THE WONDERS OF LIFE 



consider first the functions of the outer organs of sense 

 and then the internal sense-processes in the cortex of 

 the brain. Fritz Schultze has pointed out in his Psy- 

 chology of the Savage, in regard to both sets of organs, 

 that t^e savage is a man of sense-life, the civilized 

 human being a man of mind-life. When we remember 

 that our higher psychic functions (sensation, will, pres- 

 entation, and thought) are anatomically connected 

 with the phronema (the thought-organ in the cortex), 

 and the inner sense-perception with the central sensori- 

 um (in the sense-centres of the cortex), we shall expect 

 to find the latter more developed in the savage and the 

 former in civilized man. The external sense-action is 

 more intense in quantity, but weaker in quality, in the 

 savage than in civilized man; this is especially true of the 

 finer and more complex sense-functions which we call 

 aesthetic sensations and regard as the source of art and 

 poetry. Most strongly developed of all in the savage is 

 the power of perceiving distant objects (sight, hearing, 

 smell), as they warn him of the dangers about him. It 

 is just the reverse with the subjective and proximate 

 feelings that are excited by the immediate touch of 

 objects and are the special instruments of sensual en- 

 joyment — taste, sex-sense, touch, and feeling of tempera- 

 ture. But in both kinds of sense-action the civilized 

 man is far ahead of the savage in respect of the finer 

 shades of feeling and aesthetic education. Moreover, 

 modern civilization has provided man with various 

 means of vastly increasing and improving the natural 

 power of his senses. We need only mention the fields of 

 knowledge that have been opened to us by the microscope 

 and telescope, the refined chemical methods of modern 

 cooking, etc. The finer aesthetic enjoyment which our 

 advanced art affords — aplastic art for the eye, music for 

 the ear, perfumery for the nose, cuisine for the tongue — 

 is generally unintelligible to the savage, although he can 



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