II 



Ears in man and other animals — Ears in primitive man — 

 Atavism in ears, in the twitching-muscle and the teeth — 

 Teeth-gnashing faculty — ^The teeth as a musical instrument 

 — Cave men's chamber music — A natural ear-pad — ^Helping 

 our ears — Wind-made noises in our ears a defect — A wind 

 symphony. 



THE subject of the hind and her ears set me 

 thinking about the outer ears in man, and 

 how they compare with those of other mam- 

 mals, especially with the trumpet ear. 



The ears in primitive men were free-hinged, not 

 nailed to the head — but never so free as in the deer, 

 horse, and many other animals, which are able to 

 point forwards, backwards, and sideways. They 

 were built on a different principle, though it may 

 puzzle us to know why a long narrow head as in the 

 horse, or a broad head as in foxes and others, should 

 have ears placed like pinnacles on the top, while 

 man's are against the sides of the head. One can 

 only say that it is so because they grew so, or they 

 happened by chance to come in that position. 



The ears in early man were also undoubtedly very 

 much bigger than ours; and by ours I mean the ears 

 of the refined, cultivated races of man — the higher 

 classes, who with the little " shell-like " ears flat 

 against the head always exist side by side with those 

 of a less improved type who have big ears standing 



13 



