ABSTRACT
T H O U G H S I G H T may well be regarded as the most important of the senses, all the others make significant contributions to the individual’s welfare. He uses nearly all of them in exploring the environment, though the internal sensations such as hunger, thirst, and fatigue inform him rather of his own organic state than of external facts. He uses the skin of the hands and of various other parts of the body in exploring objects by feeling them, so discovering their roughness or smoothness, hardness or softness, moistness or dryness, warmth or coldness (u ). By lifting and manipulating objects he discovers their weight, elasticity, and other mechanical properties. By smell and taste he discovers important facts relating to foods and other substances. By the sense of hearing he obviously learns a great deal about the environ ment. Several of the senses contribute also to the enjoyment of life by the agreeable sensations they provide. Hearing, smell, and taste deserve emphasis in this respect, but the skin should not be forgotten, since it provides agreeable warmth and coolness, agreeable sensations of smooth contact, and erotic aensations. There are also, to be sure, disagreeable noises, tastes, and odours, disagreeable heat and cold, pain from the skin and ache from the interior, all of these being indicators, however, of external or internal conditions that demand correction.
