ANIMAL MECHANISM. 285 



upper end of it. l-m shows where it becomes tendinous on 



the bones of the head, o-p attached to prominences. 

 g to t The anterior auris, placed between the face and ear. q-r 



the portion of it connected to the muscle of the forehead, 



growing narrower at s, and inserted into the helix at t. 

 u-z Two muscles, or rather, two portions of one, retrahentes 



aurum, to draw the ear back from the face. 

 u-v-w-x The upper or larger portion, consisting of fleshy fibres, 



n, v, w. 

 y-z The inferior portion of the same muscle. 



All such animals as keep their ears habitually erect, as 

 the fox, lynx, cat, horse, ox, ass and various species of 

 the dog, maintain them in that position by the strength 

 of the muscles, which are thoroughly developed, strong 

 and under the control of the will. Such as have this 

 characteristic, are either timid, feeble, harmless creatures, 

 or distinguished for their rapacity, cruelty and propensity 

 for slaughter. 



In either case, it is necessary for safety on the one 

 hand, or success in seizing prey, by surprise, on the 

 other, for the animal to have a distinct auricular percep- 

 tion, accompanied by a nice sense of smell. By remain- 

 ing perfectly quiet, the ears are directed to and fro, as 

 circumstances may require, to receive, most favorably 

 and forcibly the sonorous rays, without being obliged 

 to move the head.* Elephants, hounds, beside an al- 

 most endless catalogue of mammalia, have pendular 

 ears hanging down over the ear pipe, as though the de- 

 sign was to defend the orifice ; in these examples, the 

 muscles are small, as they are in man, and finally, in age, 

 for want of use, become indistinct on dissection. 



Birds have but a slight rim, approaching in outline, the 

 pinna ; lizards, of which there are about forty varieties, 

 as well as serpents and other reptiles, have nothing ex- 

 ternally resembling an ear : in some, it is difficult, on 

 close examination, to discover the precise spot where the 

 nerve of the auditory machine is located. Fishes are 



* It is a favorite theory with me, that an ear trumpet for deaf 

 people, instead of being like the funnel of a common bugle, should 

 have a broad plate grooved, and indeed, wrought in exact imitation 

 of the external human ear, it being certain that this is the best mode 

 of directing sound into the head, or nature would have constructed 

 it differently. 



VOL. I. NO. XII. 25* 



