Letters on the Human Body/Letter 5
LETTER V.
On the Bodily Senses of Smelling and Touching, and their Connection with Mental Smell and Touch.
- My Dear Sir,
My Dear Sir, The more I reflect on the bodily senses, which were the subjects of my three last letters to you, so much the more I am struck with astonishment at the DIVINE SKILL manifested in the structure of their organs; and above all, at their admirable uses, both natural and spiritual, both temporal and eternal; insomuch that the wonder of wonders with me is—that mankind, in general, seem to be so little aware of these stupendous proofs of DIVINE MERCY and MERCY, with which they are gifted, and which are every moment calling them, with a loud voice, to the recollection of their DIVINE CREATOR and BENEFACTOR. But the misfortune is, that the sense of DIVINE FAVOURS is not unfrequently lessened amongst men by the very consideration, which ought, above every other, to increase their value, viz. that of their being common, and at the same time, of their being in such continual requisition and use, that the gratitude, which they were intended to excite, is often buried in their enjoyment.
The general thoughtlessness of mankind, however, is no sufficient reason why you and I should cease to think, especially on a subject of so much real concern to our best happiness, and therefore, with your permission, I will continue my former remarks, by extending them to the two remaining bodily senses, viz. the smell and the touch.
Yet on the sense of smell I have little to observe, since it is so nearly connected with the sense of taste, treated of in my last letter, being itself a species of taste, but exercised on a more refined and delicate subject, and by a superior and more refined sensitive principle or organ. The difference, therefore, between the bodily senses of smelling and tasting, may perhaps best be described by the difference between the mental senses of perceiving and knowing, inasmuch as to perceive a truth is a more interior, and consequently more elevated, act of the mind than to know it. In other respects, however, the two senses are similar, each being in connection with interior mental principles, of which it is the ultimate basis, support, and representative figure, and each deriving its origin from the SUPREME AUTHOR and GIVER OF ALL LIFE, consequently of all sensation. For that there is something in the human mind analogous to the bodily sense of smelling, which something may be called perceptivity, is evident from the application of the term smell by the best writers. Thus your favourite Shakspeare speaks of “the SMELL of calumny;” and one greater than Shakspeare writes of “an odour of a sweet SMELL, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to GOD,” [Philip. iv. 18.]. And thus, too, the ALMIGHTY Himself expresseth His displeasure against His disobedient people, where He says, “I will not SMELL the savour of your sweet odours,” [Levit. xxvi. 31.]. We may fairly therefore conclude, that the sense of smell, like the sense of taste, was intended by the GREAT CREATOR, in the first place, as a guard, to watch against the admission, into the body, of any external matter which might prove injurious to bodily health; and in the second place, to remind man of those higher and interior faculties of mind from which the sense of bodily smell derives its life and soul, and especially to call to his recollection the DIVINE SOURCE of all his sensations, whether corporeal or mental, whether natural or spiritual.
I shall therefore now proceed to the consideration of the sense of touch, and with it conclude my observations on the five bodily senses.
