Another wife Provision of the Creator, is in the Substance of the outward Ear, which is cartilaginous, the fittest for this Place. For (as an ingenious Anatomist (b) observes) "If it had been Bone, "it would have been troublesome, and might by "many Accidents have been broken off: If Flefh, "it would have been fubject to Contufion". But indeed a worse Confequence than this would have enfu'd fuch a Softnefs as that of Flesh, and that is, it would neither have remain'd expanded, neither would it fo kindly receive and circulate the Sounds, but abforb, retard, or blunt their Progrefs into the inward Organ. But being hard, and curioufly fmooth and tortuous, Sounds find an eafie Paffage, with a regular Volutation and Refraction: As in a well-built Arch, Grotto, or mufical Inftrument, which magnify and meliorate Sounds; and fome of which convey even a Whisper to a large Diftance (i): But from the outward, let us carry our Survey,

2. To

(b) Gibf. Ibid,

(i) It would naufeate the Reader to reckon up the Places famed for the Conveyance of Whifpers, fuch as the Prifon of Dionyfius at Syracufe, which is faid to encreafe a Whisper to a Noife; the clapping ones Hands to the Sound of a Cannon, &c. Nor the Aquaducts of Claudius, which carry a Voice fixteen Miles, and many others both Ancient and Modern. If the Reader hath a mind to be entertained in this way, he may find enough in Kircher's Phonurgia. But it may not be irksome to mention one or two of our own in England. Among which, one of the moft famed is the Whispering-Place in Gloucester Cathedral, which is no other than a a Gallery above the Eaft-end of the Choir, leading from one fide thereof to the other. It confifteth, (if I mistake not) of five Angles, and fix Sides, the middle-moft of which is a naked, uncovered Window, looking into a Chapel behind it. I guess the two Whisperers ftand at about twenty five Yards Distance from one another. But the Dome of St. Paul's, London, is a more confiderable Whispering-Place, where the ticking of a Watch (when no Noife is in the Streets) may

2. To the inward Part of this admirable Organ. And here we find the moft curious and artful Provifion for every Emergency and Occafion. The auditory Paffage, in the firft Place, curioufly tunnelled, and artfully turned, to give Sounds an eafie Paffage, as well as a gentle Circulation and Refration; but withal, fo as to prevent their too furious rushing in, and affaulting the more tender Parts within.

And forafmuch as it is neceffary that this Paffage fhould be always open, to be upon the Watch (k); therefore to prevent the Invafion of noxious Infects, or other Animals, (who are apt to make their retreat in every little Hole), Nature hath fecured this Paffage (), with a bitter nauseous

be heard from Side to Side; yea, a Whisper may be fent all round the Dome. And not only in the Gallery below, but above, upon the Scaffold, I tried, and found that a Whisper would be carried over one's Head round the top of the Arch, notwithstanding there is a large Opening in the middle of it into the upper part of the Dome.

(k) Auditus autem femper patet: ejus enim fenfu etiam dormientes egemus: A quo cùm fonus eft acceptus, etiam è fomno excitamur. Flexuofum iter habet, ne quid intrare poffit, fi fimplex, directum pateret; provifum etiam, ut fiqua minima beftiola conaretur irrumpere, in fordibus aurium, tanquàm in vifco, inharefceret. Cicer. de Nat Deor. 1. 2. c. 57.

It deferves a particular Remark here, that in Infants in the Womb, and newly born, the Meatus Auditorius is shut up very closely, partly by the Conftriction of the Paffage, and partly by a glutinous Subftance, whereby the Tympanum is guarded against the Water in the Secundine, and against the Injuries of the Air as foon as the Infant is born.

It is remarkable, that in moft, if not all Animals, whole Ears are tunnelled, or where the Meatus Auditorius is long enough to afford Harbour to Ear-wigs, or other Infects; that, I fay, in the Ears of fuch, Ear-wax is conftantly to be found. But in Birds, whofe Ears are covered with Feathers, and where the Tympanum lies but a little way within the Skull, no Ear-wax is found, becaufe none is neceffary to the Ears fo well guarded, and fo little tunnelled.

