Dr. Darwin informs us, in his Zoonomia, that the late Justice Fielding walked for the first time into his room, when he once visited him, and after speaking a few words, said, 'This room is twentytwo feet long, eighteen wide, and twelve high,' all of which he guessed by the ear.

Blind people have a peculiar method of presenting the ear, and in some cases acquire the power of moving it when much interested.* The incessant use they make of it gives them an indescribable quickness: they judge of every thing by sound; a soft sonorous voice, with them, is the symbol of beauty; and so nice a discerner is a blind person of the accents of speech, that through the voice he fancies he can see the soul. From this idea they form notions of character that often lead them into erroneous conclusions.

By practice, the discriminating powers of the ear may be carried to the highest degree of perfection. The success of thieves and gamblers depends upon its quickness. Since the money has been recoined, the regularity with which each piece is struck gives them a uniformity of sound that is very remarkable;

* If you notice a string of horses upon travel, you will find that the first horse points his ear forward, and the last behind him, keeping watch; but the intermediate ones, who seem not to be called upon to do this duty, appear careless and perfectly at their ease.-Dr. Darwin's Zoonomia.

† Sir John Fielding possessed a great faculty of this sort; and he could recollect every thief that had been brought before him by the tone and accent of his voice for more than forty years.

the half-crowns having the sound of

Bankers quickly discover the least deviation from the proper tone, by which they readily detect the counterfeits. In the tossing up of money, gamblers can perceive a difference in the sound, whether it falls upon one side or the other. Pye-men are furnished with a covering to their baskets made of a smooth plate of metal, by which they take in the unwary, as they readily tell which side is uppermost by the sound upon the plate, though concealed by the hand.

The atmosphere is the grand medium by which sound is conveyed, though recent discoveries prove that other bodies conduct it with greater expedition,* as in the instance of vibrating a tuning-fork, to the stem of which is attached a packthread string; on the other end being wrapt round the little finger, and placed in the chamber of the ear, the sound will be audibly conveyed to the distance of two hundred yards, though not perceptible to any bystander. Miners, in boring for coal, can tell by the sound what substance they are penetrating; and a recent discovery is that of applying a listening-tube to the breast to detect the motions of the heart. The quickness which some persons possess in distinguishing the smaller sounds, is very reSome very extraordinary telegraphic inventions are about to be exhibited, depending upon this principle.

markable. A friend of the writer has declared he could readily perceive the motion of a flea, when on his nightcap, by the sound emitted by the machinery of his leaping powers. However extraordinary this may appear, we find a similar statement is given in the ingenious work upon insects, by Kirby and Spence, who say, 'I know of no other 'insect, the tread of which is accompanied by sound, except indeed the flea, whose steps a lady assured 'me she always hears when it passes over her nightcap, and that it clacks as if it was walking in 'pattens!' If we can suppose the ear to be alive to such delicate vibrations, certainly there is nothing in the way of sound too difficult for it to achieve.*

* Cats and dogs can hear the movements of their prey at incredible distances, and that even in the midst of noise, which we should have thought would have overpowered such effects. Rabbits, when alarmed, forcibly strike the earth with their feet, by the vibration of which, they communicate their apprehensions to burrows very remote. As an instance of the discriminating power of the ear of the elephant, we may mention a circumstance that occurred in the memorable conflict of shooting the maddened elephant at Exeter 'Change. 'After the soldiers had discharged thirty balls, he stooped, and delibe'rately sunk on his haunches. Mr. Herring, conceiving that a shot 'had struck him in a vital part, cried out-" He's down, boys! he's 'down!" and so he was only for a moment; he leapt up with re'newed vigor, and at least eighty balls were successively discharged at 'him from different positions before he fell a second time. Previous 'to this, he had nearly brought down the building of Exeter 'Change 'by his furious lunges, flying round his den with the speed of a race'horse. In the midst of the crash of timber, and the hallooing of the 'assailants, he recognised the voice of his keeper in his usual cry, "Chunee, bite-Chunee, bite," which was his command to kneel;

' and the noble beast actually knelt, and received a volley of balls that 'terminated his suffering.'

To accustom ourselves to listen with attention, is the first step to improvement.

Those who have made the least proficiency in music, must be aware how little capable we are, at first, of estimating the pitch or relative gradations of sounds—as being high or low, grave or acute; and how unintelligible the nicer distinctions are to an unpractised ear. As harmony is an inherent property of sound, the ear should be first called to the attention of simple sounds, though, in reality, all are composed of three, so nicely blended as to appear but as one; as the tone of St. Paul's bell, which we may imitate by putting down the three following

notes upon the piano-forte: : b b

This com

bination produces a rich and sweet sensation upon the ear, called a concord. After which, we may try the following combinations, by which we obtain all the sounds of the octave,

and which, placed in succession, form the notes of a peal of eight bells, or what is called the diatonic scale.*

A dog, belonging to a change-ringer, used to accompany his master to the belfry of St. Martin's Church, in Leicester; and, upon commencing a peal of changes, he would lay himself quietly down, nor at

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By pursuing a course of study in harmony, we soon acquire what is termed a musical ear, and ultimately find no difficulty in determining the finest gradations. From what has been said, it must be obvious, that the improvement of the ear depends solely upon the attention with which it is used and exerted, as has been shown in the instances of blind people. That there is a knack in listening, no one can doubt, as we frequently find persons, who sing and play out of tune, readily distinguish this defect in others, but have not the habit of detecting the same fault in themselves. The power we have of recollecting sounds, or calling up former impressions, is much greater in some persons than in others; but most persons have experienced, that when they have been delighted with a new air, without any effort of their own, how it will haunt them for days.

The faculties of the ear, then, are by no means fully developed. Every new author in musical composition offers some new stimulus to the auditory sense. The sober strains of the last age would be considered intolerably dull and stupid by the listen

tempt to stir, till the bells began to ring round, which intimated the finishing of the peal, and which he always noticed. He would then get up, shake himself, and prepare to be off from an amusement for which he had less relish than his master.