the human membrana tympani and that of the elephant. 25 
in Exeter 'Change, Mr. Broadwood kindly sent one of his 
tuners with a piano-forte to make the experiment : the higher 
notes hardly attracted notice, but the low ones called up the 
elephant’s attention. He brought his broad ears forward, 
remained evidently listening, and he made use of sounds ra- 
ther expressive of satisfaction than otherwise. 
The full sound of the French horn produced the same 
effect. 
The nearest approach I have met with among quadrupeds to 
this peculiarity in the elephant, is in neat cattle : in them the 
membrane is more oval proportionably than in the elephant ; 
it is — of an inch long, - 8 o hroad. The handle of the mal- 
leus lies in the direction of the transverse diameter of the 
oval, and extends \ of its length : it is not, however, situated 
in the middle line of the oval, but so much nearer to the an- 
terior side, that the fibres on that side are - shorter than 
those on the opposite. 
In the deer, the membrane is of an oval form, whose trans- 
verse diameter is of an inch, the conjugate : the mal- 
leus has its handle nearer the middle line than in neat cattle, 
the anterior fibres are ~ of an inch, the posterior - 3 ^ of an 
inch long. This is seen in the drawings. [Plate V.[j 
In the horse, and hare, the handle of the malleus lies in 
the middle line, so that the fibres on the two sides are equal. 
In the hare, the handle is more curved. See the drawing. 
[Plate V.] 
In the cat, the fibres are nearly the same as in the horse. 
I mention this circumstance, since it leads to the conclusion, 
that the whole of the feline kind have a similarly constructed 
organ. 
MDCOcxxm. E 
