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POPULAR ESSAY
ON THE
LAWS  OF ACOUSTICS,
AND ON THE
ANATOMY AND  PHYSIOLOGY OF THE EAR.
FOLLOWED BY
aa^asatt^a^asj  o&aaa
 PERSONS CURED OF DEAFNESS,





                      BEING





   SIMPLE ABSTRACTS OF  EACH INDIVIDUAL CASE.









           BIT JOSEPH TOGNO,  1ft. D.



MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA MEDICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE PHILADELPHIA


                COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.
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LET THE DEAF HEAR."
W
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          PHILADELPHIA:

Printed by Seyfert & Phillips* Shakspcare Buildings.





                 1834.
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A
POPULAR ESSAY
ON THE
L.AWS  OF ACOUSTICS,
AND ON THE
ANATOMY AND  PHYSIOLOGY OF THE EAR.
FOLLOWED BY
aa^asra^a^asi <3&3aa
OF
PERSONS CURED OF DEAFNESS,
BEING
SIMPLE  ABSTRACTS OF EACH INDIVIDUAL CASE.
/
             I
BY JOSEPH ToJ&NO, M. D.
MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA MEDICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE PHILADELPHIA
               COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.





            "LET THE DEAF HEAH."

\Vi.
          PHILADELPHIA:
Printed by Seyfert & Phillips, Shakspeare Buildings.
1834. 
 
TO  THE   READER.
  Those persons who are afflicted in the least with deafness, or with
any  malady in their  ears, and  who are  desirous of  consulting Dr.
Togno, will greatly facilitate the cure of their infirmity, by calling on
him  soon after they may perceive it.

  Dr. Togno's Infirmary for the Cure of Deafness and the Deformities
of the Body, No. 98 Locust street, above Ninth.—He may be con-
sulted every morning, from 9 o'clock till 12 A. M.
N. B.  Advice to the  poor gratis. 
 
PREFACE.
   Aware that the public generally have no knowledge that many who
are deaf may be restored to  their former hearing, by a scientific  and
appropriate treatment, we have been induced, for the benefit of this in-
teresting and forlorn class of society, to publish seventyseven striking
cases of persons generally known, which will carry conviction of this
fact to their minds ;  and because we conceive, also, as our celebrated
Dr. Benjamin Rush  used to say,  " that whatever has  a tendency to
lessen the sum  of human misery,  ought  to be published  and  placed
within the reach of the  distressed."
   Who now can doubt, after the experience we have had, that a com-
plete cure is possible in more than one half of the  cases, skilfully treat-
ed after the present improved methods ? Who can now  doubt that we
have, in the course of two or three years, restored to society and useful-
ness, more than ninety individuals ?  Let those who yet may question
the possibility of restoring the deaf to their hearing, read some of the
following  cases, especially those marked by a star,  and then,  should
they be incredulous  as to the efficacy of medical science, should there
yet be a sceptic to convince, we will,  for the  present,  only say, that
we are now treating individuals, whose cases shall come before  the
public in  such an authoritative shape as to anticipate and remove every
objection, and enforce conviction on the most sceptical mind.
   The number of the deaf who have consulted us during the space of
two or three years,  has amounted to more than one  hundred  and
thirty, out of which number ninety-seven were treated—seventy-
seven of  whom were cured, and  thirty greatly improved.  Of those
completely cured, there were many who were pronounced by eminent
professional men as  incurable, and had thus been consigned to eternal
deafness and silence.  Several would have been idiotic during the  re-
mainder of their lives, while now they are intelligent and useful mem-
bers of society.  We shall instance the  cases of young Beauregard,
Miss Camm,  Miss E. Coyles, &c, all related in  full in the following
pages.
   This happy result we obtained previously to our late visit to Europe
(whither we went purely for information on this obscure subject) when
we had had no other opportunity than our own observation to instruct
us in the  arduous task of curing the diseases of the organ of hearing.
   Our late travels and residence in Europe, have been  a great source
of improvement, through the kindness of Dr. Deleau,  of Paris, who
afforded us many opportunities to become acquainted with his method
of treatment,  according to the infinite  number of  cases  that his daily 
IV
PREFACE.
practice brings within his observation.  Dr. Deleau is the only medi-
cal man who has, of late, advanced, in Europe, this department of the
healing art, and improved several processes of medicine, applicable  to
the cure of deafness.  To him we are indebted for much information,
and we are pleased and proud thus to acknowledge our  gratitude, and
testify to his superior talent as an aurist.
  We have in our country celebrated occulists, Accoucheurs, and  in
our friend Dr. Samuel Jackson, a justly celebrated Pulmonist, who has
treated with so much success the fatal diseases of the lungs ;  but still,
we have as yet no aurists who have made the study of  the diseases of
the ear their principal pursuit.  Why should this neglect exist  with
respect to this most essential  organ ? Is the sense of hearing less im-
portant than the visual, in the  relations  of  man  to society, or  with
himself, in the benefits to be derived through the  best method of im-
proving the mind,  namely, oral instruction ?
  The loss of sight has for its consequence that of perceiving distant
objects and that of colours generally.  The blind is nevertheless cheer-
ful and happy in the society of his  friends, and he can, in many in-
stances, arrive at astonishing  degrees of perfection of touch and deli-
cacy or nicety of hearing, so  as to discriminate the distance of bodies,
and be able to avoid them as if they were visible to them ; while he who
is deaf is completely cut off from society,  and only communicates, if
he be an educated  deaf and dumb person,  with those who have  learnt
his symbolical language, who, by  the by, are as  rare  as those  who
speak the latin language.   But should he be deaf without even this
means of communication, as is generally the case with those who have
become so since their adolescence, then they want even  this link  of
connection with society, and  they become  perfectly senseless  statues.
They are unhappy, and suspicious of every one about them; they look
at every thing; watch every motion of the body, and movement of the
lips,  without understanding any thing, which only irritates them the
more by leaving their curiosity ungratified, and by making them the
more aware, at every moment, of their severed state, and of their forlorn
condition, which tends to produce that habitual state of sad melancholy,
and, in many, stupidity, so generally observable.
  There is no case, as with the blind, in which their state is  sweeten-
ed by society, or even by inanimate surrounding objects;  for the loss
of the sweet melody of friendly speech ;  of  cheerful conversation ;  of
the pleasurable sensations to be derived from the  simple "concord of
sweet sounds;" every one of which are far more calculated to produce
expansive and joyful sensations, than the mere harmony of colours, and
are far greater losses to the deaf than the blind.  Look at the cheerful-
ness of the blind, and compare it with the sober, grave,  uncommunica-
tive  demeanour of the deaf, and at once you will be able to appreciate
the lesser loss of these organs in the former than in the  latter.
  Congenital malformation of the organs of hearing is  not more fre-
quent than that of the eye, or any other  organ.  It is a general, but
erroneous and fatal mistake, to suppose that the contrary is the case, and
that this state is irremediable.  This conclusion has been adopted sim-
ply because this organ is farther removed from the everyday observa-
tion of the great mass of individuals—because the laws of the propaga-
tion of sounds, or the science of acoustics are not so well known as
those of light, or the science of optics.   The laws of the propagation
of sound are rather obscure when inert matter is concerned; but when
they are applied to animate beings, such as our organs of hearing (the 
preface.
V
only part of our bodies that is sensible to the undulations of the am-
bient air, and can apprehend sounds) then the greatest confusion exists,
and it requires  a vast and comprehensive mind, constantly bent on these
subjects, to seize the thread of this new labyrinth, to extricate oneself
from this maze of difficulties.  Then, when we  review the  immense
number of causes calculated to affect this organ (which are not less than
seventy, directly  or indirectly) and  that, too, so  small a number of
physicians have bestowed, on the diseases of the ear, any portion of
their time, and  that none, as yet, in this country, have consecrated to its
study and  advancement, the whole of  their mental powers, it is not to
be wondered at, that so few should ever have been cured, that the pa-
tients should have been discouraged, and that we should now have so
great a proportion of deaf persons in our community.
   Many are supposed entirely deaf who could, with a fit treatment, be
more or less restored to their hearing.  Dr.  Itard,* in a memoir to the
Minister of the Interior, states, that absolute deafness is comparatively
rare, and that not more than onefifth of the cases of deafness and dumb-
ness, which have come before him, have presented a state of total de-
privation of the sense of hearing.  It is cruel and inhuman to condemn
an individual to remain forever deaf and dumb, before some attempts
at least be first made to cure, or at least to improve him.   We ought
not  to deem a  patient incurable, and subject him to all the consequences
of such  deadly decision, before being submitted  to a rational mode  of
treatment.  It is erroneous to suppose that  every congenital deafness
proceeds from  malformation of the organ, or from a complete paralysis
of the auditory nerves, and, in so doing, pronounce the deafness  as in-
curable, and every attempt to restore it as fallacious and nugatory.
   Many persons who should have had our experience in the treatment
of the diseases which produce deafness, would think themselves autho-
 rised to speak dogmatically and with prolixity on their superior  treat-
ment of these affections ;  but desiring to be sure of what  we  might
 assert rather than to be considered the first who  did assert it, we wish,
 before publishing any one treatment  for any given disease, to have  all
 the  physical and moral certitude that  such cases  may be capable  of, so
 as not to have to unsay hereafter (as  many are obliged to do) what we
 may have asserted at present. We, therefore, abstain from drawing any
 positive conclusion  as yet,  or hasty general principles from what we
 consider to be yet too small a number  of facts for generalization.   How-
 ever, we give  the facts themselves, and they, after all, are the most im-
 portant  part.   The  object of the science of medicine is to cure human
 infirmities ; if we have attained this end, the cases here recorded will,
 we  hope,  testify to the truth of our assertion.

   * Dr. Itaud is the  medical  gentleman  who has the superintendence  of the
 Deaf and Dumb Institution of Paris, and who has written  the best classical
 medical  book on the diseases of the organ of hearing. 
 
INTRODUCTION.
  Every reflective mind must have remarked the wonderful fitness ex-
isting between physical agents and  the organs  of  animals, or that of
their construction with reference to these  agents.
  This general fitness, or corresponding  coincidence of one thing with
respect to another, produces that beautiful and general harmony which
we so much admire, and which pervades the universe.
  The question,  next, naturally arises in our  minds, are things the
result of the laws which govern the universe—animate or inanimate—
or are  the bodies constituting it the cause of these laws ?
  This is a most subtle and moot point,  which shall not detain us  a
moment, but which future philosophers may, perhaps, settle.
  But the thing to which we wish to draw the attention of our readers,
is, that, from the double formation of our organs of sense, there results
another beautiful law, constituting one of the many blessings we enjoy,
the simple result of the senses with which our  benevolent Creator has
endowed us.  We mean the highly gratifying pleasure we experience
from symmetry, be it ofform, colours, size, distances, or regular suc-
cession of sounds.
   From this law, we conceive,  arises the beau ideal of nature's works
and man's productions in the fine  arts, which are always  mere copies
or types of things derived from  this inexhaustible mother  of beauty.
   These are general laws, and, to a certain extent, exist  all over  our
globe, but under an infinite  variety of modifications of forms, in con-
sequence of the infinite variety of climates inhabited by man.
   From this circumstance another law follows,  that not  two  districts
of  this vast globe, nourish men, animals, or plants, which,  in any re-
spect, may be said to be perfectly alike.
   What a vast difference exists between men living even under the
same  latitude!  Consider, for instance,  the proverbial stupidity  and
idiotism of the inhabitants of the Valais,  in Switzerland, and the spirit-
ual  gayety of the Provincals ? Contrast, also, the thievish Bedouin
Arab, dried up by his arid deserts of sand, not  very unlike the thorny
and salt plants of the same clime, with the generous, sumptuous, and
stately Mameluke, or the Mussulman of Cairo,  not very unlike the
luxuriant growth of the plants which vegetate on the rich banks of the
Nile.
   Then, not only every country has a peculiar influence on the tem-
perament, character, and physical, as well as moral constitution of its
inhabitants, but this influence  is felt even  in  the  smallest districts.
Such, however, is the physical constitution of man, that  he gradually
changes his habits whenever he emigrates to another country. 
8
INTRODUCTION.
   Light, and heat which generally accompanies it, is one of the most
indispensably necessary elements to the existence of man; and this ma-
terially helps to produce those physical and moral differences.  But
the one which is the subject of our present investigation is sound.
   It gives rise to the sensation of hearing, without which the ear would
be useless.  This latter agent, unlike the former, is not indispensably
necessary to our growth, health, and, indeed, existence, but is  merely
the means of procuring us some of the most lively, pleasing, and de-
lightful sensations—that of furnishing us with  the  quickest means of
intercourse with our fellow beings, and, perhaps, that which assists us
most in enlarging and expanding our intelligence, by the use  of oral
and written languages.
   This organ—the ear—is first  observed in the animal series to be-
come  gradually  simpler  and  simpler in its  structure: and it ulti-
mately disappears before any other organ of sense,  as we descend the
scale of beings, from man to the lower animals :  therefore it presents
itself in a nobler point of view.
   The reason why this occurs may be easily elucidated. It  is because
these animals were not intended, by their structure, to live in society;
consequently, this sense would have been supernumerary and useless;
for hearing is the most sociable of the senses.
   The nervous  system is entrusted with the  power of regulating and
supporting the vital energies—indeed, we may say, it is life itself—for,
without it, life no longer exists, as we see it exemplified in  the vege-
table kingdom, which is organized,  but, to speak with propriety, has
no life.  In fact, this system is the mystery of  our  being or organiza-
tion—so that life may be, indeed, called a mystery; for he is in error,
who considers life to consist of the  dull commonplace  deeds  that en-
gross every moment of the horde of mankind :  that is not life.  Life,
to them, consits in having a pretty domicile, extensive pleasure grounds,
and in the intoxicating infatuation of accumulating and hoarding metals
of the  greatest specific gravity,

        " So much trash as may be grasped thus!"—Shakspeare.

