OF THE EXTERNAL SENSES. 3o3

opens , they appear to enjoy it in the moft com-plete perfection.

it feejns difficult to fuppofe that man is theonly animal of which the young are not endowedwith fome inftindlive perception of this kind. Theyoung of the human fpecies, however, continuefo long in a Hate of entire dependency, they muftbe fo long carried about in the arms of their mo-thers or of their nurfes, that fuch an inltinciiveperception may feem lefs neceflary to them thanto any other race of animals. Before it could beof any ufe to them, obfervation and experiencemay, by the known principle of the affociationof ideas, have fufficiently connected in theiryoung minds each vilible objeff with the corref-ponding tangible one which it is fitted to repre-sent. Nature, it may befaid, never beftows uponany animal any faculty which is not either necef-fary or ufeful, and an inftinCt of this kind wouldbe altogether ufelefs to an animal which mult ne-

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ceffarily acquire the knowledge which the inftinctis given to fupply, long before that inftinCf couldbe of any ufe to it. Children, however, appearat fo very early a period to know the diftance,the fliape, and magnitude of the different tangi-ble objefts which are prefen ted to them, that Iam difpofed to believe that even they may havefome inftinCfive perception of this kind; thoughpoffibly in a much weaker degree than the greaterpart of other animals. A child that is fcarcely amonth old, ftretches out its hands to feel any littleplay-thing that is prefented to it. It diftinguilhes