1. Tips of fingers and toes, malleoli, ankle.
2. Other parts of digits, tip of nose, olecranon.
3. Glabella, chin, palm, gums.
4. Occiput, patella, wrist.
5. Clavicle, neck, forehead, tongue.
6. Buttocks, upper eyelid.
7. Lower eyelid, popliteal space, sole, cheek.
8. Inner aspect of thigh, arm above elbow.
9. The intercostal spaces along axillary line.
10. Mammary areola.
11. Nipple, flank.
12. Certain areas of the loins and abdomen.
WARMTH SENSATIONS
0. Lower gum, mucosa of cheek, cornea.
1. Tips of fingers and toes, cavity of mouth, conjunctiva, and
patella.
2. Remaining surface of digits, middle of forehead, olecranon.
3. Glabella, chin, clavicle.
4. Palm, buttock, popliteal space.
5. Neck.
6. Back.
7. Lower eyelid, cheek.
8. Nipple, loin.
These two tables show the great differences in the range of
sensitiveness to cold and to warmth in different parts of the body. I
doubt if any one will attempt to show that these differences of range of
sensation can be accounted for either by natural selection or by the
Lamarckian hypothesis.
Of course, it does not necessarily follow that, because this is true for
the warm and cold spots, that it must also be true for the tactile
organs; but I think that the fact of such a great difference in the
responsiveness to cold and to warmth in different parts of the body
should put us on our guard against a too ready acceptation of Spencer’s
argument. More especially is this seen to be necessary, when, as has
been shown above, the distribution of the touch-organs themselves by no
means closely corresponds to what we should expect, if they have
developed in response to contact, as Spencer maintains.
The other main argument advanced by Spencer to fortify the theory of the
inheritance of acquired characters, and at the same time to show the
inadequacy of the theory of natural selection, is based on the idea of
what he calls the “coöperation of the parts” that is required in order
to carry out any special act. Spencer contends that “the relative powers
of coöperative parts cannot be adjusted solely by the survival of the
fittest, and especially where the parts are numerous and the coöperation
complex.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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