MUSICAL EAR. INTENSITY OF SOUNDS. 199 



It is said that a false note disturbs more than false colour- 

 ing, but this is true only within certain limits. A mediocre 

 amateur listening to the overture of "Der Freischiitz" at the 

 Conservatory would be shocked, no doubt, if the horn should, 

 by one of those accidents which it is impossible always to 

 avoid, be out of tune; but the same amateur after having 

 heard this same piece executed by a second-rate orchestra 

 would be very well satisfied with the concert, and would 

 take into account neither the false notes which might have 

 escaped nor the want of regard to time or expression, and if 

 he does not place the two orchestras on the same level, it 

 will be from personal feelings. Among the crowds which 

 visit the galleries of the Louvre every year, how many people 

 prefer a common and inharmonious picture blazing with 

 colour to a master-piece of Titian ! 



A person who sings falsely is said to have "no ear," and 

 often, in fact, it is to the want of exactness in the ear that 

 the faults in the voice are due. In this case the evil is* be- 

 yond remedy, the musician who has an incorrect ear can 

 never be sure of producing correct sounds. But if the falsity 

 of the note is due solely to an imperfection in the vocal 

 organ, a man who cannot sing correctly, can play the violin 

 or violincello perfectly, because his ear judges correctly of 

 the sounds which he produces from his instrument. 



Intensity, distance, and direction of sounds. As we have 

 seen, authors do not agree upon the functions of the different 

 parts of the auditory apparatus in the perception of the in- 

 tensity, the distance, and the direction of sound. The per- 

 ception of the intensity of sound seems to depend more on 

 the relative perfection of the whole organ than on any one 

 of its parts. Vibrations are transmitted to every part of the 

 ear, and even to the whole body, in loud noises and sounds. 

 Thus thunder, the report of cannon, the grave notes of an 

 organ or of a double-bass viol, cause a tremor in the whole 

 body; but it is by the vibratory excitement of the auditory 

 nerve that we judge of the intensity of sounds, as the optic 

 nerve enables us to appreciate that of light. 



In regard to distance, if it is a sound with which we are 

 familiar, that of the human voice, for example, we judge of 



