Chap. I. 
RUDIMENTS. 
21 
and from what one of these persons told me, it is pro- 
bable that most of us by often touching our ears and 
thus directing our attention towards them, could by 
repeated trials recover some power of movement. The 
faculty of erecting the ears and of directing them to 
different points . of the compass, is no doubt of the 
highest service to many animals, as they thus perceive 
the point of danger ; but I have never heard of a man 
who possessed the least power of erecting his ears, — - 
the one movement which might be of use to him. The 
whole external shell of the ear may be considered a 
rudiment, together with the various folds and promi- 
nences (helix and anti-helix, tragus and anti-tragus, &c.) 
which in the lower animals strengthen and support the 
ear when erect, without adding much to its w T eiglit. 
Some authors, however, suppose that the cartilage of the 
shell serves to transmit vibrations to the acoustic 
nerve ; but Mr. Toynbee , 24 after collecting all the 
known evidence on this head, concludes that the exter- 
nal shell is of no distinct use. The ears of the chim- 
panzee and orang are curiously like those of man, and I 
am assured by the keepers in the Zoological Gardens 
that these animals never move or erect them ; so that 
they are in an equally rudimentary condition, as far as 
function is concerned, as in man. Why these animals, 
as well as the progenitors of man, should have lost the 
power of erecting their ears we cannot say. It may be, 
though I am not quite satisfied with this view, that owing 
to their arboreal habits and great strength they were 
but little exposed to danger, and so during a lengthened 
period moved their ears but little, and thus gradually 
lost the power of moving them. This would be a 
parallel case with that of those large and heavy birds, 
24 ‘ The Diseases of the Ear,’ by J. Toynbee, F.R.S., I860, p. 12. 
