FOOTNOTES:
[a] I presume it will not be ungrateful to take notice here of the admirable, as well as useful Sagacity of some deaf Persons, that have learnt to supply their want of Hearing by understanding what is said by the Motion of the Lips. My very ingenious Friend Mr. Waller, R. S. Secr. gives this Account, There live now and have from their Birth, in our Town, a Man and his Sister, each about fifty Years old, neither of which have the least Sense of Hearing,——yet both of these know, by the Motion of the Lips only, whatever is said to them, and will answer pertinently to the Question proposed to them——The Mother told me they could hear very well, and speak when they were Children, but both lost that Sense afterwards, which makes them retain their Speech; though that, to Persons not used to them, is a little uncouth and odd, but intelligible enough. Phil. Trans. No. 312.
Such another Instance is that of Mr. Goddy, Minister of St. Gervais in Geneva, his Daughter. She is now about sixteen Years old. Her Nurse had an extraordinary Thickness of Hearing; at a Year old, the Child spake all those little Words that Children begin to speak at that Age.——At two Years old, they perceived she had lost her Hearing, and was so Deaf, that ever since, though she hears great Noises, yet she hears nothing that one can speak to her.——But by observing the Motions of the Mouth and Lips of others, she hath acquired so many Words, that out of these she hath formed a sort of Jargon, in which she can hold Conversation whole Days with those that can speak her own Language. I could understand some of her Words, but could not comprehend a Period, for it seemed to be but a confused Noise. She knows nothing that is said to her, unless she seeth the Motion of their Mouths that speak to her; so that in the Night, when it is necessary to speak to her, they must light a Candle. Only one thing appeared the strangest part of the whole Narration: She hath a Sister, with whom she hath practised her Language more than with any other: And in the Night, by laying her Hand on her Sister’s Mouth, she can perceive by that what she saith, and so can discourse with her in the Night. Bishop Burnet’s Let. 4. p. 248.
[] I cannot but admire that our most eminent modern Anatomists should not agree, whether there be any Muscles in the outward Ear of Man or not. Dr. Keil saith there are two; Dr. Drake the same Number; and Dr. Gibson makes them to be four. So also doth Monsieur Dionis, and so did the ancient Anatomists: But Dr. Schelhammer expressly denies there are any, and saith, Seduxit autem reliquos Brutorum Anatome, in quorum plerisque tales Musculi plures inveniuntur; putârunt autem fortassis ignominiosum Homini, si non & his instructus esset, & minùs inde perfectum animal fore. Schel. de Auditu p. 1. c. 1. §. 7. But Valsalva, who wrote very lately, and is very accurate in his Survey of the Ear, saith, Musculi auriculæ posteriores quandoque quatuor, quandoque duo; sed ut plurimùm tres adnotantur; & quando solùm duo se manifestant, tunc unus ex illis duplicato tendine versùs Concham deferri solet. Horum musculorum in numero varietatem non solùm in diversis; verùm etiam in eodem subjecto quandoque vidi——Ex quibus differentiis subortæ sunt Auctorum discrepantiæ in horum Musculorum numero, & positu:——quod non evenisset, si pluries in diversis Corporibus iidem Musculi quæsiti essent. Ant. Mar. Valsalva de Aur. Human. c. 1. §. 6. But Dr. Drake thinks some of Valsalva’s Muscles the Product of Fancy. Mr. Cowper makes them to be three, one Attollent, and two Retrabent Muscles. See Anat. Tab. 12.
[c] Inter cætera [animalia aurita] maximè admirabilis est auris leporinæ fabrica, quod cùm timidissimum animal sit, & prorsus inerme, natura id tum auditu acurissimo, tanquam hostium exploratore ad perfentienda pericula, tum pedibus ceu armis ad currendum aptis munisse videtur. A. Kircher’s Phonurg. l. 1. §. 7. Technas. 2.
[d] Moles have no protuberant Ear, but only a round Hole between the Neck and Shoulder; which Situation of it, together with the thick, short Fur that covers it, is a sufficient Defensative against external Annoyances. The Meatus Auditorius is long, round and cartilaginous, reaching to the under part of the Skull. Round the inside runs a little Ridge, resembling two Threads of a Skrew; at the Bottom whereof is a pretty Inlet, leading to the Drum, made, on one side with the aforesaid cochleous Ridge, and on the other, with a small Cartilage. I observed there was Cerumen in the Meatus.
As to the inner Ear, it is somewhat singular, and different from that of the other Quadrupeds, and much more from Birds, although I have met with some Authors that make it agreeing with that of Birds. There are three small Bones only (all hollow) by which the Drum (to use the old Appellation) or the Membrana Tympani (as others call it) acteth upon the Auditory Nerve. The first is the Malleus, which hath two Processes nearly of equal Length; the longer of which is braced to the Membrana Tympani, the shorter to the side of the Drum or Os Petrosum; the back part of it resembles the Head and Stalk of a small Mushroom, such as are pickled. On the back of the Malleus lies the next small Bone, which may be called the Incus, long, and without any Process, having somewhat the Form of the short Scoop wherewith Water-men throw the Water out of their Wherries. To the end of this the third and last small Bone is tacked by a very tender Brace. This little Bone bears the Office of the Stapes, but is only forked without any Base. One of these Forks is at one Fenestra, or Foramen, the other at another; in which Fenestra I apprehend the Forks are tacked to the Auditory Nerve. These Fenestra (equivalent to the Fenestra Ovalis, and Rotunda in others) are the Inlets into the Cochlea and Canales Semicirculares, in which the Auditory Nerve lieth. The Semicircular Canales lie at a distance from the Drum, and are not lodged (as in other Animals) in a strong, thick Body of Bone, but are thrust out, within the Skull, making an Antrum, with an handsome Arch leading into it, into which a part of the Brain enters.
