80 SOUND, A^ MARK OF WEAKNESS. 



death on its wings. Lightning, too, is not only much 

 more sublime than thunder, but its power is, in some 

 instances,' tremendous ; so that we cannot set bounds 

 to its effects ; and yet it is the harmless din of the 

 thunder which terrifies. The motion of the air 

 which produces sound seems to be quite different in 

 kind from that which overcomes resistance, and 

 affects the skin and the muscles. The ear will catch 

 the tones of a bell at the distance of eight or ten 

 miles on a still evening, though the vibration of the 

 bell does not at that distance produce a motion of 

 the air that will bend the spider's most slender 

 thread ; and yet the same ear gives no notice of the 

 approach of a bullet, by which it may be the next 

 instant dashed to pieces ; and the first notice given, 

 whether the bullet strikes, or passes near, is a mus- 

 cular impression, and "the wind of a bullet" is a 

 wind that blows, not a wind that sings. It is much 

 the same with noisy things as with noisy people: 

 they are always less effective in proportion as the 

 noise is louder. A deeply honey-combed ball, which 

 whistles as it flies, goes less fleetly and directly to its 

 mark, and does less execution, than one which speeds 

 on in silence : and, in blasting rocks with gunpowder, 

 it is the stifled smouldering shots that do the execu- 

 tion. Thus it would seem, even in inanimate things, 

 that sound is the wail of weakness, the crying, the 

 childishness of the creation, as it were. 



And it is worthy of remark, that our hearing par- 

 takes more of the nature of a child, and must be 

 schooled more nearly like a child, than any of our 

 other faculties. In itself, it is indeed a child ; an in- 

 fant at the very commencement of life : it has sen- 

 sation, but it has neither knowledge nor the means 

 of getting any ; and unless it is first taught out of 

 the mouths of others, or schooled by the co-operation 

 of the other senses, it never can reveal to us the sim- 

 plest fact. 



When, however it is once educated, it can take 



