"Occupied by these different sensations, and impelled by the various pleasures of my new existence, I instantly arose, and was transported by perceiving that I moved along, as if by some unknown, some hidden power.
"Hardly had I advanced one step, when the novelty of my situation rendered me immoveable. My surprise returned; for I supposed that all the objects around me were in motion, and the whole creation seemed once more to be in disorder.
"I carried my hand to my head, I touched my forehead, I felt my whole frame. Then I found my hand to be the principal organ of my existence. All its informations were so distinct, so perfect, and so superior to what I had experienced from the other senses, that I employed myself for some time in repeating its enjoyments. Every part of my body, which I touched with my hand, seemed to touch my hand in turn, and actually gave back sensation for sensation.
"It was not long before I perceived that this faculty of feeling was expanded over my whole frame, and I began to discover the limits of my existence, which at first I had supposed of an immense extent, and diffused over all the objects I saw.
"Upon casting my eyes upon my body, I conceived it to be of a size so enormous, that all other objects seemed to be, in comparison, as so many luminous particles. I gazed upon my person with pleasure. I examined the formation of my hand, and all its motions; and my hand appeared to be more or less large, in proportion as it was more or less distant from my eyes. On bringing it very near, it concealed, I found, almost every other object from my sight.
"I began to suspect there was some fallacy in the sensation I experienced from the eye, because as I perceived my hand was only a small part, I could not conceive how it should appear so large; I therefore resolved to depend for information upon the touch, which as yet had never deceived me. This precaution was highly serviceable. I renewed my motions, and walked with my face turned toward the heavens. Happening to strike lightly against a palm-tree, I was dismayed, and laid my hand, though not without fear, upon this object, and found it to be a being distinct from myself, because it did not return double sensation as my own body had done. Now it was that, for the first time, I perceived there was something external, something which did not form an actual part of my own existence.