  But  life—intellectual life—the life  of the man who looks not on these
fleeting dreams of happiness with eager eye—that life which struggles
with the little shell of clay that incases it—coming, it knows not whence,
going, it knows not where; forming the mystery of the past, and that
of the future encircled with eternity  and boundless space; this life is
full of mystery, and joy, and celestial glory, that the abject creatures
©f the  dust can never know.
  Not only  is the exercise of the mind in  the  production of  thought
wonderful, but the simple act of walking, the result of volition caused
by the nervous system, is an object of astonishment.
  Suppose we were brought into existence in the full maturity of all our
faculties; if time had not rendered our sensations obtuse, so as to perform
many functions, with scarcely any consciousness of the action,  we should
feel the same strange and thrilling doubt, as does the untaught infant,
when we made a step, for the first time, whether another would follow.
We would pause with awe at every step, and wonder at what now  is
a familiar action, performed with careless confidence of its happy result.
For who can acquire any knowledge of the mysterious connection be-
tween  mind and body, or between the invisible  and tangible frame 1
  Hence, we have authors who write and talk  largely  and  unintelli- 
INTRODUCTION.
U
gibly of the intellectual faculties, without being acquainted with their
real  organs.   But we also have  those, however few  they  be, who
modestly treat of them, possessing that indispensable knowledge—that
of the organs—which enables them to speak of both in  a becoming
manner.
  Thus  this mysterious link unites, in an equally mysterious manner,
mind with matter.   This link connects the  extremes  of creation, and
thus, not only its most opposite and incongruous  elements are  blended
together, but are so blended in perfect harmony,  and in the most inti-
mate sympathy.   This mingles celestial life and light with dark and
senseless matter; in a word, the boundless thought hath bodily organs.
Here, that, which in a moment glances through the immeasurable space,
has  its abode  within the narrow bounds of  nerves, senses, and brain.
The humble clay is majestically built up into the dome of thought, the
" palace of the soul."  The  dust we tread upon, forms,  in the mys-
terious frame of our humanity,  the dwellingplace of high reasoning
thoughts, and moulds  the heart  that responds to  every  generous emo-
tion or lofty affection of the mind.
   Who  can explain this mysterious union—inform us where sensation
ends, and  thought blooms forth, and, like a promethean fire, illuminates
the  universe,  or where organization passes into life ?
   Materialist  and immaterialist philosophers in all ages, have contend-
ed  for the ascendency of their favourite doctrines, and thus the power
of matter and spirit, has been marshalled in the contest,  and guided
by the human microscope—the mind.  But the  war has  been nearly
fruitless, the arguments often  futile, and seldom useful.  Philosophers
have settled one point only, namely, our infinite  ignorance.
   In every department of study we, sooner or later, reach an unknown re-
gion, into  which we cannot penetrate.  Every way around us, whatever
be the course  we pursue, our thoughts terminate in the unknown, the in-
definite, the vast, the  incomprehensible, the darkness invisible.  Time
stretches its lengthening course to eternity; place expands to boundless
immensity ; number accumulates to numbers without numbers ; being
passes from the mite to infinite purity  and greatness.—In a word, every
path of our reflections  bring us, at length, to the impenetrable veil of
the  unknown and the  unfathomable.
   Notwithstanding the apparent or real  inferiority, and all the disad-
 vantages under which man seems to labour, when compared with other
 animals, with respect to physical  power,  natural provisions for  his
 comfort and individual existence, yet  he is indisputably  the  Lord of
 Creation.
   This  high  rank or station is granted to him, not by his mere physical
 force, but derived from a more elevated source, as far above  physical
 power as divine power is above our intellectual faculties.   For, if mere
 physical power formed his characteristic attribute, how could he cope
 with the lion, the tiger, the whale, the elephant, the horse, or the ox  1
 Still, these are slaughtered by him to  supply his  wants ;  domesticated
 to do him service ;  or imprisoned and tamed to make him  sport.  Na-
 ture is in  daily requisition to  supply all his wants, and the forest, the
 ocean, the bowels of  the earth, or the air  which encircles his proud
 head, equally yield, reluctantly or with readiness, all their treasures to
 satisfy these  wants.
   These are  some of the benefits resulting, not from mere physical
 power,  but from our reasoning faculties.
   Were this  superior and continually increasing amount of external
                                 2 
10
INTRODUCTION.
comforts, and our means of preservation and  sensual enjoyment, the
only privileges we possessed over the other  animals, conferred on us
by these faculties,  we  should, after  all,  have not much to boast of.
But, on the contrary, we know, and we are conscious  of wants and
cravings, in which the senses have very little part; of a series of pains
and  pleasures totally distinct in kind from any which the infliction of
corporeal sufferings, or of ungratified bodily appetites have afforded us.
These hold a much higher rank,  and  are more deserving our at-
tention.
   We remember Napoleon's reflection on Sir Hudson Lowe. " This
man believes me a horse, which, when  well fed,  has  all  his  wants
satisfied; this man  has no idea of moral wants."  These reflections
were made when the bust of his son, sent to him by an Italian  artist,
was, by the order of that  infamous and barbarous governor, thrown
into the ocean.
   Besides the pleasures of imagination and  social converse, we are
speculative beings.  We do not solely  contemplate this harmonious
universe so far as  it is subservient to our comforts, but  for the higher
order of gratification resulting from its contemplation ; because it is a
most beautifully disposed system, ruled by order, and planned by fore-
sight and wisdom.
   Some of the  wonders of the creation we  are able rudely to imitate,
when we understand them ; others, although not beyond our compre-
hension as to the nature of the contrivance, are still beyond our power
of imitation.
   The farther we  inquire, and the wider we extend our sphere of ob-
servation, the greater is the number of new objects for our consideration,
which increase,  abound, and thicken around us; and as the  study of
one object the better prepares us to understand and  appreciate others;
so improvement follows on  improvement, wonder on wonder, till our
faculties become bewildered in admiration, and our intellect despairs of
ever arriving at the end.
   " When, from external objects, man turns his view upon himself—
on his own vital and intellectual faculties—he finds that he possesses a
power of examining and analyzing his own nature to a certain extent,
but no farther."
  In his corporeal frame he is sensible  of a power to communicate a
certain moderate amount of  motion to himself and other objects; that
this power depends on his will, and that its exertion can be suspended
or increased at pleasure within certain limits ; but how his will acts on
his limbs, he has no  consciousness;  and whence he  derives the power
he thus exercises, there is nothing to  assure him, however he may de-
sire to know.
  His senses, too,  inform him of a multitude of particulars respecting
the external world, and he perceives an apparatus, by which impres-
sions from  without may be transmitted, as a sort of signal, to the in-
terior of his person,  and alternately to his brain,  wherein he is ob-
scurely sensible that  the thinking, feeling, reasoning being, he calls
himself, more especially resides.
  When he contemplates, still more attentively, the thoughts, acts, and
passions of this, his sentient, intelligent self, he finds, indeed, that  he
can remember, and by the aid of memory, can compare and discrimi-
nate, can judge and resolve,  and, above all, that he  is irresistibly im-
pelled, from a perception of  any phenomenon without or within  him,
to infer the existence of something prior, which stands to it in  the re- 
INTRODUCTION.
11
lation of a cause, without which it would not be:  and that this know-
ledge of causes and their consequences  is what,  in  almost  every in-
stance, determines his choice and will, in cases  where he is conscious
of perfect freedom to act or not to act.
   He finds, also, that it is in his power to acquire more or less know-
ledge of causes and effects, according to  the degree of attention he be-
stows upon them,  which attention is  again, in  a  great measure, a vo-
luntary act of the senses, united to the mind as auxiliaries.
   A world within him is thus opened to his  intellectual view, abound-
ing with phenomena and relations, and of the highest immediate inter-
est.   But while he cannot help perceiving that  the insight he  is  en-
abled to obtain into this internal sphere of thought and feeling is, in
reality, the source  of all his power, the  very fountain of his predomi-
nance over external nature, he yet feels himself capable of entering only
very imperfectly into these recesses of his own bosom, and analyzing
the power of his mind.
   However, this should not deter us from the ardent  pursuit of our en-
quiries after physical or mental truths;  on the contrary,  we must
 cherish jas a vital principle, an unbounded spirit of  enquiry and research,
 and even foster and encourage an ardour of expectation beyond what
now, for us, seems feasible.  By so doing, we  unfetter the mind from
prejudices of every kind, and leave it open and free  to every impres-
sion of a higher nature which it is  susceptible of receiving.  It is neces-
 sary, however, to guard against enthusiasm  and self-deception,  which
 may be easily prevented by a strict habit of continual and minute in-
 vestigation.
   The true character of a philosopher is to  hope  all things not  impos-
 sible, and to believe all things, however extravagant they may  at  first
 appear, not unreasonable.  He must go even as  far as Locke, and doubt
 if matter may not  have the faculty of thinking.
   This cautious mode of proceeding will always be dictated to  all ob-
 servers, and especially to those  who have studied the history of the
 progress of arts and sciences.   The observer who has encountered ob-
 scurities, which appeared at first impenetrable,  suddenly dispelled and
 rendered perfectly tangible ;  or the most barren and unprofitable sub-
 jects, converted, as if by inspiration, into rich and inexhaustible springs
 of knowledge  and  power;  or a simple change  in  the application of a
 principle untried before ; or the discovery of a  fact, at first, called idle
 and useless.   Surely, such an observer will be  very cautious to  ac-
 quiesce in any discouraging prospects of the present, or of the  future
 improvements of our species, and especially of a  science based on cor-
 rect observation, like that of medicine. 
 
            THE  ORGANS

                     OF THE

SENSES   IN   GENERAL.
  He who hopes to become eminent in any branch  of human  know-
ledge, should first examine and understand what has been done  by his
predecessors in the same career; then, to cast his eyes around upon the
world, and consider the objects themselves—that is, his first task is to
search books, and acquire all the intellectual treasures and lore  which
the diligence of former ages has  accumulated; and  his  next, by  the
contemplation of nature, to increase them by his own exertion, and by
patient and laborious observation.
  If genius can become gigantic by its own individual efforts,  by the
ohservation of nature alone, how much more boldly would it soar, when
strengthened by study, and supported by the example of the talented
individuals who have graced former ages, and who have  become  the
true benefactors of mankind ?
  Moreover, the rays, radiated or reflected  from genius,  warm, exalt,
and enlighten a kindred  spirit, while contemplating it, and they mu-
tually animate each other by their scentillations.
  Science alone,  it is true, does not constitute genius, but it fecundates
and causes it to flourish and fructify.
  The sciences are sisters; and  they extend to each other their in-
valuable aid.   While a student is uselessly wasting half  of his  life in
researches to discover a fact already acquired and  recorded  by  others,
to obtain the knowledge of which,  a  few hours of study only would
have been sufficient to make him possessor;  and by doing which he
would be  left, ever after, at liberty to  employ his full power to enlarge,
in his turn, the boundaries of science.  This is our conviction  on the
subject.
  For, what would awail the accumulated lore of past ages, were it lost
to us ; and if we were, every one, individually,  obliged to start from the
same point, and run the same  short intellectual  race ? We should then
be, indeed, like the mere brute of the  field.
  No! ignorance of what our  forefathers have done, tends no more to
cure us of too  implicit a confidence in their labours, or to shield us
from former prevailing errors, than blindness is designed to teach us
how to avoid precipices.
  Science is the touchstone of all facts which are received as such, and
scepticism closely  follows it—it being indispensably necessary,  that
assertions and absurd hypotheses may not usurp the place of facts, and
be introduced  in the sacred domain of science.
  This spirit of scepticism permits no new untried discoveries or facts
to be admitted before they have undergone the severe ordeal of criticism 
14             The Organs of the Senses in General.
and scrutiny.  So much the better! They require to be  combatted to
give to them more positive proofs, and place them  on a firmer founda-
tion.  For, it is from the shock of minds, as from the attrition of peb-
bles, that light issues.
  From such a contention, ultimately, truth and  genius, in  spite of
opposition and envy, will always arise, and ride triumphant.   So that
now science is not a chaos of uncertainties, obscurities, and vanities.
  Truth remains  unchanged, is  verified  every day,  and  is immortal,
like its supreme author.   If the explanations of vain man perish with
his mortal frame, they are like the autumnal falling foliage, but loaded
with the sweetest fruit.  As witty La Fontaine says :—

              " Laissez dire les sots, le Savoir a son prix."

