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Show ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO Ill. ,, Slow could the tangent organ wander o'er 'The rock-built mountain, and the · d" · hore· WlU tog s , No apt ideas could the pigmy mite, Or embryon emtnet to the touch excite; But as each mass the solar ray reflects, 'The eye's clear glass the transient beams coUects; Bends to their focal point the rays that swerve, And paints the living image on the nerve. So in some village-barn, or festive hall The spheric lens illumes the whiten'd wall; O'er the bright field successive figures fleet, And motley shadows dance along the sheetSymbol of solid forms is colour'd light, And the mute language of the touch is sight. 140 The mute language of the touch, 1. 144. Our eyes observe a difference of colour, or of shade, in the prominences and depressions .of objects, and that those shades uniformly vary when the sense of touch observes any variation. Hence when the retina becomes stimulated by colours or shades of light in a certain form, as in a circular spot, we know by experience that this is a sign that a tangible body is before us; and that its figure is resembled by the miniature figure of the part of the organ of vision that is thus stimulated. Here whilst the stimulated part of the retina resembles exactly CA"N'rO Il'I. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 95 " HENCE in Life's portico starts young Surprise • With step retreating, and expanded eyes; th_e vi~ible fig~re of the whole in miniature, the various kiuds of st1muh from drfferent colours mark the visible figures of the minuter parts; and by habit we instantly recall the tangible figures. So that though our visible ideas resemble in miniature the outline of the fignrc of coloured bodies, i.n other respects they sen'e only as a language, which by acquired associations introduce the tang~ble ideas of bodic . He~1ce it is, that this sense is so readily deceived by the art of the pamter to our amusement and instruction. T~e reader will find much very cu1 ious knowledge on this subject in Bishop Berkeley's Essay on Vision a work of o-reat inO'enuity ' b b • Starts young Surprise, I. 14·5. Surprise is occasioned by t11e sud-d~ n interruption of the. usual tTains of our ideas by any violent sti~mlus from external obJects, as from the unexpected discharge of a p1stol, and hence does not exist in our dreams, because our external senses are closed or inirritable. The fetus in the womb must cxpe·· rience many sensations, as of resistance, figure, fluidity, warmth, motion, rest, exertion, taste; and must consequently possess trains both of waking and sleeping ideas. Surprise must tl1erefore be str01~gly excited at its nativity, as ~hose trains-of ideas must instantly be chssevered by the sudden and vwlent sensations occasioned by the dry and cold atmosphere, the l1ardness of external bodies Jio·ht ' 0 ' sound, and odours; which are accompanied with pleasure or pain according to their quantity or intensity. As some of these sensations . become familiar by repetitjon, other objects not prev.iously attended to present themselves, aDd produce the idea of novelty, which is a less degvee of surprise, al](l like that is not perceived in our dreams, though for another reason; becanse in sleep we possess no voluntary power 'to -compare our trains ·of ideas with our previous knowledge of nature, and do not therefore perceive · their difference by intuitive analogy from what usua1ly occurs. As the novelty of our ideas is generally attended with pleasurable sensation, from this a~·ises Curiosity, or a desire of examining a variety |