18 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Observations on the hearing of fish. 



lighter than that of land animals, the rays of 

 light issuing from their lens will be refracted in 

 a greater degree, or bi ought sooner to a focus. 



Some naturalists have also imagined that fish 

 are totally destitute of hearing; but, on the other 

 hand, it is urged, that when kept in a pond, they 

 may be made to answer at the call of a whistle, 

 or the ringing of a bell; that they appear terri- 

 fied, and sink to the bottom of the water upon 

 any sudden noise, as thunder, or the firing of 

 guns. Most of the ancients were of opinion, 

 that fish had the sense of hearing, though they 

 by no means could ascertain the auditory pas- 

 sage, or determine the matter by experiment. 

 Aristotle, Scaliger, Nierembergius, Geoffrey, 

 and Johnson, are of the same opinion; and Dr. 

 George Serger (author of a dissertation on this 

 subject, in the German Ephemerides) says, that 

 " having been to take a walk with some of his 

 friends in the fine gardens of the Archbishop of 

 Saltzburg, the gardener conducted them to a 

 Tery clear piece of water, of which the bottom 

 was paved with stones of different colours, and 

 in which they did not at first see any fish; but 

 the man had no sooner rung a little bell, than a 

 multitude of trouts came together from all parts 

 of the pond, to take what the gardener had 

 brought them, and disappeared as soon as they 

 had eaten it up. The gardener assured his com- 

 pany that he always did the same, whenever he 

 bad a mind to give tlieiu any thing to eat. Hav- 



