Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-05-11
SENSE OF TOUCH.
Eho ELost Compiler and Least Undsrgtsod
Of An ths Senses.

The HOST Complex and Least UndsrEts0d
OfAu the Senses.
OF anthe senses wepossess, the sense
Of touch is at once the most complex
and the least understood, says the
PaIl Mall Gazette. Blindness and deaf
ness are too common. and we can all
more or less appreciate thenaturs and
extent Of these dire Affections. But
who ever thinks how he would be af-
iected by deprivation OF the capacity
to feel, inability to distinguish by
touch between smOothness and rough
ness, heat and cold, or by an impaired
power to receive the various sensa-
t1Ons OF pain and pleasure which reach
as through the surface of the bOdy2
How Is it that the same finger which
tells US that q substance is hard or
soft, tells US also that it is hot or cold3
Have we, as some physiOi0gIsts aver,
q sixth sense, that Of temper allure? IL
not, how comes It that q single touch
OF the finger conveys to the brain, in
tho same instant, two distinct impress
siOns, perhaps three, foR the substance
in question may be vet, as well as hot
or cold, hard or sOft2 Psychologists
cannot tell US; they only know that
the sensations 50 conveyed are sepa-
rable, and that the ways By which
they reach the brain are not the same.
The subject is by no means new, but
fresh light has lately been thrown on
1t by the researches Of two Swiss sa-
wants, NJ. A. Herzen and Professor
SoFOt. The observations Of these two
gentlemen, besides being highly inter-
esting, psychOlogically as well as phys
iOlogieally, are OF considerable prac-
tical Importance in their relation to
the training Of the blind.
Pressure on a limb-as, for instance,
when We tall asleep lying on ono ofour
arms-n continued for some time,
makes 1t more or less numb. It grad
ually loses the power Of transmitting
sensations to the brain. According to
the observations Of M. Herzen, the
first sense lost is that Of touch, the
second that Of cold, the third that Of
pain, the last that of heat. He SAYS
that when one of his arms is so torpid
that he has to feel for it with the
other, and it Is inperViOus to a pinch
or q prick, it is sensible to the warmth
of the other hand. If the pressure be
prolonged, the limb ceases to be
affected even by heat. There are peO-
pie, otherwise healthy, whose capacity
Of feeling IS so far incomplete that they
never know what it is to be cold so far
as sensations conveyed to the skin are
concerned. Winter is the same to
them as summer. This probably
arises from an abnormal condition of
the spinal cord. M Herzen mentions
the case of an old woman whose legs,
partially paralyZed could feel only
pain and cold. At her autopsy it was
found that the spinal cord In the
nelghbOrhOOd of the nervous centres
OF the back was shriveled and other
wise IN an unhealthy state. But NJ
HeFzen has not rested content with
observations Of his own species; he has
made experiments on the lower ami
mails, classified several Of the sensa-
tiOns Of the touch, and discovered
their oscillations In the organism;
and Professor SOret, taking up the
psychological branch of the subject,
has tried to find out how far the sense
OF touch may be made to convey to
the slghtless an idea OF the beautiful.
For as a deaf musician may enioy nau-
sic, despite his deafness, so may a
blind man find pleasure in beauty Of
form, Notwithstanding his blindness.
In the one case the pleasure comes
from the rhythm, or rather from SON
OrOus vibrations Of the air, produced
by the playing, In the other from the
symmetry and regularity of the object
handled. ''When music is going
on I feel something here" said to M.
SOret a deaf mute who enjoyed operas,
putting MS hand on his stomach. The
blind, even those born blind, as Pro
lessor Soret has ascertained by ingui-
ries among the inmates Of the blind
asylum of Lausanne, have the same
love of symmetry as the deaf. The
girl embroiderers attach much import
ance to the perfect regularity of the
designs which they are required to re-
peat in the work. The basket-malcers
insist on the willow Withes they use
being all straight and of the same
length. Solutions Of cOntinuity in the
things they handle are. to the blind,
indications of ugliness. They like
evenness ofsurface, regularity Ofshape;
a cracked pot, a rough table, or q
. broken chair causes them positive dis
comfort. But to create in the mind
of a person born blind an artistic idea
involves a measure of psychological
development which it is very difficult
to impart and requires from both
teacher and scholar great patience
and long sustained effort.