The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-04-22
OUR SENSITIVE EARS
THs PECULIAR MECHANISM OF THESE
WONDERFUL ORGANS.
How They Are Affected by the shoctx
OF the Discharge Of Dig Guns-Thc
Odd Way In which some Ears Are
Played Upon 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 10 stand
on their uptoss, stick their fingers In
their ears and open their mouths. On
board ship, where conditions are such
that one cannot get far away from n
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 dis
charge. Men have been known 10
bleed in the ear from the effects OF the
concussion caused 10y a much smaller
gun than "A thirteen inch bore. one
OF the officers Mt Fort Hancock was
asked 10 explain the philosophy of ele~
waiting oneself on the toes, placing lin
gers in ears and opening the mouth.
standing on the toes is like stand
ing on spring." he replied. while
standing on the heel or full sole OF
the foot is like standing on solid. by
placing II spring between your person
ana n violent force the impact is 50
weakened that you are unlikely To suf-
fer injury. In the firing of heavy ord
nance n severe shock may be received
from the ground.
"As for the fingers In the ears, that's
plain enough, II is simply closing the
auditory canal TO prevent the ingress
OF the air which is set In intense vi
bratlon by the discharge. Many u
careless soldier has had his tympanic
membrane destroyed by neglecting to
close up his ears, either with his I'm
gers or some foreign substance.
1T IL wise 10 open the mouth, for the
reason that 10 do 80 tends TO cqualize
the pressure caused by the detonation.
With the mouth closed the pressure In
on the external side of the tympanic
membrane. forcing Il inward and split
ting Il. When the mouth IL open this
Is offset by the same pressure from
within. by means OF the eustachian
tube.
MANY men In the artillery are mi.
nus tympanic membranes. but that
wonderful design of nature is not ab-
solutcly necessary TO hearing. When
IL is torn the hearing is impaired, GER
tainly, but not destroyed, since the
surrounding mir then acts directly upon
the membranes OF the two orliccs.
Nothing I'm anatomy IN more beautiful
than the arrangement Of the ear
have made study of II since coming
here, as | had the misfortune 10 lose
one of my tympanic membranes.
"Thc inner membrane of the cochlea
IL lined with elastic hbers. discovered
by Cortl and bearing his name. They
apparently form the terminntlons Of
the iilaments of the auditory nerve.
HelmholtZ. the greatest authority on
acoustics the world has produced. de-
clarcd that each one of these fibcrs In
attuncd TO II special note, and ms they
are above 1900 I'm number there must
be over 400 for each octave. The In
terval from one To- another IN one-sixty-
sixth of II tone. They form n won
drous instrument for reproducing every
note that the ear can distinguish. The
cochlca may be called an Golinn harp
Of 2, 900 strings that move I'm sympathy
10 all the sounds OF creation.
MANY ears are incapable Of hearing
very high sounds. Many persons are
deaf 10 the chirplng Of crlckcts, and
some cannot hear the twlttorlng OF
spnrrows. There was said TO be n
boy I'm Texas whose ears were de-
formed 10 remarkable degree, the
auriclc OF one being nearly 0S large
as the side OF his head, while that or
the other was no bigger than your
thumb nail. by closing the small ear
he could hear the approach OF n rain
storm hundred miles Off. BY closing
the big one he could hear n fly walking
on the ceiling. Isn't that romantic
enough for your II takes "A vivid Inn
nginntion 20 believe the story. but
when you consider the miracles OF the
ear and hearing you may believe nj
most anything.
II do not doubt that there are many
sounds so faint that our ears are deaf
10 them, but they make sweet music
for others You know what paracousls
Is. suppose. Nor Well, you have II
when you cannot hear faint sounds AT
all when things are still, but hear them
at once when they are accompanied by
n great noise once read Of u woman
Tan authentic case) who made her serv-
ant beat drum whenever she want
ed 10 listen TO anything, for then she
could hear very well. There was
man who could not hear except when
the bells were ringing. II is an old
story that deaf persons hear well when
travelling On railroad, or when rat
tling over n rough highway in car
riagc.
There was n shocmaker'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 10 the
common habit Of sleeping on the right
side. have my doubts. There Is a
record Of man whose two ears heard
tlncrcnt tones at the same time when
single one was given.
"The ears OF the lower animals are
incomplete. DO fishes hcari Certain
~. although the cavity Of the tympa-
mum Is entirely wanting, the round and
oval OriGccs being at the top OF the
head Look out. Get UP on your toes
and open your mouth. The mortar on
the left ls about 90 be discharged. The
wind Is viii the shell, 80 you needn't
clogo vour DIR There gle gOpgr'-Npw