OF THE VOICE. 183 



different impressions, sneh as roughness, smoothness, heat, cold, &c. 

 However, many internal surfaces are also capable of communicating 

 many of the same sensations, such as the mouth, rectum, and urethra, 

 for we are very sensible in those parts of heat, cold, &c. Nevertheless, 

 we find the superficial surfaces more capable of giving with nicety the 

 superficial structure of bodies than any of the others ; and this much 

 more so in some parts than others, such as the skin on the ends of the 

 fingers, lips, glans penis, even the tongue. Perhaps this perfection of 

 touch in some of these parts may in some degree arise from habit ; 

 however, we find the organ more perfect in those parts than in others, 

 being covered by a structure which is fitted for the purpose of sensa- 

 tion, called villi, not of acute sensation, but of delicate, or perhaps 

 more frequently of distinguishing, sensation. This is confined by an 

 increase of this structure in those parts that are most sensible, as on 

 the ends of the fingers, lips, &c. ; and also in many animals where it 

 was necessary for them to have the parts well defended from external 

 injuries ; such we find in all those animals which have hoofs ; there 

 the villi are very long and placed very thick and close 1 . 



This structure is much better adapted for sensation than what a 

 smooth surface possibly could be, because as we always feel a rough 

 surface or body better than a smooth one, this roughness in ourselves 

 supplies in some degree the place of roughness in the body touched. 



This structure, fitted for the impression of touch, is perhaps perfectly 

 mechanical, being only adapted for the impressions of resistance*. 



Of the Voices of Animals. 



All animals of the same species have the same voices. For instance, 

 all horses neigh : all dogs bark ; let the differences be ever so great in 

 every other respect, as to size, shape, or colour. A lion therefore is 

 not a cat, and indeed it is not in other respects. ( Vide Dissection of 

 the Lion.) 



Blacks from the Guinea coast never articulate sounds so clear, so 

 distinct from one another, and so sharp, as the Whites do. Whether 

 this is a defect in the organs themselves arising from the form of the 

 mouth, lips, &c, or from any other of the organs of speech, is not 

 easily determined. Phyllis, a negro poetess, left the coast of Africa so 

 young that she had not the least remembrance of it. She was taught 

 to read and write and became a critic in the English language, but 



* The sensation of heat and cold may be brought in as an objection to this idea ; 

 but heat and cold require perhaps no peculiarity of structure for receiving their 

 impressions, it being that of simple sensation only, as of pain, &c. 



1 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1410-1413.] 



