The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-01-23
GATEWAY OF THE SOUL
Wonders of the Human Ear
DR.. Talmage's Theme.
Is GODS ASTOUNDING HANDIWORK
Couyoiufions and Divine Machinery Of Its
Oyermastering ArchifeetHre-A hysferi-
Gus Pathway Tredden Only By the Foot
of Sound and the Foet Of Ged->hows the
Planned IL Has All Its Power.

of Seund and the foot OF cod-shoWs the
Infinite in the InfnifesimaI - He that
Planned IL Has All Its Power.
DR.. Talmage yesterday used the human
ear as an example from which he drew
the lesson of divine power and wisdom
He took for his text Psalms. xciv-s: he
that planted the ear. shall He not hear?
The discourse was as follows:
Architecture is one of the most fas-
cinating arts, and the study OF Egyptlan'
Grecian, Etruscan, Roman. Byzantine,
Moorish, Renaissance styles of building
has been 10 many a man q sublime lie
work. Lincoln and York cathedrals. St
Paul's and St. Peters. and Arch OF TITUS,
and Theban Temple and Alhambra and
Parthenon are the monuments to the
genius OF those who built them. But
more wonderful than any arch they ever
lifted. CT any transept window they ever
illumined. or any COrinthian column they
ever crowned, or any Gothic cloister they
ever elaborated, is chs human ear.
Among the most skillful and assiduous
psychologists OF our time have been those
who have given their time to the examna-
ton of the ear and the study Of its arches,
its walls, its floor, its canals. its aque-
ducts, its galleries, its intricacies, Its con-
volutions, its divine machinery. and yet II
will take another thousand years before
the worlt comes to any adequate appre-
citation Of what God did when he planned
and executed the infinite and overmaster-
ing architecture OF the human ear. The
most of IT is invisible and the microscope
breaks down in the attempt at explora-
ton. The cartilage which we call the ear
is only the storm door Of the great temple
clear down out of sight, next door to the
immortal soul. Such scientists as Helm
holtz and Conte and De Blainville and
Rank and Buck have attempted to walk
the Appian Way of the human ear, but
the mysterious pathway has never been
fully trodden but by two feet-the foot of
sound and the foot of God. Three ears
on each side the head-the external ear.
the middle ear, the internal ear, but all
connected by most wonderful telegraphy.
Adorned in Every Age.
1.-THE external ear in all ages adorned
by precious stones or precious metals.
The Temple of Jerusalem partly built by
the contribution of earrings, and Homer
in the Iliad speaks of Hera, the three
bright drops. her glittering gems sus-
pended from the ear and many of the
adernments of modern times were only
copies of her ear jewels found in Pom
peiian museum and Etruscan vase But
while the outer ear may be adorned by
human art, the middle and the internal
ear are adorned and garnished only By the
e = A ~ -,
of key of yonder organ sets the air vi
brating, and the external ear catches the
Undulating sound and passes 1t on through
the bonelets of the middle ear to the in
ternal ear, and the three thousand fibeJs
of the human brain take up the vibration
and roll the sound on into the soul. The
hidden machinery of the ear by physiol-
Ogists called by the names Of things ia
miliar to us, like the hammer, something
to strike-like the anvil-something to be
smitten-like the stirrup of the saddle
with which We mount the steed-like the
drum, beaten in the march - like the
| harpstrings, TO be swept with music
Coiled ike snail SHE'LL by which one oil
| the innermost passages of the ear is actu.
ally called-like a stairway, the SOUND
to ascend-like a bent tube of a heating
| apparatus, taking that which enter.
| round and round-like a labyrinth witt
| wonderful passages into which III,
| thought enters only to be lost in bewild
erment. a muscle contracting when tn
| noise is too loud, just as the pupil o.
| the eye contracts when the light is too
| glaring The external ear is defended b!
wax which, with its bitterness, discour
| ages inSectile invasion. The internal ca
| imbedded in by what is far the hardes
bone of the human system, a very roci
| of strength and defiance.
Where Science Stops.
THE ear is so strange a contrivanc'
that, by the estimate Of one scientist, /
| can catch the sound of e 700 vibrations il
a second. The outer ear taking in al
kinds of sound, whether the crash o
an avalanche or the hum of a bee. TT
sound passing to the inner door of tn
outside ear halts until another mechan
ism, divine mechanism, passes it on b.
| the bonelets OF the middle ear, and com
ing to the inner door of that second ear
the sound has no power to come tarthe
until another divine mechanism passe
it on through into the inner ear, and the
the sound comes TO the rail track OF tn
brain branchlet. and rolls on and on unit
ii comes to sensation, and there the cur
tain drops, and a hundred gates shut. an
the voice of God seems TO say to all hu
man inspection: Thus far and no far
ther'
'1n this vestibule Of the palace OF tn
soul, how many kings Of thought, Of med
icine, of physiology. have done penance q
lifelong study and got no farther tina
the vestibule. Mysterious home OF reveI
beration and echo. Grand Central Depo
OF sound. Headquarters to which ther
come quick dispatches, part the way b
cartilaees, part the way by air. part tn
way by bone, part the way by nerve
the slowest dispatch plunging into tn
ear at the speed of 1850 feet a seconC
Small instrument OF music on which
played all the music you ever heard. froi
the grandeurs Of an August thunderstorm
to the softest breathings of flute. Sma
instrument of music only a quarter of a
inch Of surface and the thinness Of on
two hundred and fiftieth part of an incl
and that thinness divided into three la,
ers. In that ear musical staff, line
s;laces. bar. and rest. a bridge leadin
from the outside natural world to the fl
sile spiritual world: we see the abutmer
a. this end the bridge, but the fog OF a
u1Iifted mystery hiding the abutment 4
the other end Of the bridge. Whisperir
/, 8 Sdltfy OF LflE SOUL i ne uutIidH VOICE
Gods eulogy Of the ear. That voice cap.
bic OF producing seventeen trilliOn, fiN
hundred and ninety-two billion. one hui
bred and eighty-six million. forty-fol
thousand. four hundred and fifteen sound
and all that variety made, not for the T
galement OF beast or bird, but for u
human ear.
Music 10 Conquer the Ear.
About fifteen years ago in Venice Il
down in death one whom many consider,
: the greatest musical composer Of the &c
; fury. Struggling on UP from six years
e age. when he was left fatherless. Wagn
I rose through the Obloquy OF the worl
E and Outlines all nations seemingly again
him, until he gained the favor OF kin
{ ( and won the enthusiasm Of the ope
D houses OF Europe and America Stru
I Cling all the way on 20 seventy years
= age TO conquer the worlds ear In IN
= same attempt TO master the human e
e and gain supremacy over this gate OF Z
! immortal soul, great battles were foug