Popular Lectures on Zoonomia Part 8

Having in the last lecture examined the senses of taste and smell, I now proceed to that of hearing. As the sense of smell enables us to distinguish the small particles of matter which fly off from the surfaces of bodies, and float in the air, so that of hearing makes us acquainted with the elastic tremors or impulses of the air itself.

The sense of hearing opens to us a wide field of pleasure, and though it is less extensive in its range than that of sight, yet it frequently surmounts obstacles that are impervious to the eye, and communicates information of the utmost importance, which would otherwise escape from and be lost to the mind.

Sound arises from a vibratory or tremulous motion produced by a stroke on a sounding body, which motion that body communicates to the surrounding medium, which carries the impression forwards to the ear, and there produces its sensation. In other words, sound is the sensation arising from the impression made by a sonorous body upon the air or some other medium, and carried along by either fluid to the ear.

Three things are necessary to the production of sound; first, a sonorous body to give the impression; secondly, a medium or vehicle to convey this impression; thirdly, an organ of sense or ear to perceive it. Each of these I shall separately examine.

Strictly speaking, sonorous bodies are those whose sounds are distinct, of some duration, and which may be compared with each other, such as those of a bell or a musical string, and not such as give a confused noise, like that made by a stone falling on the pavement. To be sonorous, a body must be elastic, so that the tremors exerted by it in the air may be continued for some time: it must be a body whose parts are capable of a vibratory motion when forcibly struck.

All hard bodies, when struck return more or less of a sound; but those which are dest.i.tute of elasticity, give no repet.i.tion of the sound; the noise is at once produced and dies; while other bodies, which are more elastic and capable of vibration, repeat the sounds produced several times successively. These last are said to have a tone; the others are not allowed to have any. If we wish to give nonelastic bodies a tone, it will be necessary to make them continue their sound, by repeating our blows quickly upon them. This will effectually give them a tone; and an unmusical instrument has often by this means a fine effect in concerts. The effects of a drum depend upon this principle. Gold, silver, copper, and iron, which are elastic metals, are sonorous; but lead, which possesses scarcely any elasticity, produces little or no tone. Tin, which in itself has very little more sound than lead, highly improves the tone of copper when mixed with it. Bell metal is formed of ten parts of copper, and one of tin. Each of these is ductile when separate, though tin is only so in a small degree, yet they form when united a substance almost as brittle as gla.s.s, and highly elastic. So curious is the power of tin in this respect, that even the vapour of it, when in fusion, will give brittleness to gold and silver, the most ductile of all metals.

Sonorous bodies may be divided into three cla.s.ses; first, bells of various figures and magnitudes: of these such as are formed of gla.s.s have the most pure and elegant tones, gla.s.s being very elastic, and its sound very powerful; secondly, pipes of wood or metal; thirdly, strings formed either of metallic or animal substances. The sounds given by strings are more grave or more acute according to the thickness, length, and tension of the strings.

Air is universally allowed to be the ordinary medium of sound, or the medium by which sounds are propagated from sonorous bodies, and communicated to the ear. This may be shown by an experiment with the air pump; also with the condenser.

But though air is the general vehicle of sound, yet sound will go where no air can convey it; thus the scratching of a pin at the end of a long piece of timber may be heard by an ear applied at the other end, though it could not be heard at the same distance through the air. On this account it is that sentinels are accustomed to lay their ears to the ground, by which means they can often discover the approach of cavalry, at a much greater distance than they can see them.

For the same reason two stones being struck together under water, may be heard at a much greater distance by an ear placed under water likewise, than it can be heard through the air. Dr. Franklin, who several times made this experiment, thinks that he has heard it at a greater distance than a mile. This shows that water is better adapted to convey sound than air.

When an elastic body is struck, that body, or some part of it, is made to vibrate. This is evident to sense in the string of a violin or harpsichord, for we may perceive by the eye, or feel by the hand, the trembling of the strings, when by striking they are made to sound. If a bell be struck by a clapper on the inside, the bell is made to vibrate. The base, of the bell, is a circle, but it has been found that by striking any part of this circle on the inside, that part flies out, so that the diameter which pa.s.ses through this part of the base will be longer than the other diameter. The base, by the stroke, is changed into an ellipse or oval, whose longer axis pa.s.ses through the part against which the clapper is struck. The elasticity of the bell restores the figure of the base, and makes that part which was forced out of its place, return back to its former situation, from which the same principle throws it out again; so that the circular figure of the bell will be again changed to an ellipse, only now the shorter axis will pa.s.s through the part which was first struck.

The same stroke, which makes the bell vibrate, occasions the sound, and as the vibrations decay, the sound grows weaker. We may be convinced by our senses that the parts of the bell are in a vibratory motion while it sounds. If we lay the hand gently on it, we shall easily feel this tremulous motion, and even be able to stop it, or if small pieces of paper be put upon the bell, its vibrations will put them in motion.

