The morning news., 1889-03-27
QUEER PLACES TO HEAR.
The Ear Plays Pranks That Ezcite
Wonderment.
From he PhiladeLphin Press.

From the Philadelphia Press.
The ear was made to hear, but it is an or
gan that plays queer pranks sometimes. The
man who could hear distinctly anything
except the application Of his creditors to
square up old debts probably never saw the
light, but others with almost as queer a
record are living hereabouts DR.. Lawrence
Turnbul, the prominent aurist, talked yes
terday afternoon to a reporter OF some of
the oddities that he has met with in his pro-
fessional walks.
THE behavior Of the ear under various
conditions, he said, ''is very interesting
study. Take, for instance, foundry work
ers who live all day long in din and noise,
they are very frequently deaf, and this
sometimes comes, not from the noise, but
from the frequent changes of temperature
TO which they are subject in their occupa-
ton. 1t has been found that in such cases
a cold is likely 20 set in, beginning with the
nose and extending to the ear, which dulls
the sense of hearing. But the din itself is
responsible for great deal Of deafness, and
the strange part Of it is that man deaf
ened In this way cannot hear at all unless
there is a racket about him.
MUST RATTLE OVER CoBBLES TO HEAR.
Gases have been knowu, for instance, of
laoorers who, when they leave the noise of
their daily occupation, will have great diff
hculty in understanding conversation, but
Si4C ScltA4c LAioI Will near WIN OlSb IL LUbI
jump upon dray and rattle over the cob.
bles. The miller will often hear in his mill,
but become deaf when he goes into the
outer air. There is disease which aurists
have called Willis deafness. Willis was an
English cobbler who i'll order to hear had
to be pounding away at his work. If any
one came up TO speak to him he
Immediately would fall to pounding
before he could distinguish what was said.
L knew man VINO had very much the
same trouble. He lived among horses, and
drove a great deal, d the tins finally
came when he would have TO start driving
before he could catch conversation. just
as soon as bis horse started, aud tlere was
the nos9 and rumble OF the road, he was
all right. The explanation cf these strange
facts is that when the drum Of the ear Is
constantly set in vibratio by loud noisss it
becomes limp. Then in order to affect the
auditory nerves there must De some clatter
going on.
WHISPERS UNDERSTOOD IN A FOUNDRY.
"There is another interesting pheuome-
non. 1t is often tle case tlat two mon
working toget er in a foundry will under
stand one another with but little raise of
the voice, while a stranger coming in might
strain his lungs and not be heard. Tho
same il often the experience of railway
engineers. With all the deafening rattle of
wheels and track the enginee' will readily
lildhe IiilScLL uSAIt W LIS III tEIndtI. J MS
Often is the re- ult of the particular int)na-
tion used. This intonation will reach the
ear, while u slightly different vo'c9
no matter how loud will be lls-.
1t is well known that tne loud voice is often
not the bes6 unders o3d. I have seel Wis
itors to deaf and dumb asylum trying to
make themselves understood to the inmates
by bowling atthe top of their voices. The
truth was that wha they said was utterly
unintelligible. On the other hand, one ac-
cuStomed to talk to the deaf AID up 10 the
needs Of the occasion would speak in a low
voice, but articulate distinctly, and would
be unde stood. There is a great deal in
such circumstances il letting the person
talked to see tue the facial expression and
the movement Of the mouth.
"The ear can e developed in many wavs.
Take, for instance the mother, who will
hear the crying Of her child when others
would hear nothing, and when she herself
would not hear other noises perhaps just as
loud. This comes. of course, from devel-
opment. There is something very similar
to it in the trained sporting dog He wall
hear the least movement Of a bird, the
futter of its wings the noise of rwig
moved. At the same time another dog not
so trai ed wild hear ab'olutelv nothing"