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Physiology for Practical Use, by Various Writers, Ed. by J. Hinton
Physiology for Practical Use by Various Writers Ed by J Hinton Author:James Hinton General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1880 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: IV. THE SENSE OF SMELL. In our previous chapters we have been treating of those of our senses which minister specially to tho mind. We come now to those which are connected more closely with the body; and we see at once a great distinction. For hearing and for seeing -- at least, as we see and hear -- we require not only nerves capable of being affected by the minute vibrations of light and the larger ones of sound, but also very intricate and complicated organs to receive these vibrations, and convey them to a not less complicated nervous structure. But the remaining senses are more simple. Wonderful as is the power of appreciating the variety of odours and of tastes that are presented to us, and vast as are the pleasure and advantage thence arising, we shall see that they are conferred by very simple means; and so may note that in Nature, as there is no grudging of resources, so also there is no waste. Nothing is done for show. The perfect beauty of the human form is the expression of work most perfectly, and in the simplest way, adapted for its end. We will take first the faculty of smell. The place which this sense occupies is determined by its nature. It must be situated in the channel through which we breathe, inasmuch as the perception of odours is very largely dependent upon the passage of air over the nerve which is to be affected by them. We can imagine that the eyes, -or at least the ears, might have been placed elsewhere without losing much of their usefulness, -- indeed, if Professor Huxley is to be beh'eved, some creatures have them in their tails, -- but smelling must be seated in the...« less