But to return from this digression.
  By the  organs of the  senses, we  mean the particular organs with
which nature has endowed us, for the purpose of communicating im-
pressions, and producing sensations,  by the help of which  the mind
acquires the knowledge of bodies, and of their properties.
   These sensations are either produced by the objects which surround
us, or by  a part of our body itself.
   The organs of sense vary as to number and in point of delicacy,
correctness, or aptness in different animals;  and their  united power
fixes alone the  amount of that knowledge of the universe  which we
can acquire.   The number, development, and  perfection of  these  in-
struments, are, in the  animal series,  the measure, to a certain extent,
of the faculties of animals ; and it is by their particular modifications, in
different animals, that many of the various characteristics and degrees
of educability are produced;  and that their  habits, so  different  in the
animal creation, are attributive.
   In man,  these senses are  feeling, or touch, taste, smell, sight, and
hearing.
   Before  entering on the explanation of the organs of hearing, we shall
first preface it by some general remarks  applicable to all  the senses.
   First, These organs are all placed  at the periphery, or near the  ex-
ternal surface of  the body, and have  here their entrance.  By this ar-
rangement they are best situated to receive their  peculiar stimulus or
element, necessary to  free and healthy exercise of their  function, in a
mediate contact with them, as light with the eye, and sound with the ear.
   Secondly, The organs of sense are either symmetrical, that is, form-
ed of two similar halves, or double.  The skin, the tongue, and nose,
are of the first kind; the ear and eye, of the second.   Thus the whole
body being considered as the organ of feeling, may be divided into two
symmetrical halves; the two hands,  the active organs  of this sense,
being the periphery of the organ.
   The tongue, although a whole, is  composed of two fleshy masses,
 and is, as in the  case of the nose, divided by a middle partition, form-
 ing two symmetrical organs united in one.
   It is a law of the formation of animals, that the nearer the organs are
to  the medial line, the more they have a tendency to run into each other,
 and to form one  single organ.
   Even the single organs of nutrition and secretion do not depart from
 this rule.  The larynx and tracheae ; the oesophagus ; the stomach and
 bowels; the pancreas ; the bladder, &c,  are of this number.
    There  seems,  however, to exist an exception to this rule, and this is, 
The Organs of the Senses in  General.              15
with respect to the liver and spleen, which, although apparently single
and distinct, are not placed on the medial line.  They appear so in the
adult, but in the foetus and child, they are nearly in the medial line, and
follow the rule of single organs.
  The other organs of sense—the eyes and ears—are symmetrical and
double, and somewhat removed  from the medial line.
  Both the  symmetrical and double organs  receive a symmetrical pair
of nerves, one being distributed to the left half of the  organ,  and the
other diffused over the right part of the same organ;  in this manner
each half receives from its side a distinct nerve for its special sensation.
   From this anatomical structure, it follows that one  side or  half of
these double organs may  be partially or entirely lost without the other
suffering in the least in its functions.  So that one half of the body may
lose its power of receiving impressions and conveying sensations, while
the other retains it,  even  to an exquisite nicety; one  half of the tongue
may lose the  power of tasting or of motion, and one nostril, that of dis-
criminating odours, without the fellow-half of the same organ being in
the least impaired from this circumstance.
   From the same law of formation, another rule may be derived, namely,
that those organs  of sense, which are almost one and the same organ—
as the tongue—are not only nearest to the  medial line, but are those
organs of sense more particularly destined for, and subservient to, the
single organs of nutrition.  Thus, of the five organs  of sense, those of
taste and smell, which are on this medial line, are the doorkeepers of nu-
trition ;  while those of sight, hearing, and touch, which are most re-
moved from this medial line, are intended,  more  particularly, for the
purpose of  keeping  us in  constant relation with external bodies.
   These latter organs seem to be more intimately  connected with our
intellectual  faculties, although we confess that all contribute to the com-
plete and perfect instruction and discipline of our  mind.
   Thirdly, However  complicated or simple the organs of  sense  may
appear,  they may be divided  into two principal parts:  First, one nerv-
ous, which is the most deeply  seated,  and  which, by the contact of
the  external  agent  or body,  develops the  impression  whence results
the sensation.   This is the most important part;  for the other may be
partially injured,  and still the organ perform its functions to a  certain
extent, while, if the nerve be affected, there is an end to the sensation.
   The nerves,  supplying the organs of sense, proceed  from the brain
and medulla  oblongata,  and are distributed  so  as to  impart to them
their peculiar fitness to receive  and convey impressions ; namely, the
optic nerve, or the nerve  of vision, is  diffused over the  internal  part of
the eye, for the purpose of receiving the rays of light and transmitting
the impressions which they produce to the brain.   The olfactory nerve
is diffused over the  membrane of the nose, to  receive the impressions of
odours,  and produce smell; the nerves of hearing, or auditory nerves,
are spread into  the interior parts  of the ear; those of taste,  over the
tongue; and the whole surface of the body has a delicate and extensive
diffusion of nerves which impart sensibility.
   Second, The other  part is placed in advance of the nerve.  It is des-
tined to  receive first the external body, and for this reason, it is gene-
rally constructed according to the physical, laws which  govern the body
thus to be introduced.  Thus, it is evident,  that  the apparatus in ad-
vance of the optic and auditory  nerves, is, in the one, a true optical in-
strument, in the other, an  acoustic apparatus, entirely constructed ac-
cording to the physical laws of the propagation of light and sound. 
16             The Organs of the Senses in General.
  We shall see that the perfection or extent of power of any one sense
is always in proportion to the structure and more or less perfect  com-
bination of these two parts, that is, the proper nerve of the organ, and
the apparatus in advance.
  Fourthly, The organs of sense, being the instruments that the  mind
uses for acquiring a knowledge of things, their organs are subordinate
to that of mind, and are therefore  under the control  of volition.   We
find moreover, that they are furnished with an apparatus of voluntary
muscles  which, at pleasure, expose or approach, and conceal or  with-
draw them from the contact or influence of external agents.
   Volition, also, seems to exert, erect, or force,  the nervous part of the
organ to an active exercise, which augments its perception and action.
This is proved by the greater degree of intensity  we experience in a
sensation, whenever that sensation is  perceived  with volition and  at-
tention.   A person hard of hearing may hear more distinctly if we can
fix his attention upon what is to be communicated.   This  class of per-
 sons particularly illustrate our idea, and, in the course of time, become
 so careless about the  sounds which  strike their auditory nerves, that
 their hearing is almost always passive: seldom being able to rouse and
 force it  to become  active, in consequence of the  despondency of the
 mind, which affects the person thus  situated, unwilling even to move,
 think, or will, their organs to hear.
   Fifthly, The exercise of  these organs may be, as  we have already
 remarked, either passive or active, and in  the latter  case the organ is
 compelled by volition to meet, as it were,  the impression, and every-
 thing in the organ is put in readiness to welcome it.
   We may, therefore, justly conclude, that these organs, dependent  on
 volition, are susceptible of being improved by education.
   The education of these organs is confined to the measure of time and
 mode in which we employ them.   The just proportion of  the exercise
 of an organ has the tendency to augment its nutrition  and development,
 and therefore acqure more volume and precision.  It also facilitates and
 renders  more  sure and prompt the movements by which the organ ful-
 fils its functions.  If exercised too much, it is exhausted and  impaired
in a very short time ; if, on the contrary, not sufficiently used, it becomes
imperfect, not exact in the communication of its impressions, and dull;—
and this deficiency gives to the individual all those characteristics which
belong,  more or less, to idiots.  Indeed, to this  is  almost  confined  all
 the secret of educating our senses, and, of course,  the improvement
 of man.
   We believe  that the education of these senses, and their degree  of
 minute and correct observation may be brought to that state of perfec-
 tion  which will enable them to appreciate the infinite  divisibility  of
 matter.  In a word, we believe their perfectibility to  be as infinite  as
 the divisibility of matter is great, or the combinations of  impressions
 and volition are endless.
   We must carefully discriminate, however, with reference to their ser-
 vices  what belongs to the organs alone, from what belongs to, and de-
 mands besides, the intervention of the mind.   Metaphysicians have
 generally neglected this latter intervention, and therefore have ascribed
 all to the senses, and thus have exaggerated their true value.
   In every organ of sense we must distinguish two kinds of functions.
 The one is immediate, which consists in the  simple  sensation it con-
 veys, it  being one and the same  for each sense ;  the others mediate or 
The Organs of the  Senses in General.
17
auxiliary, that consist in the help they furnish to the mind, and by which
the latter acquires  the  knowledge of things and of their  properties.
The senses that receive impressions from bodies at a distance, are also
the only ones which are susceptible of being deceived by illusions; be-
cause, in fact, the fragrant molecules of  bodies, the  sonorous  waves ot
the air, and the rays of light can experience, in their external course,
various  deviations  or  modifications, producing false impressions  and
fallacious sensations.
   One would suppose a priori,  that there is a structural difference in
these nerves, since they are employed in such widely different func-
 tions, and convey so very different impressions, such as those of vision
 and hearing.  That there are differences, we are very sure; but in what
 they consist, we know  not: except that we can perceive some little
 dissimilarity of appearance and consistence, which in no way  resolves
 the difficulty.   It has pleased the  Creator to impart to the nervous ex-
 pansions of different parts, different faculties ; but why the optic nerve
 solely should be capable of transmitting to  us perception of sight and
 not of taste ; and why the faculties of the auditory nerves should be ex-
 clusively appropriated to hearing rather than to taste, is an ultimate fact
 beyond human knowledge, which it is impossible for us to comprehend
 or elucidate.                                                    ,
    All that we know on this subject resolves  itself into this, that the
 Creator has chosen to implant peculiar  faculties on particular parts, and
 to connect with them certain varieties of structure and appearance; but
 there is no reason, except his fiat, that  the skin should not see,  and the
 ear smell and taste.  We shall now proceed to give some details of the
 individual organ of the sense of hearing.
3 
 
SENSE  OF  HEARING.
   Hearing is the sense  destined to make  us  acquainted with sounds.
 Its study, like that of the  sense of sight, is divided into three  parts:
 namely, 1st, The physical history of sound, or  the exterior excitor or
 agent which produces the impression; on this is based the science of
 acoustic, which in reality is a part of the science of the motion of bodies.
 2nd, The  anatomical structure of  the  organ;  and  3d,  The  mechan-
 ism of hearing.

                           FIRST--SOUND.