The general organ of this sense, in almost all animals, is the skin, and more particularly that part of it on which the nerves terminate, called the papillary portion. But what human pen can describe all the wonders of this organ, whether viewed as a whole or in all its parts, consisting, 1st, of a scaly cuticle, or epidermis, or outermost skin; 2dly, of the reticular body of Malpighius, or cutaneous network; and 3dly, of the cutis, or inmost skin? Yet the natural uses of all these parts are as remarkable and astonishing as the parts themselves; of which truth you will be fully convinced when you are informed, that the scaly cuticle, in the first place, collects, or binds together, the proper uses and functions of all the coats and subjacent strata, represents them generally in itself, and renders them complete. In the second place, it holds together in connection the parts which lie underneath, supports their changes, and impels them to perform their offices aright. In the third place, as a coat of mail, surrounded with wonderful scales, folds, and knots, it protects and defends the sensible, soft, and supple coats, which it covers, from injuries resulting from the surrounding air, its heat, cold, wind, and various temperature, not suited to the state of the body. In the fourth place, it regulates the proximate communications between the surrounding world and its own corporeal world, which it incloses, viz. by admitting from the air and æther the purer and more wholesome elements which are suited to the natural state of the body; and on the other hand, by letting out, and dispersing into the contiguous atmosphere, collections of effluvia no longer serviceable to the body, together with perspirable matter formed from useless lymph, &c. Fifthly, it compacts the most singular modes of sensation of the little fibres and papillæ into a certain general sensation, which is called the sense of touch, which it moderates, rendering it acute and obtuse, in every respect as nature requires it, with perpetual variation. The reticular body of Malpighius, again, in the first place, serves as a basis, or support, to the cuticle; also for connection and union with the papillary substance, glands, vessels, &c. lying underneath: thus for a mediating organ, and to transfer the modes, acts, senses, and changes of these parts to the scales of the epidermis, and from these latter again to the former. In the second place, it sustains, secures, and balances the parts of the cutis which also lie underneath. Thirdly, it collects, conveys, distinguishes, and reduces to form, those scattered parts: thus it provides that every thing shall refer itself to what is general; shall proceed to successive series; shall flow and re-flow into a kind of circle; and shall perpetually conspire and tend to equilibrium or rest. The cutis, again, or innermost skin, serves, in the first place, for a new origin of fibres, and for the end and beginning of the little vessels. In the second place, it serves to cherish the spirits, and as a nurse of the blood, and also to exterminate from them whatsoever is useless. Thirdly, it serves as a sensory of the touch.
I have been thus minute, my dear Sir, in my description of the organ of touch, not only on account of its stupendous mechanism, but with a view to convince you, that it differs, in one respect, from the organs of the other senses, and that the difference is this, that the organs of the other senses appear formed for the promotion of only one object, viz, the particular sensation to which they are appropriated; whereas the organ of touch, in addition to this object, is calculated to promote a kind of translation of substances from one kingdom to another, and by this translation to open a communication between the two kingdoms, and at the same time a reception of the substances communicated. Thus we have just now seen, from the description of the scaly cuticle, or epidermis, that one of its offices is to regulate the proximate communications between the surrounding world and its own corporeal world, which it incloses, viz, by admitting from the air and æther the purer and more wholesome elements which are suited to the natural state of the body; and on the other hand, by letting out, and dispersing into the contiguous atmosphere, collections of effluvia no longer serviceable to the body, together with perspirable matter formed from useless lymph, &c.
In contemplating then the natural and temporal uses of the organ of touch, we are not only to consider it as instrumental in producing the sensation of touch, and thus enabling us to judge of the roughness or smoothness, the hardness or softness, the figure, temperature, and other tangible properties of material substances, but also as a medium between the great world of outward nature and the little world of the human body, for the salutary purpose of secreting from the latter world whatsoever may be injurious to its health, and of introducing from the former whatsoever may be salubrious.
Yet these natural and temporal uses of the bodily organ of touch, wonderful and important as they are, admit of no comparison with the spiritual and eternal uses of the same organ, whether viewed as an instrument of producing the sensation of touch, or as a medium of communication between the great world of outward nature and the little world of the human body.
For viewing it, in the first place, as an instrument of producing the sensation of touch, how multiplied and interesting are its spiritual and eternal benefits in regard to the mind, or spirit, of man, by reminding him of that higher and interior mental touch with which he is endowed, and by virtue of which he possesses an internal feeling, extending itself, not only to things merely speculative and intellectual, which relate to the present life, but to those more substantial concerns of another world, on which his everlasting happiness or misery depends! Yet that such an internal feeling exists in every human mind, is evident from experience, and is moreover confirmed by the general application of the term touch to express such feeling,—as may be seen by consulting the best writers in our English language. The organ then of bodily touch, it is plain, is in connection with the higher organs of mental touch, being at once their basis, their support, their monitor, and their representative figure; and thus extending its beneficial operations, from the lowest and most minute objects of outward nature, to the very throne of heaven, and to that SUPREME BEING who is seated upon it. For what human mind hath not some feeling, either consolatory or otherwise, respecting that BEING? What human mind, too, cannot touch that BEING as often as it is so disposed, and by that touch be made sensible of a consolation, infinitely surpassing all the transitory delights resulting from the touch of lower objects; and affording, at the same time, the most convincing proof, that the sensation of touch, in all its degrees, hath its sole origin in the mercy and loving kindness of that BEING? By virtue then of the organ of mental touch (whether we be aware of it or not), we are all of us in the same interesting situation with that distempered woman of old, of whom it is written, that she “came behind her SAVIOUR, (when sojourning here on earth), and touched the hem of His garment: For she said within herself if I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole,” [Matt. ix. 20, 21.; Mark v. 25.; Luke viii. 43.]. Most affecting and awful consideration!
