Father of spirits, he will send up the most fervent petitions to his
throne of mercy in behalf of this often depressed or enslaved half of
the human race, that they may speedily be emancipated, and become as
conspicuous in human redemption, as they have sometimes been in human
condemnation.

CHAPTER XIX.

EDUCATION OF THE SENSES.

Improving the senses. Examples of improvement. SEC. 1. Hearing--how
injured--how improved.--SEC. 2. Seeing--how injured.--SEC. 3. Tasting
and smelling--how benumbed--how preserved.--SEC. 4. Feeling. The blind.
Hints to parents. Education of both hands.

Man is much less useful and happy in this world than he would be, if
more pains were taken by parents and teachers, as well as by himself, to
cultivate his senses--hearing, seeing, feeling; tasting, and
smelling--and to preserve their rectitude.

The extent to which the senses can be improved or exalted, can best be
understood by observing how perfect they become when we are compelled to
cultivate them. Thus the blind, who are obliged to cultivate hearing,
feeling, and smelling, often astonish us by the keenness of these
senses. They will distinguish sounds--especially voices--which others
cannot; and with so much accuracy, as to remember for several years the
voice of a person in a large company, which they hear but once. They
will also distinguish small pieces of money, different fabrics and
qualities of cloth, &c.; and, in walking, often ascertain, by the
feeling of the air, or by other sensations, when they approach a
building, or any other considerable body. So the North American Indian,
whose habits of life seem to require it, can hear the footsteps of an
approaching enemy at distances which astonish us. So also the deaf and
dumb are very keen-sighted, and generally make very accurate
observations. Any reader who is sceptical in regard to the cultivation
of the senses, would do well to consult the account of Julia Brace, the
deaf and dumb and blind girl, as published in some of the early volumes
of the "Annals of Education."

But it is hardly necessary to resort to the blind, or to savages, or to
the deaf and dumb, in order to prove man's susceptibility in this
respect. We may be reminded of the same fact by observing with what
accuracy the merchant tailor can distinguish, by feeling, the quality of
his goods; how quick a painter, an engraver, or a printer, will discover
errors in painting or printing, which wholly escape o