i88 Lamplugh : Man as an Instrument of Research. 



There was a time when it was deemed impious to question 

 the completeness of our faculties ; but that stage of human 

 vanity is past, and we can now more justly appreciate their 

 purposes and their restrictions. By the invention of artificial 

 instruments to eke out the senses, we have brought within 

 reach of consciousness much that had been hitherto unattain- 

 able, and have mastered methods that will further extend 

 our grasp. But with every aid that ingenuit\- has yet been 

 able to devise, we have still often to chafe at the limitation 

 of our bodily faculties, dimly conscious how much of the 

 universe there is that evades us. 



By means of its powerful auxiliaries — the telescope, the 

 microscope and the spectroscope, the range of sight has been 

 enormously enhanced ; yet these adjuncts have also helped us 

 to realize that there are vibrations to which we are utterly 

 blind — a world of littleness unseen with microscopes, and a 

 world of bigness beyond our reach with telescopes. 



Taste, touch and smell, so wonderfullv acute in detecting 

 minute differences among organic substances, are blunt and 

 undiscriminative for most things that do not directly affect 

 our physical well-being. In order to render them serviceable 

 for our new purpose, we have had to devise delicate methods, 

 instruments of precision, chemical reagents, and all the para- 

 phernalia of the modern laboratory. 



Our sense of hearing we have similarly to supplement, recog- 

 nizing that our unaided ears are deaf to all sound-waves above 

 or below an ascertained magnitude. 



Not only is it so with the senses we have, but we have 

 further discovered that there are whole groups of physical 

 manifestations, such as those of electricity, radiant energy, 

 etc., for which we are practicallv devoid of natural perception. 

 In many cases, it is by indirect or artificial means alone that 

 we have become conscious of these phenomena. In order to 

 probe them, we use apparatus endowed, as it were, with senses 

 we do not ourselves possess. Yet the new knowledge thus 

 artificially brought within our ken is proving of profound 

 significance in shaping our comprehension of the universe, and 

 is clearly essential to our grasp of its problems. 



It is unnecessary that I should follow this argument further, 

 since the conclusion is self-evident. Regarded as instruments 

 of research, our senses, like their artificial accessories, are 

 adapted for purposes that are confined within limits, and the 



Naturalist, 



