SOUNDS IN NATUKR. 
37 
bystander. Miners, in boring for coal, can tell by the 
sound what substance they are penetrating ; and a recent 
discovery is that of applying a listening-tnbe to the breast 
to detect the motions of the heart. The (piickness which 
some persons possess in distinguishing the smaller .sounds, 
is very remarkable. A friend of the writer has declared 
he conld readily perceive the motion of a flea, when on his 
nightcap, by the sound emitted by the machinery of his 
leaping powers. However extraordinary this may appear, 
we find a similar statement is given in the ingenious work 
upon insects, by Kirby and Spence, who sa}^ ‘ I loiow of 
no other insect, the tread of which is accompanied by 
sound, except indeed the flea, whose steps a lady assured 
me she always hears when it pa.sses over her nightcap, 
and that it clacks as if it was walking in pattens ! ’ If we 
can suppose the ear to be alive to such delicate vibrations, 
certainly there is nothing in the way of .sound too difficult 
for it to achieve. 
Cats and dogs can hear the movements of their prey at 
incredible distances, and that even in the midst of noise, 
which we would have thought would have overpowered 
such effects. Rabbits, when alarmed, forcibly strike the 
earth with their feet, by the vibration of which they com- 
mnnicate their apprehensions to burrows ver}^ remote. As 
an instance of the discriminating power of the ear of the 
elephant, we may mention a circumstance that occurred in 
the memorable conflict of shooting the maddened elephant 
at Kxeter ’Change. After the soldiers had discharged 
thirty balls, he stooped, and deliberately sunk on his 
haunches. Mr. Herring, conceiving that a shot had struck 
him in a vital part, cried out — “He’s down, boys! he’s 
down ! ’ ’ and so he was onl}^ for a moment; he leapt up 
with renewed vigor, and at least eighty balls were succes¬ 
sively discharged at him from different positions before he 
fell a second time. Previous to this, he had nearly brought 
