Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1906-01-26
SENSE or HEARING IN FISH.
They Are All Deaf, Says German
Professor. and Gives His Reasons.

PROFESSOR ana GlveS tbs ncdSoHst
Readers of Brehm's "Tierleben'
(Animal Life) will recall statement
to the effect that the carp inhabitina
pond in certain Confidential town
are accustomed to come up to the
landing steps at the sound OF a bell
to be fed. And from this and other
circumstances it has been commonly
held, at least up to the middle OF the
last century, that fishes possess the
sense of hearing.
In the year of 1851 were discovered
however, the so-called organs of Cor
ii in the internal ear of mammals,
which there is good reason to believe
alone receive and transmit to the
brain the vibrations giving rise to the
sense of hearing Now, these organs
of Corti, together with the bony
labyrinth" of the internal ear in
which they are contained, are absent
In fishes alone among the whole group
OF vertebrates, and it accordingly
seems highly probable that these crea-
lures lack the power of hearing,
more especially since there seems
reason to believe that the aforesaid
organs Of Corti are absent in such
few members of the other classes OF
yertebrates as are deaf. If this be
so, it follows, Of course, that the So
called otoliths (the familiar solid
white bones in the head of cod, for
instance) in the ears of fishes have
nothing to do with sound of hearing.
The whole question has recently
been discussed in an exceedingly in
teresting manner by Prof. o. Korner,
director of the ear hospital at Ros-
took. The learned professor says
that nature is never wasteful, and
since fishes possess keen power of
sight, smell and touch Tin the social
ed lateral line of the side of the
body, it is improbable that they are
also provided with the sense of hear
ing. He incidentally cites as a proof
of this the presence of numbers Of
sharks at the battle of Aboukir Bay
and other naval battles, pointing out
that if these fishes had heard the roar
of the cannon they would scarcely
have swum about in their usual uncon-
cerned manner, intent only on bust
ness.
Another argument urged is that
sense of hearing would be useless to
fishes, since the enemies by which
they are attacked rush silently upon
them in the waters or swoop down
upon them from above. The vibra-
tions caused by the breaking of the
waves on the beach are probably COM
municated by the lateral line system,
so that fishes are warned in this man
ner of the proximity of land.
Brehm's anecdote of the carp COM
ing to be fed does not by any means
imply that these fishes hear the sound
of the bell; and it is much more like
ly they feel the vibrations communi-
Gated to the water by the fact of the
person coming to the landing steps.
Moreover, according to the German
professor, it appears as the result of
direct experiment that while fish are
able to take cognizance of numerous
rapid vibrations in water, such as
LlAOS6 communicated ny oil clSClllC
bell, they take no notice whatever
of loud single explosions under wat
er, such as those made by dynamite.
This strongly points to the conclusion
that they receive impressions of the
former type of vibration by means Of
their sense of touch or feeling, but
that they have no perception of either
kind of vibration by means of hearing.
-London Field.