The Washington bee., 1892-11-19
THE SENSE OF SMELL.
CONTRASTED WITH SIGHT II Is
SiNGULARlY DISCRIMINATING.

insignificant
Ii i, very doubtful, indeed. whether
people appreciate how great is the gulf
between cur human thoughts and feel
iugs-thoughts more than feelings-and
those OF &c los or animals. One hears
commonpla"es of the possibility of an
extra seLSe, and 50 on, often enough,
that must exist between us and the cats,
dogs anu horses which we fancy we I'M
,lerstand, seems hardly ever to be con-
ceiyed.
In one direction all animals are alike
all dread death and physical injury;
Ill eagerly seek and accept suitable
God; all have, in their earlier years,
hat tendency to release the serious
business of after-life which we call
play.
These common needs and inclinations
furnish u mental substratum, that
snughly ali may comprehend; but into
its crude ana almost formless communi-
cations, what an infinite amount OF our
selves we are inclined to read in, with
out further justification!
The human world l. o world of pic
tureS; our memories are sight images
that we raise from their sleep in our
brains foT little while.
But since the days of Bishop Berke-
ley, we have come to perceive, more
and more distinctly, that the eye secs
so clearly, not by its own virtue, but rs
iho result Of the education afforded it
by our hands At first the world of the
child must lie fiat confusion of shapes,
which it learns to interpret by the move
Inent of It's hands over the forms it sees.
The vision is, at first, without depth,
without relief, without modelling or at
mosphere.
Those born blind, who at a later age
have been restored to their sight by
medical skill, and who consequently
have not learned to connect SIGHT AMI
touch impressions, fancied all the things
thew saw touched their eyes. Indeed,
it is one of the elementary tea hings of
psychology, that or perception Of space
in our vision OF tie world comes to us
through our fingers.
The lion has 10 fingers neither do
the eat, tie dog and the horse possess
these nece,s sary media to nice discrim-
jnution of shapes and position. The
horse, with its digits imprisoned in IL
horny hoof, is i'll a particularly bad
csc. 1t is impossible to believe that
lie painting on tie eye of these crea-
lures is interpreted by them with any
thing like the delicacy or truth III II we
can attribute to what we see. Moreover,
il certain yellow spot of distinct vis-
ion, common to us and the apes, is alb
sent from their eyes.
The horse frequently seems to use his
eyes independently of each other. In
doubteily the majority of animals 10
so. Now, then, cam we imagine in
their case, for moment, such single
?ict urc of world as we, in our waking
.noments, look out upon?
4 few simple experiments with a cat
will convince any one that she can not
Distinguish hand with empty fingers,
held toward her from one containing
any not too odorferous edible. And wl44e
the animal may not, and in all prob
ability does not, refer It's world to q
spaced picture and think i'll visible i'm
AGES a, we do, there is no doubt that in
other respects its sensations may Lave
/ definition of mental value quite un-
Hu0wn to the equivalent sense i'll oar
elves. We may carry faces to the
heavens, and stalk about The tempo
rary lcrtls OF the world but for all that
our noses are poor things.
The human nose is an apolo9atic
pimp!G compared with the magnificent
1rSan Of the horse or dog. Our &ense
of smell is, when contrasted with uur
light and hearing, singulNrly un.}i ,tiim-
mating. We can arrange sounds into
>elics-wc know L is between { and +;
NC appreciate octaves and harlnonics
Similarly we can put the colors into or
,lcr, decide upon The amount Of blue in
| purple, and get almost to emotion ut
the sight Of white star in the blue of a
summer twilight, or of the amber sum
light glinting between the blades of
grass.
But tlli, serial arrangement, this sort
ing and selective choice, is entirely be-
yond our rudimentary senses of smell.
10 us the idea of the scent of the violet
being a rich harmony, or the suggestion
chat the frying of onions is discorl, or
that patchouli aud the new-mown hay
are pleasant things in different times
and keys, sounds utter nonsense. Our
aoscs are entirely too dull to effect the
analysis necessary before scents can be
distinguished as complex. and sorted
and recombined SO as to be made an ;us
thetic pleasure
But with the animals we have named
all that is different Half the head Of
horse or adult dog is noe. It is
probable, therefore, that the dogs mind
is based essentially on Impressions of
smell He perceiyes the crafty Ulysses
through all disguises that hide him
from human detection, shifts him and is
satisfied.
Any one who has watched a lost dog
in the street must, or at least ought to,
perceive that the animal has on! Y the
vaguest idea of what its adored master
looks like Only on that supposition
! can its movements be understood. The
creature is looking for smell image
with its nose; and q sense with such an
alytical power as the dogs olfactor7
perceptions exhibit, must certainly be
capable of harmonic and discorlant az
rangement and affects.