human
All the senses have been evolved from the elementary sense of Touch. All of our senses are but modified, specialized, and more complex forms of the sense of Touch. The elementary life-forms possessed merely the sense of Touch; and that but faintly developed--but a faint sensitiveness to outside impressions. Then developed the sense of Taste, from which later evolved the sense of Smell, the latter even now being closely associated with the former. Then evolved the sense of Hearing, or the consciousness of the contact of air vibrations called 'sound.' Then evolved the sense of sight, or the consciousness of contact with the light waves of the other. And it is not impossible, or even improbable, that the human race will eventually develop other and more complex senses--in fact, many even now claim that the development of extra senses is now under way in the race, and that the same are now manifesting the presence and their powers in exceptional cases.
gpt
Even as it is man is able to perceive only a limited number of sound vibrations--there are many sound vibrations above and below his scale, and which he is unable to perceive, but which are registered by delicate instruments. Likewise, man is able to perceive only a limited range of light vibrations, there being enormous fields of such vibrations above and below his range. Again, man is unable to sense electrical waves, or magnetic waves--though, theoretically, he should be able to sense these as well as light waves, the difference between these respective fields of etheric vibrations being simply different rates of vibration. Imagine what a new world would be opened to man if he could sense the waves of electricity. In that case he could 'see' things as far away from him as the waves of electricity could travel, and even though solid objects intervened, as in the case of the X-Rays. In such a case a man might actually 'see' things at the other side of the world, by means of 'wireless electrical waves.' Theoretically these things are possible, providing that man's optical nerves are rendered more sensitive, or provided that he evolves a new set of sensory nerves and instruments of impression.
human
If a new sense or two were added to the present normal number in man, that which is now the phenomenal world for all of us might, for all that we know, burst into something amazingly different and wider, in consequence of the additional revelations of these new senses. Another authority has said:
gpt
It does not seem at all improbable that there are properties of matter of which none of our senses can take immediate cognizance, and which other beings might be able to see in the same manner that we are sensible to light, sound, etc. Another writer has said:
human
We know that our sensory nerves are capable of transmitting to the brain only a part of the phenomena of the universe. Our senses give us only a section of the world's phenomena. Our senses usher only certain phenomena into the presence of our minds. If we had three or four new senses added, this might appear like a new world to us; we might become conscious of a vast number of phenomena which at present never have any effect upon our nervous system. It is not possible to imagine a race of beings whose senses do not resemble ours, inhabiting other worlds.
gpt
The late Professor James once suggested as a useful exercise for young students a consideration of the changes which would be worked in our ordinary world if the various branches of our receiving instruments happened to exchange duties; if, for instance, we heard all colors, and saw all sounds. All this is less mad than it seems. Music is but an interpretation of certain vibrations undertaken by the ear; and color is but an interpretation of other vibrations undertaken by the eye. Were such an alteration of our senses to take place, the world would still be sending us the same messages, but we should be interpreting them differently. Beauty would still be ours, though speaking in another tongue. The birds' song would then strike our retina as pageant of color; we should see all the magical tones of the wind, hear as a great fugue the repeated and harmonized greens of the forest, the cadences of stormy skies. Did we realize how slight an adjustment of our own organs is needed to initiate us into such a world, we should perhaps be less contemptuous of those mystics who tell us in moments of transcendental consciousness they 'heard flowers that sounded, and saw notes that shone'; or that they have experienced rare moments of consciousness in which the senses were fused organs is needed to initiate us into such a world into a single and ineffable act of perception, in which color and sound were known as aspects of the same thing.
human
The only way the external world affects the nervous system is by means of vibratory motion. Light is vibratory motion; Sound is vibratory motion; Heat is vibratory motion; Touch is vibratory motion; Taste and Smell are vibratory motion. The world is known to us simply by virtue of, and in relation to, the vibratory motion of its particles. Those vibratory motions are appreciated and continued by the nervous system, and by it brought at length to the mind's perception.
gpt
in the hypothesis that there may be reports conveyed to the consciousness of man by means of higher vibrations than those of ordinary sound, or ordinary sight, providing that man has either (1) highly developed his ordinary senses of sight, hearing, or touch to a degree sufficiently high to register these higher vibrations; or else has evolved and unfolded into consciousness certain latent faculties of sense-impression which are lying dormant in the great masses of mankind. In fact, the thoughtful person will be forced to admit that this new knowledge of the nature of sensations, and of its relation to vibratory motion, renders extremely probable the truth of the great body of reports of such so-called extra-conscious knowledge which the experience of the race has furnished from the beginning of human history down to the present time. Such a person will see that it is not a sign of
human
for a person to accept such reports, so universally set forth; but that, rather, it is a sign of
gpt
for a person to accept blindly the dogmatic assertions of the materialistic sceptics to the effect that
human
Such
gpt
persons are usually found to really