AND PHYSIOLOGY. 



403 



ing. Insensible to any pain, and ignorant of his misfortune, 

 he attempted to rise and resume his journey, but missing his 

 shoe, requested to have it found : and when he was raised, 

 putting his burnt limb to the ground to support his body, the 

 extremity of his leg bone — the tibia — crumbled into frag- 

 ments, having been calcined into lime. Still he expressed no 

 sense of pain, and probably experienced none, from the grad- 

 ual operation of the fire, and his own torpidity during the 

 hours his foot was consuming." 



THE SENSE OF TOUCH IN ANIMALS. 



740. "It is probable that among the lower animals the 

 proportion of intuitive perceptions is much greater than in 

 man ; whilst on the other hand his power of acquiring per- 

 ceptions is much greater than theirs." 



741. Touch in Mammals.— Cat, Rabbit, Elephant, 

 Bat. — Among Mammals touch ordinarily depends on little 

 projections known as papillae, which contain a loop of a sensi- 

 tive nerve. In man this structure is principally found in the 

 tips of the fingers, but in the Monkey it is found in both the 

 hands and feet. In a majority of mammals the surface of 

 the nose, upper lip, and the vibrissa or whiskers, as seen 

 on the face of the cat, are organs adapted to the sense of 

 touch. Cats are unable to catch mice when these whiskers 

 are removed, and Rabbits without the assistance of their eyes 

 can by means of these hairs find an outlet in a very narrow 

 passage. In the Elephant this sense has its seat at the ex- 

 tremity of the proboscis. The wing of the Bat possesses an 

 extraordinary sensitive power. It is said that this animal is 



740. What is said of the intuitive perceptions of the lower animals ? 741. Where is 

 the sense of touch most perfectly developed in animals ? Of what use are the whisker* 

 of the cat and rabhit? Where is th« sense of touch in the elephant? 