But I hasten to the contemplation of another spiritual and eternal use of the organ of bodily touch, as resulting from the second view under which it is presented to our notice, viz. as a medium of communication between the great world of outward nature and the little world of the human body.
This wonderful mediating faculty of the organ of bodily touch, it has been already seen, is manifested in its power to admit from the air and æther the purer and more wholesome elements which are suited to the natural state of the body; and on the other hand, to let out, and to disperse into the contiguous atmosphere, collections of effluvia no longer serviceable to the body, together with perspirable matter, &c. How forcibly then are we reminded, by this circumstance, of a similar faculty possessed by the organ of mental touch, and of the incalculable spiritual benefits which we derive daily from the operation of this faculty! For doth the organ of bodily touch, by its communication with the outward atmosphere, admit the purer and more wholesome elements which are suited to the natural state of the body? There is every reason to believe, that this is the case also with the organ of mental touch, in regard to the inward and spiritual atmosphere with which it is in connection. Doth the organ of bodily touch, again, let out, and disperse into the contiguous atmosphere, collections of effluvia no longer serviceable to the body, together with perspirable matter, &c.? There is again every reason to believe, that the organ of mental touch is in possession of a similar property of secretion, which is salutary to the mind in the same degree that the bodily property of secretion is salutary to the body.—But it will be necessary to explain myself on this very interesting subject.
On this occasion, however, I must beg leave to address you, not as a man only, but as a Christian, and as a Christian, too, who has been accustomed to explore, with a microscopic eye of piety, the interior and deep mysteries contained in the sacred pages of the BOOK OF REVELATION. You have accordingly (as I have often been delighted to learn from your conversation), been enabled to make the grand discovery, that this outward visible world of matter and the inward invisible world of spirit are in the closest connection with each other; insomuch that they are not separated by any measure of space or distance, but, like body and soul, are one, yet distinctly one, and in that oneness are in continual reciprocal operation on each other. You have also, I know, confirmed yourself in this sentiment by the express declarations of your SAVIOUR GOD, Who so frequently announces the nearness of the kingdom of heaven to man, and Who, on one occasion, testifies pointedly to His disciples, saying, “The kingdom of GOD is within you,” [Luke xvii. 21.]. Let me then ask you, whether (according to this doctrine of the ETERNAL TRUTH), you do not think it more than probable, that between the soul of man and the invisible world of spirits, there may exist a perpetual communication, similar to what exists between the body of man and the atmosphere of this world; and that, by virtue of this communication, there may also be a translation, viz. of pure and blessed influences from the world of spirits to the soul, and of certain effluvia, &c. from the soul to the world of spirits; agreeable to what we have seen to take place between the atmosphere of this world and the human body? Is there not, in short, some property in the organ of mental touch analogous to what we have shown to be possessed by the organ of bodily touch, both in regard to reception and secretion?
I have no doubt respecting the reply you will make to the above questions, but I shall not, on that account, forbear to illustrate the point under consideration, by the case of the distempered woman above alluded to, who came behind her SAVIOUR, and touched the hem of His garment. For here we see manifested the wonderful effect not only of bodily but of mental touch, since it is evident, that the touch was of both these descriptions, inasmuch as with the hand of the body this poor woman really touched the hem of her SAVIOUR'S GARMENT, and with the affectionate faith of her mind she at the same time touched HIMSELF, for she said within herself “If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole.” Accordingly we read in St. Luke, that the GREAT SAVIOUR was made sensible in Himself of this mental touch, for He immediately said, “Somebody hath touched Me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me;” and to prove that this translation of His divine virtue was the result of mental touch, or the affection of faith, on the part of the poor woman, He is pleased to add the consolatory and edifying words, “Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole, go in (into) peace.”