   When a body is percussed or struck, there occurs in the molecules
 or particles composing it, vibratory motions which gradually  diminish
 as they extend from one body to another, like  the  concentric  waves
 produced by throwing a stone into a collection of water, and at last stop.
   These oscillations  are  immediately experienced by  the surrounding
 air in contact with the body, and are  propagated from  stratum to stra-
 tum of the atmosphere, to a certain  distance;  this quivering or vibra-
 tion is at last communicated to the ear,  and there produces, first an im-
 pression, and then a sensation,  as we  shall see hereafter,  which we
 call sound or noise.
   In the sense of hearing,  the exterior excitant is not then the sonorous
 body itself, as in the case of touch; it is not even  one of its integral
 molecules, as in the sense of taste and smell; but it is  the air repeating
 merely the vibratory  movements which the sonorous body experiences.
   There is no doubt  that this is the manner in which sound is produced
 and propagated;  for  we  may demonstrate  the moleculary oscillations
 both to sight and touch, either by striking  a bell, or  causing a string to
 vibrate.   These sonorous oscillations are confined to the molecules of
 the body—for often a whole  body may  be  put  in motion, without, on
 that account, any sound being produced  ; as, for  instance, by letting go,
 to their natural elasticity, the branches of a pair  of forceps, having pre-
 viously approached them near each other.
   In every sonorous body, we must  especially  consider its elasticity
 as its moving power.  A sonorous body may  be elastic by  tension:
 such bodies, when they have only a liniary direction, are called cords,
 as we see in all stringed instruments ; but when they are spread out into
 membranes, they are then  called a drum, or a tympanum; the ear of ani-
 mals is of this category.  A sonorous body may be also elastic  from the
 pressure of the air; such are all wind instruments in which the air is re-
tained a longer or a shorter space of time, according as  it  lets out the air at
one or the  other keyhole.   Lastly, a body may be sonorous through its
hardness.   (The bones in which the ear  is lodged are the  hardest in the
body.)  They may be of different discription ; they may be liniary, like 
20
Sense of Hearing.
metalic rods: or membranous or extended, to which class belongs win-
dowglass, bells, tumblers, &c.
  Every thing that  compresses the molecules of a body, causes the
vibrations whence results the sound. In consequence of their elasticity,
the molecules tend to return to their place and respective relation; and
in order to resume their primitive  station, they undergo a series of os-
cillations, like a pendulum set in motion—at first, very extensive, and
gradually becoming less and less so until they entirely stop.  We may,
on the contrary, deaden, or stop the oscillatory movements of bodies,
by placing our hand or a piece of cloth on them.
  The harder and the more elastic a body is, the greater the rapidity of
these oscillations.  We cannot precisely determine what  are the phy-
sical qualities that render bodies sonorous.  We have reason to suppose
that the qualities just mentioned, are needful, and we know, also, that
generally, the sound produced by  a body is in  the  same  ratio  of its
hardness  and elasticity.   However, it is as difficult to say positively,
what are the qualities or properties that make a  body sapid or odori-
ferous, as to say what makes a body sonorous.
   But these vibrations or  oscillations, whence results sound, are sus-
ceptible of great differences  with respect to extent  and number, in a
given  time, or their rapidity.
   On  these differences depend two of the particular qualities of sound
—strength and tone—and on which, indeed, music is based as a science.
   1st, Strength.—The strength or weakness of a sound depends upon
the  extent of the oscillations that the molecules of sonorous bodies ex-
perience.  A sound is said to be strong or loud when these oscillations
are  extensive, and feeble or weak if the contrary  occurs.
   This is exemplified by a violin's  string; in this we perceive that the
 sound becomes feebler in the same degree as the amplitude of its oscil-
lations diminish.  There is no end to the different degrees of feebleness
 or strength of sounds.
   2nd, Tone.—The tone of a sound is, on the contrary, owing to  the
 rapidity  of the oscillations, and to their number in a given time, what-
 ever may be the extent of these oscillations ; in other words, the feeble-
 ness or strength of the sound.
   If we suppose a wheel striking on a quill as it turns, by moving it
 slowly we shall hear every stroke, but if turned  fast,  we shall hear a
 continuous sound which is the tone; and as the wheel is  turned  with
 different  degrees of velocity we shall produce different tones.
   The same is the case with respect to a violin's string, and which will
 yield, when touched, its tone, according to  the  degree  of force  with
 which the bow is carried over it.
   The timbre, as we shall see, is peculiar to the quality of the sonorous
 body, and has nothing to do with the rapidity  or extent of the oscilla-
 tions of bodies.   This quality enable us to  distinguish the sound of a
 piece  of  copper from a silver one.
   The tone is said to be grave, if the oscillations have but little rapi-
 dity, and their number small in a given time: it is sharp or acute under
 contrary  circumstances.
   Every kind of movement  possible  is  either  straight, curviline, or
 vibratory.   This last kind of movement when sufficiently strong and
 sufficiently quick to act  on our auditory organs, constitute a sound.
   The gravest sound we can appreciate,  is that  which  results  from
 thirty-two vibrations in a second of  time; and the most acute or sharp
 sound is  that which results from 8,192 in the same space of time. 
Sense of Hearing.
21
  All the appreciable tones are within these extremes : below and above
them, what  we hear is mere  noise.  There is, in fact, this difference
between sound and noise: the first is produced by permanent and  re-
gular oscillations that the ear is fully able to appreciate ; while the  se-
cond is the result of undulations  which are  irregular, not permanent:
formed of a multitude of confused sounds, which, therefore, have no dis-
tinctness, and which the ear cannot appreciate.   The most untutored
ear can distinguish noise from musical sound: in fact, we know rather
what noise is not, than what it is.  Its  analysis  is next  to impossible.
To analyse,  for instance, the hum of a crowded assembly and wish to
discriminate the quality  of sound emitted  by every individual voice,
would be as difficult a  task as to analyse a heterogeneous  mass com-
posed of substances in different proportions.  While, on the contrary,
musical sounds may be distinctly apprehended, although the individuals
singing may be many; still an exercised ear will be able to ascribe to
each the sound that he emits.  This is exemplified in a musician being
able  to detect,  in  a large and numerous orchestra, an  instrument or
voice playing or singing out of tune.   In the  same manner it would be
comparatively easier  for a chemist to  analyse  a compound body in
 which the proportion of each  substance should be previously known as
 to its harmonious  component parts.
   Understanding now, that all continued uniform sounds are produced
 by a repetition of similar beats or vibrations, we easily perceive that
in the series from grave to sharp, there must be such as,  with respect to
 the  number  of beats in a given time, are related to each other  as 1,2,
 3, 4, &c.; or, which is the same thing, as 10, 20, 30, 40,  &c.   Now,
 as between  two sounds, one of which has 20 beats, while another has
 10,  there must be a coincidence at every second beat of the quicker, or
 the  one striking 20.—And between sounds whose  beats are  to each
 other as 30  to 40, there  must be a coincidence  at every third beat of
 the  quicker.
   We should naturally expect the ear to be differently affected by such
 correspondence, than when the coincidence is either less frequent or is
 irregular.   Accordingly we find  that all sounds  which have simple re-
 lation to each other, are remarkably agreeable to the ear, either when
 heard together, or in close succession;  while those  in which the coin-
 cident beats are farther apart or meet irregularly, are heard with indif-
 ference, or are  felt  to  be positively harsh  and disagreeable.  In  fact
 these latter combinations of beats approach  more to the character of me-
 thodical noise than  music.
   The most striking and prominent character of the  musical produc-
 tions of the  German school of the present times, is the continual recur-
 rence of these far fetched sounds, unpleasant  to  the ear;  while the cha-
 racter of the productions of the Italian school is those  nice and delicate
 near coincidences of sounds most  pleasing to our ear, by discarding every
 discordant combination.  The latter, generally, take the ear and the soul
 for the guide of their composition, while the former follow the dry rules
 of a science, which being intended to  please the ear, merely satisfy the
 mind of the composer, and not the generality of hearers. Hence, many
 of the  German school find fault with Italian  music and affirm it not to be
 scientific, as though the perfection of the combination of  sounds was not
 to please the ear,  but  to produce a harsh and shocking  coincidence.
 We  might just as well call the  perfection of painting the  school  that
 should teach,  that the more the  colours are glaringly in opposition to
 each other,  the greater the  effect must be, and the greater the pleasure 
22
Sense of Hearing.
of visual  sensations.  But,  we  will ask, does nature produce  these
glaring oppositions ?  She seldom indulges in glaring oppositions or rapid
transitions from one  thing  to  another.  Examine the most brilliant
flower, or insect, or bird, or sky, or even the iris, and you will see
that nature does not pass suddenly from one colour to  another, but
melts, so to say, two or three hues together to form a neutral one.   If
the parrot seems to form an exception, with respect to the hues of its
plumage, he is also preeminently distinguished for the harshness of his
notes.
  The hum  of  the woods,  which is the rainbow of sound, and the
JEolian harp, the  Newtonian prism  of sound, do  they produce these
discordant and harsh notes ?  On the contrary, they create the most pleas-
ing combination  and succession  of harmonious vibrations that the ear
has ever listened to,  or fancy, perhaps, conceived.
  After a  pause, this fairy harp is often heard beginning with a low and
solemn note, like the bass of distant music in the sky ; the sound then
swells as  if approaching, and other tones break  forth, mingling with
the first and with each other in sweet  concord and harmony.  In the
combined and various strain,  sometimes one clear note predominates
and sometimes another,  as if single musicians alternately led the band,
as is the  case in an orchestra in which various instruments  sing suc-
cessively parts of a melody or the same melody,  while the remainder
of the orchestra  is subdued into  an accompaniment; and thus the aerial
concert often seems to approach, and again recede, until, with the un-
equal breeze, it dies away, and all is hushed again.   This is  the music
of nature.  There is also music in the songsters of the grove  ; there  is
music in the rustling of leaves, in the humming of insects, the murmur
of streams,  the  crash of water  falls, and the roar of the  tempestuous
ocean.  The voices of many animals, and of man especially,  are capa-
ble of producing by speech, or modulated sounds, the music of nature.
  We spoke just now  of neutral colours, the production of nature;
there  is, also, a sort of neutral sound, and this is produced by the co-
incidence  or double pulsations of any two concordant sounds  becoming
the element of a third sound, which is always with them,  and is called
the grave harmonic.  This  is exemplified by the ringing  of  two bells.
  Although all the comparable musical sounds be included as a mean
term,  between these two extremes, 32 and 8192 vibrations, neverthe-
less the most delicate ear cannot appreciate them all; the more delicate
inflections or modulations escape the apprehension of our hearing; and
the number of intermediate tones between the gravest and the most acute,
is not so great as one might be  disposed to think.   This  extent con-
tains about eight octaves, in each of  which there are seven  intervals,
notes, or sounds, designated, at  first, by the  letters of the alphabet,  to
which, afterwards, the well known names of do, re,  mi, fa,  sol, la, si,
has been  given, and which  constitute  what is called a gamut.  The
human voice  has been taken as  the standard or  measure to  form the
octave, and that is, where the voice seems to break in its ascension from
the grave  to the highest uttered note at one breath.  The divers instru-
ments of an orchestra, beginning at the lowest or contra bass and termi-
nating at the  highest, or the instrument  called the octave flute, have
different ranges in these eight octaves, which dovetail, as it were, into
each  others as they run from the lowest to  the  highest octave.  The
organ alone embraces them all in its range of sounds.
  Then there is  a wide  difference between the tone of a sound and  its
timbre ; the tone being produced by the rapidity of vibrations in a given 
Sense of Hearing.
23
time, while the timbre belongs to the quality of the body producing the
sound.  Thus  an ivory comb produces a  tone  in  a  given  time and
rapidity ; but let it be made out of silver instead of ivory, and although
we shall produce the same note or tone by passing our nail on its teeth
with the same rapidity, still the quality  of the sound  will be different.
  Thus the difference of the materials composing the  great variety of
instruments, produce the difference of their more or less pleasing quality.
The same  is the  case with reference to the voice of man or woman.
It is not because  a voice is high or low, or sharp  or low,  that it  is
pleasing, but because its timbre is of a good quality.
   The timbre of the best voices or instruments  may be perverted by the
performer's bad taste, or for want of proper instruction.  Most authors
ascribe this  quality to the peculiar nature of sonorous bodies.  Mr.
Biot thinks that it appertains to the harmonic sounds which always ac-
company a fundamental one.   To  illustrate the  idea:—if a  long mu-
sical string be made  to sound, and the number  of  its vibrations in a
given time be ascertained, we find that half of it,  used  as a whole, will
vibrate twice as fast; a third part, three times as fast;  a fourth part,
four times as fast; and so on, producing the sounds or tones most nearly
related to each other.  A very fine illustration of  this is afforded by the
string of  a violincello, when made to vibrate by moving a bow very
gently across it,  near  the bridge; there are then heard, not only the
sound or note belonging to the  whole  length  of the  string, but also,
more feebly, the subordinate notes belonging to  its  half, its third, its
fourth, &c,  beautifully mingling with the first sound or fundamental
sound, and forming with it a rich combination or harmony.  Often,  in
such a case, the  subordinate sounds swell with such force as to over-
power, for a time, the fundamental note ; and then, if the string be care-
fully examined,  it will be found to be vibrating, not  as a whole, but in
two, three, or four distinct portions, with points  of rest between them,
 on which  points little bits of paper thrown, will remain,  but will be
 shaken off from  every other part.  The same harmonic sounds may be
 produced  while  drawing the bow  across the  string, by touching the
 string lightly with the finger at the points where we wish it to  divide.
 It is in this manner that harmonic sounds are produced  on  the harp,
 guitar, violin, &c.
   But in order that the vibrations produced by the sonorous body may
 be perceived, it is necessary that an intermediate body should repeat and
 transmit them to the ear.  This  is called the vehicle of sound.   Air is
