The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SENSES.
Some Have Degenerated and Some
Improved Since the Early Ages.
From the Philadelphia Times.

Improved Since the Early Ages.
From the Philadelphia Times.
1t is very curious question, especially
| if the question include the first animals
created as well as the first man, whether
there be any difference between sight,
hearing and smell in those early days
and at the present time Smell was one
of the most important senses then, for IL
! aroused appetite, enabled the animals to
seek and find their mates and to track
their prey, and 1t gave them warning Of
foes approach or presence. With man
now it is of only thrd-rate or fourth
rate Importance. The organ of smell,
| among some of the first creatures, was
not near the end of the snout or nose,
| but near the brain, and was wel-padded
or cushioned with fat, and protected by
tender skin, or by scales overlapping
| each other But 1t was not more keen or
more delicate then than it is now, espe-
clally in our hunting dogs Cats, too
and these are among the later animals
| have this sense in great perfection.
cat has what is called the homhg instinct,
and If carried away from home in the
dark, 1t can return by precisely the same
| road 1t is said that this is because every
field, ditch, village or house leaves its
own odor in just the right order on the
cats brain, like a succession of pictures,
and the animal smells its way back as we
would see ours. The organ of smell seems
| TO communicate with the memory, for the
scent of a flower will sometimes bring
back to a grown man the scene associated
with it in his childhood, and thousand
other subtle thoughts and feelings, 50 that
he seems literally carried back into his
past life.
The first creatures knew nothing of fra
o. E1.a
not then in existence: besides. their brains
were too small to enjoy the delicate pleas
ures of sweet doors.
Hearing was comparatively poor with
the first animals, for often an external
ear was lacking The outside ear not only
protects the delicate nerves within, like
hood, but also gathers or collects
sounds A man of defective hearing in
stinctively puts his hand behind his ear
for this purpose. Birds mat have no eX-
ternal ear can easily be surprised by night
and taken, while their acute vision shows
them every movement by day. The saw
age races had little idea of music. Ihey
liked noises as children like drums and
horns. The savages on the Midway plai-
Sance had great delight in their naive
music. which was discord to our ears.
1t required larger brains and finer tram
ing to have the full delight in melody ana
harmony that our musicians now possess.
The eye also in the gigantic creatures Oh
early periods was sometimes rudimen-
tary, though again it was of large size
and protected by ring of bony plates
instead of the lovely silken eyelashes that
protect and adorn the human eye now IN
some of those lizard-like animals that bur
rowed in the mud there were three pairs
of eyelids, one of them transparent 80
that the animal might see through 1t clos
ed. It is said that early writer's, IKE
Homer, speaks of very few colors, chiehy
red, or purple" as they called 1t tneh
Enjoyment of beauty, of graceful curves
and lines and proportion or of harmonious
and varied colors and their delicate unts
belongs to a later state of cultivation
more developed brain, than most OF Jus
early races knew.