PART I. , OF TASTE. 21 



A similar refinement takes place in the olfactory powers. In 

 our earliest youth, or when man is in a simple state, he relishes 

 only the fresh smell of grass in spring, of hay in autumn, of 

 fragrant flowers and such like simples ; but by practice he ac- 

 quires a relish for all the combinations of the perfumer. 



In vision, we are at first most pleased with simple soft colours, 

 as green, blue, violet, and gentle gradations of shade, as in 

 round bodies; afterwards we acquire a relish for strong con- 

 trasts and harmonies, and dark shadows abruptly mixed with 

 lights. 



In the remaining sense of touch, there are similar secondary 

 sensations, which are of various kinds, as that sense is diffused 

 over every part of the body. Titillation is a secondary per- 

 ception of the sense of touch, and the reader will recollect 

 several others. 



The union of these secondary perceptions of the senses consti- 

 tute, as has been already observed, the faculty of taste. A per- 

 son possessing this faculty, who formerly used to look at scenes 

 only with a reference to the first sensations — who formerly 

 admired cultivated fields of corn or pasture, cows, sheep, 

 horses, fragrant flowers, singing birds, and crystal rivulets,, 

 (only for their utility) now derives his chief pleasure fmm 