 generally  the  vehicle: but water  and  all the elastic solids may also
 communicate sound.
   If a clock strike, when placed within a glass bell or receiver, exhaust-
 ed of its air, the strokes are not heard; but if a wire be attached to the
 clock and brought out of the exhausted receiver, and then put to the ear,
 we shall hear the clook strike distinctly.   Mr. Deleau has proved that
 deafness is,  in many  instances, owing to a vacuum  produced in the
 cavity of the ear.
   Mr. Biot has  proved, by actual experiment,  that if the column of air,
 which is the vehicle of sound, moves in one direction only,  the trans-
 mission of sound is made at a greater distance.  Thus by speaking in
 a whisper at the extremity of a cylinder  of 951 fathoms long, in the
 aqueduct under Paris, he has heard distinctly  at the  other extremity.
 In this transmission of sound by air, it only loses its power in an in-
 verse ratio of the square of the distance ; but the  tone and timbre do not
 change.   The speaking trumpet is based on this acoustic principle. 
24
Sense of Hearing.
  The pliancy  and readiness with which air receives and transmits all
the various inflections of sound, is really worthy of remark.  It not only
repeats every sound, but it  transmits several at a time without con-
founding them,  although they may differ in power,  pitch and timbre.
Thus an  experienced musician may distinguish which instrument is out
of tune, or does not play correctly in a full orchestra.
  The sound is the more powerful the denser and warmer the air is.
Thus in a cloudy day sounds are louder than in  a clear one.   Sausure
relates that the report produced by the firing off of a pistol, while on
Mount Blanc, where  the air is uncommonly rare, was not greater than
a common Chinese cracker.
  The rapidity with  which the sonorous undulations of the air are com-
municated through serian molecules is immense and really astonishing.
It has been reckoned at one hundred and seventythree  fathoms in a se-
cond of time, according to some experiments made near Paris ; and, ac-
cording to English experimenters,  sound travels eleven hundred  and
fortytwo feet in a second, or about a mile in four and a half seconds, or
thirteen miles in a minute.  Its velocity is the same whether it is strong
or feeble; the sound  of the human voice, or the report of a cannon; but
in summer, when the air is  not  so dense as  in winter, sound travels
rather more rapidly; so it does  in elevated situations; while in cold
foggy weather its progress is retarded.   The difference in no case is,
however, more  than  a  few feet; and in a denser atmosphere, though
the progress of sound is impeded, the same sounds are stronger than in
thinner air; still there are many deaf persons who hear better in a clear
dry atmosphere, than in a  damp  heavy one.   This may be the reason
why sounds are heard better  at this season. When the earth is covered
with several feet of snow, as was the case in the  winter of  1830, the
same  sound is not half as strong.  The snow prevents the vibrations of
surrounding bodies, and it acts like the damper of a  pianoforte.
  Our own pulse may be used as a measure  of  time.   If we can see
the flash of a cannon and count the  pulsations  between the flash and
the moment when the report reaches  our ear, and allow one thousand
feet for each pulsation,  we shall  come very  near  the  truth,  as to the
distance at which  the cannon is from us.
  The tone of the sound does not influence its rapidity ; for Mr. Biot
had a person to play an air on the flute, atone extremity of the cylinder
just mentioned, nine  hundred and fiftyone fathoms long, and  he, being
at the other extremity, heard it very distinctly;  which proves that the
various tones had been propagated with equal swiftness.
  The disposition of the places traversed by the sound produces seve-
ral phenomena.
  If the undulations of the air conveying a  sound meets with a resist-
ing surface, the sound is reflected in such a manner as  to form an angle
of reflection equal to that of incidence, and situate in  the same plane.
If the reflecting surface is sufficiently distant,  so that the ear may have
the time  to receive the direct sound before the reflected one may reach
the ear, then the same sound is heard twice,  and there results a repeti-
tion of sound, called an echo.  It may be double; that is to say, the
first reflected sound may be again reflected so as to be  each time heard
separately.
  This  phenomenon has been observed in  a great many parts of the
world; but one of the most remarkable is the famous echo at the Mar-
quis Simonetta's villa, near Milan.  It is produced by  the reflection of
sound between the opposite parallel wings of the  building, which are 
Sense of Hearing.
25
fiftyeight paces from each  other, without  any windows or doors and
perpendicular to the main body of the building.   The repetition of the
sound dwells chiefly on the last syllable.   A man's  voice is repeated
above forty times, and the  report of a pistol above sixty times; which
proves the difficulty of propagating human speech or voice ; while mere
sound or noise is prolonged and heard more distinctly.
   A curious example of an oblique echo, not heard by the person who
emits the  sound,  is described  in the  Memoirs of the Academy of
Sciences, as existing  at Genefay,  near Rouen.  A  person  singing,
hears only his own direct voice, while those who listen hear  only the
echo, which sometimes seems to approach, and at other times to recede
from the ear; one person hears a single voice, another several voices;
one hears the echo on the right, and another on the left—the effect con-
stantly changing with the position of the observer.
   A very curious echo is also described to exist in Argyleshire.  When
a person plays a few notes on a trumpet, they are correctly repeated,
but a third lower; after  a short silence, another repetition is  heard in
a yet lower tone, and after another short interval, they are repeated a
third time in a tone lower still.
   Thus the  air has the  power  of repeating the oscillations  or vibra-
tions of sonorous bodies, and of propagating them.   Sound is diffused
in straight and diverging lines, called sonorous waves; and the move-
ment is the more intense, the nearer  we are to the sonorous body.
   Air, as we have already remarked, is  not the only vehicle of sound;
liquids  and solids  are equally so.   Nollet, Dr.  Franklin, and many
others, have  convinced themselves that they could  hear under water.
Every man who has ever swam, remembers that when a boy, if he
ever dived, to have heard every kind of sound above water, as well as
the noise made by striking  two stones together, although  the sound is
slightly muffled.   It is also well known that fish will draw near a boat
in which  any musical instrument is  played, or be frightened by the
noise made on board a ship.
   So, likewise, every solid  body, whose molecules are sufficiently elas-
tic, to receive and transmit vibratory movements, is likewise a vehicle
of  sound.
   It is well known that the least noise made at one end of a long piece
of timber, is distinctly heard at  the  other  extremity,  while it is not
heard by means of the air.
   Soldiers know very well  how to detect  the approach of cavalry, by
placing their ear in close contact with the  ground, while they could not
hear it standing.
   Mr. Tanner, in his  " narrative,"  mentions the fact of his  hearing,
when applying his ear to the ground, the  noise that herds of buffaloes
made at the distance of ten and  twenty miles, so as to distinguish the
direction of the sound, and the situation of the herd across the prairies,
although they could not be  seen from the commanding eminence where
he was, or heard, whenever he stood or did not apply his ear to the
ground.   This same fact was testified  by a number of persons who
were with him at the time.
   Mr.  Hassenfratz has established by actual experiments, that in the
subterraneous passages under Paris,  that the sound resulting from the
percussion of the wall of the passage, arrived sooner  by  the medium
of the wall, in contact with  which  his  ear was placed, than  through
the medium of the surrounding air.  It is true that through  the medium
                                4 
26
Sense of Hearing.
of the wall  it arrived sooner, but the  sound was proportionately
weaker.  The same result was obtained by Mr. Biot, on the metallic
aqueducts of  Paris.
  We  have made several  patients  hear our voice, who could not hear
the firing off of a four-pounder, even when close, by putting a rule of
wood between the patient's teeth and our own, and when in this situa-
tion speak,  and to the astonishment of  the patient, he heard our voice,
although he  could  not distinguish the words.   I have  performed the
same experiment with four or five pupils of the deaf and  dumb insti-
tute, and made them hear my voice distinctly, although the sounds or
words  to them conveyed no idea.
  The rationalis of this phenomenon is this: my voice striking against
the rule, communicating the vibrations of the air first to the rule, then
to the  teeth,  and  thence to the whole  bony structure of the  head, in
one of which bones is situate the organ of hearing;  and thus the oscil-
lations are conveyed from one solid  body to another, until it reaches
the nerves  of the ear themselves.
   Mr. Savart's experiment is  a very  positive  and  curious one, with
respect to the power  possessed by bodies whose molecules are in mo-
tion, to set other bodies also in motion, by the medium of the air.  He
placed several little membranes with some sand on them, and the mem-
branes, as well as the sand, moved in unison with the sounding body.
Moreover,  the  particles of the sand  placed themselves in a  regular
form, according as the sound reached the membrane on the one or the
other side.
   Such is the long, although abridged, but we believe interesting, his-
tory of the laws of the propagation of sound.
   There is a substance which has the  singular  property of destroying
colours as  well as odours;  this is  the  chlorine  gas.  It is  the univer-
sal bleecher  and  purifier,  for it will remove every  kind of vegetable
colour, and  destroy  every kind  of  odours except its own, which
is to odours, what white is  to  colours, that is, a negative  state, or  an
absence of colours  or odours.
   We do not know if there exists in nature an  annihilater of sounds,
as there is one for colours and odours; if we except, however, the
state  produced by  placing  a sounding body within  the receiver of an
airpump, and exhausting the air therein contained: which process pre-
vents the sounds produced by the body thus situated  from reaching us.
But we conceive  that a vacuum is rather interrupting the means of com-
munication, than an annihilation of sound: for as soon as the air is again
permitted  to enter the receiver, the sounding  body  is  heard to sound
louder and louder, in proportion to the greater quantity of  air admitted
in the receiver.   It would be a subject curious to ascertain, and might
throw some  light on the causes of total deafness.  Dr. Deleau has as-
certained that a vacuum formed in the cavity  of the tympanum pro-
 duced total deafness.   We have used the chlorine gas  in certain cases
of deafness, but we have  found that it is not an annihilator of sounds;
on the contrary, several  individuals have been greatly benefited by its
use in certain cases.
   The absence of sounds is  designated  by the name  of  silence.  Its
effects on  the physical and moral  constitution of man have a very great
 analogy with those of obscurity or darkness.  It results from the pri-
vation of  one of  the natural  excitants or stimuli of the  economy.
 Like obscurity, silence disposes man to sleep and repose; it naturally 
Sense of Hearing.                      27
invites him to musing and meditation, by isolating him almost of every
surrounding  object; it  imparts  to the mind  a certain propensity to
melancholy,  and,  if prolonged, it may render man hypochondrical.
This is always the case with deaf persons whose deafness has been of
a long standing.
  By silence the sensibility of the ear is exalted, as obscurity  exalts
that of the eye.  This is exemplified by those persons  who have long
been confined in obscure and solitary cells—as in solitary confinement.
  The perception  of too intense a sound, like that of too bright a light,
produces  an  undescribable unpleasant  feeling, pain,  and headache,
These effects vary with the degree of  sensibility or irritability of the
subject.   Musicians with nice feeling are generally very irritable when
they hear discordant sounds or much noise.
  Sounds extremely acute, such as that  of a sharp, sibilating  whistle,
or the Chinese gong, have, more than any other, the power of strongly
exciting an individual, even to produce a fit of anger or even convul-
sions.   Who has not felt the desire of placing his hands over his  ears
when  such sounds are heard ? On the  contrary, grave and monotonous
sounds produce the reverse effect, which very much resemble that of
silence.   They, like silence, bring on stillness and sleep.   They have
even a more  marked influence;  for silence  does not provoke sadness
and melancholy so readily  as  grave and monotonous  sounds.  Who,
finding himself benighted in a dark and solitary ancient forest, and all at
once, when journeying on, hearing the din of the monotonous clock of
the neighbouring solitary convent, has not felt a thrilling sensation creep
all  over his body,  and a sad indescribable feeling pervading his  mind,
as if the universe  did not exist; the monotonous sound  not announcing
us " the knell of parting day," but the darkness visible of sounds, suffi-
cient merely to tell us that we barely exist.
  From this faculty of sounds of moving the soul to lively, or angry, or
pleasing, or  melancholy sensations, the art of music owes its origin.
  The art of music has then for its object, the combination of these
sounds, so as to produce, in the most complete and efficacious manner,
this result, and of producing at pleasure, sad or pleasing emotions.
  Its marvellous and enchanting power is well known.  It must be felt,
it cannot be  described;  and woe to him, " who has no music in his soul,
or is not moved with concord of sweet sounds."
  From what we said in the preceding pages, we can draw the follow-
ing conclusions or nine propositions which  constitute  the  acoustic
theory.
  1st. The principal properties  of sounds  are  in strict relation with
those of light.
  2d.  Sound directs itself  on all sides by irradiations from the sono-
rous body.
  3d.  It, like light, is reflected  from the surface of bodies under equal
angles.
  4th.  All solid bodies are more or less  sonorous, but with equal den-
sity;  it seems that they are so much the more so,  in proportion to their
greater elasticity.
  5th.  The more  the vehicle of sound is dense, the  farther the  sound
is heard.
  6th.  The strength or weakness of  sound depend upon the extent of
the vibrations of sonorous bodies,  which is in a strict relation  with the
power of impression or impulsion caused on the sonorous bodies.
  7th. The tone of a sound is owing to the number or rapidity of vi- 
28
Sense of Hearing.
brations in a given time.   On  this proposition is based the theory of
music.
  8th. All sonorous bodies have a tendency to put themselves  in  uni-
son with the vibrating bodies while in the same medium.
  9th. That the quality of sound of different sonorous bodies, called
timbre, entirely depends upon the nature  of the body, and  cannot  be
explained.
  From this, we conclude, that the organ of hearing will be the more
perfect, the more it will be able to appreciate feeble sounds ;  that it will
be able to distinguish or discriminate between every  kind  of sound or
tones and their intervals; and that it will  be capable  of collecting a
greater number of sonorous rays and conveying them towards the organ. 
ORGAN   OF  HEARING.
  It is situated on the sides of the head, and the farthest removed from
the medium line, if we except touch, and at the base of the cranium.
It comprehends:  1st,  The auricle ox external ear, the part which is
visible; 2d, The cavity of the  tympanum, or mean  part; 3d,  The
cavity of the labyrinth or internal ear, which is the most deep seated,
and the most important  part of the whole organ.

