443 
“ But whether fishes do or do not hear, it is certain their senses 
of feeling and seeing are exquisitely quick ; and I believe, by the 
extreme sensibility of these two one may explain most of the ac- 
counts that have been brought by writers as proofs of their hearing. 
“ I have often struck with my thumb nail against the edge of the 
glass jar in which I kept my two ruffs, a stroke not harder than the 
beat of a pulse, which would cause them, in a moment, to dart 
from the bottom of the jar to the top, though I am sure they did 
not see mo. But if I made the same motion without hitting the 
glass, or if I made an hundred times louder noise than the striking 
of my nail against the glass at a very small distance from it, 1 
could not perceive they were the least affected thereby, which, if 
duly considered, may amount to a proof of the deafness or want of 
hearing in this kind of fish at least. Indeed, I have often been 
convinced by experiment that their feeling is exceedingly acute, 
perhaps more so than in other animals, whence I have been led to 
imagine that their fins may be the organs more immediately 
sensible of the slightest motions in the medium wherein they dwell.” 
Mr. Arderon remarks in a note, that “ his experiments have been 
made with fresh-water fishes, but tis not to be denied that fishes of 
the cetaceous kind may probably hear, as well as some other kinds 
produced in the sea, that have parts in common with land animals.” 
The question as to the power of hearing in fishes seems to have 
been a favourite subject with the Fellows of the lioyal Society, as 
several members about this time contribute articles on the subject, 
all however, agreeing, that Jishes of the cetaceous kind are capable 
of hearing. In December 1744, he sends to the Royal Society an 
account of an operation performed by Mr. J. Harmer (a surgeon^ 
of Norwich, for calculus, when to the surprise of the operator and 
his assistants, a “spire” of a weaver’s shuttle was extracted, instead 
of the supposed calculus. This “spire” was four inches in length. 
The patient, a boy of seventeen, perfectly recovered. He invents 
a “ Weaver’s alarm vulgo Larum,” a very simple affair, but it was 
thought worthy a place in the ‘Transactions ’ of the Royal Society. 
In the same year he sends a description of the Bridewell in this 
city, referring to it as an admirable specimen of an art now lost. 
I mean the art of cutting or rather breaking Hint stones into 
uniform figures of various sizes, the best specimens of this lost art 
are to be found in this city.” 
