232 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



It is said to have been remarked in the man of 

 Puiseaux, blind from his birth, " that the ven- 

 ders of nature and the course of the stars, ^did 

 not induce in him a belief in God, because he 

 was unable to perceive them; that the same 

 blind man had no aversion for theft, except for 

 the facility with which others robbed him with- 

 out his knowing it, and the difficulty he found in 

 retaliating on others without being detected; that 

 he cared not much for decency; and felt not 

 much commiseration for a man whose blood was 

 flowing." By such examples they would make 

 it appear, that we are indebted to the senses even 

 for our moral faculties, 



But, have those animals who possess all the 

 senses which we do, such as the baboon and 

 ourang outang — have they more decency, and are 

 they more moved in seeing blood flow, than other 

 animals? Are idiots, who possess their five 

 senses in perfection, more virtuous than the man 

 born blind? Must not every reader perceive, 

 that it is the interior alone which modifies the 

 impressions on the senses, and thus leads us, by 

 a precipitate and limited judgment, to believe 

 their operation immediate ? It is for this reason, 

 that external objects act very differently on men 

 and on animals; very differently on the hare 

 and on the fox ; on such or such an individual, 

 &c. 



The differences of seasons, ages and sexes, pro- 

 duce no essential difference in the number and 

 nature of the senses; why, then, are the intel- 

 lectual faculties and the passions so different in 

 the child, and in the man, in the young man and 

 in the young woman? How does it happen, 

 that, in animals, it sometimes is the inclination 

 to assemble in flocks and travel, and sometimes, 

 the desire to propagate the species, that predo- 

 minates? Why does the same bird feed on seeds, 

 in one season, and on worms, in another ? 



All the functions of the senses are gradually 

 weakened in old age. According to some phy- 

 siologists, this is the consequence of the senses 

 being habituated to external impressions, so that 

 these successively produce feebler irritations. It 

 is even attempted to explain on the principle of 

 habit, why we have so little feeling of what 

 passes within us in the organic or automatic life. 

 It rather seems to me that nature has designedly 

 taken from us the sense of automatic life ; and 

 she has probably attained this end by the tenuity 

 of the threads of communication of the nervous 

 systems of the chest and abdomen, with the 

 nervous systems of the vertebral column, the 

 senses, and the brain. But in old age, the func- 

 tions of the senses are weakened, because the 

 organs of sense themselves diminish. The ner- 

 vous filaments and their nutritive substance 

 waste, as well as the grey substance generally, 

 and all the nerves begin to experience atrophy. 

 This is the reason why Pinel did not find in 

 the labyrinth of the ear of old men, who had 

 become deaf, the pulpous substance, which exists 

 in men who hear. This, too, is the reason why 

 the nerves of aged persons are much smaller than 

 those of persons in the prime of life. This dimi- 

 nution not taking place at the same time in all 

 the nervous systems, it hence results that all 

 the functions do not diminish equally at the same 

 time; which must happen if they successively 



become more feeble, only in consequence of the 

 repetition of impressions. 



The double -nature of each sense does not 

 prevent the sensations we have of objects from 

 being simple; the consciousness of the soul is 

 likewise simple, notwithstanding the five different 

 functions of the senses. 



Bacon, Locke, Hume, Helvetius, Condillac, 

 have found themselves obliged, in order to com- 

 prehend in some way, the possibility of the. 

 functions of the understanding, to have recourse, 

 not only to the senses which some of these 

 authors had so highly elevated, but likewise to a 

 knowledge of the relations of sensations, or 

 sometimes to attention, experience, reflection, in- 

 duction. Though they were sometimes greatly 

 in contradiction with themselves, they perceived 

 that none of the faculties which we have just 

 enumerated, could pertain to aDy of the senses. 

 But, if in this life, no faculty can be exercised 

 without a material condition, as I shall show here- 

 after in an incontestible manner, we must neces- 

 sarily suppose a material organisation for the 

 exercise of the intellectual faculties. 



A LAPLAND WITCH. 



I lay once more on the floor of a Lapland 

 fisherman's hut on the way, and cooked some 

 rein-deer tongues for supper. The owner was 

 out, and the place was tenanted only by a hag 

 that realised all my ideas of a sorceress, ready to 

 raise a storm or sell a wind. Her face, dark 

 brown and wrinkled, from the combined action 

 of dirt, smoke, and hard weather, showed her to 

 be of the genuine Sami breed. Her chin was 

 peaky, and, with her sharp prominent cheek- 

 bones, formed a well-defined triangle. Her hair 

 was concealed beneath a red cloth cap, which 

 terminated in what resembled a horse's hoof 

 turned upwards ; and a belt studded with silver 

 stars confined round her waist a moudda, from 

 which the hair was worn off in front, and which 

 displayed a shining surface — polished by the 

 frequent wiping of her hands. In the corner of 

 the room something moved, but whether dogs or 

 children, or both, the uncertain light lrom the 

 hearth did not let me distinguish, and the smell 

 that pervaded the whole place did not invite a 

 closer inspection of that particular spot. Not 

 speaking anything but her native language, she 

 spared me the witchery of her tongue; but, 

 seeing my raw victuals, she brought me a small 

 frying-pan and wooden ladle, taking the precau- 

 tion to lick the latter by way of ridding it of grease* 

 As the savory smell of the thawing meat became 

 perceptible, a dozen half-starved dogs, somewhat 

 like those of the Esquimaux, crowded round me, 

 and eyed me and my food alternately. A battle 

 ensued for the remains ; and each showed so much 

 voracity, and seemed so unused to eating, that it 

 became doubtful whether they would not devour 

 one another by mistake. In the meantime, the 

 deer were supplied with moss collected and 

 stacked for winter use by the people. When they 

 were refreshed I put a silver coin into the hand 

 of the dame, which brought a horrible grin on 

 her features. I bade her adieu. — Dillon's Iceland 

 and Lapland. 