                          FIRST--AURICLE.

  It is composed of the ear, properly so called, a  kind of acoustic an-
fractuous conch,  composed of the external skin  of a  fibro-cartilage,
which imparts to it its form, and of several intrinsic and extrinsic mus-
cles, which in man  are scarcely ever used, but very much so in the
horse, rabbit, sheep, &c.; then, we  have the  meatus auditorius exter-
nus, ten or twelve lines long, and having several  curvatures, existing
in all animals  that have this passage.  It extends  from  the bottom of
the conch to the cavity of the tympanum: it is formed  of a bony por-
tion of a fibro-cartilage, and of the skin; which last, in this  place, is
furnished with follicles very much developed, which are called cerumi-
nous, because  of the waxy humour they secrete.
  The cerumen, by its bitter taste, seen.s to be destined to prevent in-
sects from  lodging themselves in this passage.  However, insects are
known to have  hatched their eggs in this part of  the  ear, in persons
particularly who have any discharge  of matter, and thus producing im-
mense maggots and the larvae of true insects.
  As to the use of the  external  ear, opinions  are very much  divided.
It is, however, generally supposed that it has  the  power of collecting
sounds in the  manner of an acoustic trumpet, and reflecting them on
the membrane of the tympanum.
  But Mr.  Itard, a great authority on this  subject, opposes this  opi-
nion, and says that it is  not true  that the want of the  auricle induces
hearing to be impaired.   He moreover adds, that many animals, which
have a very nice ear for the apprehension of sounds, have no auricles,
such as birds, the mole, &c. and  that those animals which have one
in the  shape of a cornet, as the  horse, dog, sheep, &c. it is more for
the expression  of the animal, than for the  uses of hearing, as we all
know that a horse does not turn his ears towards the sound, but simply
pricks them.
  But we beg to differ with Mr. Itard, notwithstanding all these strong
points of analogy we  have adduced; and we firmly believe the auricle
indispensably necessary to perfect hearing in those animals which have
one, although  not indispensable to enable the animal to hear.
  Hence, we  daily see  persons hard of  hearing,   placing their ear in 
30
Organ of Hearing.
advance with their  hand, in order to catch a greater number of sono-
rous waves.  This  motion  is instinctive with every one, not the result
of education, and therefore there is something more in it than Mr. Itard
would make us believe.  Mr. Savart justly considers the auricle as an
apparatus intended  to repeat the sonorous  vibrations, and which  trans-
mits sound to the membrane of the tympanum, as much by the oscilla-
tions  of its  own  structure, which is both solid and elastic, qualities
indispensable to sonorous  bodies, as by  those  of the air which tra-
verses it.
   Secondly,  The  cavity  of the  tympanum is an  irregular cavity
within the base of the petrus  portion of the temporal bone; exteriorly,
it is divided from the external conduit by the membrane of the tympa-
num ; within, it communicates with the internal ear, through two open-
ings,  the foramen ovale and the foramen rotundum, which are covered
over with a dry, vibratory membrane, similar to that of the  tympanum;
below, is  observed the  glenoidal fissure, through  which  passes the
anterior muscle of the malleus and its  larger apophysis;  posteriorly,
several little holes are observed, which communicate with  the mastoid
cells; finally,  anteriorly, it presents a bony and cartilaginous  canal,
which opens at the  superior and lateral  part of the pharynx,  and per-
mits it to  communicate with the external air, called  the  Eustachian
tube.
   The cavity of the tympanum, continually filled with air, lined by a
thin  membrane, is crossed  by a chain of  four small bones, articulated
with each other; moved by peculiar muscles, the whole acting on the
principle of a lever, extending from the membrane of the tympanum to
that of the foramen  ovale, of which they influence the different degrees
of tension.  These bones are  the malleus, the incus, the orbicular, and
the stapes.
   Thirdly,  The internal ear  or labyrinth, comprehends three cavities,
which communicate with each  other:  1st, The vestibule.  This is a
spheroidal  cavity situated between the cavity of the  tympanum, and
the passage where  the auditory  nerve enters.  We remark  in it seven
apertures; 2d,  The cochlea  is a very hard bony cavity divided into
two  spiral  canals,  and  supported by a central  cone  of bone,  called
modiolus;  this latter is perforated by numerous little holes, through
which penetrate a part  of the auditory nerve.   There are two scalae;
the external opens into  the vestibule—the internal communicates with
the foramen rotundum: hence, scala  vestibuli, and  scala tympani.
3d, The semicircular canals  are three in number, and open into the
vestibule by five orifices.
   All these cavities are  lined  with a thin membrane, which exhales a
still thinner and transparent fluid, called the humour of Cotugno, and
which receives the  ramifications of the portia mollis, or the auditory
nerve.  This nerve arises from the restiform body,  a part of the supe-
rior portion of the  spinal  marrow, and enters into  the organ through
the internal  passage. 
MECHANISM  OF  HEARING.
  The ear, properly so called, by its excavations, gathers the sonorous
undulations, and directs them towards the auricular canal.  In this first
passage, the sound is united into a focus;  and, for this reason, it aug-
ments in intensity; it follows the auricular canal, and soon reaches the
membrane of the tympanum, to  which  it communicates its vibrations;
this latter being thin, dry, elastic as the head of a  drum, and conse-
quently well  calculated  to  repeat the sonorous waves, transmits them
to the internal ear by three several  means, namely:  the chain formed
by the small bones; the walls of the cavity of the tympanum, which
are elastic;  finally, and especially,  the air which fills up this cavity.
Then the membranes of the foramen  ovale  and foramen rotundum,
and of the vestibule,  which are dry and vibratory, like that of the tym-
panum, participate in the oscillations, and  transmit them to the lymph
of cotugno contained in the different passages of the labyrinth. Finally,
this  humour presses vibratory sonorous waves against the nervous ex-
pansions which  float in its interior,  and the impression which they re-
ceive is, lastly, transmitted  through the  acoustic nerve to the sensorium
commune.
   The experiments of Mr. Savart are a positive demonstration of the
effect of the sonorous waves or  undulations on the membrane of the
tympanum.
   Sound, sometimes, does not follow the  course which we  have just
indicated.  For  instance,  when  stopping  our ears, we  still hear the
tickling of a watch placed between our teeth; the sonorous undulations
are then communicated by the  bony structure  of the cranium to the
acoustic nerve, solids being, under certain circumstances, excellent con-
ductors of sound.
   Such is, in an  abridged manner, the physical history of hearing;
beyond this, we have no positive knowledge.
   But physiologists wished to give more  precision, and  describe in a
more special manner the  part that each portion  of the ear acts ; we
 shall see, while examining the principal hypotheses, that they are far
from having thrown  any light on this phenomenon.
   Dumas considers the  membrane of the  tympanum as being formed
of concentric curved lines, which have the property of vibrating each
in a particular tone; and others have  advanced that the  difference of
tones results from the different degrees of  tension of this  membrane.
   We have had under our care several individuals who were deaf, and
in whom this membrane was wanting; but, after the true cause of deaf-
ness  was removed,  the patients heard perfectly well every tone or
spoken language, without having recovered the membrane of their tym-
panum.  So that these facts do away these hypotheses of Dumas and
others. 
32
Mechanism of Hearing.
   As to the small bones, it has been presumed that they strike on each
 other, or on the membrane of the tympanum only; hence their names
 of hammer and anvil.  We conceive that such hypotheses do not de-
 serve to be repeated.  Besides the use which we have already assigned
 to them, it is generally admitted that they modify the degrees of ten-
 sion of  the membrane of the tympanum, and of the membrane of the
foramen ovale.
   Their anatomical structure ; their articulations ; their muscles intend-
 ed to move them, are  the best proofs  of the movements they  must per-
 form, and of their being thus used.
   Some physiologists have supposed that the Eustachian tube permit-
 ted sonorous undulations to pass, instead  of being singly a passage for
 the air  to enter into the cavity of the tympanum.   This may be imme-
 diately  disproved by placing a watch in the  mouth so as not to touch
 any solid part,  in which case the tick of the watch is not heard ; but if
 the watch be permitted to touch the teeth, then it will be heard, and
 that through the continuous connexion of solid bodies which are  con-
 ductors of sounds.
   What, you may ask, is the use, then, of these bones, and of the
 membrane of the tympanum ? Why, you may also ask with  propriety,
 should nature bestow  upon our species so very delicate and complicated
 an apparatus,  if we may hear just as well without it ? We understand
 the import of such questions, and cannot deny their force ; but we shall
 remain satisfied with  the facts we have observed,  and shall not try  to
 explain what we  conceive  is,  till now,  above the comprehension  of
 every human being.
   The  case of Elizabeth Care, who had lost  both the membranes  of
 the tympanum, and  all the small bones, as well  as the case of Mr.
 Beauregard, who also has lost the same parts, and both these individuals
 still hearing perfectly the human voice, or any other sound, are, to us,
 obvious proofs, that the proper, and indispensable  part of the organ  of
 hearing is the  labyrinth and acoustic or auditory nerve.
   This we observe to exist in some animals where there is no auricular
 or introductory tympanum ; no bones of the cavity of the ear; but the
 undulations of the air are received at once on  a membrane which com-
 municates them to the labyrinth, and thus to the nervous expansions of
 the auditory nerve.
   If, however, in man, or those animals which have a tympanum, the
 last bone of the series—the stirrup—is lost, the membrane covering the
 oval hole will  be generally destroyed also;  and as the fluid  contained
 in the inner ear (the lymph of Cotugno)  will, in  consequence, escape,
 deafness will ensue, from the medium being lost,  by which  the  imme-
 diate organ of hearing becomes affected.   The  same thing happens
 whenever the membrane of the round hole is destroyed.
   The  immediate function of the organ of hearing is, as we have already
 stated,  to give  us  the sensation of sounds; but its mediate functions
 being more closely connected with, and serving  more intimately, the
 mind, than those of  taste or smell, has caused this organ to be placed
 on a par with touch and sight.
   We may, in fact, by means of hearing, ascertain the nature  of bodies;
 the situation they occupy;  the distance at which  they are placed ; the
 direction in which they  move, &c.  This sense,  moreover,  assists the
 intellectual faculties, those of music and language, for instance, without
 which, they can no longer be exercised. 
Mechanism of Hearing'.
33
   Metaphysicians, struck with its great utility, in the exercise of these
 faculties, have exclusively ascribed them to this organ.
   There is a great deal of difference between that power of perception,
 which constitutes hearing, and that which is connected with the appre-
 ciation of musical sounds.  For if the faculty of combining sounds ac-
 cording to harmonic  relations,  and so as  to constitute music, be the
 mere product of the sense of hearing, then this faculty ought to be pos-
 sessed by all animals, and by every man in the same ratio with the
 perfection of the structure of their ears.  This, however,  is not so.
 Many  animals  hear better than man,  and, nevertheless, none possess
 the faculty of music to the same extent.  No relation is observable, in
 animals, between the power and character of their music and the perfec-
 tion of their  hearing.  For instance, the birds  which do not sing have
 as nice an ear, with respect to mere hearing, and some even more, than
 the singing birds.
   Again, among the singing birds, often the male alone has this instinct
 of pouring forth their strain.  Many of these singing birds sing only at
 certain periodical  seasons.  Shall  we say, in this instance, that they
 are, all at once, excited at this  period, or  periodically endowed  with
 this faculty, and afterwards fall again into the  same apathy, although
 the ear of these animals remain the same at all times ?
   The ear of all birds is  nearly constructed on the same plan.   They
 have no external ear or auricle ;  the cavity of the tympanum contains
 only one bone instead of four, as in  man; and the  cochlea is a  cone
 slightly curved.  N otwithstanding this very great similarity of structure,
 each one of them has preserved, ever since  the creation,  its peculiar
 note, or series of notes, and has acquired no others.  There is, how-
 ever, an exception  in the mocking bird.
   The elephant, which has a nicer apprehension of sounds than man
 (as we shall prove it by an anecdote, presently) has no faculty, whatso-
 ever, for music.  The parrot, it  is well known can be taught to speak
 any language, and, of course, must have a very nice, discriminating ear;
 he, however,  never sings, and the tones of his voice are far from being
 musical.
   Finally, we do not see, that  in man,  musical talent, or correct elocu-
 tion is in the  same  ratio with the nicety  of hearing.  Men who have
 the most delicate hearing  often cannot sing at all—Mr. Burke and Dr.
 Johnson are instances of  it.  Idiots who hear very well, cannot learn
 how to sing the simplest melody, or utter spoken languages intelligibly.
 From these faets we are inclined to conclude, that the faculty of music
 does not depend upon the organ of hearing solely, but is a superior in-
 tellectual endowment, for the acquisition of which the ear  is merely a
 secondary instrument.
   We might,  with the same propriety,  ascribe to the eye exclusively,
 the faculty that painters have of executing historical paintings, or in any
 other style, as to attribute to the ear the power of music.  Then every
 man would be a painter; but we know that some cannot even conceive
 what lines represent, intended to  delineate an object.
   The same is the ease with spoken languages.  If we suppose  that
animals have  none, why  then  have they a hearing at  all—to which
metaphysicians ascribe, also, the  faculty of language ?  Why, with the
possession of this organ, they do not form a language like that of man,
or something like it ?
   If, on the contrary, we  suppose  that they have a language:  why,
then, with an  organ constructed always nearly on the  same plan, are 
34
Mechanism of Hearing.
languages in animals so different—for each one has its pccular articu-
lations of sounds ?  It may be asked, how it is that man, with the same
organ of hearing has, in different countries, various languages and arti-
culations ?  This is true, when he wishes to express abstract conditional
ideas ; but all men, however, use the same tones to express their pas-
sions or sentiments, which is, in fact, the natural language of man,  as
singing is the natural language  of birds.   Why  has each of them  its
peculiar language ? Finally, do we find that in man the faculty of spoken
language is  in the  same ratio of the nicety of his hearing ? Do we find
that poets and orators have the best hearing ? Idiots, with an exquisite
nicety in hearing,  can never learn how to speak or sing.
   To us it is also  certain, that the faculty of spoken language is a su-
perior intellectual faculty, for which hearing is,  there is  no doubt,  an
indispensable, but  secondary instrument, and destined solely to convey
to the brain sonorous sensations, to which the latter alone connects ideas.
Languages, also, follow the same progress  as that of civilization, and
of the ideas diffused and in circulation in a nation.  Books are merely
the depository of the inarch of mind.  Oral language, and languages
generally, like nations and empires,  have their  period of rudeness, of
improvement, amelioration, and have also the seeds of decay and de-
gradation, keeping pace, precisely,  with the improvement and  decline
of morals or sciences; for, being the result of society, they are man
himself, manifested in his moral capacity by these  external sounds or
signs. It is the index of his character and calibre of his mind ; his speech
or style must unquestionably unfold his cast of mind and manners, and
paint the high or low origin of his sentiments.   A man's works are the
mirror of his soul.  The more a man or nation  extends  his relations,
the richer his language becomes ; the more, also, the individuals speak-
ing it will  become polished and learned. * The  same is the case with
 respect  to a deaf and  dumb subject who has recovered his hearing,
 every new subject with which he becomes acquainted, he naturally ac-
 quires a new dictionary of words and phrases in proportion to the  ac-
 quisition of the number of his new ideas.  A stationary language like
 the Chinese, informs us, as clearly and as evidently as if we were read-
 ing the pages of its history, that its government, manners, religion, laws,
 sciences, and arts, are also perfectly stationary.  See, on the contrary,
 the  revolution produced  in the French language  by the political re-
 volution of '92.  Then, we may conclude, that languages are so truly
 the creation of the mind,  that, in every nation,  as  in individuals, they
 are in strict relation with the number and character of their ideas and
 opinions,  or, in other words, they  are the true index  of their mind;
 that, it  is correct to say, that the amount of a man's knowledge is equal
 to his language; and it is equally correct to say, with Charles the  V.,
 that an individual is as many times a man,  as he speaks different lan-
 guages.   Therefore,  a deaf and dumb is  scarcely a man.  Oral lan-
 guage without society cannot exist in man; for all individuals who have
 been found wild in  the forest, although their  parents spoke some  one
 known oral language,  still they imitated  simply  the  sounds  of the
 animals which they  frequented and daily heard.  Monkeys,  which
 resemble man in  many respects, are not endowed,  by our Creator, with
 the faculty of speech, and this faculty, more than  any  other perhaps,
 distinguishes man from every other animal.  Thus, man alone speaks;
 for as to the sounds uttered by parrots, it cannot be said that they speak
 a language, since we know that they attach no  ideas to the sounds to
 which they give utterance; and this, in our minds, is another proof that, 
Mechanism of Hearing.
,35
 to possess the mere oral organ, as in the case of the parrot, or the few
 words that the deaf and dumb may utter, is not sufficient to say that the
 individual can speak and think in that language.  Idiots, although they
 have the oral organs perfect, cannot speak, because they want the mov-
 ing power—the  mind.  Also, that whenever  a nation has  acquired
 many ideas, its  language  becomes rich in  proportion and in  conse-
 quence of it.   Thus, Italy, among modern  nations, who, when other
 nations of Europe had scarcely a language, had a most beautiful and
 perfect one—rich in every mode of expression; she  had, also, so  far
 back, distinguished poets and legislators, statesmen and philosophers ;
 celebrated historians;  painters,  sculptors,  architects, and musicians;
 great captains; mariners, the conqueror of a new world;  discoverer of
 the mariner's compass; merchants, who exchanged the productions of
 the western with those of the eastern hemisphere ; who have first estab-
 lished banks, bills of exchange, and post offices; who first established
 a militia system, tactics of warfare, fortifications, and internal  improve-
 ments.  And,  to use the language of the Poet,

             " Birthplace of heroes, sanctuary of saints,
             Where earthly first, then heavenly glory made
             Her home; thou all which fondest fancy paints,
             And finds her prior vision but pourtray'd
             In feeble colours,------."

 But to return.  If an individual have a strong mind, thinks profoundly,
 and feels deeply, his language partakes of the grandeur of his thoughts,
 and he speaks warmly, cogently, and  energetically.  If, on  the con-
 trary, he want ideas and affections, he is silent, or if he speak at all,
 he  is insipid, flat, and his language is devoid of any colouring.
   Although the hearing of man has a great degree of perfection,  still
 this sense, in many animals, seems to be even  nicer in  its discrimina-
 tion, if we may be allowed especially to judge, in certain cases, by the
 size of the nerve, and  the greater development  of the whole  organ  in
 advance.
   The ears of animals offer a great variety of structure in their details.
 Indeed we observe this structure to be  from the existence of a mere
 sac, having, apparantly, no nervous pulp on it,  up to the complicated
 apparatus, such as we have demonstrated in man.
   There is every reason to suppose, that, as some small animals have
 microscopic  eyes, and possess a  power of vision far beyond  what  is
 necessary to us, or what we are capable of exercising, there is, also,  in
 many, a minute and accurate appreciation of sounds, of which we can
 form no conception, not until we shall find microscopes and telescopes
 for our ears.
  Our knowledge of the comparative acuteness in the auditory faculty
 of animals, is not very  extensive.  The elephant, however, is said to
 be endowed with a  remarkable acute sense of  hearing.  Its  auditory
 organs, it is true, is larger  than in other animals, or man   himself;
 and Sir Everard  Home, while dissecting its ear, discovered  that the
 membrane of the tympanum was  muscular.  Mr. Corse,  who saw much
 of the habits  of the elephant in India,  states,  that a tame elephant,
 which was never reconciled to have  a horse moving behind him
 although he expressed no uneasiness if the horse was within his view,
either before or on one side, could distinguish the sound of a horse's
foot at a distance some time before any  person  in company heard it. 
36
Mechanism of Hearing.
This was made manifest by his pricking  up his ears,  quickening  his
pace, and turning his head from side to side.
  He also  mentions a tame female elephant which had a young one,
that was occasionally sent out with other elephants without the young
one being allowed to follow.  She was not in the habit of pining after
it, unless she heard its voice; but frequently on the road home, when
no one could distinguish any sound whatever, she  pricked up her ears
and made a noise expressive of having heard its call.  This having oc-
curred frequently, attracted Mr.  Corse's notice,  and made him, at  the
time the female elephant used these expressions, stop the party, and de-
sire the gentlemen to  listen;  but they were unable to  hear  any thing
till they had  approached nearer to the place Avhere the young  one was
kept.
   We shall, in this place remark, that we are able to determine  the
power of hearing by the distance at  which a  given  sound,  used as  a
standard, may be heard; this refers merely to the intensity of the sound,
but we have no means of determining as  to the  tone and timbre, no
more than we can ascertain, if we all see the same colour, possessing
the same hue.  We have, in fact, no means of ascertaining  if all  ani-
mals perceive, if not the same tone,  at least the same timbre. It ap-
pears from some observations of Dr.  Wollaston, that some persons are
insensible to various sharp sounds, as the  chirp of the house sparrow,
and house-cricket; the squeak of a bat, and the noise of small insects,
without having any other defect  in the organ.
   We have had under our care two young ladies  who could hear, on
the contrary, when at a distance, the  voice of a bird, while at the same
distance could not hear the noise made by a cart, or hear thunder itself.
   If a different organization of the gustatory and olfactory nerves have
made persons perceive different  odours and taste in the same substance,
or smell one odour and not be able to smell another, why should not a
different organization of the acoustic nerve make us perceive, also, dif-
ferent timbres in the same sonorous body, or hear one kind of sound
and not others ? But this is impossible either to prove or to deny. These
remarks especially apply to the differences we find in the sense of hear-
ing of various men.
   These differences  arise, also  from, 1st, the intimate structure of the
acoustic nerve;  2nd, the more or less perfect structure and disposition
of the parts in advance of the nerve; and, 3d, to  the hygeinic precau-
tions necessary  to keep the organ in a fit state for the exercise of its
functions.
   Hearing is one of  the senses  which most enlarge our intelligence;
and like all the other senses it may  acquire power and  perfection by
practice, and we may exercise it passively or actively, that  is to say,
*ve may hear or listen to. 
HISTORY  OF THE  CASES.
N. B.—Read especially those that are marked with a Star.
                   CASE  I.—November 3, 1829.

