WHY IS THE HUMAN EAR IMMOBILE? 237 



case of language, we must say that any new form in the organism 

 which conduced to the evolution of this faculty would be of such 

 moment that, unless it entailed seriously deleterious effects, its perma- 

 nence would be ensured. 



To sum up, the loss of the ear's mobility has resulted in the fuller 

 appreciation of the succession of sounds, and thus has been in an 

 important sense a condition of the social, intellectual and esthetic 

 development which has come with the use of language and music ; and 

 it is in. a high degree probable, though the data are insufficient for 

 conclusive demonstration, that it is to the advantage given in the 

 struggle for existence by the first stages of this development that we 

 are to attribute the permanent alteration in the structure of the ear. 



We thus see that the sense organ having originally the form best 

 adapted to the conditions in which the organism lived changed its 

 form to meet the conditions of a higher stage of evolution. It may 

 be that in this form it is most in accord with the special stimulations 

 which appeal to it; it is certainly in this form that it can minister 

 to the highest spiritual activities. 