One Leg of the Malleus being fastned to the Membrana Tympani, and the Incus to the back of the Malleus, and the top of that to the top of the Stapes, and the Forks or Branches of the Stapes to the Auditory Nerve, I observed that whenever I moved the Membrane, all the little Bones were at the same time moved, and consequently the Auditory Nerve thereby affected also.
I hope the Reader will excuse me for being so particular in this Organ only of the Mole, a despised Creature, but as notable an Example of God’s Work, as its Life is different from that of other Quadrupeds; for which Reason it partly is that I have enlarged on this part differing from that of others, and which no Body that I know of, hath taken much notice of, and which is not discoverable without great Patience and Application; and partly because by comparing these Observations with [Book VII. Chap. 2. Note (d)], we may judge how the Sense of Hearing is performed.
[e] Among many Varieties, both in the inner and outer Ear, those which appear in the Passage into the Rock-Bone, are remarkable. For in an Owl, that perches on a Tree or Beam, and hearkens after the Prey beneath her, it is produced farther out above than it is below, for the better Reception of the least Sound. But in a Fox, that scouteth underneath the Prey at Roost; it is for the same Reason, produced farther out below. In a Pole-Cat, which hearkens strait forward, it is produced behind, for the taking of a forward Sound. Whereas in a Hare, which is very quick of Hearing, and thinks of nothing but being pursued, it is supplied with a bony Tube, which as a natural Otocoustick, is so directed backward, as to receive the smallest and most distant Sound that comes behind her. Grew’s Cosmolog. Sacr. lib. 1. c. 5. §. 6.
[f] The Texture of the Tragus and Antitragus, is softer than that of the Helix, which serveth gently to blunt, not forcibly to repel the Sound in the Concha.
[g] Dr. Gibson’s Anatomy, Chap. 22. Book III.
Those whose Ears are cut off, have but a confused way of Hearing, and are obliged either to form a Cavity round the Ear with their own Hands, or else to make use of a Horn, and apply the end of it to the inner Cavity of the Ear, on order to receive the agitated Air. ’Tis likewise observed, that those whose Ears jut out, hear better than flat-eared Persons. Monsieur Dionis’s Anat. Demonstr. 8.
[h] Gibs. Ibid.
[] It would nauseate the Reader to reckon up the Places famed for the Conveyance of Whispers, such as the Prison of Dionysius at Syracuse, which is said to encrease a Whisper to a Noise; the clapping ones Hands to the Sound of a Cannon, &c. Nor the Aquaducts of Claudius, which carry a Voice sixteen Miles, and many others both Ancient and Modern. If the Reader hath a mind to be entertained in this way, he may find enough in Kircher’s Phonurgia. But it may not be irksome to mention one or two of our own in England. Among which, one of the most famed is the Whispering-Place in Gloucester Cathedral, which is no other than a Gallery above the East-end of the Choir, leading from one side thereof to the other. It consisteth, (if I mistake not) of five Angles, and six Sides, the middle-most of which is a naked, uncovered Window, looking into a Chapel behind it. I guess the two Whisperers stand at about twenty five Yards Distance from one another. But the Dome of St. Paul’s, London, is a more considerable Whispering-Place, where the ticking of a Watch (when no Noise is in the Streets) may be heard from Side to Side; yea, a Whisper may be sent all round the Dome. And not only in the Gallery below, but above, upon the Scaffold, I tried, and found that a Whisper would be carried over one’s Head round the top of the Arch, notwithstanding there is a large Opening in the middle of it into the upper part of the Dome.
[k] Auditus autem semper patet: ejus enim sensu etiam dormientes egemus: A quo cùm sonus est acceptus, etiam è somno excitamur. Flexuosum iter habet, nè quid intrare possit, si simplex, & directum pateret; provisum etiam, ut siqua minima bestiola conaretur irrumpere, in sordibus aurium, tanquàm in visco, inhæresceret. Cicer. de Nat. Deor. l. 2. c. 57.
It deserves a particular Remark here, that in Infants in the Womb, and newly born, the Meatus Auditorius is shut up very closely, partly by the Constriction of the Passage, and partly by a glutinous Substance, whereby the Tympanum is guarded against the Water in the Secundine, and against the Injuries of the Air as soon as the Infant is born.
[l] It is remarkable, that in most, if not all Animals, whose Ears are tunnelled, or where the Meatus Auditorius is long enough to afford Harbour to Ear-wigs, or other Insects; that, I say, in the Ears of such, Ear-wax is constantly to be found. But in Birds, whose Ears are covered with Feathers, and where the Tympanum lies but a little way within the Skull, no Ear-wax is found, because none is necessary to the Ears so well guarded, and so little tunnelled.
[m] The Ear-wax was thought by the old Anatomists to be an Excrement of the Brain: Humor biliosus à cerebro expugnatus, the Bartholines say of it, l. 3. c. 9. But as Schelhammer well observes, Nil absurdius, quàm cerebri excrementum hoc statuere. Nam & ratio nulla suadet, ut in cerebro fieri excrementum tale credamus:——neque viæ patent per quas ab eo seclusum in meatum auditorium possit inde penetrare. As to its Taste, Casserius gives Instances of its being sweet in some Creatures. But Schelhammer says, Ego verò semper, cum amaritie aliquid dulcedinis in illo deprehendi. Vid. Schel. de Audit. p. 1. c. 2. §. 10. But I could never distinguish any Sweetness in it; but think it insipid mixed with a Bitterness.
[n] Cerumina amara Arteriolis exudantia. Willis de Anim. Brut. par. 1. c. 14. In the Skin——are little Glands, which furnish a yellow and bitter Humour. Monsieur Dionis’s Dem. 18. An handsome Cut of those Glandulæ ceruminosæ is in Dr. Drake, from Valsalva.