Excrement

Excrement (m), afforded from the Glands (n) appointed for that Purpose.

From hence let us approach the most inward Parts, in which we fhall fee Strokes of the most exquifite Art. To pafs over the innate Air, that moft Authors talk of (0), (because there is no fuch)

the

crementum tale credamus:

(m) The Ear-wax was thought by the old Anatomifts to be an Excrement of the Brain: Humor biliofus à cerebro expugnatus, the Bartholines fay of it, 1. 3. c. 9. But as Schelhammer well obferves, Nil abfurdius, quàm cerebri excrementum hoc ftatuere. Nam & ratio nulla fuadet, ut in cerebro fieri exneque via patent per quas ab eo feclufum in meatum auditorium poffit inde penetrare. As to its Tafte, Cafferius gives Inftances of its being fweet in fome Creatures. But Schelhammer fays, Ego verò femper, cum amaritie aliquid dulcedinis in illo deprehendi. Vid. Schel. de Audit. p. 1. c. 2. § 10. But I could never diftinguifh any Sweetnefs in it; but think it infipid mixed with a Bitterness. (n) Cerumina amara Arteriolis exudantia Willis de Anim. Brut. par. I. c. 14. In the Skin are little Glands, which furnish a yellow and bitter Humour. Monfieur Dionis's Dem. 18. An handfome Cut of those Glandula ceruminofa is in Dr. Drake, from Valfalva.

Pliny attributes a great Virtue to the Ear-wax; Morfus hominis inter afperrimos numeratur: medentur fordes ex auribus : ac ne quis miretur, etiam Scorpionum ictibus Serpentiumque ftatim impofita. Plin. Nat. Hift. 7. 28. c. 4. And that it hath an healing Quality, and may be accounted a good Balfam, I my felf have experienced.

(0) That there is fuch a Thing as the innate Air, (talked of much by moft Authors on this Subject) Schelhammer very justly, I think, denies, by Reafon there is a Paffage into the inner Ear from the Throat, through which the innate Air may pass out, and the outward Air enter in. V. Par. Alt.

p. 2. c. 1. §. 10. When by ftopping our Breath, and Straining, we force the external Air into the Ear, it may be heard rushing in; and if much be forced in, it may be felt alfo to beat against the Tympanum. When the Paffage to the Throat is by any Means ftopp'd, as by a Cold in the Head, c. the Hearing thereby becomes dull and blunt; by Reason the Communication between the outward and inward Air are obftructed: But when by ftrong Swallowing, or fuch like Motion of the Throat, the Paffage is opened, we perceive it by a fudden

the Paffage to the Palate (p), and their Ufes, with divers other curious Things that might be named; let us ftop a little at the Part containing the rest, namely, the Bone (q). The particular Texture and Hardness of which, above other Bones of the Body, is very remarkable; whereby it ferves not only as a fubftantial Guard to the Sensory, but also to oppose the Impulfes of the ætherial Matter, that there may be no lofs, nor Confufion in the Sound; but that it may be conveyed regularly, and intirely to the auditory Nerves.

The next Part I fhall take Notice of, may be that fine Membrane, called the Tympanum, or Mem

fudden Smack or Crack, and we immediately hear very clearly; the load of feculent Air being at that Time difcharged from the inner Ear.

It is a wife Provifion, that the Paffage for the Air into the Ear, is from the Throat; Ut non ftatim quivis aer externus irrumpere queat (as Schelhammer faith, Par. Ult. c. 4. §. 8.) sed nonnihil immutatus, ac temperatus, calore ex medio ventre exfpirante; imò fortaffis non facilè alius, nifi ex pulmonibus.

(p) Valfalva hath given us a more accurate Defcription of the Tuba Euftachiana, or Paffage to the Palate, than any other Author, to whom I therefore refer, De Aur. Human. c. 2. §. 16, &c.

