ing their fingers over raised letters,
the sense of touch being substituted by them for that of vision. Nor is
the education of this sense useful to the blind merely. It may
frequently be appealed to with great advantage by all who have
cultivated it. The miller, for example, can judge more accurately of the
quality of flour and meal, by passing some between his fingers than by
the exercise of vision. The cloth-dresser, also, by the aid of this
sense, not only marks the nicest shades of texture in examining cloths
of different qualities, but in many instances learns to distinguish
_colors_ by the sense of touch with perhaps greater accuracy than is
common with seeing persons.

THE SENSE OF TASTE.--The sense of taste bears the greatest resemblance
to the sense of feeling. The upper surface of the tongue is the
principal agent in tasting, though the lips, the palate, and the
internal surface of the cheeks participate in this function, as does the
upper part of the oesophagus. The multitude of points called papillae,
scattered over the upper surface of the tongue, constitute the more
immediate seat of this sense. It is in these sensitive papillae that the
ramifications of the gustatory or tasting nerves terminate. When fluids
are taken into the mouth, and especially those whose taste is pungent,
these papillae dilate and erect themselves, and the particular sensation
produced is transmitted to the brain through the medium of the minute
filaments of the gustatory nerves.

In order fully to gratify the taste in eating dry, solid food, it is
necessary that the food be first reduced to a liquid state, or, at
least, that it be thoroughly moistened. Nature has made full provision
for this in furnishing the mouth with salivary glands, whose secretions
are most abundant when engaged in masticating dry, hard substances.
These quickened secretions contribute to gratify the taste and increase
the pleasure of eating, and, at the same time, materially aid in the
important processes of mastication and digestion. Nature, also, with her
accustomed bounty, has furnished man with a great variety of articles
for food. By this means the various tastes of different persons may be
gratified, although, in many instances, those articles of food which are
most agreeable to some persons are extremely disagreeable to others.

Many persons can not eat the most nourishing food, as fruits, butter,
etc., because to them the taste of these articles is