papilla are oval-shaped bodies about 1/300 of an inch long, around which
the nerve fibers wind, and which they finally enter. These are called
touch-bodies, or tactile corpuscles, and are found in great
numbers on the feet and toes, and more scantily in other places, as on the
edges of the eyelids.

Again, many of the nerve fibers terminate in corpuscles, the largest about
1/20 of an inch long, called Pacinian corpuscles. These are most
numerous in the palm of the hand and the sole of the foot. In the papillae
of the red border of the lips the nerves end in capsules which enclose one
or more fibers, and are called end-bulbs.

The great majority of the nerve fibers which supply the skin do not end in
such well-defined organs. They oftener divide into exceedingly delicate
filaments, the terminations of which are traced with the greatest
difficulty.

315. The Sense of Touch. Touch is a sensation of contact referred to
the surface of the body. It includes three things,--the sense of
contact, the sense of pressure, and the sense of heat and
cold.

The sense of contact is the most important element in touch. By it we
learn of the form, size, and other properties of objects, as their
smoothness and hardness. As we all know, the sense of touch varies in
different parts of the skin. It is most acute where the outer skin is
thinnest. The tips of the fingers, the edges of the lips, and the tip of
the tongue are the most sensitive parts.

Even the nails, the teeth, and the hair have the sense of touch in a
slight degree. When the scarf skin is removed, the part is not more
sensitive to sense of contact. In fact, direct contact with the
unprotected true skin occasions pain, which effectually masks the feeling
of touch. The sense of touch is capable of education, and is generally
developed to an extraordinary degree in persons who are deprived of some
other special sense, as sight or hearing. We read of the famous blind
sculptor who was said to model excellent likenesses, guided entirely by
the sense of touch. An eminent authority on botany was a blind man, able
to distinguish rare plants by the fingers, and by the tip of the tongue.
The blind learn to read with facility by passing their fingers over raised
letters of a coarse type. It is impossible to contemplate, even for a
moment, the prominence assigned to the sense of touch in the physical
organism, without being impressed with the manifestations of design--the
work of