d, as bile obstructs the gall-ducts.

M. M. In deafness without fever Dr. Darwin applied a cupping-glass on the
ear with good effect, as described in Phil. Trans. Vol. LXIV. p. 348. Oil,
ether, laudanum, dropped into the ears.

7. _Olfactus imminutus._ Inactivity of the sense of smell. From our habits
of trusting to the art of cookery, and not examining our food by the smell
as other animals do, our sense of smell is less perfect than theirs. See
Sect. XVI. 5. Class IV. 2. 1. 16.

M. M. Mild errhines.

8. _Gustus imminutus._ Want of taste is very common in fevers, owing
frequently to the dryness or scurf of the tongue, or external organ of that
sense, rather than to any injury of the nerves of taste. See Class. I. 1.
3. 1. IV. 2. 1. 16.

M. M. Warm subacid liquids taken frequently.

9. _Tactus imminutus._ Numbness is frequently complained of in fevers, and
in epilepsy, and the touch is sometimes impaired by the dryness of the
cuticle of the fingers. See Class IV. 2. 1. 16.

When the sense of touch is impaired by the compression of the nerve, as in
sitting long with one thigh crossed over the other, the limb appears
larger, when we touch it with our hands, which is to be ascribed to the
indistinctness of the sensation of touch, and may be explained in the same
manner as the apparent largeness of objects seen through a mist. In this
last case the minute parts of an object, as suppose of a distant boy, are
seen less distinctly, and therefore we instantly conceive them to be
further from the eye, and in consequence that the whole subtends a larger
angle, and thus we believe the boy to be a man. So when any one's fingers
are pressed on a benumbed limb, the sensation produced is less than it
should be, judging from visible circumstances; we therefore conceive, that
something intervened between the object and the sense, for it is felt as if
a blanket was put between them; and that not being visibly the case, we
judge that the limb is swelled.

The sense of touch is also liable to be deceived from the acquired habits
of one part of it acting in the vicinity of another part of it. Thus if the
middle finger be crossed over either of the fingers next to it, and a nut
be felt by the two ends of the fingers so crossed at the same time, the nut
appears as if it was two nuts. And lastly, the sense of touch is liable to
be deceived by preconceived ideas; which we believe to be excited by
external objects, even when we are awake