Amador ledger., 1908-10-09
THAT SIXTH SENSE.

| -L0ab lst b0eN HIB CUuSOiOuS VI the
existence of things which are not to
be realized through taste, touch,
sight, smell or hearing.
But such an appeal to the brain
can hardly be said to be through
any body SENSE" and therefore
the "sixth sense" referred to does
not really belong in that category.
Science points out, however, that
certain animals have the advantage
over man thnt they are actuated by
not merely six senses, but in some
cases by even additional special
senses. In describing some of these
phenomena in the Paris Cosmos, the
naturalist, r. Heriebar, says:
"a sense is defined by the action
of a certain excitant OH the organs,
followed 10y phenomenon Of con-
seriousness difficult to define.
FVision is the action of light on
the eye-a well-defned surface, of
analogous constitution in all animals;
but even when the eye does not exist
there may still bo reaction to light,
ns in the earthworm. This has been
called 'dermatoptio' sensation.
"OrdiDary sensitiveness to light
may be subdivided into two parts-a
luminous and chromatic sense
light and color. Touch may similar
ly be subdiyided into a sensation of
contact or pressure and one of tenn
perature. In the pathGlogic condi-
tion known as 'syriDgomyelia, char
acterized by the alienation Of the
gray substance of the spinal marrow,
this differentiation of touch is shown
spontaneously; the sensations Of pain
and of temperance are abolished,
while that of contact remains un
affected. Touch should therefore be
divided into three ubsenses-sensi-
tiveDess to PRESSURE, heat and pain.
"AIong this line man is not always
AS we'll endowed as certain animals
with special sense organs; thus, the
differences of pressure in the medium
where he lives manifest themselves
to him only more or less vaguely by
impressions Of well-being or dis
comfort; while the fish, provided
with Il swimming bladder, feels so
precise sensation, when obliged to
rise or sink IN the water, that he
is enabled to resume his normal posi-
tion by the action of this organ.
son the other hand, in certain
oceanic eephalopods, there have been
found, on the caudal fin, special
eyes with opaque lenses, organs
adapted to the perception OF heat
rays.
"Senses simply differentiated in
man may be found isolated in
ANIMALS. The sensations of hunger,
thirst, the reaction of the blood on
the brain cells, also constitute sup
Elementary senses; such, too, is the
muscular sense that gives the impress
sion of weight aud the sense that
furnishes an idea of the shape of
bodies.
GAS regards hearing, even when
there is no auditive sense, there
may exist sensibilty to vibartion,
residing in the bones. This is very
delicate in fish and IN certain worms.
"Among special organs of sensation
animals we may note the horny bulbs
along the nervures of mosquitoes, for
indicating the periodIcity of wing
movements, and the organ in which
resides the sense of verticality in the
medusa-a sort of pendulum, whose
contact with one side or the other of
the cavity IN which it hangs betrays
an inclination from the normal up
right posture.
cit is also a sixth sense that in
forms an animal of it's movements by
means of the displacement of fluid in
the semi circular canals of the ear.
This is the cause in man of the dizzi
ness due to rotation; when we stoE
turning we seem to be turning in the
opposite direction because the inertia
of this fluid maintains it IN motion
This phenomenon does not exist il
deaf mutes. -
1t has been said that the form o.
nausea known as sea sickness il
caused by the constant agitation o.
this fluid in a receptacle so close tt
the brain during the victims con
stant effort to maintain a vertica
i. position-the "sense" of verticalit!
being also located in these canals
i, aud therefore seeming to be really
true "sixth sense. "-Datyon journal