II. TO HIGHGATE. 27 



From our birth, different sounds constantly 

 strike our ear. We hear the language of 

 men, the cries of animals, the songs of 

 birds, the noise of roaring cascades, the 

 murmuring of trees, and the sighing of 

 the winds. We gradually become so fa- 

 miliarised to these various sounds, that we 

 listen to them without surprise. How 

 many individuals in the same manner em- 

 ploy the organ of speech, without stu- 

 dying how sounds are formed and commu- 

 nicated ! How many celebrated musicians 

 display, in their compositions, all the com- 

 binations of art, without investigating the 

 internal structure of the ear, which, in beau- 

 ty, surpasses the mechanism of every known 

 instrument! 



It is not even necessary to examine the in- 

 ternal structure of that organ, to be struck 

 with wonder and admiration. It is suffici- 

 ent to observe some of the numerous ad- 

 vantages of its external configuration, to 

 acknowledge that these advantages are as 



obvious 



