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CHAP. XIV.

EXERCISE OF THE SENSES CONTINUED OF THE SENSE OF HEARING-ITS OBJECT-ITS ORGAN-HOW PRODUCED DIFFERENT DEGREES OF PERFECTNESSPASSIVE OR ACTIVE-ITS USES-THESE PRINCIPALLY INTELLECTUAL-A MUSICAL EAR: IMPROVED BY CULTURE-ADJUVANT MOTIONS OF THE EAR, TO BE DEVELOPED EXTERNAL ATTENTIONS TO THE EDUCATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THIS SENSE-CAUTIONS RESPECTING IT.

IV. Of the Sense of Hearing.

THE objects of this sense are sounds impressed upon the sentient organ- the ear, of whose beautiful and exquisite mechanism for conveying these sounds to the expansion of the auditory nerve, it would be difficult to convey an accurate, yet intelligible description, even if the design of the present work would permit such a digression.

Sounds are occasioned by the vibrations of a sonorous body, and are produced by the percussion of such body: these vibrations are propagated to the immediately surrounding atmosphere; and the impulse thus given is repeated and communicated to the ear, whose external form is well calculated to collect, and to concentrate these

impulses, which being thus brought to the internal mechanism, are carried onwards by an inimitable arrangement of structure, until the required impression is made upon the auditory nerve, and the brain. Thus, this sense is not excited by the presence of the body itself, as in that of touch; nor by some of its integral parts, as in those of taste and smell, but by the atmosphere which has received and conveyed the first vibratory impulse.

There is a great variety in the extent and perfection of this sense, both with regard to different classes of animals, and to the individuals of which they are composed. With some, it is more delicate than in man, at least so far as relates to the reception of simple sounds, necessary to the conservation of organic life; with others it is much more imperfect. With respect to man, the deficiency in his power of receiving, and distinguishing the minuter vibrations of simple bodies, is more than abundantly compensated by the infinite variety of sounds which he is capable of detecting, and which form for him so many signs of ideas.

This sense is passive, as when we hear without particular attention, and receive the sounds as they happen to be impressed upon the sentient organ; it is active, as when we listen, when we adapt the ear with intense energy to catch even the whisper of interest, and will scarcely venture to breathe, lest we should lose a single impulse of that medium which conveys to us intelligent

notices; and not only gives us the sensation of simple sounds, and distinguishes their difference— not only teaches us, in many cases, the nature of bodies, their relative situation with regard to ourselves, their distance from us, and from each other, as well as the direction in which they are moving-but also informs us of what is passing in the minds of others; brings us acquainted with their feelings, emotions, ideas, and habits of thought and action; and awakens in our own minds corresponding trains of thought and of feeling; thus contributing essentially to the development of the understanding, as well as of the imagination.

A farther use of this sense, which indeed has been presupposed in the former paragraph, consists. in the communication, not only of affective language—that of feeling and passion; but also of conventional language, which however, though useless, or at least incompletely useful without the ear, is, notwithstanding, dependent for its origin and variety, principally upon the faculty of intelligence, the wants of the understanding, and of the immaterial principle of which it forms an important manifestation ;—it is, in fact, the creature of society, and is rich or poor exactly in proportion to the extent of civilisation, and to the degree of culture which the intellectual operations have received: hence the great difference of different languages.

In enumerating the uses of the ear, we must

not forget to notice the pleasure to be derived from music, which results, in all probability, mainly from the association of ideas, recalled to our minds by the sounds of harmony. That it is not invariably thus, appears, however, from the fact, that sometimes persons of lively imagination, extensive association, and correct judgment to combine their results, are not possessed of a musical ear, and do not derive pleasure from the concord of sweet sounds: neither is a musical ear always the most correct and delicate when applied to other sounds; so that, as it should seem, the pleasure derived from music must be dependent rather upon some peculiar state of the function of intelligence, than of the sentient organ, upon which the impression of sound is

first made.

This sense may be improved by culture. The degree of perfection to which it may be carried, is exemplified by circumstances which have rendered its cultivation a matter of imperative necessity; as for instance, in savage life, where the acuteness of the senses supplies, in some measure, the want of the protection afforded by the institutions of civilized society, and all the conveniences connected with them; and in the blind, where the total failure of one of nature's most important methods of communication with external objects, has rendered it desirable to supply the deficiency, by increasing the activity and

extending the sphere of the sense the best calculated to secure the largest amount of intelligent

notices.

In one other circumstance, this sense has lost a degree of its power, by the habits, probably the dress, of social institutions. Nature has provided the ear with certain muscles, for the purpose of more effectually directing its attention to the finer sounds, and also of collecting a larger number of atmospherical vibrations. In the great majority of instances, the power of moving the ears has been completely lost, partly from pressure upon the external structure, but principally by the wasting of these muscles consequent upon want of exercise. Yet there are individuals who still retain this faculty, and who are perfectly conscious of employing these organs when they wish to direct the ear particularly to catch fine sounds. But so rare is the possession of this gift, that the persons so endowed become objects of wonder and curiosity, rather than of admiration. It may be well, however, for physical education to notice and restore this power; upon the principle of carrying the organ to its greatest degree of perfection; and with the consciousness that nature has made nothing in vain, to reinstate the faculty of moving the ear by the development of its muscles.

One of the earliest parental cares will be, to prevent any tendency to inflammation and excoriation behind the ears; an affection so frequent

VOL. I.

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