Thus have I endeavoured to prove, my dear Sir, that the bodily organ of the sense of touch, like the bodily organs of the other senses, is wonderful in its mechanism, and still more so in its uses, whether natural or spiritual, whether temporal or eternal; since by its natural and temporal operation it is instrumental in providing for the gratification and health of the body; and by its spiritual and eternal operation it is subservient to mental instruction, in consequence of pointing to the different degrees of mental touch with which it is in connection, and of which it is the basis, the offspring, and the representative figure.
But I have not yet done with my remarks on the bodily senses, inasmuch as I am eager to apprise you, that, notwithstanding the benefits both natural and spiritual, both temporal and eternal, which you are continually deriving from them, it is still possible, if you are not well upon your guard, that they may be converted into your most deadly foes; and into foes the more dangerous and seducing, because the foes of your own household. For such is the nature of every bodily sense, that every thing, whether salutary or mischievous, will depend on its state of submission to the interior mental sense, of which it is the basis and figure, and thus to the inmost and highest sense, by virtue of which it is in connection with its SUPREME and DIVINE original.
If then man is so unwise as to suffer his bodily senses to gain the ascendancy over the superior senses of mind, either by directing his judgment or by alluring his will; if he allows them to darken his knowledge, and to deaden his love, of spiritual and eternal concerns, by the mistaken suggestions and enchanting fascinations of mere natural and temporal gratifications; if the servants and handmaids be thus permitted to exalt themselves above their masters and mistresses, so as to give commands instead of receiving them, and to dictate rather than to obey; if the instrumentals set themselves above their principals, the feet above the head, the creatures above their creating powers—what, I would ask, must, in such case, be the necessary tremendous consequence, but that all order will be inverted, so that earth will be exalted above heaven; natural delights above spiritual joys; the things of time above those of eternity; and finally man himself above his MAKER, to the utter extirpation of all innocence, gratitude, holiness, wisdom, and happiness, in the bosom of the deluded offender?
On the other hand, what blessed fruits might we not reasonably expect to abound in the mind and life of that sincere Christian, whose bodily senses were taught to submit themselves to the higher control and wise government of the spiritual senses and powers in which they originate, and thus to obey the Divine wisdom which saith, “Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve ME, till I have eaten and drunken, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink!” [Luke xvii. 8.]. For, in such case, how quickly would the order of heaven and its GOD be restored in the mind and life of such a Christian! What abundant joy would result from the union of what is first with what is last, and of what is last with what is first! Even the bodily senses would be partakers of this joy, because they would experience the truth of the well-established maxim, “that a submitted sensation is, in all cases, more blessed than an unsubmitted one.” Their wanderings would thus be corrected, their disorders checked, their dangers prevented; whilst, like steady and faithful servants, “their eyes looked to the hands of their master and mistress.” In short, the fulness of peace and harmony would presently prevail both in the internal and external man, because the internal man would find his kingdom at once extended and secured by the accession of the external; and at the same time, the external man would rejoice in the government, guidance, and protection of the internal.
What remains then, my good Friend, but that both you and I endeavour, through the DIVINE GRACE and MERCY, to establish in ourselves the above empire of mental rules over bodily sensation; thus of GOD, His love. His wisdom, and His authority, over the otherwise uncontrolable, fascinating, and dangerous misrule of our senses? What remains, I say, but that we regard these senses as so many animals, which require a bridle rather than a spur, and which, without a bridle, are for ever ready to plunge both their riders and themselves into destruction? I would not however be understood as insinuating, that this bridle should be a muzzle, so as to prevent the reception and enjoyment of proper food, because I am decidedly of opinion, that the senses ought to be gratified; and that no harm can result from the gratification, but rather benefit, provided it be placed under the control of wisdom, discretion, piety, and the fear of GOD. Let you and I then, my Friend, seeing the imminent danger to which we are exposed by unbridled senses, and the extensive blessings to be expected from a proper application of the bridle, extend to all our senses the devout prayer, which the Psalmist of old applied to one of his, “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips.” In the spirit of prayer, believe me
Ever yours, &c.