HEARING. 55 



till the monster, in whose soul there was no music, 

 shot one of them to display his skill in archery *." 



The anatomical structure and conformation which 

 constitutes what is called a musical ear, remains 

 hitherto unknown ; but if we may judge from the 

 songs of birds, it must differ considerably in them 

 from what it does in man, as their musical scale 

 cannot be adapted to any of ours ; though Mrs. 

 Piozzi's account of the musical pigeon, as well as 

 the fact of bulfinches and other birds learning to pipe 

 waltzes and other airs, proves that they can accom- 

 modate their ear to scales differing from the one in 

 which they naturally sing. 



Independently of structure and conformation, no 

 very satisfactory explanation has, so far as we know, 

 been given of what is called a musical ear. M. Le 

 Cat says the ear of a good musician is a sort of 

 prism, which separates and distinguishes the tones 

 combined in harmony, as the glass prism separates 

 the colours of light. But this, we think, is no less 

 fanciful, than a comparison between sound and co- 

 lours ; scarlet, for example, being compared to the 

 sound of a trumpet, as was done by a blind man 

 because he had no other means of comparison. One 

 of the most singular and ingenious accounts which 

 we have met with of the peculiarity of a musical ear, 

 is given by Dr. Thomas Brown of Edinburgh, in his 

 Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind. 

 He thinks, because people who are not musical can 

 distinguish grave and acute, low and loud sounds, as 

 well as a musician, that the peculiarity must lie in 

 the comparison of successive sounds. It may prove 

 interesting to quote his own words. 



" If the want of a musical ear," says Dr. Brown, 

 " had involved either a general defect of hearing, or 

 a general slowness of discrimination in other cases 

 * Asiatic Researches. 