Pliny attributes a great Virtue to the Ear-wax; Morsus hominis inter asperrimos numeratur: medentur sordes ex auribus: ac ne quis miretur, etiam Scorpionum ictibus Serpentiumque statim impositæ. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 28. c. 4. And that it hath an healing Quality, and may be accounted a good Balsam, I my self have experienced.
[o] That there is such a Thing as the innate Air, (talked of much by most Authors on this Subject) Schelhammer very justly, I think, denies, by Reason there is a Passage into the inner Ear from the Throat, through which the innate Air may pass out, and the outward Air enter in. V. Par. Alt. p. 2. c. 1. §. 10. When by stopping our Breath, and Straining, we force the external Air into the Ear, it may be heard rushing in; and if much be forced in, it may be felt also to beat against the Tympanum. When the Passage to the Throat is by any Means stopp’d, as by a Cold in the Head, &c. the Hearing thereby becomes dull and blunt; by Reason the Communication between the outward and inward Air are obstructed: But when by strong Swallowing, or such-like Motion of the Throat, the Passage is opened, we perceive it by a sudden Smack or Crack, and we immediately hear very clearly; the load of feculent Air being at that Time discharged from the inner Ear.
It is a wise Provision, that the Passage for the Air into the Ear, is from the Throat; Ut non statim quivis aer externus irrumpere queat (as Schelhammer saith, Par. Ult. c. 4. §. 8.) sed nonnihil immutatus, ac temperatus, calore ex medio ventre exspirante; imò fortassis non facilè alius, nisi ex pulmonibus.
[p] Valsalva hath given us a more accurate Description of the Tuba Eustachiana, or Passage to the Palate, than any other Author, to whom I therefore refer, De Aur. Human. c. 2. §. 16, &c.
The chief Use hereof, he thinks, is to give way to the inner Air, upon every Motion of the Membrana Tympani, the Malleus, Incus and Stapes. This Passage, if it be shut up, Deafness ensues: Of which he gives two Instances: One a Gentleman, who lost his Hearing by a Polypus in the Nose reaching to the Uvula; the other a Yeoman, labouring with an Ulcer above the left Side of the Uvula; which when he stopt with a Tent dipped in Medicine, he lost his Hearing in the left Ear, and recovered it, as soon as the Tent was out. Ibid. c. 5. §. 10.
[q] Os [petrosum] ex quo interiores [Labyrinthi] cavitatum parietes conflati sunt, album, durissimum, necnon maximè compactum. Id autem à Naturâ ita comparatum esse videtur, ut materia ætherea Sonorum objectorum impressionibus onusta, dum prædictis impingitur Parietibus, nihil aut saltem ferè nihil motûs sui amittat, atque adeò illum qualem ab Objectis sonoris accepit, talem communicet spiritui animali contento intra expansiones rami mollioris Nervorum auris. Dr. Raym. Vieussens of Montpellier, in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 258.
[r] The Tympanum of the Ear, or as Valsalva and the Moderns, the Membrana Tympani was taken notice of as early as Hippocrates’s Time. In Birds, it is strained towards the outward Parts; in other Animals towards the Brain, or inner Parts. Monsieur Dionis saith, It is not equally fastened to the whole Circumference of the bony Circle, in which it is inchased; for on the upper Side it hath a free disengaged Part, by which some can give vent to the Smoak in their Mouth. Demonstr. 8. That there is some Passage I doubt not, but I question whether Monsieur Dionis ever saw the disengaged Part he mentions. I have my self carefully searched divers Subjects, and do not remember to have seen any such Passage; and I perceive it escaped the diligent Schelhammer’s Eye. Valsalva also by injecting in through the Tuba Eustachiana, could not force any Liquor into the Meatus Auditorius; but yet he imagines he found the Passage out in another Place of the Drum, in some morbid, and one sound Head. Valsalv. de Aur. Hum. c. 2. §. 8. Mr. Cowper also affirms there is a Passage by the upper Part of the Membrane. Anat. Ap. Fig. 8.
[] Dr. Vieussens, before-named, discovered a Membrane, tenuissimæ raræque admodùm texturæ intra cavitatem Tympani; as he describes it. Whose use he saith is, 1. Occludens Labyrinthi januam impedit nè naturalis purissimus ac subtilissimus Aer intra cavitates——communicationem——habeat cum aere crasso. 2. Labyrinthi basin calefacit, &c. ubi supra. Probably this double Membrane may be such, or after the same Manner as it is in the Tympanum of Birds: Of which see my Observations in [Book VII. Chap. 2. Note (d).]
[t] The four little Bones being treated of by all that have concerned themselves about this Sense of Hearing, since their Discovery, I shall take Notice of only two Things concerning them. 1. The Discovery of them is owing wholly to the Diligence and Sagacity of the latter Ages; of which Schelhammer gives this Account from Fallopius, Hæc Officula antiquis Anatomicis——ignota fuere; primusque qui in lucem produxit [Malleum & Incum] fuit Jac. Carpensis; primus quoque procul omni dubio Anatomicæ artis, quam Vesalius posteà perfecit, restaurator. Tertium [Stapedem] invenit ac promulgavit primus Joh. Phil. ab Ingrassia, Siculus, Philosophus ac Medicus doctissimus. Quartum, Thomâ Bartholin. teste, viro longè celeberrimo, Fran. Sylvio debetur Schel. ubi supr. c. 3. §. 9. 2. Their Difference in Animals: In Man, and Quadrupeds, they are four, curiously inarticulated with one another; with an external and internal Muscle to draw, or work them, in extending, or relaxing the Drum; but in Fowls the Case is very different: His unum Ossiculum solùm largita est Natura, quod Collumellam fortè appellaveris: teres enim est & subtilissimum, basi innitens latiori, rotundæ. Huic adnexa est cartilago valde mobilis, quæ in Tympanum videtur terminari. Id. Ib. §. 8. In the Ears of all the Fowl that I could examine, I never found any more than one Bone, and a Cartilage, making a Joynt with it, that was easily moveable. The Cartilage had generally an Epiphyse, or two, one on each Side.——The Bone was very hard and small, having at the end of it a broad Plate, of the same Substance, very thin, upon which it rested, as on its Basis. Dr. Al. Moulen in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 100.
