y constrained to abide in this
darkness during the whole of their life? Certainly there is no one who
would not rather lose his hearing or his sense of smell than his
eyesight, and the loss of hearing includes the loss of all sciences
which find expression in words; and this loss a man would incur solely
so as not to be deprived of the sight of the beauty of the world which
consists in the surfaces of bodies artificial as well as natural, which
are reflected in the human eye.

[Sidenote: The Eye in Animal Life]

126.

Animals suffer greater loss in losing their sight than their hearing
for many reasons: firstly, because it is by means of their sight that
they find the food which is their nourishment, and is necessary for all
animals; secondly, because by means of sight the beauty of created
things is apprehended, especially those which lead to love, while he
who is born blind cannot apprehend such beauty by hearing, because he
has never received any knowledge as to what is beauty of any kind.
There remains hearing, by which I mean only the human voice and speech;
they contain the names of all things whatsoever. It is possible to
live happily without the knowledge of these {54} words, as is seen in
those who are born deaf, that is to say, the dumb, who take delight in
drawing.

[Sidenote: Ascension of Monte Rosa]

127.

I say that the azure we see in the atmosphere is not its true colour,
but is caused by warm moisture evaporated in minute and insensible
atoms which the solar rays strike, rendering them luminous against the
darkness of the infinite night of the fiery region which lies beyond
and includes them. And this may be seen, as I saw it, by him who
ascends Mounboso (Monte Rosa), a peak of the Alps which separates
France from Italy. The base of this mountain gives birth to the four
large rivers which in four different directions water the whole of
Europe; and no mountain has its base at so great a height as this. It
rises to such a height that it almost lifts itself up above the clouds;
snow seldom falls on it, but only hail in summer, when the clouds are
at their greatest height, and this hail is preserved there so that were
it not for the absorption of the rising and falling clouds, which does
not occur twice in an age, a great quantity of ice would be piled up
there by the hail, which in the middle of July I found to be very
considerable; and I saw above me the dark air, and the sun which struck