SO'^ un. H. it. WAtLis ON tSe oliowlfl; [Mar. 2, 



see them projecting in this direction on all parts of the ear which 

 adjoin the line of insertion [to the head. — H. M. W.'] and upon the 

 outside answering to the convexity of the concha ; but away from 

 there, if you set aside the upper part of this internal [sic] surface, 

 where the hairs come from the front [sic^ to the back, we see on 

 the remaining [portioii] the hairs turn obliquely little by little 

 from a downward direction to the outside, so that in the turn 

 inwards [*io] to the posterior tract of the free margin, they become 

 pointed upwards, as we have seen alread}^ 



" From what we have said it will be easily understood that the 

 free margin of the outer ear is traversed by two currents of 

 hairs — one which follows the upper tract (or first third) bending 

 downwards ; the other which follows the hinder tract, or 

 I'emaining two-thirds of its free margin, bending upwards. 



"At the junction of the upper tract with the lower the two 

 currents meet, and together wWh hairs coming straight from 

 the hinder surface, sometimes form a true little tuft (ciufefto), 

 the spiral twist upon its convexity being plainly to be observed. 



" Well, now, what seems worthy of note is, that when Darwin's 

 Tubercle is present, this meeting of the two currents of hairs 

 is placed in ^ correspondence with it. And since in the ears 

 of animals that have hairy ears it is towards the point that 

 the hairs are turned, it seems definitely resolved that Darwin's 

 Tubercle is, as Darwin put it, the rudiment or trace of originally 

 pointed ears." 



ii. Ears of Infants. 



Leaving now the historical resume, I proceed to describe some 

 observations which prove that the hairs upon an infant's ear are 

 arranged upon a definite plan and have different directions in 

 different parts of the organ. 



To begin with, the back of the ear at birth is frequently 

 clothed with a regular growth of hair. The possible significance 

 of this will be dealt with later. For the moment, however, I 

 merely draw attention to the peculiarities of the growth, its 

 constant adherence to certain lines — both on tlie back of the 

 concha, where the hairs are directed backwards and downwards 

 (as may be seen by reference to Plate XIX. figs. 2 and 3) ; and 

 upon the back of the heUx and anti-helix, where the lines of 

 growth followed by the hair, though in my experience constant 

 (when hair is present at all), are apparently capricious, a question 

 to be dealt with presently. 



Fig. 3 shows the back of an infant's ear enlarged. The tract 

 immediately around Darwin's Point, or where Darwin's Point is to 

 be expected (for it is not always present), is bare. Those parts of 

 the helix which are above the bare tract are clothed back and 

 front with hairs directed toA^ards DarA^in's Point, whilst the hairs 

 upon the back of the anti-helix separate themselves from those 

 upon the back of the concha, which are directed downwards tow ards 

 the lobe, and executing a couuteruiarch, as one might saj", come 



