MAN— MUSICAL POWERS. 563 



was repeatedly heard. In one of the two chief songs, "the last 

 "bar would frequently be prolonged to two or three; and she 

 "would sometimes change from C sharp and D, to C natural and 

 "D, then warble on these two notes awhile, and wind up with a 

 "quick chirp on C sharp and D. The distinctness between the 

 "semitones was very marked, and easily appreciable to a good 

 "ear." Mr. Lockwood gives both songs in musical notation; and 

 adds that though this little mouse "had no ear for time, yet she 

 "would keep to the key of B (two flats) and strictly in a major 



"key." "Her soft clear voice falls an octave with all the pre- 



"cision possible; then at the wind up, it rises again into a very 

 "quick trill on C sharp and D." 



A critic has asked how the ears of man, and he ought to have 

 added of other animals, could have been adapted by selection so as 

 to distinguish musical notes. But this question shows some confu- 

 sion on the subject; a noise is the sensation resulting from the 

 co-existence of several aerial "simple vibrations" of various 

 periods, each of which intermits so frequently that its separate 

 existence cannot be perceived. It is only in the want of continuity 

 of such vibrations, and in their want of harmony inter se, that 

 a noise differs from a musical note. Thus an ear to be capable 

 of discriminating noises — and the high importance of this power 

 to all animals is admitted by every one — must be sensitive to musi- 

 cal notes. We have evidence of this capacity even low down in 

 the animal scale: thus Crustaceans are provided with auditory 

 hairs of different lengths, which have been seen to vibrate when 

 the proper musical notes are struck.^^ As stated in a previous 

 chapter, similar observations have been made on the hairs of the 

 antennas of gnats. It has been positively asserted by good obser- 

 vers that spiders are attracted by music. It is also well known 

 that some dogs howl when hearing particular tones.'^ Seals ap- 

 parently appreciate music, and their fondness for it "was well 

 "known to the ancients, and is often taken advantage of by the 

 "hunters at the present day.'"'* 



Therefore, as far as the mere perception of musical notes is con- 

 cerned, there seems no special difficulty in the case of man or of 

 any other animal. Helmholtz has explained on physiological prin- 

 ciples why concords are agreeable, and discords disagreeable to the 

 human ear; but we are little concerned with these, as music in har- 



32 Helmholtz, 'Theorle Phys. de la Musique,' 1868, p. 187. 



=3 Several accounts have been published to this effect. Mr. Peach 

 writes to me that he has repeatedly found that an old dog of hia 

 howls when B flat is sounded on the flute, and to no other note. I 

 may add another instance of a dog always whining, when one note 

 on a concertina, which was out of tune, was played. 



« Mr. R. Brown, in 'Proc. Zool. Soc' 1868, p. 410. 



