ies enable him to discern the operations
of Nature. Man, in common with his lower kindred, is, by the mechanism
of the body, provided with five somewhat different ways by which he
may learn something of the things about him. The simplest of these
capacities is that of touch, a faculty that is common to the general
surface of the body, and which informs us when the surface is affected
by contact with some external object. It also enables us to discern
differences of temperature. Next is the sense of taste, which is
limited to the mouth and the parts about it. This sense is in a way
related to that of touch, for the reason that it depends on the
contact of our body with material things. Third is the sense of smell,
so closely related to that of taste that it is difficult to draw the
line between the two. Yet through the apparatus of the nose we can
perceive the microscopically small parts of matter borne to us through
the air, which could not be appreciated by the nerves of the mouth.
Fourth in order of scope comes the hearing, which gives us an account
of those waves of matter that we understand as sound. This power is
much more far ranging than those before noted; in some cases, as in
that of the volcanic explosions from the island of Krakatoa, in the
eruption of 1883, the convulsions were audible at the distance of
more than a thousand miles away. The greater cannon of modern days may
be heard at the distance of more than a hundred miles, so that while
the sense of touch, taste, and smell demand contact with the bodies
which we appreciate, hearing gives us information concerning objects
at a considerable distance. Last and highest of the senses, vastly the
most important in all that relates to our understanding of Nature, is
sight, or the capacity which enables us to appreciate the movement of
those very small waves of ether which constitute light. The eminent
peculiarity of sight is that it may give us information concerning
things which are inconceivably far away; it enables us to discern the
light of suns probably millions of times as remote from us as is the
centre of our own solar system.

Although much of the pleasure which the world affords us comes through
the other senses, the basis of almost all our accurate knowledge is
reported by sight. It is true that what we have observed with our eyes
may be set forth in words, and thus find its way to the understanding
through the ears; also that in many instances the