BIRDS AT THEIR BEST 19 



So far, I have met with but one person, a lady, who 

 is without it : sounds, in her case, do not register 

 an impression in the brain, so that with regard to 

 this sense she is in the condition of civihsed man 

 generally with regard to smells. I say of civilised 

 man, being convinced that this power has becomes 

 obsolete in us, although it appears to exist in savages 

 and in the lower animals. The most common 

 sounds, natural or artificial, the most familiar bird- 

 notes, the lowing of a cow, the voices of her nearest 

 and dearest friends, and simplest melodies sung or 

 played, cannot be reproduced in her brain : she 

 remembers them as agreeable sounds, just as we all 

 remember that certain flowers and herbs have agree- 

 able odours ; but she does not hear them. Probably 

 there are not many persons in the same case ; but 

 in such matters it is hard to know what the real con- 

 dition of another's mind may be. Our acquaint- 

 ances refuse to analyse or turn themselves inside 

 out merely to gratify a curiosity which they may 

 think idle. In some cases they perhaps have a kind 

 of superstition about such things : the secret pro- 

 cesses of their mind are their secret, or " business," 

 and, like the secret and real name of a person among 

 some savage tribes, not to be revealed but at the 

 risk of giving to another a mysterious power over 



