EARBY 



2760 



EARL MARSHAL 



the cochlea, on the contrary, pro- 

 duces deafness. 



Sensations of sound are dis- 

 tinguished by three characters 

 loudness, pitch, and quality. Loud- 

 ness depends on the extent of move- 

 ment of the sound waves. The dog 

 is able readily to detect sounds 

 inaudible to man, his master. The 

 ear in this animal and in many 

 other mammals is large, its pinna 

 has a considerable degree of mobi- 

 lity, its meatus can be narrowed or 

 widened at will, and the area in the 

 brain set apart for hearing is exten- 

 sive. The pitch of a sound depends 

 on the number of vibrations occur 

 ring per second. It is possible to de- 

 tect a sound whose pitch is so low 

 as to be produced by 16 vibrations 

 per second ; or so high as to be 

 produced by 30,000. There is rea- 

 son to believe that some animals 

 can hear sounds of a higher pitch, 

 but the sensory cells along each 

 side of the fish, which correspond 

 with the mammalian ear, are only 

 capable of perceiving vibrations of 

 very low frequency 6 per second. 

 The quality of a sound depends on 

 the manner in which the vibrations 

 succeed one another. If these are 

 irregular a noise is produced, if re- 

 gular and orderly, a musical note. 



Equilibration is the second func- 

 tion of the ear. An individual nor- 

 mally balances himself by the sense 

 of sight, his muscles, and the semi- 

 circular canals in the inner ear. 

 When flying through the air the 

 aviator's eyes may be useless, as 

 when in a cloud or in darkness. 

 With them he may not know whe- 

 ther he is upside down or downside 

 up. In an unstable and rapidly- 

 moving machine his muscle sense is 

 of little avail. It is pre-eminently 

 on his ear mechanism that he relies 

 to maintain his equilibrium, the 

 semicircular canals alone giving 

 him the accuracy necessary to 

 guide so delicate a mechanism as 

 the flying machine. The bird is 

 continually in the position of the 

 aviator, and in this animal the 

 canals are remarkably well deve- 

 loped. The movement of the en- 

 dolymph inside them stimulates 

 the delicate hair-like endings of the 

 nerves which float therein. As the 

 canals are arranged like three ad- 

 jacent sides of a cube, the fluid in 

 them moves in a different way with 

 each position in space. The un- 

 usual agitation in this fluid pro- 

 duced in one who is unaccustomed 

 to flying or sailing gives rise to 

 disagreeable sensations, well-known 

 as air-sickness or sea-sickness. 



There is a close connexion be- 



| tween the semicircular canals and 



the eyes. Stimulation of the former 



produces quick jerking movements 



in the latter, known as nystagmus. 



This peculiar movement of the eyes 

 may be seen in a railway passenger 

 looking at the passing scenery. It 

 also occurs in some nervous dis- 

 eases and is frequent in coalminers, 

 when the individual affected is 

 stationary, but is asked to look far 

 over to one or other side. When the 

 physician wishes to investigate 

 the condition of the semicircular 

 canals in disease, or in men who 

 wish to become airmen, he brings 

 on nystagmus by rapidly rotating 

 theindividual to be tested, for about 

 twenty seconds in a revolving 

 chair. The fluid in the canals is set 

 in motion and it continues to move 

 after the body has stopped. The 

 nerves in the canal are strongly 

 stimulated, and owing to their con- 

 nexions with the eye nystagmus is 

 produced. It should last nearly 

 half-a-minute. If it is absent, if it 

 does not last so long, or if it is un- 

 duly prolonged, the canals are at 

 fault, and the capability of the body 

 to balance itself is not satisfactory. 

 Ear by. Urban dist. of West 

 Riding, Yorkshire, England. It 

 is 6 m. S.W. of Skipton, on the 

 Midland Railway. Pop. 6,032. 