These are the most material Things I find observed by others, concerning the Ears of Fowls, and some of them hardly, I believe, observed before. To which I shall subjoyn some other Things I have my self discovered, that I presume escaped the Eyes of those most curious and inquisitive Anatomists. Of which the last cited [Book VII. Chap. 2. Note (d).]
[] Videtur quòd Tympanum Auditionis instrumentum præliminare, & quasi præparatorium fuerit, quad Soni impressionem, sive species sensibiles primo suscipiens, eas in debitâ proportione, & aptâ conformitate, versùs Sensorium, quod adhuc interiùs situm est, dirigat: simili officio fungitur respectu Auditûs, ac tunicæ Oculi Pupillam constituentes, respectu Visûs; utræque Membranæ Species sensibiles refringunt & quasi emolliunt, easque Sensorio non nisi proportionatas tradunt, cui nudo si adveniant, teneriorem ejus crasin facilè lædant, aut obruant. Reverà Tympanum non audit, sed meliori tutiorique Auditioni confert. Si hæc pars destruatur, Sensio adhuc aliquamdiu, rudi licèt modo, peragi possit; quippe experimento olim in Cane facto, &c.——Janitoris officio ut Tympanum rectè defungi possit, expansum ejus pro datâ occasione stringi, aut relaxari debet, veluti nimirùm Oculi Pupilla——Quapropter huic Auris Tympano, non secus ac bellico, machinæ sive tæniæ quædam apponuntur, quæ superficiem ejus modò tensiorem, modò laxiorem reddant: hoc enim efficiunt tria Ossicula, cum Musculo, &c. Willis’s de Anim. Brut. c. 14.
For this Opinion of Dr. Willis, Dr. Schelhammer is very severe upon him, deriding the Refractions he speaks of; and therefore seriously proves that they are the Humours, not Tunicks of the Eye, that refract the Rays of Light; and then jeeringly demandeth, Whether the sonorous Rays are refracted by passing through a different Medium? Whether the Convexity or Concavity of the Drum collects those Rays into a focal Point, or scatters them? &c. And then saith, Ob has rationes à clariss. Viri, ac de re Medicâ præclarè meriti, sententiâ non possumus non esse alieniores; in quo uti ingenium admiror, quoties medicamentorum vires, aut morborum causas explicat, sic ubi forum suum egressus, Philosophum agit, ac vel Partium usum, vel Chymicarum rerum naturam scrutetur, ejus haud semel non modò judicium desidero, verùm aliquando etiam fidem. This is so severe and unjust a Censure of our truly famous Countryman, (a Man of known Probity) that might deserve a better Answer; but I have only Time to say, that although Dr. Schelhammer hath out-done all that wrote before him, in his Book de Auditu, and shewed himself a Man of Learning and Industry; yet as our Countryman wrote more than he, (though perhaps not free from Errors too) so he hath manifested himself to have been as curious and sagacious an Anatomist, as great a Philosopher, and as learned and skilful a Physician, as any of his Censurers, and his Reputation for Veracity and Integrity, was no less than any of theirs too. But after all this terrible Clamour, Dr. Schelhammer prejudicately mistaketh Dr. Willis’s Meaning, to say no worse. For by utræque Membranæ refringunt, Dr. Willis plainly enough, I think, means no more than a Restriction of the Ingress of too many Rays; as his following explicatory Words manifest, viz. refringunt, & quasi emolliunt, easque Sensorio non nisi proportionatas tradunt. But indeed Dr. Schelhammer hath shewn himself a too rigid Censor, by making Dr. Willis say, the Ear-Drum hath such like Braces as the War-Drum, viz. Quod porrò de machinis seu tæniis Tympani bellici adducit, dicitque idem in Tympano auditorio conspici, id prorsus falsissimum est. I wonder Dr. Schelhammer did not also charge Dr. Willis with making it a Porter, since he saith in the same Paragraph, Janitoris officio, &c. But Dr. Willis’s Meaning is plain enough, that the little Bones and Muscles of the Ear-Drum do the same Office in straining and relaxing it, as the Braces of the War-Drum do in that. And considering how curious and solemn an Apparatus there is of Bones, Muscles, and Joynts, all adapted to a ready Motion; I am clearly of Dr. Willis’s Opinion, that one great Use of the Ear-Drum is for the proportioning Sounds, and that by its Extension and Retraction, it corresponds to all Sounds, loud or languid, as the Pupil of the Eye doth to several Degrees of Light: And that they are no other than secondary uses assigned by Dr. Schelhammer, as the principal or sole Uses of keeping out the external colder Air, Dust, and other Annoyances; but especially that, ob solius aerís interni potissimùm irrumpentis vim, hunc motum Tympani ac Mallei esse conditum, ut cedere primùm, deinde sibi restitui queat; as his Words are, P. ult. c. 6. §. 13.
It was no improbable thought of Rohault, nos attentos præbere, nil aliud est, nisi Tympanum, ubi ita opus est facto, contendere aut laxare, & operam dare ut illud in eâ positione intentum stet, in quâ tremulum aeris externi motum commodissimè excipere possit. Roh. Phys. p. 1. c. 26. §. 48.
