The herald., 1897-09-22
sister, will accompany her father on his
return in about two weeks.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SENSES
Some Have Degenerated and Some
Improved Since the Early Ages

1t is very curious question, especial
ly If the question include the first ami
mails created as we'll as the first men,
whe there be any difference between
sight, hearing anG smell in those early
days and at the present time. Smell
was one of the most important senses
then, for 1t aroused appetite, enabled the
animals to seek and find their mates
and to track their prey. and it gave them
warning of foes approach or presence.
With man now it is of only third 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 we'll
padded or cushioned with fat, and pro-
tected by a tender skin, or By scales
overlapping each other. But 1t was not
more keen or more delicate then thar. It
is now, especially in our hunting dogs
Cats, too-and these are among the later
animals-have this serse in great per-
fection. A cat has what is called the
homing instinct. and if carried away
from home in the dark it ca.i return by
precisely the same road 1t is said that
because every field. ditch, village or
house leaves it's own odor in just the
right order on the cats brain, like a
succession of pictures, and animal
smells its way back as we would see
ours. The organ of smell seems to COM
municate with the memory, for the
scent of flower will sometimes bring
back to grown man the scene associat-
ed with it in his childhood, and thous-
ard other subtle thoughts and feelings,
so that he seems literally carried back
into his past life.
The first creatures knew nothing of
fragrance. The sweet-smelling flowers
were not then in existence; besides, their
brains were too small to enjoy the deli
cate pleasures of sweet odors.
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 a hood but also gathers or collects
sounds. A man of defective hearing
nstinctively puts his hand behind his
ear for this purpose. Birds that have
no external ear can easily be surprised
by night and taken. while their acute
vision shows their every movement by
day. The savage races had little idea of
music. They liked noises as children
like drums and horns. The savages on
the midway plaisance had great delight
in their native music, which was discord
to our ears. 1t required larger brains
and finer training to have the full de-
light in melody and harmony that our
musicians now possess. The eye also in
the gigantic creatures of early periods
was osmetimes rudimentary 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 burrowed
in the mud there were three pairs of
eyelids, one of them transparent, so that
the animal might see through 1t closed.
1t is said that early writer's, like Homer,
speaks of very few colors, chiefly red. or
purple" as they called it then. En-
joyment of beauty Of graceful curves
and lines and proportion or of harmon
ious and varied colors and their delicate
tints belongs to later state of cultiva-
tion, more developed brain, than most
of the early races knew.-Philadelphia
Times.