Middle ear

“ Fig. 152—General form, of internal ear. The illustration represents the structures of the internal ear surrounded by a thin layer of bone. 1. Vestibule. 2. Cochlea. 3. Semicircular canals. 4. Fenestra ovalis. 5. Fenestra rotunda. The Vestibule forms the central portion of the internal ear and is somewhat oval in shape. It is in communication with the middle ear through a small opening in the bone, called the fenestra ovalis, at which place it is separated from the middle ear only by a thin membrane. ”

“ The outer ear collects the vibrations, the middle ear conducts them, and the internal converts them into a special physiological condition of the hair-cells and the auditory nerve. This condition is communicated to the other links in the anatomical hearing chain, until the highest part of the brain, or cortex, is reached. Hearing, from the physiological point of view, is the outcome of a series of processes having their development in a corresponding series of centres, or collections of nerve-cells. ”

“ The middle ear, which is the space behind the drum, connects with the outside air by a tube leading from it to the back of the throat, which latter communicates freely with the air through the nose, as well as through the mouth whenever it is open. ”

“ Communication exists externally with the middle ear by the round and oval windows and internally with the internal auditory canal, through which passes the eighth cranial or auditory nerve, the special nerve of hearing, which is distributed to the inner ear only. ”

“ The same variety of function is acquired by the ear in its development from its simplest to its most complex form. In the higher animals, the organ of hearing is formed of three parts, an external, middle, and internal portion; but in birds the external ear is wanting ”

“ As a medical man, you are aware, Watson, that there is no part of the body which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule quite distinctive, and differs from all other ones. In last year’s Anthropological Journal you will find two short monographs from my pen upon the subject. I had, therefore, examined the ears in the box with the eyes of an expert, and had carefully noted their anatomical peculiarities. Imagine my surprise then, when, on looking at Miss Cushing, I perceived that her ear corresponded exactly with the female ear which I had just inspected. ”

“ It is kept gently on the stretch by two small muscles, one of which draws it tighter, and the other loosens it, by acting upon a chain of small bones. We shall not undertake to describe the curious and complicated anatomy of the inner ear—the drum, containing air, the curious chain-work of minute vibrating bones, the labyrinth filled with water containing little crystalline particles and fine elastic bristles, and where the delicate fibres of the auditory nerve commence. ”

“ And don’t tie up your hair tight, and make it like a cap of iron over your skull. And why are your ears covered? You hear all the worse, and they are not the cleaner. Besides, the ear is beautiful in itself, and plays its own part in the concert of the features. ”

“ The hind feet pressing nearly on the same spot as the fore feet, but less lightly than the latter. From time to time it sits upright, pricking its ears; and obviously its sense of hearing is very acute, for it distinguishes sounds inaudible to the human ear. ”

“ The power of accommodation or of quickly changing the focus of the eye is highly perfected. The structure of the ear is comparatively simple, there being ordinarily no external ear, other than a simple opening. ”

“ The reason of this is, that all the parts of the eye have evidently a distinct nature, a separate use, a greater mutual dependence on one another than on those of the ear; at the same time that there is a considerable connexion between the eye and the ear, as parts of the same body and organs of the same mind. ”

“ ITCHING EARS.
When the ears are red and itch, it is a sign that some one is talking of the suffering individual. If it is the left ear, they are being scandalised; if the right ear, they are being praised. ”

“ Let it be stated here that the peculiar role played by the larynx in hearing, already referred to by us in Chapter XVI, is one of the symptoms which tells of the participation of the muscular system in the internal acoustic process.
Psychologically, the difference between ear and eye is that aural perceptions work much more directly on the human will - that is, on the part of our astral organization connected with the limb system. Whereas eye-impressions stimulate us in the first place to think, ear-impressions stimulate us to ... ”

“ After many hours of profound meditation on this subject I have come to the conclusion that this slight folding of the ear’s margin is the beginning of a new phase of human evolution. In course of time—this cannot be disproved—the fold of the margin will become larger and larger, until finally the shells of the ear will have been transformed into mobile lids for shutting out at will disagreeable noises, even as the eyelids have been developed to shut out glaring light. ”

“ Besides, how can we think that an ear, which has a narrow passage, can receive the same sound with that which has a wide one? Or the ear, whose inside is full of hair, to hear the same with a smooth ear? Experience tells us that if we stop, or half stop, our ears, the sound cometh different as when the ears are open. ”

“ If we had an ear for height and an ear for depth, just as we have an eye for the right and an eye for the left, we should also find that symmetrical sound-structures existed for our auditory organs. The contrast of major and minor for the ear corresponds to inversion for the eye, which is also only symmetry for the mind, but not for sensation. ”