The Hearing of deaf Persons more easily by Means of loud Noises, is another Argument of the Use of the Straining or Relaxation of the Tympanum in Hearing. Thus Dr. Willis (ubi supra) Accepi olim à viro fide digno, se mulierem novisse, quæ licèt surda fuerit, quousque tamen intra conclave Tympanum pulsaretur, verba quævis clarè audiebat: quare Maritus ejus Tympanistam pro servo domestico conducebat, ut illius ope, colloquia interdum cum Uxore suâ haberet. Etiam de alio Surdastro mihi narratum est, qui prope Campanile degens, quoties unà plures Campanæ resonarent, vocem, quamvis facilè audire, & non aliàs, potuit.
Abscisso Musculo [Processus majoris Mallei] in recenti aure, relaxatur [Tympani Membrana]. Valsalv. de Aur. Hum. c. 2. §. 5.
Upon considering the great Difference in Authors Opinions, about the Use of the Parts, and Manner how Hearing is performed, as also what a curious Provision there is made in the Ear, by the four little Bones, the Muscles, Membrane, &c. I was minded (since I penned this Note) to make enquiry my self into this Part, and not to rely upon Authority. And after a diligent search of various Subjects, I find we may give as rational and easie an Account of Hearing, as of Seeing, or any other Sense; as I have shewn in my last cited [Note (d) Book VII. Chap. 2.] with relation to Birds. And as to Man and Beasts, the Case is the same, but the Apparatus more complex and magnificent. For whereas in Birds, the auditory Nerve is affected by the Impressions made on the Membrane, by only the Intermediacy of the Collumella; in Man, it is done by the Intervention of the four little Bones, with the Muscles acting upon them; his Hearing being to be adjusted to all kinds of Sounds, or Impressions made upon the Membrana Tympani. Which Impressions are imparted to the auditory Nerve, in this Manner, viz. First they act upon the Membrane and Malleus, the Malleus upon the Incus, and the Incus upon the Os Orbiculare and Stapes; and the Stapes upon the auditory Nerve: For the Base of the Stapes (the same as the Operculum in Birds) not only covers the Fenestra Ovalis, within which the auditory Nerve lieth, but hath a Part of the auditory Nerve spread upon it too. It is manifest that this is the true Process of Hearing; because, if the Membrane be mov’d, you may see all the Bones move at the same Time, and work the Base of the Stapes up and down in the Fenestra Ovalis, as I shewed in this Chapter, [Note (d)] concerning the Mole; and as it may be seen in other Ears carefully opened, if the Parts remain in situ.
[w] I do not confine the Labyrinth to the Canales Semicirculares, or any other Part, as the elder Anatomists seem to have done, who by their erroneous and blind Descriptions seem not well to have understood there Parts; but with those much more curious and accurate Anatomists, Monsieur de Vernay, and Dr. Valsalva; under the Labyrinth, I comprehend the Canales Semicirculares, and the Cochlea, together with the intermediate Cavity, called by them the Vestibulum.
[x] In the semicircular Canals, two Things deserve to be noted. 1. That the three Canals are of three different Sizes, Major, Minor, and Minimus. 2. Although in different Subjects, they are frequently different; yet in the same Subject they are constantly the same. The Reason of all which, together with their Uses, Valsalva ingeniously thinks is, that as a Part of the tender auditory Nerve is lodged in these Canals, so they are of three Sizes, the better to suit all the Variety of Tones; some of the Canals suiting some, and others, other Tones. And although there be some Difference as to the Length and Size of these Canals, in different Persons; yet, lest there should be any discord in the auditory Organs of one and the same Man, those Canals are always in exact Conformity to one another in one and the same Man. V. Valsal. ubi supr. c. 3. §. 7. and c. 6. §. 4. 9.
[y] Hic posterior Nervus extra cranium delatus, in tres ramos dividitur, qui omnes motibus patheticis——inserviunt. Primus——musculis Auris impenditur. Proculdubio hujus actione efficitur, ut animalia quævis, à subito soni impulsu, aurs, quasi sonum nimis citò transeuntem captaturas erigant. Ramus alter——versus utrumque oculi angulum surculos emittit: qui musculis palpebrarum attollentibus inseruntur; quorum certè munus est ad subitum soni appulsum oculos confestim aperire, eosque velut ad Excubias vocare.——Tertius——ramus versus Linguæ radicem descendens, musculis ejus & ossis Hyoeideos distribuitur, adeóque organa quædam vocis edendæ actuat, &c. Willis’s Cereb. Anat. c. 17.
[z] Hujusmodi Nervorum conformatio in Homine usum alium insigniorem præstas, nempe ut Vox, &c. Willis Ibid.
[aa] Among the Uses to which the Wit of Man hath employ’d Sounds, we may reckon the Instruments useful in convocating Assemblies, managing Armies, and many other Occasions, wherein Bells, Trumpets, Drums, Horns, and other sounding Instruments are used; the Particularities of which it would be tedious to recount: As that the biggest Bell in Europe is reckoned to be at Erfurt in Germany, which they say may be heard twenty four Miles; with much more to the same Purpose. I shall therefore only for a Sample take notice of the Speaking-Trumpet; the Invention of which is commonly ascribed to our eminent Sir Samuel Morland; but was more probably Ath. Kircher’s; at least he had contrived such an Instrument, before Sir Samuel hit upon his. Kircher in his Phonurg. saith, the Tromba published last Year in England, he had invented twenty four Years before, and published in his Misurgia; that Jac. Albanus Ghibbesius, and Fr. Eschinardus ascribe it to him; and that G. Schottus testifieth he had such an Instrument in his Chamber in the Roman College, with which he could call to, and receive Answers from the Porter. And considering how famed Alexander the Great’s Tube was, which is said might be heard 100 Stadia, it is somewhat strange that no Body sooner hit upon the Invention. Of this Stentorophonick Horn of Alexander, there is a Figure preserved in the Vatican, which for Curiosity sake, I have from Kircher represented in [Fig. 3.] He saith its Diameter was five Cubits, and that it was suspended on a Supporter.