Earl. Title in the British 

 peerage, ranking third. The 

 French equivalent is comte, and 

 the German is 

 Graf. The wife 

 of an earl is 

 called a count- 

 ess, a reminder 

 of the days 

 when earl and 

 count were syn- 

 eldest son bears 

 his father's second title ; the other 

 sons are known as the Hon., the 

 daughters as Lady So-and-So. 

 Including Scottish and Irish there 

 are over 200 of them in the peerage. 

 Earl is the oldest title of nobility. 

 Under the form eorl it first ap- 

 peared in England in Anglo-Saxon 

 times, being used for those of noble 

 blood as distinguished from the 

 ceo.rls. In the 1 1th century, Canute 

 set rulers over parts of the country. 

 He named them jarls, a Danish 

 word, but this became earl in Eng- 

 land. This idea remained, and after 

 the Conquest most of the counties 

 had an earl as the head of their ad- 

 ministration, he being entitled to the 

 third part of its revenues. These 

 earls were sometimes called after 

 their residence, but gradually it 

 became general to call them after 

 their county. The office was not 

 at first an hereditary one. but some 

 earls managed to make it so. They 

 corresponded to the counts in 

 France and other parts of Europe. 

 Gradually the title became a 

 mark of rank rather than a mark of 

 office. Earls who had no connexion 

 with the rule of a county began to 



onymous. 



be created in the time of Edward 

 III, and following the first crea- 

 tions of the higher ranks of duke 

 and marquis, they took their 

 present place in the peerage, the 

 title carrying with it the right to 

 a seat in Parliament. The premier 

 sari of England is the earl of 

 Arundel, a title held by the duke 

 of Norfolk. Of those who have no 

 higher title, the earls of Shrews- 

 bury (1442), Derby (1485), and 

 Huntingdon (1529) are the senior. 

 The Prince of Wales holds the earl- 

 do in of Chester and the Scottish 

 one of Carrick. In Scotland the 

 earl of Crawford is the senior earl, 

 dating from 1089. See Peerage. 



Earle, JOHN (c. 1601-65). Eng- 

 lish divine. Born at York, he was 

 educated at Merton College, Oxford. 

 He was made rector of Bishopston, 

 Wilts, tutor to Charles, prince of 

 Wales, and chancellor of Salisbury. 

 In 1643 he became dean of West- 

 minster, in 1662 bishop of Worces- 

 ter, and in 1663 bishop of Salisbury. 

 He was the author of Microcosmo- 

 graphy, or, A Piece of the World 

 discovered in Essays and Charac- 

 ters, 1628, a work valuable for its 

 reflection of contemporary life, and 

 for its pointed humorous style and 

 insight into human nature. Earle 

 died at Oxford, Nov. 17, 1665, 

 and was buried in the chapel of 

 Merton College. 



Earle, JOHN (1824-1903). Bri- 

 tish philologist. He was born Jan. 

 29, 1824, near Kingsbridge, Devon, 

 and was edu- 

 cated at Mag- 

 dalen Hall, Ox- 

 ford. From 

 1849-54 he was 

 professor of 

 Anglo-Saxon in 

 the university 

 of Oxford, and 

 again from 1876 

 until his death, John Earle, 



Jan. 31, 1903. British philologist 

 Ordained in ******** 

 1857, he was for many years a 

 clergyman at Bath and prebendary 

 in Wells Cathedral. His best-known 

 work is his Philology of the English 

 Tongue, 1871, his most important 

 an edition of Tv of the Saxon 

 Chronicles, 1865. ; 



Earl Marshal. In England the 

 eighth great office of state. He is 

 head of the Heralds' College and 

 has various ceremonial duties. 

 Since 1672 the office has been 

 hereditary in the family of Howard, 

 duke of Norfolk. On the death of 

 the 15th duke, 1917, his brother, 

 Lord Edmund Talbot, was ap- 

 pointed deputy earl marshal, the 

 16th duke being a minor. Until 

 1386 the title was marshal. With 

 the lord high constable he was judge 

 of the court of chivalry. The office 