  Miss Elizabeth Carr, twenty years old, of Philadelphia, with ulcers in
the ear, which she has had  since she was a child.—The cause of this
unpleasant discharge of foetid matter could be ascribed to no one cause in
its origin, if we except her lymphatic temperament, fair and delicate con-
stitution.  Now the ulcers and caries of the bones account for it. She
suffers continually with  headaches.  Her head and  eyes feel heavy.
Very deaf at times.   This  bad case  was cured in the space of four
months.

                  CASE 2.—November 14, 1829.

  *Mr. Augustus Duhamel, sixteen years old, of Philadelphia,  with
impervious Eustachian tubes, which has existed since he was a child.—
He complains of hearing worse in the evenings and in damp  weather.
The air has but a slight access to the internal cavity of the ear through
the Eustachian tubes.  Very hard of hearing; completely cured.

                  CASE 3.—December 24, 1829.

   Miss M. Sewell, fourteen years old, of Philadelphia; sore throat and
 catarrh of the Eustachian tube, which have lasted during eight years.—
She hears with great difficulty, even when it touches the ear, the tick
of a watch, or the  human voice, unless very loud and very close. She
complains of a dreadful noise in her left ear, and she has from it a dis-
charge of foetid matter.   She has entirely recovered in thirty days.

                  CASE 4.—December 24, 1829.

   *Mr. W. G. Malin, thirty years old, of Philadelphia,  with obstruc-
tion and caries of  the bones during six years.—We prefer to give his
letter, which will be,  perhaps, more satisfactory to the general reader.

                        Pennsylvania Hospital, December 7, 1829
     Sir,
   As I believe  the use of my right ear is now entirely restored to me,
 I will endeavour to give you the particulars requested. I have been sensi-
ble of partial deafness, at least, from the year 1823, and it  has probably
had an earlier existence, as in walking with an individual, I  was con- 
38
History of the Cases.
scious of a preference to offering the left arm;  it was not,  however,
until the summer of 1824 that this deafness was remarked by any other
person.   From that period my hearing has been  in much the same state
as at the time my ear was first submitted to your inspection, that is, the
ticking of a rather loud watch could be barely heard  at a distance of
three inches from my right ear, and distant sounds, however loud, were
scarcely distinguished by it, otherwise than as a low confused humming.
On Monday, November 23, you syringed the ear and extracted some
masses of cotton, or other fibrous  substance, saturated with cerumen,
and including particles of bone.  On Saturday, November 28, you
again extracted similar substances, one piece of which was so closely
impacted in the bottom of the cavity, that when brought away, the sen-
sation was  as though a portion of the ear was pulled out; immediately
afterwards, I found my hearing so much improved, that the tick of the
watch could be distinguished as clearly, at the distance of three feet, as
it could be  before at so many inches.  On the first of December you
completely cleansed the ear and removed a membranous substance from
over the tympanum, which had been produced, I imagine, by the irri-
tation consequent on the presence of so much foreign matter in the ear.
I have omitted to state, that in the intervals between the operations, the
ear was, by your direction, treated with the steam of hot brandy and
water, conveyed to it by an inverted funnel.
   In conclusion, I have to offer you my sincere thanks for this impor-
tant addition to my comfort;  for you have, not only restored the use of
the lost organ, but, by pointing out the true cause of the deafness, have
relieved me from much anxiety and fear lest I should be deprived of the
other ear also.
         I remain with much respect and esteem
                                      Your obliged
                                             WM. G, MALIN.
   Jos.  Togno, M. D.

                  CASE 5.—December 24, 1829.

   Mr. John Wood, twenty-three years old, of Philadelphia,  with ca-
tarrh of the internal cavity during four  years.—He became suddenly
deaf from exposure; both ears very bad at first, but in the  course of two
weeks, the right  ear improved. During these last twelve  months it has
grown worse; after a short treatment, cured.

                  CASE 6.—December 24, 1829.'

   *Mr. Charles  Paist, forty  years old, from Charleston,  South Caro-
lina, with a catarrh of the cavity of the ear.—On his journey from
Ohio to Philadelphia, he had a cold, in consequence of exposure.   He
only hears  now the tick of my watch when touching his ears.  Besides
this catarrh, he had false membranes in the external passages; removed
them.  Treated a few days—entirely cured.

                  CASE 7.—December 27, 1829.

   Dr. Brockenborough, twenty-five  years old, of Virginia;  chronic ab-
scesses since  he was a child.—Previous to consulting, has  had, every
time he had a cold, an abscess formed in his ears, which  rendered him 
History of the Cases.
39
very deaf,  accompanied  with a continual earache.   This present at-
tack has surpassed all the others in violence.   Cured in thirty days.

                   CASE 8.—February 25, 1830.

   Miss A. Craig, thirty-three years old,  of Philadelphia;  caused by
scarlet  fever.—She  has had  a  discharge of foetid  matter  ever  since
she was a child.  Whenever she has a cold she feels a numbness in her
head, accompanied by a continual hissing sound.  She  can hear the
tick of  my watch with her right ear only, when  almost  touching, but
scarcely at all with her left ear, even when applied  close, pressing her
ear.  Treated three months.  Cured completely, and hears as well as
 myself.

                   CASE 9.—February 25, 1830.

   *Mr. John Blight, forty-six years old,  of Philadelphia;  catarrh of
 the internal ear eighteen months.—A ship-carpenter of  strong con-
 stitution;  temperate, but subject to  headaches.   Cannot  ascribe the
 cause,  except  to exposure.  He now hears the  watch  only when it
 almost touches the ear; but hears rather  better witiVthe left.  A short
 treatment.   Entirely well.

                    CASE 10.—August 3,  1830.

   *Mr. Angue, eleven years old, of Philadelphia ; chronic catarrh of the
 whole  ear ever since a child.—He looks stupid;  wants intelligence ;
 reads with difficulty; blabbers; hears  only  the tick of the watch when
 close to his ears. After a treatment, both for his hearing and intellect, of
 many  months, succeeded in developing both;  now, he is  much more
 intelligent, and hears very well.

                      CASE 11.—August, 1830.

    *Miss M. Angue, seventeen years old, of Philadelphia;  obstruction
 of the  Eustachian tube about.eleven years.—The first symptoms of her
  deafness were supposed to proceed from  earache, and the deafness, for
 a time, from heedlessness or inattention of what was said, until it be-
 came manifest that she  was deaf  indeed.  The  family physician pre-
 scribed without benefit.   She only hears the watch at two inches with
  the right ear,  somewhat less with the left.  She  complains of great
  noise  in her left ear especially.  Treated.  Now well.

                     CASE 12.—August 3,  1830.

    Miss S. Armstrong, sixteen  years old, of Philadelphia,  from  scarlet
  fever  ever since a child.—She has had  a discharge from  her  left ear
  ever since a child.  She is a brunett, and  she has been always very
  healthy.  She only hears the watch with this ear when nearly touching
  it, not else.   After a short treatment, entirely cured.

                   CASE 13.—November 18, 1830.

    Miss E.  Rogers, twenty-seven years old, of Philadelphia; obstruc-
  tion of the  Eustachian tube, from repeated catarrhs: fifteen years stand- 
40
History of the Cases.
 ing.—She has a delicate nervous constitution.  She was sickly when a
 child.  She only hears the watch when it touches the ears. She is very
 subject to catarrhs in her head, and when in this state always consider-
 ably  worse, and has roaring noise in her ears.  She is subject  to head
 aches. She has been in the hands of several Doctors, but derived no im-
 provement. After several months treatment, considerable improvement.
 She could hear my watch at six inches distance, and must have improved
 still more since I have seen her.

                 CASE 14.—November 24, 1830.

   *Miss E. Coyles, aged 18  years, of Philadelphia;  chronic inflamma-
 tion of the cavity of  the tympanum.   She has had  a foetid discharge
 from her ears for  ten  years to such an  extent  that it  is intolerable
 to be near her.  She only hears the watch  when close to her ears.
 There is a caries of the bones about the  cavity  of  the  ear.  She
 is stupid, and seems to  have  no intelligence;  cannot  read  intelligibly
 from her not articulating, and not being able to modulate  her voice.
 After six months treatment her ears were  cured, her hearing restored,
 articulation clear, her intelligence  and sprightliness wonderfully  im-
 proved—she did  not seem the same person.  The  education of  her
 mind and her articulation have required as much of my time and atten-
 tion as that of the restoration of the organ of hearing; but my success
 was complete.

                    CASE 15.—December, 1830.

   Mrs. G. Brian, aged 35 years, of Philadelphia; chronic inflammation
 of the tympanum, five years standing.   She is mother of several child-
 ren; five years ago had a discharge  from her ears, which terminated in
 her present deafness. She hears the watch only when applied to  her
 ears.   A part of the tympanum of the left ear was destroyed.   A short
 treatment cured her ears, and materially improved her hearing,

                   CASE 16.—December, 1830.

   *Mrs. West, aged 34 years, of Bristol, Penn., obstruction of the eusta-
 chian tubes from ulceration of four years standing.  She has been afflict-
 ed with an ulcer in her throat. After it had healed she was deaf; which
 state has been increasing  ever since.  At times she complains of singing
 sounds in her ears,  and at others, of a kind of rushing noise, as if there
 was water pouring into them.  She  does not hear  at  all with the left
 ear, and with  the right she only hears the watch  when placed on  the
cheek bone of that side.  It is almost impossible to make her hear words,
however loud  one may speak, unless close to her right ear,  and if she
closes it, she does not hear any sound whatever with the left ear. Her
mind  is very much depressed, and  has lost all  hope  of  ever hearing;
she is subject  to head-aches and to catarrhs of  the nasal passages; she
speaks uncommonly  loud, and does not know it; she cannot modulate
her voice.  After a treatment  of several months she hears when spoken
to in a low tone of voice at the distance of four or five feet.   She now
hears  my voice at four or five feet distance when the right ear is  stop-
ped up, when  before she  could not hear the loudest sounds when thus
situate.  This I call an extraordinary and almost unexpected result. 
History of the Cases.
41
                   CASE  17.—January 1, 1831.

