The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-05-28
OUR sENsITIxE EARS.

L
ditions are such that one cannot ge
far away from a thirteen inch rife
the more, sensitive among the officer.
] and sailors place cork or chunk o.
rubber between their teeth when there
is about to be a discharge. Men have
been known to bleed in the ear from
the effects of the concussion caused
by much smaller gun than thir.
teen inch bore. One of the officers al
Fort Hancock was asked to explain
the philosophy of elevating oneself on
the toes, placing fingers in ears and
opening the mUurf1: ---------------
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 a solid.
By placing spring between your per-
son and violent force the impact is
so weakened that you are unlikly to
suffer injury. In the firing of heavy
ordnance severe shock may be re-
ceived from the ground.
AS for the fingers in the -Aa---
that's plain enough. 1t is simply
closing the auditory canal to prevent
the ingress of the air which is set in
intense vibration by the discharge.
Many careless soldier has had his
tympanic membrane destroyed by ne
glecting to close up his ears, either
with his fingers or some foreign SUBJ
stance.
cit is wise to open the mouth, for
the reason that to do so tends to
equalize the pressure caused by the
detonation. With the mouth closed
the pressure is on the external side Of
the tympanic membrane, forcing it
inward and splitting it. When the
mouth is open this is Offset by the
same pressure from within, by means
of the eustachian tube.
Many men in the artillery are
minus tympanic membranes, but that
wonderful design of nature is not abb
solutely necessary to hearing. When
it is torn the hearing is impaired, GER
tainly, but not destroyed, since the
surrounding air then acts directly
upon the membranes of the two ori-
fees. Nothing in anatomy is more
beautiful than the arrangement of the
ear. / have made study of it since
coming here, as had the misfortune
to lose one of my tympanic men,
branes.
"The inner membrane of the coch-
lea is lined with elastic fibers, discov-
cred by Corti and bearing his name.
They apparently form the termina-
tions of the filaments of the auditory
nerve. Helmholtz, the greatest au-
these fbers is attuned to a special
note, and as they are about 5000 in
number there must be over 400 for
each octave. The interval from one
to another is one sixty-sixth of tone.
They form wondrous instrument for
reproducing every note that the ear
can distinguish. The cochlea may
be called an aeolian harp of 5000
strings that move in sympathy to all
the sounds of creation.
"Many ears are incapable of hear
ing very high sounds. Many persons
are deaf to the chirping of crickets,
and some cannot hear the twittering
of sparrows. There was said to be a
boy in Texas whose ears were de-
formed to a remarkable degree, the
auricle of one being nearly as large
as the side of his head, while that oi
the other was no bigger than your
thumb nail. BY closing the small
ear he could hear the approach of a
rain-storm a hundred miles off. By
closing the big one he could hear fly
walking on the ceiling. Isn't that
romantic enough for you? 1t takes q
vidid imagination to believe the story.
but when you consider the miracles
of the ear and hearing you may be-
lieve almost anything.
"I do not doubt that there are
many sounds so faint that our ears
are deaf to them, but they make sweet
uusic for others. You know what
paracousis is, suppose. No! Well
you have it when you cannot heal
faint sounds at all when things are
still, but hear them at once wher
they are accompanied by great noise
once read of a woman Gan authentic
case) who made her servant beat {
drum whenever she wanted to listei
to anything, for then she could hea
very well. There was a man WHIT
could not hear except when the bell
were ringing. 1t is an old story tha
deaf persons hear we'll when travelling
on a railroad, or when rattling over :
rough highway in carriage.
"There was shoemaker appren
tice who heard only when his maste
was beating out sole on his iron
The left ear generally hears bette
than the right. Some say this i
owing to the common habit Of sleep
ing on the right side. have m.
doubts. There is a record of mai
whose two ears heard different tone
at the same time when a single ON
was given.
"The ears of the lower animals ar
incomplete. Do fishes hear! Ger
tainly, although the cavity of tn
tympanum is entirely wanting, tn
round and oval ori6ces being at tn
top of the head. Look out ! Get u
on your toes and open your mouth
The mortar on the left is about to b
discharged. The wind is with tn
she'll, SO you needn't close your ear
There she goes P'-New York Press
STAR BoARDER-"The landlad.
objects to you complaining about tn
fare. She says all the food she serve
is nerve food"