SOUND SPENCER. 



- 801 



when the form <uul peculiarly elastic properties of 

 the pinna are considered. 



2nd. Wherever matter is at rest, sound ceases ; 

 consequently that part of the ear which the atmos- 

 pheric pulsations reach before they arrive at the 

 inembrana tympani, cannot be still. 



3d. When one individual listens to another who 

 is addressing him, his face is turned towards the 

 speaker, so that sound is received upon the ear 

 from in front. 



4th. There is then in front and centre of the 

 auricle, a small angular projection, called the Tra- 

 gus, which covers the auditory passage, and throws 

 the wave of sound over it, and this orifice forms 

 an acute angle to the approach of sound. On the 

 extremity of this promontory, there is a growth of 

 hair, which must break and divide sound before it- 

 can enter the aerial passage. 



5th. At the entrance of this passage there is 

 also a growth of hair, partly strong and in part 

 downy and soft, the former calculated to break 

 and divide sound, and the latter to damp it. 



Gth. This auditory passage is lined with cerumen, 

 a soft yielding body that must damp sound, and it is 

 also found on the membrane of the tympanum, 

 which consists of three distinct folds, the anterior 

 membrane or fold being a continuation of the 

 cuticle skin of the auricle and auditory canal ; con- 

 sequently sound is as much influenced by all these 

 deteriorating and deranging properties as would be 

 the case in any musical wind instrument, if its an- 

 terior surface were lined by similar materials. 



7th. In regard to the superior surface of the 

 auricle on which sound is supposed to be collected, 

 it may be remarked that this has no definite forma- 

 tion ; it varies more in different individuals than 

 any other external part of the human body, and is 

 neither intended to conduct or reflect with consis- 

 tency, as the ear, like the atmosphere, must trans- 

 mit sound without change in its original char- 

 acter. 



8tb. Sound, on passing over the Tragus, must in 

 some cases act mainly on the antehelix, the first 

 projection, and in other cases on the helix or rim 

 of the pinna, according to the degree of elevation 

 in the one or the other, but more commonly on 

 both these elevations, and must be reflected in 

 order to reach the concha at the entrance of the 

 auditory canal, the concha being spherical, and in its 

 form inimical to the preservation of articulate 

 sounds, if we are to judge by external bodies. 



9th. This expanded lever with its fulcrum being 

 composed of the same materials as the windpipe, is 

 powerfully elastic and sonorous, and must reflect 

 irregular sounds from its sinuosities and deep re- 

 cesses. 



Were the membrana tympani powerfully sono- 

 rous from its tension and extreme attenuation, ac- 

 tion and sound would, as in similar external bodies, 

 be prolonged so as to bring the sound of one let- 

 ter upon another in speech, and consequently con- 

 fuse. 



The chain of bones in the central ear is diver- 

 gent in various parts, and incapable of conducting 

 regular sounds, and the two membranous spaces in 

 the bony partition between the central and internal 

 cavities of the ear, (termed the fenestra) one being 

 elliptical and the other circular, must produce differ- 

 ent sounds ; these, together with the small aerial 

 canal which connects them, lately discovered and de- 

 scribed by M. Savait, and also by Dr Todd in the 

 Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology, are longi- 



tudinally transverse to the direction of the nerve of 

 hearing, and the lining of the vestibule and cochlea 

 with which they are connected, must derange sound 

 transmitted in this direction, although by means of 

 their contact with the membrana tympani a slight 

 degree of action in the aqueous fluid in the laby- 

 rinth may be produced, and an effect similar to 

 what is experienced when a light current of air 

 brings the sound of the church bell to our ears 

 with increased effect. 



Not any of these impediments, however, operate 

 to prevent sound after the atmospheric wave im- 

 pinges on the pinna, from being conducted to the 

 labyrinth by the solids and denser fluids which 

 compose the organ of hearing, and are more potent 

 and rapid conductors than common air. That con- 

 sonance prevails in this direction is sufficiently 

 proved by the application of the stethoscope to 

 the gristle of the pinna; but the preconceived 

 fancy that air is the predominant agent by which 

 sound must enter this organ and operate upon the 

 membrane of the tympanum, having been indulged 

 and impressed on the mind from generation to gene- 

 ration, is not easily removed, and yet it is of akin 

 to the limited and erroneous notion which so gene- 

 rally prevails, that in order to regulate and econo- 

 mise speech in apartments, it is only necessary to 

 take into consideration the mere form of an apart- 

 ment, and not the nature and influence of surround- 

 ing solids. 



SPENCER, THE BIGHT HON. GEORGE JOHN 



SPENCER, SECOND EARL, was born on the 1st Sep- 

 tember, 1758, and received the early part of his 

 education under the tutorage of Mr (afterwards Sir 

 William) Jones. After prosecuting his studies at 

 Harrow with great assiduity, hisloidship was entered 

 at Trinity college, Cambridge; and in 1778 he took 

 the degree of bachelor of arts. Throughout the 

 term of his intercourse at the university he at- 

 tracted around him many friends, whose esteem he 

 acquired not less by the dignified tone of his mind 

 than by the generosity of his disposition. Shortly 

 after he left college, he took his seat in parlia- 

 ment for the borough of Northampton, and being 

 connected by association as well as principle with 

 the whigs, his lordship attached himself at once to 

 that party. The moment was auspicious for the 

 display of firmness and ability. The whigs were 

 engaged in a struggle with lord North, and lord 

 Althorp was one of the majority that drove the 

 minister from the power he abused. On the over- 

 throw of that administration his lordship was ap- 

 pointed, in 1782, one of the lords of the treasury, 

 and was re-elected for Northampton, though he 

 was afterwards elected for the county of Surrey, 

 which he continued to represent until he succeeded 

 to the peerage, by the death of his father, in 1783. 

 The state of the public mind upon the progress of 

 events in France a few years after called his lord- 

 ship into a more important position. The princi- 

 ples that were rapidly growing up amongst the 

 French people were regarded in this country with 

 the utmost anxiety. A change had taken place in 

 the government, and the whigs were again at the 

 opposition side of the House. The whole of the 

 year 1792 presented an unbroken series of alarms. 

 The whigs had become divided upon the wisdom 

 of the measures adopted by the administration ; 

 and a section of them considered it to be their duty 

 to support the existing government. Lord Spen- 

 cer, with the duke of Portland, lord Grenville, and 

 Mr Windham, joined the Pitt administration in 

 3 i: 