These vibrations in the sounding body will cause undulations or waves in the air; and, as the motions of one fluid may often be ill.u.s.trated by those of another, the invisible motions of the air have been properly enough compared to the visible waves of water produced by throwing a stone therein. These waves spread themselves in all directions in concentric circles, whose common centre is the spot where the stone fell, and when they strike against a bank or other obstacle, they return in the contrary direction to the place from whence they proceeded. Sound in like manner expands in every direction, and the extent of its progress is in proportion to the impulse on the vibrating chord or bell.

Such is the yielding nature of fluids, that when other waves are generated near the first waves, and others again near these, they will perform their vibrations among each other without interruption; those that are coming back will pa.s.s by those that are going forwards, or even through them, without interruption: for instance, if we throw a stone into a pond, and immediately after that, another, and then a third, we shall perceive that their respective circles will proceed without interruption, and strike the banks in regular succession.

The atmosphere in the same manner possesses the faculty of conveying sounds in the most rapid succession or combination, as distinctly as they were produced. It possesses the power not only of receiving and propagating simple and compound vibrations in direct lines from the voice, or an instrument, but of retaining and repeating sounds with equal fidelity after repeated reflection and reverberation, as is evident from the sound of a French horn among hills.

Newton was the first who attempted to demonstrate that the waves or pulses of the air are propagated in all directions round a sounding body, and that during their progress and regress they are twice accelerated and twice r.e.t.a.r.ded, according to the law of a pendulum vibrating in a cycloid. These propositions are the foundation of almost all our reasoning concerning sound. When sonorous bodies are struck, they, by their vibration, excite waves in the air, similar to those caused by a stone thrown into water; some parts of these waves entering the ear, produce in us that sensation which we call sound.

How these pulsations act upon the auditory nerve, to produce sound, we know not, as we see no necessary connexion between the pulses and the sensation, nor the least resemblance between them; but we can trace their progress to a certain extent, which I shall now endeavour to do.

The external part of the ear is called the auricle, or outward ear, which is a cartilaginous funnel, connected to the bones of the temple, by means of cellular substance, and likewise by its own proper ligaments and muscles. This cartilage is of a very compound figure, being a kind of oval, marked with spirals standing up, and hollows interposed, to which other hollows and ridges correspond on the opposite side. The outer eminence is called helix. Within the body of the cartilage arises a forked eminence called antihelix, which terminates in a small and short tongue called ant.i.tragus. The remaining part of the ear, called the concha or sh.e.l.l, is anteriorly hollow, but posteriorly convex, growing gradually deeper; with a crooked line or ridge running along its middle, which is immediately joined to the meatus auditorius, or entrance into the ear; before which stands a round moveable appendix, which serves as a defense, called tragus.

Against this funnel of the ear the sonorous waves strike, and its different parts are most admirably contrived to reflect them all into the meatus auditorius: if it would not occupy too much time, it might be shown, that all these curves and spirals are contrived in the best manner possible, and with a most perfect knowledge of the geometry of sounds, to reflect the sonorous pulses accurately, and in the greatest possible quant.i.ty, into the ear.

This external part of the ear is differently formed in different animals; and admirably suited to their various situations and habits.

In man it is close to the head, but so formed as to collect the various pulses with great accuracy; in other animals it is more simple, where less accuracy is required, but it is, in general, much larger, having the appearance of an oblong funnel; and this gives them a greater delicacy of hearing, which was necessary for them.

In animals which are defenceless and timid, and which are constantly obliged to seek their safety in flight, the opening of this funnel is placed behind, that they may better hear the noises behind them. This is particularly instanced in the hare. Beasts of prey have this opening before, that they may more easily discover their prey; as the lion and tiger. Those that feed on birds have the opening directed upwards, as the fox; and it is inclined downwards in animals, such as the weasel, which seek their prey on the earth.

To this external part of the ear, which I have described, is connected the meatus auditorius, or pa.s.sage to the internal ear, which is somewhat of a compressed cylindrical figure, lessening as it bends inwards: a considerable part of it is bony, and it is bent towards the middle. Across this pa.s.sage, at its inner extremity, is stretched a thin membrane, called membrana tympani. Upon the surface of this membrane, the sonorous waves, which have been directed inwards by the external ear, strike, and cause it to vibrate like the membrane of a drum. This membrane is stretched over a cavity in the bone, called the os petrosum, which cavity is called the tympanum, or drum of the ear, which is of a rounded figure, divided in its middle by a promontory, and continued backwards to the cells of the mastoid bone. Besides this continuation of the tympanum into the mastoid cells, it has a free communication with the mouth, by means of a tube I shall soon describe.

