Thus it was thought astonishing that nerves, throughout the body, and in all organs, were of the same nature, given that their task was to transmit such extraordinarily diverse impressions: the nerve whose endings in the eyeball enable it to perceive matter as delicate as rays of light, and the nerve in the ear which is sensitive to the smallest vibration of a sonorous body are no different in nature to those which serve far rougher purposes, like taste, touch and smell.