The chief Use hereof, he thinks, is to give way to the inner Air, upon every Motion of the Membrana Tympani, the Malleus, Incus and Stapes. This Paffage, if it be shut up, Deafness enfues: Of which he gives two Inftances: One a Gentleman, who loft his Hearing by a Polypus in the Nofe reaching to the Uvula; the other a Yeoman, labouring with an Ulcer above the left Side of the Uvula; which when he ftopt with a Tent dipped in Medicine, he loft his Hearing in the left Ear, and recovered it, as foon as the Tent was out. Ibid. C. 5. §. 10.

(9) Os [petrofum] ex quo interiores [Labyrinthi] cavitatum parietes conflati funt, album, duriffimum, necnon maximè compactum. Id autem à Naturâ ita comparatum effe videtur, ut materia atherea Sonorum objectorum impreffionibus onufta, dum pradictis impingitur Parietibus, nihil aut faltem ferè nihil motûs Jui amittat, atque adeò illum qualem ab Objectis fonoris accepit, talem communicet fpiritui animali contento intra expansiones rami mollioris Nervorum auris. Dr. Raym. Vieuffens of Montpellier, in Phil. Tranf. No. 258.

brana

brana Tympani (r), with its inner Membrane (); together with the four little appendent Bones (t), and the three inner Muscles to move them, and adjust the whole Compages to the feveral Purposes

of

(r) The Tympanum of the Ear, or as Valfalva and the Moderns, the Membrana Tympani was taken notice of as early as Hippocrates's Time. In Birds, it is ftrained towards the outward Parts; in other Animals towards the Brain, or inner Parts. Monfieur Dionis faith, It is not equally fastened to the whole Circumference of the bony Circle, in which it is inchased; for on the upper Side it hath a free disengaged Part, by which fome can give vent to the Smoak in their Mouth. Demonftr. 8. That there is fome Paffage I doubt not, but I queftion whether Monfieur Dionis ever faw the difengaged Part he mentions. I have my felf carefully fearched divers Subjects, and do not remember to have feen any fuch Paffage; and I perceive it escaped the diligent Schelkammer's Eye. Valfalva alfo by injecting in through the Tuba Euftachiana, could not force any Liquor into the Meatus Auditorius; but yet he imagines he found the Paffage out in another Place of the Drum, in fome morbid, and one found Head. Valfalv. de Aur. Hum. c. 2. §. 8. Mr. Cowper alfo affirms there is a Paffage by the upper Part of the Membrane. Anat. Ap. Fig. 8.

() Dr. Vieuffens, before-named, difcovered a Membrane, tenuiffima raraque admodùm textura intra cavitatem Tympani; as he defcribes it. Whofe ufe he faith is, 1. Occludens Labyrinthi januam impedit nè naturalis puriffimus ac fubtiliffimus Aer intra cavitates- -communicationem habeat cum aere craf fo. 2. Labyrinthi bafin calefacit, &c. ubi fupra. Probably this double Membrane may be fuch, or after the fame Manner as it is in the Tympanum of Birds: Of which fee my Observations in Book VII. Chap. 2. Note (d).

(t) The four little Bones being treated of by all that have concerned themselves about this Senfe of Hearing, fince their Discovery, I fhall take Notice of only two Things concerning them. 1. The Discovery of them is owing wholly to the Diligence and Sagacity of the latter Ages; of which Schelhammer gives this Account from Fallopius, Hac Officula antiquis Anatomicis ignota fuere; primufque qui in lucem produxit [Malleum & Incum] fuit Jac. Carpenfis; primus quoque procul omni dubio Anatomica artis, quam Vefalius pofteà perfecit, reftaurator. Tertium [Stapedem] invenit ac promulgavit primus Joh. Phil. ab Ingraffia, Siculus, Philofophus ac Medicus do

Etiffimus.