THE SECOND IDEA OF MAN.

PLATE II.

LOWER SECTION.

THE IDEA OF BODY-SENSE.

17.-Appetite is the Fundamental Law, or Primary Appetite. Axis of the Body-Sense (par. 2). The etymological signification of the word, is that of a seeking after— and the Idea of Appetite is that of an internal or organic and progressively intensifying seeking after that which is necessary for the satisfaction of the Body-Sense, in such manner, that it only makes itself known to Consciousness, through the mindings of Sensation, when the seeking after has been intensified to the degree, however slight, of a craving or crying out.

Appetite

is an organic seeking after

are circum

"The appetites commonly recognised scribed by the following property, viz., that they are the cravings produced

which, when by the recurring wants and necessities of our bodily or organic life

sufficiently intensified,

if we look at the craving alone without reference to the action for appeasing it, that craving is merely what we have all along styled the makes its will

known by the volitional property of the sensation."-Bain's "The Senses and the Intellect." B. 1; chap. 3; p. 249.

cravings or cryings out of Sensation.

"The appetites are a select class of Sensations; they may be defined as the uneasy feelings produced by the recurring wants or necessities of the organic system.”—Bain's “ Mental and Moral Science." B. 1; chap. 3; p. 67.

[An Appetite cannot be correctly styled a Sensation— it only becomes a Sensation when intensified to the minding degree, and the volitional property to which Mr. Bain alludes, belongs rather to the Appetite or the original "seeking after," than to the Sensation through which it finally craves or cries out, and thus makes itself known. Further, how does Mr. Bain's definition of Appetite as an uneasy feeling, agree with the pretty general wish for its hearty presence at meal times, or with the equivalent regret at its absence ?-AUTHOR.]

Appetite involves volition or action; now volition demands a motive or stimulus; and the stimulus of Appetite is some Sensation.-Bain's "Mental and Moral Science." B. 1; chap. 3; p. 67.

[To say that "the stimulus of Appetite is some Sensation," is surely a putting of the cart before the

horse. Thus we speak of the sensation of hunger—that is of the sensation produced by an intensified appetite, or an intensified organic seeking after, or will of food; and we do not speak of the hunger of sensation, as the above would intimate that we do.-AUTHOR.]

"Even in the absence of external stimuli, there are the stimuli from the viscera, and especially from the alimentary canal: an empty stomach eventually sends to the cerebro-spinal system enough disturbance to end the quiescent state.”—Herbert Spencer's Principles of Psychologij. V.1; part 1; chap. 5; page 37.

[READ.-An empty Stomach's Appetite or seeking after its necessary food, eventually sends to the cerebrospinal system enough disturbance or Sensational Craving to end the quiescent state.-AUTHOR.]

"We contend that, as appetite is a good guide to all the lower crea- Appetite tion, as it is a good guide to the infant, as it is a good guide to the as the fundamental invalid, as it is a good guide to the differently-placed races of men, and Law of as it is a good guide for every adult who leads a healthful life; it may Body-Sense safely be inferred that it is a good guide for childhood. It would be strange, indeed, were it here alone untrustworthy. Consider the ordinary tastes and ordinary treatment of children. The love of sweets is conspicuous, and almost universal among them. Probably ninety-nine people in a hundred presume that there is nothing more in this than the gratification of the palate; and that, in common with other sensual desires it should be discouraged. The physiologist, however, whose discoveries lead him to an ever-increasing reverence for the arrangements of things, will suspect that there is something more in

this love of sweets than the current hypothesis supposes; and a little inquiry confirms the suspicion. Any work on organic chemistry shows

that sugar plays an important part in the vital processes. Both saccharine
and fatty matters are eventually oxidized in the body; and there is an
accompanying evolution of heat.
Now, when to the fact
that children have a marked desire for this valuable heat-food, we join
the fact that they have usually a marked dislike to that food which gives
out the greatest amount of heat during its oxidation (namely, fat), we
shall see strong reason for thinking that excess of the one compensates
for the other, that the organism demands more sugar, because it cannot
deal with much fat."-Herbert Spencer on Education. Ch. 4; p. 227.

[Remark here in connexion with the preceding criticisms, how it is the organism that demands, seeks after, or wills the sugar, and therefore craves or cries out for it through the pleasurable sensations of sweetness.— AUTHOR.]

Smell

and Taste.

18. The Senses of Smell and Taste are the Coordinate Poles or Concurrent Servitors of the law-given Energies of Appetite. They conjointly urge it to, and assist it in, the partaking of whatever is necessary to the sustenance and enjoyments of the Body-Sense; and sit in judgment upon the sufficiency of the supplies as to quality and quantity-for Appetite even sickens and dies when Smell or Taste are too much dissatisfied.

as the
Co-ordinate
Poles of

"It is remarked that bodies believed to have a strong taste, have Smell & Tasto often in reality only an odour, of which Cinnamon is the common instance. Perhaps, too, in wine a large part of the effect in the mouth is in the Smell. Hence the ambiguous term flavour, which is applied to solid and liquid substances, means most frequently the odour, or the mixed effect of taste and odour.

Smell, like Taste, is an important instrument in the discrimination of material bodies, and therefore serves a high function in guiding our actions and in extending our knowledge of the world."-Bain's "The Senses and the Intellect." B. 1; chap. 2; p. 170.

"A considerable part of the impression produced by many substances is received through the Sense of Smell, rather than by that of Taste."Carpenter's Animal Physiology. Chap. xi., par. 501.

66

-Taste and Smell are so blended, that odours are received as flavours. If a man holds his nose tightly, and shuts his eyes, he cannot, by tasting, distinguish brandy, gin, whiskey, and rum from each other. The moment the odour is permitted to enter the nose, the taste of each becomes perfectly distinct."-T. L. Nichols's "Human Physiology.”— Part 3; chap. 3; p. 183.

The uses of taste in warning us from danger are evident. But every natural function is attended with pleasure. All food natural and proper for man gives him delight through the sense of taste. The taste, however, in men, and even in some animals, may be educated and perverted. We learn to like things which were at first nauseous and disgusting to us. Men smoke and even chew tobacco. The excessive use of spices and condiments blunts the sensibility of the nerves of taste, and the corrupted sentinel lets the enemy pass into the stomach, and worry it into dyspepsia, while the whole current of the blood becomes tainted with the morbid products of an unnatural nutrition. All animals in a state of nature,

Appetite, with Smell as the positive Pole

or in dominance.