THE EAR THAT WE CAN SEE 93 



Never use anything sharper or harder than that, for the 

 drum itself is at the opposite end of the hole, the 

 smallest drum and the busiest drum in the world. 



The hole is so small and the tube is so narrow that 

 you see no sign of this drum, even if you put your eye 

 close to the opening and look in as far as you can. 

 Doctors know another way, however. First goes in a 

 silver tube ; then a reflector, as the picture shows. This 

 sends light to the bottom of the tube and shows the 

 bit of skin that we call the eardrum. It is stretched 

 across the round bottom of the tube and fastened tight 

 on every side. 



A man may use the brightest light he can get ; he may 

 send it down as far as it will go ; yet he will see nothing 

 beyond the eardrum, for it hides everything on the other 

 side. It never opens unless something enters and breaks 

 it, or unless some disease injures it. Thousands of people 

 do not know how easy it is to break the eardrum. 



Yesterday I saw a full-grown man put a pointed pencil 

 into his ear and turn it slowly round and round. He 

 acted as if he were giving himself a good scratching. 

 Some day his hand may not be steady, or a neighbor 

 may hit his elbow; the hard point may then break its 

 way through his eardrum and damage it forever. 



Strangely enough, boxing the ears may do the same 

 thing. You know how it is when you hit a paper bag 

 full of air: the paper is sure to split from end to end 