For the Make of the Speaking-Trumpet, and the Reason why it magnifies Sounds, I shall refer to Kircher; especially to Sir Samuel Morland’s Tuba Stentorophonica, Published in 1672.
[bb] That the Air is the Subject, or Medium of Sound, is manifest from the Experiments in rarefied and condensed Air. In an unexhausted Receiver, a small Bell may be heard at the Distance of some Paces; but when exhausted, it can scarce be heard at the nearest Distance: And if the Air be compressed, the Sound will be louder, proportionably to the Compression or Quantity of Air crouded in, as I have often tried my self, and may be seen in Mr. Hawksbee’s curious Experiments, p. 97. Also his Experiments in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 321.
Kircher saith, he took one of these Trumpets of fifteen Palms length, along with him to the Mons Eustachianus, where he convocated 2200 Persons to Prayers, by means of the unusual Sound, at two, three, four, and five Italian Miles Distance.
With these Bellowing Trumpets, I shall join some Bellowing-Caves for the Reader’s Diversion. Ol. Magnus describes a Cave in Finland, near Viburg, called Smellen, into which, if a Dog, or other Living Creature be cast, it sends forth so dreadful a Sound, that knocks down every one near it. For which Reason they have guarded the Cave with high Walls, to prevent the Mischiefs of its Noise. Vid. Ol. Magn. Histor. l. 11. c. 4. Such another Peter Martyr saith is in Hispaniola, which, with a small Weight cast into it, endangers Deafness at five Miles Distance. And in Switzerland, Kircher saith, in the Cucumer-Mountain is a Pit that sends out both a dreadful Noise and a great Wind therewith; and that there is a Well in his Country 3000 Palms deep, whose Sound is equal to that of a great Gun. Vid. Kirch. Phonurg.
Ol. Magnus speaking of the vast high Mountains of a Northern Province, call’d Angermannia saith, Ubi bases eorum in profundissimo gurgite stantes, casu aliquo, vel proposito Nautæ accesserint, tantum horrorem ex altâ fluctuum collisione percipiunt, ut nisi præcipiti remigio, aut valido vento evaserint, solo pavore ferè exanimes fiant, multoque dierum curriculo, ob capitis turbationem, pristinæ mentis, & sanitatis compotes vix evadant. Habent bases illorum montium in fluctuum ingressu & regressu tortuosas rimas, sive scissuras, satis stupendo naturæ opificio fabricatas, in quibus longâ varagine formidabilis ille Sonitus quasi subterraneum tonitru generatur. Ol. Magn. l. 2. c. 4. See also [Chap. 12.]
Neither doth this succeed only in forced Rarefactions and Condensations of the Air, but in such also as are natural; as is evident from David Frœdlichius in Varenius, upon the highest Eminencies of Carpathus, near Kesmarckt in Hungary. The Story of Frœdlichius is this, Ego Mense Junii 1615. tum adolescens, sublimitatem horum montium, cum duobus comitibus Scholaribus, experiri volens, ubi, cùm in primæ rupis vertice, magno labore, me summum terminum assecutum esse putarem, demum sese obtulit alia multo altior cautes, ubi pervasta eaque vacillantia saxa (quorum unum, si loco à viatore dimovetur——aliquot centena——rapit, & quidem tanto cum fragore, ut illi metuendum sit nè totus Mons corruat, eumque obruat) enixus essem, iterum alia sublimior prodiit, &c. donec summo vitæ periculo ad supremum cacumen penetraverim. Ex declivioribus montibus cùm in subjectas valles,——nil nisi obscuram noctem, aut cœruleum quid, instar profundi aeris, quod vulgò sudum cœlum appellatur, observare potui, mihique videbar, si de monte caderem, non in terram, sed recte in solum me prolapsurum. Nimiá enim declivitate, species visibiles extenuatæ & hebetatæ fuerunt. Cum verò altiorem montem peterem, quasi intra nebulas densissimas hærebam——Et cùm non procul à summo vertice essem de sublimi quiescens prospexi & animadverti iis in locis, ubi mihi antea videbar intra nebulas hæsisse, compactas atque albas sese movere nubes, supra quas, per aliquot milliaria, & ultra terminos Sepusi commodus mihi prospectus patuit. Alias tamen etiam nubes altiores, alias item humiliores, necnon quasdam æqualiter à terrâ distantes vidi. Atque hinc tria intellexi, 1. Me tum transivisse principium media Aeris regionis. 2. Distantiam nubium à terrâ, non esse æqualem.——3. Distantiam nubium——non 72 Mill. Ger. ut quidam——sed tantum dimidiatum Mill. Ger. In summum montis verticem cùm pervenissem, adeò tranquillum & subtilem aërem ibi offendi, ut nè pili quidem motum sentirem, cùm tamen in depressioribus ventum vehementem expertus sim: unde collegi summum cacumen istius montis Carpathici ad Mill. Germ. à radicibus suis imis exsurgere, & ad supremam usque aëris regionem, ad quam Venti non ascendunt, pertingere. Explosi in eâ summitate Sclopetum: quod non majorem sonitum primò præ se tulit, quàm si ligillum vel bacillum confregissem; post intervallum autem temporis murmur prolixum invaluit, inferioresque montis partes, convalles & sylvas opplevit. Descendendo per nives annosas intra convalles, cùm iterum Sclopetum exonerarem, major & horribilior fragor, quàm ex tormento capacissimo inde exoriebatur: hinc verebar nè totus mons concussus mecum corrueret: duravitque hic sonus per semiquadrantem horæ usque dum abstrusissmas cavernas penetrâsset, ad quas aër undiq; multiplicatus resiliit.——In his celsis montibus, plerumq; ningit grandinatve mediâ astate, quoties nempe in subjectâ & vicinâ planitie pluit, utì hoc ipsum expertus sum. Nives diversorum annorum ex colore & cortice duriore dignosci possunt. Varen. Georg. Gen. l. 1. c. 19. Prop. ult.
