The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-11-26
III.

however this may De. IL Is lald down IS cor
tain that no distinction OF the sensations in
any department OF sense can be supposed to
take place without the development Of the
cerebral cortex: and IL is pointed out that.
oven when the cortex is superior In quality.
and the external conditions are most favor
able. 1t still takes much practice to acquire In
any departmen OF sense q discrimination OF
sensations that comes anywhere near the
Rcuteness attained by the ear OF the musician.
Who. for instance. can distinguish from one an
other tho various ensations OF sme ell. that from
youth onward crowd In upon us In overwhelm D.
ing numbers They cannot be indicated by
language: the child does not learn to name
them. for nobody is interested to desig-
nate for him the agreeable and disagree
able odors as accurately as tones are
named In instruction on the piano. IL
Is the same with the sense OF taste.
certain sensations OF which all through life. as
we'll as In childhood. are very frequently con-
founded with sensations OF smell. How COM
mon. for example. 1t is for people to speak OF
foods and wines as having q good taste. which
In reality have no taste at all. but simply an
agreeable aroma Then again.. for tempera-
lures, In the discrim lin alton OF which We are
not specially instructed. We have only few
terms-hot. warm. lukewarm. cool. cold. and
for nicer differences must resort to tho Their
mometeE For the various sensations OF
contact and muscular feeling We have
no Thermometer. and the terms we
use. thrown together Unfortunately. such
as rough and smooth. hard and soft.
wet and dry pointed and blunt relate
much more to combined sensations OF
touch aud muscular sense than to contact
alone. As TO tones and colors also there is In
the great majority Of families. q sad neglect
OF training In discrimination and accurate
nomenclature. As bearing on this point. DR..
Prsyer mentions tho fact that a number OF
children In tho English schools have been
tested with reference to their color sense. and
1t appears that an Unexpectedly large fraction
OF them were found wholly incapable oftslllng
correctly the fundam entail colors which diner
most from one another-red green. blue. and
yellow-or OF naming the degrees OF luminos-
ity. white. gray, and black, although the tests
were easy ones. To infer from this that such
children are color blind is pronounced alto
Rsthsr inadmissible. They are simply un-
practised: their retina Is normal: the
optic nerve is normal: but their visual
sphere Is unpraetised They know the
words that name eolors. and they have
the sensations OF color correctly. but they do
not know which words and colors belong to-
Rether. They do not. In other words. under
stand their own sensations OF color. This is
the difficulty encountered by very little chill
dren. DR.. Prsyer himself put color tests to his
child for a series OF years Before it could
talk. the child Was unable TO distinguish green
and blue as surely as red and yellow or white
and black; and he COMPOUNDED green and blue
with gray. and. at later period. he confounded
their names So far as the color sense Is con-
esrned. all children who have not had special
training show great uncertainty up 10 the end
OF the second year. and even In the third year
often waver in judgment to such a degree
that they might be supposed TO be color blind.
Where this ignorance OF colors continues
into later lifs II is very often the result not OF
organic defect In the child. but OF neglect on
the part OF the parent
1t appears that in many respects the case Is
similar with tones. No child whose organ OF
hearing lie normally constructed is born Abso-
lutsly unmusieAl Here again the deficiency
IN the power OF discriminating tones and sensa-
lions Of sound In general. may be owing to de-
ncisnt exercise Of the central portion Of the
bTain particularly OF the auditory sphere
which receives the sXcltations which come
from the ear through the auditory nerves.
bringing with them sensations Of sound.
One can never tell whether q child Is
absolutely unm uslcAl unless one gives It an
early opportunity 10 distinguish tones. DO
this. and 1t 10 soon apparent whether the
child Is 10 have a musical ear. a thing de-
pendent mainly on practice. and ShstheE It has