THE POPULAR EDUCATOK. 



receive such impressions, than those inelastic or solid media in 

 which its vibrations are more energetic. This is the more 

 singular, because in no case is air or gas the last substance 

 through which sound passes to the sentient nerve, only it seems 

 desirable tliat it should be one link in the chain for conveying 

 Bound. It is difficult to conceive how the message should bo 

 made more distinct by the fact, that air carries it for one postal 

 stage in the central part of its course, yet such seems to be the 

 case. 



In the case of the whale, the bony sheath of the tympanum is 

 not embedded in the substance of the ear-bone, as in other 

 animals, but hangs below ib, and is shaped like a scroll, or like 

 the shell of a volute, or bulla', with a very thick column or inner 

 central part, and a very thin ou-ter lip. By this thin outer 

 margin of the scroll it is attached to the remainder of the ear- 

 bone, but the attachment is so slight that in the dry skull it is 

 easily broken off. In some geological strata this part of the 

 ear-bone is found commonly, while the other bones of the whale 

 are rare ; and some attribute this anomaly to the easy severance 

 of the bone, by fracture, from the rest of the skull, just men- 

 tioned. It is supposed that from the huge rotting carcase, 

 distended with gas, and beaten about by the waves, the dense 

 tympanic bones may have dropped and been quickly covered by 

 preserving sediment, while the remainder of the animal, drifted 

 to shore, and being left to the influence of the atmosphere, 

 left no other vestige behind to attest the presence of these 

 whales in the ancient seas. 



We have dwelt thus long on the outer courts of the ear, in 

 the animals that give suck to their young, because the variety 

 displayed in these non-essential parts of the car is not shown in 

 the parts of the internal or essential car. All the parts of the 

 internal ear, the semi-circular canals, the vestibule, with its oval 

 hole, and the cochlea, are always present in all mammals. There 

 are, however, some slight differences in the proportion of the 

 parts ; thus the so-called circular staircases which mount the 

 cochlea have three and a-half turns, or whirls, in the guinea- 

 pig and porcupine, and only one and a-half in the whale, and in 

 this last it can scarcely be called a staircase at all, as it does 

 not mount upward, but only curls inwards on the same plane, 

 like the hollow of the shell of the nautilus, instead of that of the 

 trochus, or top-shell. There is some variation also in the little 

 chain of bones which spans the drum from the drum membrane 

 to the oval hole ; thus the hammer and anvil bones are fused 

 together in the pouched animals. These slight differences, 

 however, do not invalidate the statement that the ears of all 

 mammals are made on the same pattern ; and if the reader have 

 the patience to accomplish the by no means easy task of dis- 

 secting out from its bony case the ear of any such animal, while 

 referring to the description of the human ear, given in the first 

 article on the ear, he will be able to identify the several parts, 

 or if he fail to do so, he may search again, for they are all 

 there, though minute and difficult to trace. 



The efficiency of the sense of hearing in brutes is a matter of 

 notoriety. Whoever has had the opportunity of watching a 

 herd of wild animals, while unobserved by them, will have been 

 struck with the vigilance with which each unaccustomed sound 

 is remarked. The electric start, by which every individual of the 

 community is thrown at once into an attitude of attention and 

 preparation for a hasty flight, is a beautiful sight. When we 

 remember how many animals are nocturnal in their habits, how 

 many find their home in dense tangled forests, and also how 

 necessary it is that dispersed members of a gregarious tribe, the 

 eexes of wandering species, the helpless young, and protecting 

 dams, should bo able to find each other, it is not surprising 

 that this sense is made so wonderfully acute. So much is this 

 cense relied upon for the above-named purposes, that the crafty 

 backwoodsman finds no better expedient for alluring shy game 

 to within reach of his rifle than by imitating the call of the 

 species ; yet so discriminating are the wild animals, that the 

 slightest error in the intonation, or even the frequency, of the 

 try, will send them scampering away from the ambush. 