Within this cavity of the tympanum are placed four small bones, which facilitate the hearing: the first is the malleus or hammer, so called from its shape: the upper part of its round head rests upon the concavity of the tympanum, from whence the handle is extended down, along the membrane of the tympanum; this bone has several muscles, which move it in different directions, and cause it to stretch or brace the membrana tympani, when we wish to hear with accuracy.

Connected with the malleus is another small bone, called the incus, or anvil, which is connected with another, called the stapes, or stirrup, from its shape. These two bones are connected by a small oval shaped bone, called os...o...b..culare, placed between them: the whole forming a little chain of bones.

The stapes, or stirrup, has its end of an oval shape, which fits a small hole called fenestra ovalis, in that part of the ear called the labyrinth, or innermost chamber of the ear.

The labyrinth consists of three parts; first, the vestibule, which is a round cavity in a hard part of the os petrosum; secondly, the semicircular ca.n.a.ls, so called from their shape, which however is not exactly semicircular; thirdly, the cochlea, which is a beautifully convoluted ca.n.a.l, like the sh.e.l.l of a snail. This part has a round cavity called fenestra rotunda, which is covered with a thin elastic membrane, and looks into the tympanum.

The vestibule, semicircular ca.n.a.ls, and cochlea, the whole of which is called the labyrinth, form one cavity, which is filled with a very limpid fluid resembling water, and the whole lined with a fine delicate membrane, upon which the auditory nerve is expanded, like the retina upon the vitreous humor of the eye. This beautiful apparatus was only lately discovered by an Italian physician, Scarpa.

The auditory nerve is a portion of the seventh pair, which is called the portio mollis or soft portion.

There is one part of the ear still to be described, namely, the Eustachian tube, so called from Eustachius, the anatomist, who first described it. This tube opens by a wide elliptical aperture into the tympanum behind the membrane; the other end, which gradually grows wider, opens into the cavity of the mouth. By this ca.n.a.l the inspired air enters the tympanum to be changed and renewed, it likewise serves some important purpose in hearing, with the nature of which we are yet unacquainted. It is certain that we can hear through this pa.s.sage, for if a watch be put into the mouth, and the ears stopped, its ticking may be distinctly heard; and in several instances of deafness, this tube has been found completely blocked up.

The waves, which have been described as propagated in the air, in all directions from the sounding body, enter the external cartilaginous part of the ear, which, as has before been observed, is admirably fitted for collecting and condensing them. As soon as these pulses excite tremors in the membrane of the tympanum, its muscles stretch and brace it, whence it becomes more powerfully affected by these impulses. It is on this account that we hear sounds more distinctly when we attend to them, the membrane being then stretched.

A tremulous motion, being excited in this membrane, is communicated to the malleus annexed to it, which communicates it to the incus, by which it is propagated through the os...o...b..culare to the stapes, which imparts this tremulous motion through the foramen ovale to the fluid contained in the labyrinth. This tremor is impressed by the waves excited in this fluid, on every part of the auditory nerve in the labyrinth. The use of the foramen rotundum, or round hole, before described, is probably the same as that of the hole in the side of a drum; it allows the fluid in the labyrinth to be compressed, otherwise it could not vibrate.

If the organization is sound, and tremors are communicated to the auditory nerve, they are in some way or other conveyed to the mind, but in what manner we cannot tell. Nature has hid the machinery by which she connects material and immaterial things entirely from our view, and if we try to investigate them, we are soon bewildered in the regions of hypothesis.

Tremors may however be communicated to the auditory nerve in a different manner from what I have described. If a watch be put between the teeth, and the ear stopped, tremors will be communicated to the teeth, by them to the bones of the upper jaw, and by these to the auditory nerve. In this way a person born deaf, and having no power of hearing through the medium of the air, may become sensible of the pleasures of music.

That sound may be propagated by vibrations, independent of pulses of the air, is evident from the experiment with the string and poker.

There is, strictly speaking, no such thing existing as sound; it being only a sensation of the mind, caused by tremors of the air, or vibrations of the sounding body.

In order to understand more clearly how pulses, or waves are caused by the vibration of bodies, and the manner in which vibrating bodies are affected, I shall just enumerate some of the properties of pendulums, which however I shall not stop to demonstrate here, as that would consume much time.

When two pendulums vibrate which are exactly of the same length, their vibrations are performed in equal times; if they set out together to describe equal arcs, they will agree together in their motions, and the vibrations will be performed in equal times.

But if one of these pendulums be four times as long as the other, the vibrations of the longer will be twice as slow as those of the shorter; the number of vibrations being as the square roots of their lengths.

