The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-11
Moving TN Q Ears.

The power of moving the ears is us
ually absent in man, and it has been
supposed that as man advanced in civiIi-
cation, the power Of moving the ears
voluntarily gradually became less and
less until 1t WIS lost Sometimes, how
ever, persons are met with who can still
voluntarily move their ears. 1t is mar
rated Of Albums, who was Professor of
Medicine in the University of Leyden
about the middle Of last century, thathe
was IN the habit of removing his wig in
order to demonstrate to his class the
power he possessed Of moving his auri-
cles at will. Irn.
The power which many animals have
of directing their ears toward the sup
posed source of sound, or of erecting
them in an act of attention, is familiar
to every one. 70 many animals the ex-
ternal ear no doubt acts as ia kind of ar
tiicial hearing-trumpet, 80 that ordinary
sounds may be augmented ana faint
sounds rendered audible. The auricle is
small in moles, seals and walruses, but it
is largely developed in some bats and in
the African elephant. The ears Of the
mouse and of the hedgehog are delicate
organs of touch. In birds, the auricle
is wanting. 1t is remarkable, however,
that in nocturnal birds, such as many
owls, the feathers can be elevated round
the ear-opening 80 as to form kind OF
external ear. -HHe@ .G |. nd "a (
In some aquatic mammals, such as in
certain seals, the sea otter, &C., the open
ing Of the ear Is merely slit. 1t would
seem, speaking generally, that fully.
formed auricle is found only in mann
mails whose habits are terrestrial, and,
that it is reduced in size, or it may be,
is absentin mammals living underground
or in water. 1t was once supposed that
it had no function in man, and it was
stated that those who had lost the ex-i
ternal ears from accident or injury did
not appear to suffer any diminuton in
the power Of hearing. Recently, how
ever, it has been shown, more especially
by DR.. Burnett, of Philadelphia, that the
external ear, instead of being useless, has
an important influence in the perception
Of quality of tone, and that it acts as a
kind Of resonator, lengthening the exter-
nal auditory canal, so as to make certain
tones more audible than they would 9th
erwise be. '5
1t is we'll known that nearly every
sound consists Of number of partial
tones, and that the number and intensity
of these give to our consciousness the
"color:" "timbre," or "klang" Of that
particular sound. These tones are Of
different pitch-some high, others low.
Burnett has found that the peculiar form
Of the external ear strengthens the higher
partial tones. 'eBy holding the hand
behind or around the ear, we have the
power of adding still deeper column Of
air and its resonance to that Of the ex-
ternal ear. Hence the deaf person invol-
UNFAIRLY places his hand to his ear,
to increase by resonance the ordinary
sound falling upon it. His hearing is
thus strengthened, especially for those
tones of high pitch and short wave-length
to which the human voice owes its pecu-
liar timbre or klang-tint." Helmholtz
has already observed in his great work
on Sensations Of Tone:" "It is, indeed,
remarkable that the human voice should
be 80 rich inover1tones for which the
human ear is 30 sensitive.".