|            |    classes     |               |          |            | +——————+————————+———————+—————+——————+ It requires only a glance at this table to reveal the fact that we possess much more definite knowledge about sight and hearing in these respects than we do about the other modes of sensation. In the case of these two senses, the four characteristics indicated in the table can be stated with considerable precision and certainty. But in the case of the other senses, and of taste in particular, only broad and vague statements can be made, for the most part. Even the number of discriminable qualities which these senses afford is unknown, and statements concerning the other properties are mainly confessions of difficulty or ignorance. It is difficult to judge to what degree this state of affairs is due simply to the greater attention that has been given to sight and hearing in precise psychological investigation, and to what degree it is due to difficulties inherent in the nature of the sense impressions afforded by the other modes. Nevertheless, it is apparent that no one of the special characteristics indicated in the table can be held responsible for the sharp cleavage commonly made between the worthy and the ignoble senses. Consideration of the characteristics in detail shows that we must look elsewhere for the reasons why the lower senses are unæsthetic, and even, perhaps, for the reasons why they are lower. With respect to number of discriminable qualities, for instance, sight and hearing, with their many thousand distinguishable degrees of impression, might seem to afford such an abundance of raw material that this alone would explain why the principal fine arts have come to be based on these senses. But it must be pointed out that this enumeration of qualities has reference only to the definitely identifiable, classifiable, and controllable degrees of impression. The mere fact that odors can be classified under only nine headings, to which general terms can be given, does not at all mean that there are but nine distinguishable smells. Almost every different object in the world has its own characteristic odor. We have not developed abstract names for these odors, to be sure. We are usually content to designate the odor by the name of the object with which it is associated. And when one bears in mind the multitudinous variations of these odors, their different intensities, mixtures, and modifications, one is inclined to believe that it is only the infinite variety of smell experiences that prevents our enumerating, classifying, and designating them. And what has just been said of smell is equally true of touch, taste, and organic sensations. It is also true that the separate lower senses are seldom stimulated independently,—thus taste is always accompanied by smell, touch, temperature, etc. May it perhaps be true that the very fact that these impressions cannot be estimated, isolated, and reproduced at will