the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethio- 
pian, American, and Malayan; and other writers have farther subdividec 
these as their family characteristics were more or less marked. 
