Touch
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Touch. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in fine arts, the peculiar handling usual to an artist, and by which his work may be known. In music, the resistance made to the fingers by the keys of a pianoforte or organ. Also, the peculiar manner in which a player presses the keyboard, whether light, pearly, heavy, clumsy, firm, etc. In obstetrics, the examination of the mouth of the womb by actual contact of the hand or fingers. In physiology, the sense through which man takes cognizance of the palpable properties of bodies. In a wide application, it is sometimes called the general sense, because by it we become conscious of all sensory impressions which are not the objects of smell, sight, taste, or hearing, which are called the special senses; even these, however, are held by modern biologists to be highly specialized forms of touch, which is often called the "mother of all the senses." In a more limited application, touch is applied to that modification of general sensibility which is restricted to the tegumentary surface or to some special portion of it, and which serves to convey definite ideas as to the form, size, number, weight, temperature, hardness, softness, etc., of objects brought within its cognizance. These sensations are received by the terminations of the cutaneous nerves and thence conveyed to the brain. The sense of touch is distributed over the surface of the body, but is much more acute in some parts than in others, e. g., in the hand. It is also capable of great improvement and development; and the blind, who have to depend largely on the sense of touch for guidance, acquire extraordinarily delicate and accurate powers of perception with the fingers; difference of form, size, consistence, and other characters, being readily recognized that are quite inappreciable to those who possess good vision, without special education. In comparative physiology, the lower anthropidæ have both the hands and feet thickly set with tactile papillæ, and the surface of the prehensile tail, which some possess is furnished with them in abundance. Other organs of touch exist in the vibrissæ, or whiskers, of the cat, and of certain rodents. In the Ungulata, the lips and nostrils are probably chief seat of tactile sensibility, and this the is especially so with the Proboscidea. In birds, tactile papillæ have been discovered in the feet, and they are also present in some lizards. Organs of touch are found in the tentacles of the Cephalopoda and Gasteropoda, the palpi and antennæ of insects, and the palpi of the Arachnida.
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
The sense of touch is perhaps more acute in the hands than in any other part of the body, and it is certain that the touch will reveal inequalities of surface which the unaided eye would fail to detect. This sense when fully developed is of infinite service when a mould surface consisting of numerous varying curves has to be formed in the sand so that all the lines may mingle one into another in such a manner as shall defy the strictest scrutiny to detect where one angle intersects the other. This nicety of touch should be cultivated among moulders more than it is: eminent sculptors have it, poor ones do not; and it is rational to say that the moulder who is deficient in this quality will never accomplish anything in his trade but what is mediocre. The study and practice of modelling in sand and clay should by all means be encouraged in our technical schools. Both touch and design could there be cultivated, and opportunity given for the American moulder to reach that degree of artistic superiority which has been already attained by the educated artisan in many parts of Europe. See TECHNICAL EDUCATION FOR THE MOULDER.