ON THE SENSE OF HEARING IN PISHES. 



owners whistle cannot be disputed ; but they ma\ have mam 

 intimations that their masters are not aware of; in the firs! 

 place from their eyes, which are wonderfully quick and 

 curiously adapted to all the various refractions of their ele- 

 ment; and then from their feeling, which is very delicate and 

 can from a distance discern the footsteps of those thai approach; 

 and moreover the sound of the whistle possibly may make a 

 sensible impression on the water and awaken their attention. 

 That water is very pervious to sound is known by many ex- 

 periments; for noises made under water are distinctly heard 

 above, and so vice versa; and moreover sounds raised under 

 water may be heard to an almost incredible distance bj an 

 ear placed under water. Now these noises cannot pervade 

 any medium without occasioning a sensible vibration in it. 

 and therefore they may become the object of feeling. Where 

 one sense is wanting or impaired by any decay, the others 

 are more alert and their attention is more alive. Thus blind 

 people avail themselves of many little intimations that escape 

 the attention of those who can see; they can remember men- 

 voices as we distinguish their persons, and discriminate each 

 friend as he enters the room by his step or his manner of 

 opening or shutting the door. Hearing and feeling in parti- 

 cular are kindred senses, and the latter often performs the 

 function of the former, as I shall endeavour to prove before 

 I close this letter. On the morning of the 1 st of Xov', 1 7 .").">, 

 some people that were busied about the pen-stocls of a pond 

 saw the fish agitated in a very unusual manner, and express- 

 ing uncommon terror and dismay ; but were unable to form 

 the least judgment concerning this novel commotion "til the 

 next mail from Portugal brought advice of the sad fate of the 

 city of Lisbon, which was destroyed in that most awful mo- 

 ment by a tremendous earthquake. 



A deaf person with whom I am very well acquainted, as 

 he sits with his back to the door, can feel people enter the 

 room though he cannot hear them; and some summers past, 

 during the royal review at Spithead, could distinguish ever) 

 salute by the vibrating of the floor and walls of his parlor and 

 the chair in which he sat, though his hearing was too. dull tu 



VOL. II. 



