Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1900-09-26
THE SENSE OF SHELL
cONTRASTED WITH SIGHT IT 10
SlNGULARlY UNDlSCRlMiNATlNG.

between our human thoughts and feel
ings-thoughts more than feelings
those OF the lower animals. One heali
sommonplaces OF the possibility of NJ
extra sense, and 30 on, often enough
but the entire difference of mental basii
that must exist between us and the oats
dogs and horses which we fancy We I'M,
derstand, seems hardly ever to be O0n'
eeived.
In one direction all animals are alike
all dread death and physical injury
all eagerly seek and accept guitatla
food; all have, in their srlier years,
that tendency to release The serious
business OF after-life which we call
! play.
These common needs aud inclinations
furnish mental substratum, that
roughly all may comprehend; but into
its crude and almost formless communi.
cations, what an infinite amount OF our.
selves we are inclined TO read in, with.
out further iustiicationl
The human world Is world OF pic.
lures; our memories are sight.images
hat we raise from their sleep in our
Drains for a little while.
But since the days Of Bishop BeIke-
Icy, we have come to perceive, more
and more distinctly, that the eye seea
80 clearly, not by its own virtue, but as
the result Of tie education afforded it
by our hands. At first the world OF the
child must lie fat confusion OF shapes,
which it learns to interpret by the move
ment OF its hands over tho forms it sees.
The vision is, at first, without depth,
without relief, without modelling or at
mosphere.
Those bora blind, who at later age
have been restored to their sight by
medical skill, and who consequently
have not learned to connect sight ani
touch impressions, fancied all the things
thew saw touched their eyes. Indeed,
it is one Of the elementary teachings oil
psychology, that our perception of space
in our vision of the world comes to III
through orr fingers.
The Lion has no fingers; neither do
.he cat, the dog and the horse possess
these necessary media to q nice discrim.
nation of shapes and position. The
horse, with its digits imprisoned in a
horny hoof. is in a particularly bad
case. 1t is impossible to believe that
the painting on the eye of these crea-
lures is interpreted by them with any.
thing like the delicacy or truth that we
can attribute to what We see. Moreover,
a certain yellow spot OF distinct Wis. |
lon" common to us and the apes, is alb.
sent from their eyes.
The horse frequently seems to use his |
'yes Independently Of each other. Un.
loubtedly the majority OF animals do |
10. Now, then, can we imagine in
heir case, for moment, such q single
picture of a world as we, in our waking
look out upon2
A few simple experiments with a cat
will convince any one that she can not
distinguish a hand with empty fingers,
Ield toward her from one containing
ny not too odoriferous edible. And while
he animal may not, and in all prob.
bility does not, refer its world to O
paced picture and think in visible i'm.
ges as we do, there is no doubt that in
Their respects its sensations may have
definition Of mental value quite I'm.
nown to the equivalent sense in our.
'lves. We may "carry faces to the
eavens," and stalk about the tempo.
Try lords Of the world, but for all that
ar noses are poor things.
The human nose Is an apologize
nipple compared with the magnificent
gan Of the horse or dog. Oul sense
smell is, when contrasted with our
ght and hearing, singularly undiscrim.
ating. We can arrange sounds into
ries-we know E is between @ and +;
, appreciate octaves and harmonies.
milarly we can put the colors into or. >,
n, decide upon the amount of blue in 7,
purple, and get almost to emotion al I,
Q sight Of white star in the blue of q O.
MINER twilight, or OF the amber sun. NJ
Int glnting between the blades Of W
ass. I'll
But this serial arrangement, this sort al
and selective choice, is entirely be. OF
nd our rudimentary senses of smell. nj
us the idea OF the scent OF the violet u u
ng q rich harmony, or the suggestion 81 81,
It the frying of onions is discord, or ~
It patchoui and the new-mown hay
pleasant things in different times
keys, sounds utter nonsense. Our -
les are entirely too dull to effect ths n
Ilysis necessary before scents can be
tinguished as complex, and sorted
recombined 80 as to be made an es.
tic pleasure.
But with the ami pals we have named u.
that is different. Half the head Of p
lorse or adult dog is nose. 1t is p o
bable, therefore, that the dogs mind 90,
based essentially on impressions OF -
III. He perceives the crafty Ulysses da
'ugh all DISCUSSES that hide him RI,
n human detection, shifts him and ia thG
sfied hel
ny one who has watched a lost doc tor
be street must, or at least ought to, isC
,eive that the animal has only the o cin
test idea Of what its adored master r rrT
s like. Only on that supposition ma
its movements be understood. The
ture is looking for a smell image
its nose; and sense with such an. -
cal power as the dogs olfactory -
options exhibit, must certainly be
BILE Of harmonic and discordant ar
ement and affects. 4
ow here our reason takes US beyond lIsh
powers of realization. How the sun
eternal paints itself on the mind sho'
dog we can speculate, but not all
Ire. But that dogs thought and and
5's mind run on different lines, and 70 y !
l(