The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1904-05-04
OUR SENSITIVE EARS
THE PECULIAR MECHANISM OF THESE
WONDERFUL ORGANS.

WONDERFUL ORGANS.
How They Are Affected by the shock
of the Discharge of Zig Guns-The
Odd Way In which Some Ears Are
Played Ipon by Various sounds.
Whenever a big gun is fired at Fort
Hancock, the governments proving
grounds on Sandy Hook, the officers In
charge advise all spectators To stand
on their tiptoes, stick their fingers In
their ears and open their mouths On
board ship, where conditions are such
TINT one cannot get far away from
thirteen inch rifle, the more sensitive
among the officers and sailors place
cork or chunk of rubber between their
teeth when there is about to be II dis.
charge. Men have been known to
bleed In the ear from the effects of the
eoncussion caused by n much smaller
gun than thirteen inch bore one
of the officers ut Fort Hancock was
asked TO explain the philosophy of ele-
waiting oneself on the toes, placing fin
gers In ears and opening the mouth.
standing on the toes is like stand
Ing on Il spring." he replied, while
standing on the heel or full sole of
the foot Is like standing ON solid by
placing spring between your person
and II violent force the impact Is so
weakened that you are unlikely 10 suf
fer injury. In the firing of heavy ord
nance II severe shock may be received
from the ground
AS for the fingers in the ears, that's
plnin enough, 1t Is simply closing the
auditory canal to prevent the ingress
of the air which is set In intense vi
brntion by the discharge. Many II
careless soldier has had his tympanic
membrane destroyed by negleeting to
close up his ears, either with his fin
gers or some foreign substance.
1T Is wise TO open the mouth, for the
reason TINT TO do so tends to equalize
the pressure caused by the detonntlon.
With the mouth closed the pressure IL
on the external side OF the tympanlc
membrane. forcing 1t inward and split
ting II. When the mouth IL open this
IN offset by the same pressure from
within, by means of the eustachlan
tube
"Mnny men In the artillery are mi.
nus tympanic membranes, but that
wonderful design of nature IL not alb
sOlutely necessary to hearing. When
It Is torn the hearing Is impaired, GER
tninly. but not destroyed. since the
surrounding air then nets directly upon
the membranes OF the two orifices.
Nothing In anatomy Is more beautiful
than the arrangement of the ear.
have made study of II since coming
here, ms had the misfortune to lose
one Of my tympanlc membranes.
The inner membrane of the cochlea
Is lined with elastic tibers, discovered
| by Cortl and bearing his name. They
apparently form the examinations Of
the illamentS of the auditory nerve.
Helmholtz. the greatest authority on
acoustics the world has produced, de
Clared that each one of these fibers IL
attuncd to n special note, ana as they
ARE above 5000 In number there must
be over 400 for each octave. The In
tervnl from one To another IL one-siXty
sixth of n tone. They form II won
drols instrument for reproducing every
note TINT the ear can distinguish. The
cochlen may be called an mOlian harp
of 1000 strings that move In sympathy
to MI the sounds of creation.
MANY ears are incapable OF hearing
very high sounds. Many persons are
deaf to the chrping of erickets, and
some cannot hear the twltterng of
spnrrows There WINS said 20 be n
boy In Texas whose ears were de-
formed to II remarkable degree, the
auricle of one being nearly ns large
as the side of his head, while that of
the other was no bigger than your
thumb nail by closing the small ear
he could hear the approach of II rain
storm hundred miles Off. by closing
the big one he could hear fly walking
on the ceiling. Isn't that romantic
enough for your 1t tnkes vivid I'm.
nginnton to believe the story. but
when you consider the miracles of the
ear and hearing you may believe nj
most anything.
81 do not doubt that there are many
sounds so faint that our ears are deaf
to them, but they make sweet music
for others. You know what paracousis
IL, suppose. No? Well, you have 1t
when you cannot hear faint sounds Mt
all when things are STILL but hear them
Mt once when they are accompanied 10y
great noise once read of II woman
Tan authentic case) who made her scry-
ant beat drum whenever she want
ed to listen to anything for then she
could hear very well There was
man who could not hear except when
the bells were ringing. 1t IL an old
story that deaf persons hear well when
travelling on n railroad, or when rat
thing over rough highway In car
rage
"Fhere was shoemaker's apprentice
who heard only when his master WAS
beating out sole on his iron. The
left ear generally hears better than the
right. Some say this Is owing TO the
common habit Of sleeping on the right
side. have my doubts. There is
record Of n man whose two ears heard
different tones at the same time when
u single one was given.
"fhc ears of the lower animals are
incomplete. DO fishes hear? Certain
ly, although the cavity of the tympa
nun is entirely wanting, the round and
OWL oriiices being at the top of the
head Look out, Get up on your toes
and open your mouth. The mortar ON
the left Is about to be discharged Tie
wind Is with the shell, so you needn't
close your ear. There she goes" New
York Press.
Where there is much pretension
much has been borrowed. Nature new
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