“ Long-shaped but small ears indicate refinement; a very small ear, close to the head, shows delicacy of perception, refinement, but also timidity.
The ears should be so placed as not to be higher than the eyebrow, or lower than the tip of the nose; if set in too sloping a direction they show timidity; if too upright, animal instincts, courage, amounting to cruelty, especially if they obtrude from the head. ”

“ I will tell you even more: these hairs of down were from four to five millimetres long, by from three to five hundredths of a millimetre in diameter; this is twice the size of the pretty down which grows on a feminine ear; from which I conclude that your piece of ear belongs to a man.
"Against the curved edge of the cartilage, I found delicate striated bunches of the muscle of the helix, and so perfectly intact that one would have said there was nothing to prevent their contracting. ”

“ The consequence is that when a sensation has for its usual condition the presence of an object more or less distant from our bodies, and experience has once made us acquainted with this distance, we shall situate our sensation at this distance.—This, in fact, is the case with sensations of hearing and sight. The peripheral extremity of the acoustic nerve is in the deep-seated chamber of the ear. That of the optic nerve is in the most inner recess of the eye. ”

“ A midge buzzing against the drum of the ear will often seem as big as a butterfly. The spatial sensibility of the tympanic membrane has hitherto been very little studied, though the subject will well repay much trouble. If we approach it by introducing into the outer ear some small object like the tip of a rolled-up tissue-paper lamplighter, we are surprised at the large radiating sensation which its presence gives us, and at the sense of clearness and openness which comes when it is removed. ”

“ The internal ear is formed by an involution of the integument, and not by an outgrowth of the brain. But tissue, in connexion with it, becomes in part changed, thus forming the auditory nerve, which places the tegumentary sac in direct communication with the brain itself. ”

“ It is evident that the ear must be a very complicated organ; not only must it perceive differences in pitch, as just indicated, but differences in loudness must also register differently. More than that, the ear has to be able to deal with sounds made up of a great many tones coming into it all at once. ”

“ This incapacity of the ear is the fertile source of many of those false judgments which impress a supernatural character upon sounds that have a fixed locality and a physical origin.—We know of a case, where a sort of hollow musical sound, originating within three or four feet of the ears of two persons in bed, baffled for months every attempt to ascertain its cause. ”

“ One group of girls retired to a secret place to attempt this but their courage failed. All sorts of substitutes are made for ear rings, such as fastening strings with something attached to their ears or sticking maple seeds on their ears. One girl of 13 pulled the lobes of her ears so they would become longer. Although boys do not pay much attention to the shape of nose they are somewhat concerned about their ears. ”

“ Many physiognomists pass lightly over the subject of the ears as an index of character, while others seem to specialize on this feature.
The round ear is held to indicate the Vital Temperament. The oblong ear, the Motive Temperament; and the pear-shaped ear the Mental Temperament.
Quality is held to be indicated by the relative delicateness in the moulding of the ear, a coarse, misshapen ear being held to indicate an uncultivated nature; while a delicately moulded, shapely ear is held to indicate culture and refinement. ”

“ The ears need even less care than the hair, for that which is called by the name, is only the covering of the true ear. Every boy and girl will make sure that 35when the face and hands are washed, the neck and ears are not forgotten. ”

“ Brinton and Napheys remark, “Even when the ear is in part or altogether absent, the case is not desperate. An ‘artificial ear’ can be made of vulcanised rubber, or other material, tinted the colour of the flesh, and attached to the side of the head with such deftness that its character will escape every ordinary eye.” ”

“ And having found, that the Auditory Nerve was not perished, but that he could hear the sound of a Lute-string, holding one end thereof in his Teeth; and had some perception of any very vehement sound, I supposed the defect to lie in the want of due Tension of the Tympanum of his Ear; whose use I took to be, onely to preserve the Auditory Nerve, and Brain, and inward parts of the Ear from outward injury by cold, Dull, &c and to be no more to Hearing, than glass in the window is in a Room to seeing, i.e. ”

“ Although the ear, with regard to beauty, yields to the eye, its conformation is not less perfect, nor less worthy of the Creator. The position of the ear bespeaks much wisdom; for it is placed in the most convenient part of the body, near to the brain, the common seat of all the senses. ”

“ The holes in the ears of the men and women were of different sizes, and served to distinguish the sexes; [14] those in the ears of the women being small, whilst the men sometimes cut a slit almost entirely around the rim of the ear, which ‘they distend and stretch as much as possible,’ so much so, in fact, that the loop hangs almost to the shoulder. ”