A pendulum is fixed to one point, but a musical string is extended between two points, and in its vibrations may be compared to a double pendulum vibrating in a very small arc, hence we see how strings of different lengths may agree in their motions after the manner of pendulums; but we must observe that it is not necessary to quadruple the length of a musical string, in order to make the time of vibration twice as long; it will be sufficient merely to double it.

We know that from whatever height a pendulum falls on one side, to the same height will it rise on the other. In the same manner will an elastic string continue to vibrate from one side to the other for some time, till its motion be destroyed by the resistance of the air, and friction about its fixed points, and each of its small vibrations, like those of a pendulum, will, for the same reason, be performed in times exactly equal to each other.

Thus we gain from the a.n.a.logy between a pendulum and a musical string, a more adequate conception of a subject which was never understood till this a.n.a.logy was discovered. It explains to us why every musical string preserves the same pitch from the beginning to the end of its vibration; or as long as it can be distinguished by the ear; and why the pitch remains still unvaried whether the sound is loud or soft, and all this because the vibrations of the same pendulum whether they are longer or shorter, when compared among themselves, are found to be all performed in equal times till the pendulum be at rest, the difference of the s.p.a.ce, which is moved over, compensating for the slowness of the motion till its decay.

To ill.u.s.trate this subject still further, suppose we have a piece of catgut stretched between two pins; I lay hold of it in the middle and pull it sideways; I let it go, and you will observe that it first straightens itself or returns to its original position. This depends on the elasticity of its particles, which tend to reunite when they have been separated by an external force, just in the same way that the particles of a piece of caoutchouc or Indian rubber attract each other when pulled asunder; and this force not only enables the string to restore itself to its former situation, but will carry it nearly to an equal distance on the other side, just in the same manner as a ball falling down an inclined plane will rise nearly to the same height up another, or a pendulum will rise nearly to the height from which it fell.

In this way will a string move backwards and forwards, till friction and the resistance of the air have destroyed the velocity which it acquired by the force of elasticity.

It is obvious that when a string is thus let fly from the finger, whatever be its own motion, such will also be the motion of the particles of the air which fly before it: the air will be driven forwards, and by that means condensed. When this condensed air expands itself, it will expand not only towards the string, but as its elasticity acts in all directions, it will also expand itself forwards and condense the air that is beyond it, this last condensed air, by its expansion, will produce the same effect on the air that lies still further forwards, and thus the motion produced in the air, by the vibration of the elastic string, is constantly carried forwards and conveyed to the ear.

It will be proper however to observe, that these pulses are sometimes produced without any such vibration of the sounding body, as we find it in musical strings and bells. In these cases we have to discover by what cause these condensations or pulses may be produced without any apparent vibrations in what is considered as the sounding body.

We have two or three instances of this kind; one in wind instruments, such as the flute or organ pipe; another in the discharge of a gun.

In an organ, or flute, the air, which is driven through the pipe, strikes against the edge of the lips of the instrument in its pa.s.sage, and by being acc.u.mulated there, is condensed, and this condensation produces waves or pulses in the air.

When a gun is discharged, a great quant.i.ty of air is produced, by the firing of the gunpowder, which being violently propelled from the piece, condenses the air that encompa.s.ses the s.p.a.ce where the expansion happens; for whatever is driven out from the s.p.a.ce where the expansion is made will be forcibly driven into the s.p.a.ce all around it. This condensation forms the first pulse, and as this, by its elasticity, expands again, pulses of the same sort will be produced and propagated forwards.

There is likewise another curious instance of the production of sound, when a tube is held over a stream of inflamed hydrogen gas issuing out of a capillary tube in a bottle.

Sounding bodies propagate their motions on all sides, directly forwards, by successive condensations and rarefactions, so that sound is driven in all directions, backwards and forwards, upwards and downwards, and on every side; the pulses go on succeeding each other like circles in disturbed water.

Sounds differ from each other both with respect to their tone and intensity: in respect to their tone, they are distinguished into grave and acute: in respect to their intensity, they are distinguished into loud and low, or strong and weak. The tone of a sound depends on the velocity with which the vibrations are performed, for the greater the number of vibrations in a given time, the more acute will be the tone, and on the contrary, the smaller the number, the more grave it will be. The tone of a sound is not altered by the distance of the ear from the sounding body; but the intensity or strength of any sound depends on the force with which the waves of the air strike the ear; and this force is different at different distances; so that a sound which is very loud when we are near the body that produces it, will be weaker if we are further from it, though its tone will suffer no alteration; and the distance may be so great that we cannot hear it at all. It has been demonstrated, that the intensity of sound at different distances from the sounding body is inversely as the square of the distance.

Sound moves with the same velocity at all distances from the sounding body, otherwise it would not produce the same tone at all distances.

Sounds of different tones likewise move with the same velocity. This is evident from a peal of bells being heard in the same order in which they are rung, whether we are near, or at a distance.