[1971]

According to E. D. Adrian, the earliest senses are light rays and sound vibrations, “for these show what is happening at a distance”, and “intelligent behaviour is guided by them far more than by what is touching our skin”. The developmental scale would suggest that the earlier epistemological experiences are concerned with the sense of touch. Sensuous pleasure and pain would be external contact between skin and womb; internal, between ectoderm and mesoderm and endoderm. The sense of touch would be related to ‘what to do’, the realm of transformation into action. The olfactory sense, though a distant receptor seems ineffective if called upon to contribute information on this particular problem.