150 TEAE-EOOK OP FACTS. 



1. That the commonly received opinion in favour of the sonorous 

 undulating passage to the vestibule through the chain of ossicles is 

 correct. 



2. That the stapes, when disconnected from the incus, can still 

 conduct sonorous undulations to the vestibule from the air. 



3. So far as our present experience extends, it appears that in the 

 human ear sound always travels to the labyrinth through two media, 

 viz., through the air in the tympanic cavity to the cochlea, and 

 through one or more of the ossicles to the vestibule. 



SENSITIVENESS OF THE HUMAN EAR TO THE PITCH OF MUSICAL 

 NOTES. 



M. F. Fessel has obtained with the new Parisian Tuning- Fork 

 the following results, which he has communicated to PoggendorfFs 

 Annalen : — 



In tuning forks (says M. Fessel) I invariably pursue Scheibler's 

 plan. The fork to be tuned, before having its vibrations compared 

 with the seconds' pendulum, is, as is well known, tuned as far as pos- 

 sible by ear. My instrument and the seconds' pendulum happening 

 on this occasion to be in different rooms for the sake of convenience, 

 I naturally endeavoured to finish tuning my fork by ear only. In 

 this, however, I found I could not succeed ; and having investigated 

 all the circumstances with the greatest care, I was led to the following 

 remarkable conclusion : — 



I observed that a fork which I had tuned by holding it to my right ear while 

 the standard was held to my left, when compared with the fork used for the 

 exact pitch, made one vibration too many iu the course of several seconds ; while 

 a fork luiicd by being held to my left ear while tin 1 Btandard was held to my 

 right, vibrated less rapidly than the other. The fork in BOOUrate pitch gave the 

 lower note. Consequently, I hear all notes somewhat higher with my right ear 

 than with my left. 



I have since examined my musical friends, and I have not yet found one, even 

 among part-mu3icians, whose ears are precisely alike in estimating the pitch of 

 musical notes. By continued practice I am able to distinguish. by a simple ex- 

 periment, with which ear anyone hears the highest, in tins i iperimenl l have 

 never yet tailed. '! he person under examination holds a carefully timed fork in 

 each hand, and having sounded them simultaneously, he brings them succes- 

 sively the one to the right, the other to the left car. 1 place my right ear at 

 equal distances from both of his, my left beiug turned away and covered lightly 

 with my hand. 



In this position, that ear of the person under examination near which the fork 

 is held which seems I., me to ha\o the highest pitch, hears all sounds higher than 



the other. If the tuning-fi irka are exehangeo, precisely the same phenomenon 

 remits with respect both to the person under examination and to the listener. 

 As fur as my present ezperienoe e\tends, most people (hero in Cologne) hear 

 higher with the right ear than with the left. 



These experiments are so striking that no one has hitherto •it- 

 tempted to dispute them. Indeed I bad secured mysi If a gainst con- 

 tradiction, by always requesting the gentlemen whose bearing I 

 ■ to state their own opinioi I acquainted them 



with my explanation of the phenomenon. This precaution Beemed 

 to mo to be necessary, since: no one could blame a musician for re- 



BUting the imputation that lie heard differently with different ears. 

 In the end all were extremely astonished. I pass over the various 