it would seem as though man, who employs this organ so 

 generally in the higher uses of the mind and soul, necessarily 

 sacrifices to these uses some of the acuteness to mere sound of 

 which the ear is capable. The savage starts like the brute when 

 a sound, such as the European would scarcely bo aware of, 

 reaches him from the distant hill ; but civilised man, who passes 

 his life amidst the hum of crowded cities, striving rather to 



abstract his thoughts from intrusive noises, and directing his 

 attention, even when most attentive, to the thoughts that 

 sounds embody rather than to the sounds themselves, is at a 

 disadvantage when brought into contact with the unthinking 

 brute, and he will sometimes pass through scenes teeming with 

 life, and think them inanimate solitudes, because he, the object 

 of dread, has no corresponding acuteness of observation to 

 detect the animals which hide themselves at his approach. Yet, 

 as we have seen, his organ is as delicate and complicated as any 

 of theirs, and the disadvantage arises rather from neglect than 

 deficiency, and when the kind of impression comes which strikes 

 the mind, the sense is found to be wonderfully wakeful. Many 

 will remember the thrilling anecdote of the Scotch woman, 

 who, when besieged at Delhi, expecting with all the Europeans 

 nothing but cruel massacre, for no earthly help seemed avail- 

 able, started up, and said, " I hear them ; they are playing ' The 

 Campbells are coming.' " And those who then thought her mad 

 rejoiced with her on the same day, for a regiment of Scottish 

 soldiers had marched to their relief. 



LESSORS IN GERMAN. X. 



SECTION XVIII. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VERBS OF THE 

 OLD AND NEW CONJUGATIONS. 



VERBS of the Old Conjugation (commonly called irregular verbs) 

 differ from those of the New, not only in respect to termina- 

 tional variations, but also in regard to changes of the radical 

 vowels, as -. 3d; foinme, I come ; id; fatn, I came ; id; fctytcifce, I 

 write ; id? fcfyricfc, I wrote ; id; fcf;c, I see ; id; faty, I saw. (See 

 77 ; also list of irregular verbs, 78. 1.) 



The form of the past participle, in verbs of the Old Conjuga- 

 tion, frequently differs from that of the infinitive only by the 

 augment ojc, as: Infinitive, fommcn. Past participle, gefommen. 



Infinitive. 



n, to fall ; 

 ckn, to give ; 

 ct;cn, to go ; 

 ,f?ommcn, to come ; 

 <yrcd;en, to speak ; 

 Spvingcn, to spring ; 

 <rf;rabcii, to write ; 

 tngen, to sing ; 

 Sc^cn, to see ; 



Imperfect. 



?rf> fief, I fell ; 

 3d; gab, I gave ; 

 3cfy oing, I went ; 

 3d) fam, I came ; 

 3<$ fpvad;, I spoke ; 

 3d; fprang, I sprang ; 

 3d; fd;ncb, I wrote ; 

 3d; fang, I sang ; 

 3d; falj, I saw ; 



Present. 



id; fafle, I fall, 

 td; gc&e, I give, 

 id; gelje, I go. 

 id; f fin me, I come, 

 id; fprecfye, I speak. 

 id; fpringc, I spring, 

 id; fcfyrcifre, I write, 

 id; fingc, I sing, 

 id; fefye, I see. 



Past Participle. 



oefaffen, fallen. 

 gcgcfren, given, 

 gegangen, gone, 

 gcfommcn, come. 

 gcfpved;en, spoken, 

 gcfptungcn, sprung, 

 gcfdjricfccn, written. 

 gcfungen, sung. 

 gcfcf;en, seen. 



1. The present tense of some verbs of the Old Conjugation is 

 irregular in the sepond and third persons singular, as : 



Solicit, to fall. 

 3d; fatle, I fall. 

 u fa flft, thou fallest. 

 <r faflt, he falls. 



<& c 1) e n, to see. 



3d; fd)e, I see. 



S)u ficftft, thou seest. 



(5r ftd)t, he sees. 



c 6 c n, to give. 

 3d) getic, I give. 

 3>u gibft, thou givest. 

 (Jr oji&t, he gives. 



V r c d; c n, to speak. 



3d; fprecfye, I speak. 



T.U frvirf>fl, thou speakest. 



6r fpridjt. he speaks. 



2. In the imperfect tense of verbs of the Old Conjugation, as 

 well as of the New, the second and third persons are regularly 

 formed from the first person singular in the following manner 

 as: 



c I; e n. 



3d; fling, I went ; foir oingcn, we went. 



!u gtitirfl, thou wentest ; ifir gingct, you went. 



Gr, fie, or (3 ging, he, she, or it ") 



went ; j ^ lc 3l " 3en ' tliry wcnt 