The Story being diverting, and containing divers Things remarkable, I have chosen to note the whole of it (altho’ somewhat long) rather than single out the Passages only which relate to the diminishing the Sound of his Pistol, by the Rarity of the Air at that great Ascent into the Atmosphere; and the magnifying the Sound by the Polyphonisms or Repercussions of the Rocks, Caverns, and other Phonocamptick Objects below in the Mount.
But ’tis not the Air alone that is capable of the Impressions of Sound, but the Water also, as is manifest by striking a Bell under Water, the Sound of which may plainly enough be heard, but it is much duller, and not so loud; and it is also a fourth deeper, by the Ear of some great Judges in Musical Notes, who gave me their Judgments in the matter. But Mersenne saith, a Sound made under Water, is of the same Tone or Note, if heard under Water; as are also Sounds made in the Air, when heard under Water. Vid. Mersen. Hydraul.
Having mentioned the hearing of Sounds under Water, there is another Curiosity worth mentioning, that also farther proves Water to be susceptible of the Impressions of Sound, viz. Divers at the bottom of the Sea, can hear the Noises made above, only confusedly. But, on the contrary, those above cannot hear the Divers below. Of which an Experiment was made, that had like to have been fatal: One of the Divers blew an Horn in his Diving-Bell, at the bottom of the Sea; the Sound whereof (in that compressed Air) was so very loud and irksome, that stunned the Diver, and made him so giddy, that he had like to have dropt out of his Bell, and to have been drowned. Vid. Sturmii Colleg. Cur. Vol. 2. Tentam. 1.
[cc] As to the Distance to which Sound may be sent, having some doubt, whether there was any Difference between the Northern and Southern Parts, by the Favour of my learned and illustrious Friend Sir Henry Newton, her Majesty’s late Envoy at Florence: I procured some Experiments to be made for me in Italy. His most Serene Highness the Great Duke, was pleased to order great Guns to be fir’d for this purpose at Florence, and Persons were appointed on purpose to observe them at Leghorne, which they compute is no less than 55 Miles in a strait Line. But notwithstanding the Country between being somewhat hilly and woody, and the Wind also was not favouring, only very calm and still, yet the Sound was plainly enough heard. And they tell me, that the Leghorne Guns are often heard 66 Miles off, at Porto Ferraio; that when the French bombarded Genoa, they heard it near Leghorne, 90 Miles distant: and in the Messina Insurrection, the Guns were heard from thence as far as Augusta and Syracuse, about 100 Italian Miles. These Distances being so considerable, give me Reason to suspect, that Sounds fly as far, or nearly as far in the Southern, as in the Northern Parts of the World, notwithstanding we have a few Instances of Sounds reaching farther Distances. As Dr. Hearn tells us of Guns fired at Stockholm in 1685, that were heard 180 English Miles. And in the Dutch War, 1672, the Guns were heard above 200 Miles. Vid. Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 113. Also there is this farther Reason of Suspicion, that the Mercury in the Barometer riseth higher without than within the Tropicks, and the more Northerly, still the higher, which may encrease the Strength of Sounds, by [Note (bb).]
[dd] As to the Velocity of Sounds, by Reason the most celebrated Authors differ about it, I made divers nice Experiments my self, with good Instruments; by which I found, 1. That there is some, although a small Difference in the Velocity of Sounds, with or against the Wind: which also is, 2. Augmented or diminished by the Strength or Weakness of the Wind. But that nothing else doth accelerate or retard it, not the Differences of Day or Night, Heat or Cold, Summer or Winter, Cloudy or Clear, Barometer high or low, &c. 3. That all kinds of Sounds have the same Motion, whether they be loud or languid, of Bells, Guns, great or small, or any other sonorous Body. 4. That they fly equal Spaces in equal Times. Fifthly and Lastly, That the Mean of their Flight is at the Rate of a Mile in 9¼ half Seconds, or 1142 Feet in one Second of Time. Vid. Phil. Trans. Ibid.
[ee] Timothy a Musician could excite Alexander the Great to Arms with the Phrygian Sound, and allay his Fury with another Tone, and excite him to Merriment. So Ericus King of Denmark, by a certain Musician, could be driven to such a Fury, as to kill some of his best and most trusty Servants. More of this Power of Musick over the Affections, may be seen in Ath. Kirch. Phonurg. L. 2. §. 1. Also in Is. Vossius de Poematum cantu, & Rythmi viribus.
