The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1903-09-11
YOU HAVE SIXrEARS.
THE ORGANS -oF-HeARlNe ARK A
woNDeReuLasET or MACHINES. 4

They Include Two Hamners, I've
Anvils, Tive -~stfrrups, SIX Canals,
Two snail Shells, six Drams sAd
Several ether Curioss Utensils.
The -hsaring apparatus is far more
wonderful than most people have the
slightest idea of. 1t Is q marvellous
collection of instruments for receiving.
magnifying and recording sounds or
vibrations, as the learned term them.
What you do when you speak TO a
friend il to throw the air into Eibra-
ton. Your vocal organs strike the air,
and the impulses thus caused reach the
trumpet shaped bits of flesh land eristle
you call ears. You have Altogether ak
ears.
The flaps which are stuck on to each
side of the read are the outer ears. Be
sides these there are the middle ears
and the inner ears, all Of which lie In
cavities In the bones OF the head. All
that the flaps do Is to collect and rom
centrate the vibrating currents OF air,
90 that they may strike the ear drums.
These latter are really the middle
C&A0s Al OulGk CAI naLhOWn ~ ~ GA~
tiers the head and ends In a ring. A
membrane is stretched over this ring.
much in the same way as a piece OF
parchment is stretched over the head
Of a drum.
The ear drum is a true drum, for Il
can be frightened and slackened by
means of levers made for that purpose.
The tightening and s~lackening are lone
quite automatically to suit the various
sounds.
This is how 1t Is frightened: In the
middle ear are four tiny bones, the
most peculiar looking bones imagina-
BILE. The biggest is a little odd shaped
bone called the mallet. II looks like n
lilliputian version OF a Holsters claw.
Minute muscles are attached to II, %
that ii may act as a lever TO Increase
or diminish the tension OF the drum
skin. One muscle relaxes the mem
braHe, another pulls 1t taut.
The four bones form a chain to con-
meet the drum skin OF the outer ear with
the drum skin of the inner n so to
conduct the sound. The nex bone TO
the mallet Is the anvil, then come the
spherical bone and the stirrup, which
looks exactly like its namesake, but 1t
il by far the most important Of the
four. BY mean of this alone n can
hear, in a fashion, even II all the others
be gone.
A bony, gristly tubs joins the ear
drum with the back OF the mouth at
the side Of the soft Palate. Hence the
four bones are AWAY ; in a bath Of air,
quite naked, as 1t were. 1t Is owing to
this that people whu are somewhat
deaf are able to hear better when they
listen with their mouths open.
Now we come to the inmost ear,
which is made up OF three parts. The
first one is called the vestibule, or hall,
and it has a drumhead to which the
chain of little bones Is attached.
The hall leads to the other parts,
both of which consist of tortuous tubes
along which the sound passes. One
part is made Of three semlcIrcular
canals. The other is shaped exactly Al
q snails shell. All these make up q
peculiar labyrinth, and all are COM
pletely filed with a curious fluid. Their
walls are lined with the soft, pulpy
nerves of hearing which communicate
with the brain. Owing to these COM
pick and winding cavities, a great ex-
tent OF nerves 10 exposed for the recep-
ton of sound.
Now let us see what happens when
somebody a y "Hearr' to you.
The air is thrown into vibrations,
which spread out and out until they
touch the side OF your head. There
thef ieshy flap on m side collects and
magniies the vibrations.
Down the a funnel they pass until
they reach the membrane OF the drum
of the ear. They strike on the mem
brane, which adapts itself to them.
Then the vibrations are communicated,
through the bones In the middle ear.
to the membrane covering the entrance
to the labyrinth.
II you keep our mouth wide open
he air vibrations pass direct to the
little bones. The impulses Of the air
are not interrupted by first having TO
strike the membrane OF the drum; that
In all the difference.
People could easily converse with
their ears sealed up. II tie two
speakers each held an end OF the same
piece OF hard wood against their teeth
ever the faintest whisper could be un-
derstood.
You will see from this that what are
commonly called the ears are not es-
sentially necessary to hearing. after
all
Well, however the vibrations are re-
ceived, they finally strike against the
membrane covering the entrance to the
hall of the labyrinth. Thence they
make the 1uid which fills the labyrinth
vibrate. These vibrations act ON the
nbers of the auditory nerve, the nbers
which coat the inner ear. Along this
nerve the impressions are communlcat-
ed to the brain. In this manner the
sensation Of sOgnd is produced. and
you know that somebody said Heart
to you.
The TeDid Bath.
A tHpid bath at about 90 degrees