33 
OF FISHES IN GENERAL. 
from the immediate contact of the furrounding fluid, the 
greater part of fifties are provided with a ftrong covering 
of fcales, which ftill more powerfully protects them from 
injury and, beneath this, they are fupplied with an oily 
matter, which prcferves the body in warmth and vi- 
gour. 
When, however, we examine the fenfes, and other 
faculties, of this part of the animal kingdom, we find 
it in a rank greatly below the other tribes ; and that 
Nature having intended them for lefs perfect beings, 
has been fparing in her endowments. The brain, the feat 
of fenfation, is much fmaller in fifties, than in other ani- 
mals ; and, probably, gives off a fmaller number of nerves 
to the different parts of the body *, Thofe ftrong tegu- 
ments, with which we have obferved that their bodies 
are covered, mult greatly obfttuft their fenfe of touch, 
which, in all probability, is far from being delicate. 
The external organs of fmell, and the nerves which 
fopply them, are perceptible in the greater part of 
fifties ; and, even where the apparatus is net difeern- 
able without, the formation of the bones within, plainly 
indicate an apparatus for this purpofe. But as air is 
the only medium we know for the dill l ibation of odours, 
it cannot be fa'ppofed, that tliefe animals, refiding in wa- 
ter, can be poffeffed of any capacity of being affected by 
them. If they have any perception of fmclls, it miifl be 
in the fame manner as we diftinguifh by our tafle ; and 
it is probable, that the olfactory membrane in fifties, 
ferves them ir.Jtead of a diftinguifhing palate: By this 
they judge of fubftances, whole vapours, having tinc- 
tured the water, are lent to their noftrils, and, no doubt, 
produce 
* WiHifms de anat. cerebri- apud Willoubutiw. 