And not only upon the Affections, but also on the Parts of the Body. Musick is able to exert its Force, as appears from the Gascoigne Knight, Cui Phormingis sono audito Vesica statim ad Urinam reddendam vellicabatur. Such another we have in Aᵒ. 1. Ephem. Nat. Curios. Observ. 134. Also Morhoff de Scyph. vitr. per cert. human. vocis sonum fracto: where there is not only the Account of the Dutchman at Amsterdam, one Nich. Peter, that brake Romer-Glasses with the Sound of his Voice; but also divers other Instances of the Powers and Effects of Sound. But to the Story of the Gascoigne Knight, Mr. Boyl, from Scaliger, adds a pleasant Passage, That one he had disobliged, to be even with him, caused at a Feast, a Bag-pipe to be played, when he was hemmed in with the Company; which made the Knight bepiss himself, to the great Diversion of the Company, as well as Confusion of himself. Boyl’s Essay of the Effect of Lang. Motion. In the same Book are other Matters that may be noted here. One whose Arm was cut off, was exceedingly tormented with the discharge of the great Guns at Sea, although he was at a great Distance on Land. And a great Ship-Commander observed his wounded Men, with broken Limbs, suffered in like manner at the Enemies Discharges. An ingenious Domestick of his own would have his Gums bleed at the tearing of Brown-Paper. And an ingenious Gentleman of Mr. Boyl’s Acquaintance confessed to him, that he was inclined to the Knight of Gascoigne’s Distemper, upon hearing the Noise of a Tap running. The dancing to certain Tunes, of Persons bit with the Tarantula, he was assured of by an ingenious Acquaintance at Tarentum, who saw several, among the rest a Physician, affected with that Distemper. And many other Accounts of this kind, seemingly credible, are related in Morhoff, Kircher, and many others; although Dr. Cornelio questions the Matters of Fact relating to the cure of the Tarantula-bite, in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 83. Mr. Boyl also saith, a sober Musician told him, he could make a certain Woman weep, by playing one Tune, which others would be little affected at. And he saith, that he himself had a kind of shivering at the repeating two Verses in Lucan. And I add, that I very well know one to have a sort of chill about his Præcordia and Head, upon reading or hearing the 53ᵈ Chapter of Isaiah; as also David’s Lamentations for Saul and Jonathan, 1 Sam. i.
Neither are our own Minds and Bodies only affected with Sounds, but inanimate Bodies are so also. Of which many Stories may be met with in Kircher, particularly a large Stone that would tremble at the Sound of one particular Organ-Pipe; in Morhoff also, who among many other Relations hath this, Memini cùm ipsi [clarif. Willisio] de experimento Vitri per vocem fracti narrarem, ex eo audivisse, quod in adibus Musicis sibi vicinis aliquoties collapsum pavimentum fuerit; quod ipse sonis continuis adscribere non dubitavit. Morhoff. cap. 12. Mersenne also, among many Relations in his Harmon. and other Books, tells a far more probable Story, of a particular Part of a Pavement, that would shake, as if the Earth would open, when the Organs played, than what he relates about Antipathy, in his Quæst. Comment. in Genes. viz. That the Sound of a Drum made of a Wolf’s Skin, will break another made of Sheep’s Skin: That Hens will fly at the Sound of an Harp strung with Fox-Gut-Strings, and more to the same purpose. Mr. Boyl also, in his last cited Book tells us, Seats will tremble at the Sound of Organs; and that he hath felt his Hat do so too under his hand, at certain Notes both of Organs, and in Discourse, that he tried an Arch that would answer to C fa-ut, and had done so an 100 Years; and that an experienced Builder told him any well-built Vault will answer some determinate Note. And at Eastbury-House near Barking, I my self discovered the Porch, (having firm Brick-Walls,) not only to sound when struck on the Bottom, but also to give almost as loud a Sound, when I sounded the same Note with my Voice.
[ff] Willis, ubi supra.
[gg] Ille Deus est——qui non calamo tantùm cantare, & agreste, atque inconditum carmen ad aliquam tantùm oblectationem modulari docuit, sed tot artes, tot vocum varietates, tot sonos, alios spiritu nostro, alios externo cantu edituros commentus est. Senec. de Benef. l. 4. cap. 6.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Sense of Smelling.
This Sense I shall dispatch in less Compass than the two last, because its Apparatus (although sufficiently grand and admirable, yet) is not so multiplicious as of the Eye and Ear; it being sufficient in this Sense, that the odoriferous Effluvia of Bodies[a] can have an easy, free Passage to the olfactory Nerves, without the Formalities of Refractions, and other Preparations necessary to the Perfection of the two former Senses. Accordingly the all-wise Creator hath made sufficient Provision for the Reception of Smells, by the Apertures of the Nostrils[]; made not of Flesh, or Bone, but cartilaginous, the better to be kept open, and withal, to be dilated or contracted, as there is occasion: For which Service it hath several proper and curious Muscles[c].
And forasmuch as it is by Breathing[d], that the odorant Particles are drawn in, and convey’d to the Sensory; therefore there is a very wise Provision made in the Laminæ, with which the upper Part of the Nose is barricaded, which serve to two excellent Uses: Partly, to fence out any noxious Substances from entering the breathing Passages in our Sleep, or when we cannot be aware[e]; and partly, to receive the Divarications of the olfactory Nerves, which are here thick spread, and which do by these Means meet the Smells entring with the Breath, and striking upon them.
And accordingly, the more accurate this Sense is in any Animal, the longer we may observe those Laminæ are; and more of them in number folded up, and crouded together, to contain the more nervous Filaments, and to detain and fetter the odoriferous Particles in their Windings and Turnings.
And an admirable Provision this is, which the great Creator hath made for the good of brute Creatures[f]; the chief Acts of many of whose Lives, are perform’d by the Ministry of this Sense. In insects, and many other Creatures, it is of great Use in the Propagation of their Kind; as particularly in helping them to safe and convenient Places for the Incubation of their Eggs, and breeding up their Young. Others are by the Accuracy of this Sense, of Use to Mankind, which would be otherwise of little or no Use[g]. And most of the irrational Animals, Birds, Beasts, and creeping Things, do, by their Smell, find out their Food; some at great Distances, and some at Hand. With what Sagacity do some discover their Food in the Midst of Mud and Dirt[h]? With what Curiosity do the herbaceous Kind pick and chuse such Plants as afford them wholsome Food, or sometimes such as are Medicinal[], and refute such as would hurt and destroy them? And all by the Help principally, if not only, of the Smell, assisted by its near Ally the Taste. Of which I shall in the next Place speak very briefly.