Chap. I. KUDIMENTS. 21 



and from what one of these persons told ine, it is pro- 

 bable that most of us by often touching our ears and 

 thus directing our attention towards them, could by 

 repeated trials recover some power of movement. The 

 faculty of erecting the ears and of directing them to 

 different points of the compass, is no doubt of the 

 highest service to many animals, as they thus perceive 

 the point of danger ; but I have never heard of a man 

 who possessed the least power of erecting his ears, — 

 the one movement which might be of use to him. The 

 whole external shell of the ear may be considered a 

 rudiment, together with the various folds and promi- 

 nences (helix and anti-helix, tragus and anti-tragus, &c.) 

 which in the lower animals strengthen and support the 

 ear when erect, without adding much to its weight. 

 Some authors, however, suppose that the cartilage of the 

 shell serves to transmit vibrations to the acoustic 

 nerve ; but Mr. Toynbee, 24 after collecting all the 

 known evidence on this head, concludes that the exter- 

 nal shell is of no distinct use. The ears of the chim- 

 panzee and orang are curiously like those of man, and I 

 am assured by the keepers in the Zoological Gardens 

 that these animals never move or erect them ; so that 

 they are in an equally rudimentary condition, as far as 

 function is concerned, as in man. Why these animals, 

 as well as the progenitors of man, should have lost the 

 power of erecting their ears we cannot say. It may be, 

 though I am not quite satisfied with this view, that owing 

 to their arboreal habits and great strength they were 

 but little exposed to danger, and so during a lengthened 

 period moved their ears but little, and thus gradually 

 lost the power of moving them. This would b e a 

 parallel case with that of those large and heavy^bffls,y^7^s 



The Diseases of the Ear,' by J. Toynbee, F.K.S., lwgph* 2 .^ *"»- <* 



H LIBRARY 



24 i 