  *Master Abraham Rockhill, eleven years  old. When seven years old
had the measles, and in consequence of it,  a puriform foetid  discharge
issued, for many weeks, from his nose, and soon after this had ceased
a similar discharge came out from the right ear, which stopped at times
after using injection of sugar of lead and rose water, but which, after a
time returned.  During this period he  has  been more or less deaf  of
this ear, and now he only hears the tick of a watch when one inch from
it. The other ear is very sensitive to sounds, and is very acute. A very
singular phenomenon  has  occurred  in consequence of the  deafness.
The boy being unable to hear, when lying in bed, on his left side (being
the good  ear)  he instinctively lay always on the side of the  deaf ear,
and the constant pressure on that side of  the  neck  has stretched the
ligaments and muscles of that side, and caused the antagonist muscles
of the other to  contract more than in their natural state, which has pro-
duced a curvature of the cervical  vertebrae  of the neck, and an inclina-
tion of the  head towards the left shoulder, and a corresponding con-
vexity of the neck is very apparent on the  right side.
   Examination of the left  ear.   The  meatus  is rather larger than the
other;  this  is always the case when there has been a puriform dis-
charge for years, as in this instance. It contains a little yellow cerumen
and crust of indurated matter.  The membrane of the tympanum is very
much depressed; there is also a perforation in the  anterior and inferior
part of this membrane, which establishes a communication between the
external meatus and the Eustachian tube, produced by the  constant dis-
charge of matter from a caries of the temporal bone, the fistulus opening
being close  to the membrane above, and  posterior to  its  bony  circle
leading into the mastoid cells.  The membrane presents  a  very  con-
cave surface, and presses against the small bones  of the ear So as to
give them the appearance as  if they were protruding beyond this mem-
brane, and must very much confine their play.  This must  have  been
produced by the constant pressure  of  the  matter  accumulating before
the tympanum, it being even now pretty red and inflamed.
   Treatment.—AVashed with tepid water,  the external meatus ; the re-
peated  injections brought back a considerable  quantity of hard and dis-
solved matter.  Recommended to sleep on  left side.  Frictions of opo-
deldoc about the neck, and an apparatus to bend the head to the left side,
when in bed.
   January 2d.—Washed again his external meatus with warm water,
and caused it to pass into the Eustachian tube and  out through the nose
and mouth.   This is done  by a forcing syringe, full of water, and in
this manner also forcing the water into the mastoid cells,  through the
fistulus opening  and  thus  washing the whole of  this carious cavity.
He says that he feels that his ear is more open like,  and can hear the
tick of a watch at several feet distance.  Prescribed flaxseed tea  injec-
tions into the external meatus for the present.  The forcing injection of
salt  and water brought  through the nose and mouth pieces  of matter
which were lodged in the different cavities.
   January 17th.—There has been no discharge ever since he has been
under treatment.   He has had his external ear washed three times a
day, and almost every day I have used the  forcing injections  of salt and
water, which washed the mastoid cells, and the different parts in  sup-
puration. The membrane of the tympanum, which had been entirely de-
stroyed, except the part covering the  small  bones, clung together in 
42
History of the Cases.
the upper part of the cavity of the tympanum in such a manner  as  to
have very little, if any, motion at all, while 1 could see in  front of it a
fistulus  opening leading to the mastoid cells ; another,  anteriorly, and
downwards, and the orifice, also, of the Eustachian.   Now this  mem-
brane has grown so  much as to conceal the first opening, and partially
the other, growing from the  circumference  towards the centre, the
bones are very nearly, yet, in the same confined situation.
  The forcing injections caused, to day, a little pain,  although  they
found their way  out through the  nose and mouth without any difficulty.
There is  already a very great  improvement, and shall expect more
when the bones  will be separated from  each other by the growing
of the membrane of the tympanum, the  bones will then stand in their
relative situation—and I perceive to day  that there is a disposition of
this kind.
  February 30th.—Examined his ear and found it entirely restored; the
tympanum regenerated, except a round hole in the middle, of a line  in
diameter.   There is no  longer any discharge, and with the  exception
of the above mentioned hole, the ear is now in its natural  and perfect
healthy  state.
  August, 1834.—I have again  seen  him, and  every thing continues
perfectly well.

                    CASE  18.—April 2, 1831.

   *Mr.  C. Allen, thirty-four years old, from Providence, Rhode Island.
When he first consulted me, could not hear a watch tick; had been in this
state for eleven years. He has a sister in the same condition, if not worse
than himself.  He  cannot hear a horse or  carriage passing by him  in
the street, and is therefore in constant  danger of being run over.   The
state  of his mind is very low, having  lost  every hope of ever recover-
ing his hearing, from the consultations he has had with the most eminent
physicians of  our country.   As soon as I assured him that the nerves
of his ear were not paralyzed, as he  had been told, his countenance
brightened with a new ray of hope which enlightened his intelligent
countenance.  He  submitted  to my  treatment with  great firmness,
although, in his case, it was a painful one.   The result was most cheer-
ing, and here  it  is.   Before the treatment, could not  distinguish the
sound;  soon after, could perceive the sound of a noise in the room, but
could not distinguish the direction—for instance, he would often look at
the window while  it was the door of  the  chamber that was  opened,
although in opposite dirctions, and vice versa—thus, although the sound
was perceived, could not determine the direction.  Soon after, however,
he no longer mistook the direction, but was very much deficient in the
quality  of the  sounds yielded by different  bodies, but by  making him
turn aside, and  sounding every substance, his ears were  soon again
taught to discriminate between the sound of a silver and a copper piece,
or any other substance,  which proved to me that it is not  sufficient  to
restore an organ that has long been impaired, or that has not performed
its habitual functions; but that it  is necessary to re-educate the ear, even
after the entire and complete recovery of  the simple apprehension  of
sounds.   Soon after, he was able to carry on a conversation with his
servant—a negro man—whose articulatian of speech was not  distinct,
while placed at the  distance of twenty feet, which was next to a miracle,
when we consider how desperate the case  was.   Mr.  Allen, desirous
to. return home to his business after only a month treatment, would go 
History of the Cases.
43
 away before I was perfectly satisfied that he would not have a relapse.
 I heard from him since, and he states that his hearing still keeps good.

                                      Philadelphia, May 6,  1831.
     Sir,
   In the year 1820, I was attacked with a severe bilious fever, during
 which I was partially deaf in both my  ears, hut the right one nearly
 recovered  its  proper functions,  while  the left  was imperfect,  and
 gradually  became  worse, until about four years since, when it  had
 so far failed as to be almost useless.  About  this time,  the right ear
 began to grow worse, and continued to do so until I placed myself under
 your care.   The symptoms have never been violent, or  attended with
 pain, but consisted of a singing or hissing, resembling the noise from a
 tea kettle when it begins  to boil, at the  same time a distinct and very
 disagreeable throbbing, and a rolling or roaring sound prevailed in the
 head.   Under these circumstances I lost all the pleasures of social in-
 tercourse,  and my mind has often been  exceedingly depressed by the
 prospect of becoming entirely deaf—a result plainly perceptible as fast
 approaching.  Several very distinguished physicians and surgeons were,
 at different periods, consulted;  they very  quickly  concurred in  pro-
 nouncing a partial paralysis of the auditory nerves to have taken place,
 and gave me no hope of an improvement.
   My situation, at length,  bceame  very distressing.  I concluded to
 make one effort to get relief, and conforming to the advice of my friend,
 William D. Lewis, Esq., of this city,  on the  first of April, I placed
 myself under your care, and am extremely happy in being able to  say
 that now I can hear any conversation carried on in the ordinary tone of
 voice, and if the voice of  the speaker is clear, and his enunciation dis-
 tinct, I find no difficulty in understanding what would have been entirely
 lost to me before you commenced the treatment of my case.  There is
 every reason to believe that I shall hear still better when  the partial in-
 flammation, which now exists, shall have subsided.
   This pleasing result has been effected by your peculiar skill in the
 treatment of disorders in the organs  of hearing, and I shall forever feel
 grateful for your unwearied  attention, and hope that many who now are
 almost lost to society and  to themselves, will, by the application of your
 science and practice, be restored to a blessing which is not appreciated
 until it is impaired or lost.
         With much respect, I remain,
                              Yours,
                                         CRAWFORD ALLEN.
 To J. Togno, M. D., Philadelphia.

                   CASE  19.—January 22, 1831.

   Mr. John Lance, thirty years  old, of  Philadelphia, with indurated
 cerumen and false membranes which have existed for four years.—He
 is  a carpenter by trade. AVhen he exposes himself he easily takes cold,
 which greatly increases his deafness. About four years ago he first per-
 ceived his being hard of  hearing in  his right ear, and about one year
afterwards he perceived the  same difficulty in his left ear.  Heard  the
watch at three inches distance with the left ear, and at eight inches with
the right.   A treatment of three weeks cured him completely. 
44
History of the Cases.
                  CASE 20.—March 12, 1831.

  Commodore Creighton ; deaf in one ear, caused by being too near a
piece of artillery when it was fired off, which produced a rupture of the
tympanum and a hemorrhage in the ear.   This state had lasted a great
many years.  He only heard the  watch in contact with the ear.  A
very short treatment cured him completely.

                  CASE  21.—January 22, 1831.

  Miss S. Powers, twenty-nine years old, of Philadelphia, with a ca-
tarrh of the internal ear, which has already lasted three years.—When
she first perceived her deafness had a noise in her ears, but worse in the
night.   She is very subject to cold in her head, and when so she hears
worse.  She hears  the  watch at two inches with  the left ear,  but
with the right only when it touches, and then faintly.  In a short time
she was restored to her hearing.

                     CASE 22.—April, 1831.

  Master Alfred Sully, son of Mr. Thomas Sully,  Painter; has had for
many years repeated abscesses, and a continual foetid discharge from
one  ear, which rendered him deaf in it.  The tympanum is destroyed;
his intelligence is slightly affected by it; he is dull and stupid.  Treated
for several months and ultimately entirely cured;  his tympanum par-
tially restored,  and his intelligence very much improved.

                    CASE 23.—May 21, 1831.

   Miss Wymer, twenty-three years old, of a weakly, delicate constitu-
tion, and of a lymphatic temperament. She has been complaining, for
six years, of pains in her head, and ears especially, and at that time she
first perceived her deafness.   She complains, also, of a dull feeling in
them as if they were muffled up, especially in damp weather. Her hear-
ing is worse after a fatigue.  She cannot describe the  various and many
noises which constantly torment her in her head—so much  so as  to
prevent her from resting.   She has been in the hands of a certain Dr.
Green, who has done her no good.'  A treatment of two months greatly
improved her hearing, and especially her general health.  Her earaches
and headaches  entirely cured.

                    CASE 24.—May 24, 1831.

   *Miss E. Camm,  nineteen years old, of Philadelphia, of lymphatic
 temperament; of a morose discontented character; very irritable; always
complaining of the pains she suffers in her head;  dull in mind, and re-
laxed in her bodily  powers;  indeed, she  has  a vacant smile, which
proves  the emptiness of her mind, and she  is very far from being intel-
ligent.   She has a difficulty of expressing her ideas by oral language.
 She is, however, very desirous of being treated by me, in consequence
 of my success with Mrs. Grant.   She has been treated for her deafness
 by several eminent physicians, without any success.  In consequence
 of her  deafness, but more especially of the most foetid discharge of her
 left ear, she never was in company, or could be  tolerated  in a school
 room.  Four months treatment cured completely the polypus she had 
History of the Cases.
45
in her ear, out of which she heard nothing, but now she hears  very
well.  The tympanum has been partially regenerated, her ear is entire-
ly well, and there is no  bad smell. She is now cheerful and intelligent.

                    CASE 25.—May 27, 1831.

  Mrs. Dunn, thirty years old, sister to the Messrs. Thibault, Chesnut
street;  she only hears the watch when close to her ears.  She has a
very delicate constitution.  She could not  account  for her  deafness.
She had been in the hands of several physicians, without deriving any
benefit  from their  advice.  Her treatment lasted  about  two months,
after which she was restored entirely.

                      CASE 26.—May, 1831.

  *Mr. Thomas Roney, forty years old, of Philadelphia; had been deaf
for a long time in both his ears,  but more so in the right.  He consulted
my friend Dr. Parrish, who sent him to me. After a rational treatment of
a few weeks, Mr. R. improved very much, but I told him,  from  the
nature of his deafness,  that  it would require several  months  before  he
could perceive  the whole amount of his improvement, which  was much
greater than he was now aware  of.  I found  that my opinion on the
subject was borne out by the actual fact.   He is now entirely well, and
has acquired a most astonishing degree of delicacy of hearing.

                                  Philadelphia,  October 16, 1834.
     Dear Sir,
   It is with much pleasure that  I congratulate you on your safe return
to this city.  To your inquiries respecting the state of my health during
your absence, I reply, that in general it has been very good, and that
my hearing, concerning which I suppose you had  particular  reference,
has been, and still is, excellent.   As it was very defective, at the time
 I had recourse to your  skill, it will, doubtless, give you pleasure to be
 informed, that I think I may say, that I can now hear with more quick-
 ness  and ease than I could ten or  twenty years ago, and that though I
 did not experience immediate relief from your applications,  yet I have
 no doubt that I am indebted to you, under Providence,  for the  entire
 restoration of my hearing.
    With sincere thanks to you, Sir, for your attention to me while under
 your care, and hoping that your ability as a physician, and more espe-
 cially your knowledge  of the diseases of the ear, and your  skill in re-
 moving those diseases may  be publicly known,
                 I remain, Sir,
                         Your obedient servant,
                                            THOMAS RONEY.
    Jos. Togno, M. D.

                      CASE 27.—May, 1831.

    Mrs. E. McLeod, 30 years old, of Philadelphia, from exposure she
 became all at once very hard of hearing,  so much so that she began to
 lose the nicer  shades of the  human  voice  and  the distinct notes of a
 pianoforte.   She  only  hears the watch at four inches  distance.  A
 treatment  of a few days re-established both organs in their pristine
 state. 
46
History of the Cases.
                     CASE 28.—June, 1831.

   'The Rev. Mr. Mayer, 45 years old, of Philadelphia, from exposure
became very hard of hearing, so much so that he could not distinguish
the modulations of his own voice, or know when he spoke sufficiently
loud to fill his church ; he only heard the watch when very close to his
ears.   A treatment of a few days has been sufficient to re-establish him
again; had he neglected his case, as many very often do, he could not
have been cured during a treatment of many months.

                     CASE 29.—June,  1831.

   Miss Collins, 21 years old, a seamstress of  Philadelphia, of lym-
phatic temperament; she is subject to catarrhs in her head, which ma-
terially augments her deafness.   She first perceived a noise in her head
four years ago, and from  that moment she felt she wis hard of hearing
in the left ear; the noise has  also been perceptible  in the right ear for
four weeks past, and her deafness has proportionably increased.   She
remembers that four years ago,  at the time she first discovered her in-
firmity, while  in the country, she had the intermittent fever,  and used
to bathe in a cold spring, to which she attributed the cause of the noise
in her head.  After a short treatment she has been cured.

                     CASE 30.—June, 1831.

  Miss Gaw, seventy-seven years old, of Philadelphia.  She first per-
ceived her becoming hard of hearing several years ago.  She  made use
of oils, but experienced little  or no benefit arising therefrom.   She has
a rumbling noise in both ears, and at times  it increases.  There is a
partial ossification  of the tympanum;  when touched with the probe,  it
is insensible.  There is a great want of sensibility in all the parts of
the ear. She only  hears the tick of the watch, when close to her right
ear, but hears it at four inches with her left.  Her  health has been ge-
nerally good.  She never has had, previous to this indisposition, any
disease in her ears or head, of any consequence.  With an appropriate
treatment, in the course of a few weeks, she was much improved.

                     CASE 31.—June, 1831.

  *Mrs. Grant, (mother of the Rev. John L. Grant,) seventy years old,
nearly totally deaf for more than twelve years, the  cause and origin of
which could not be traced.  After a short treatment, completely re-
stored  her to her hearing.  This is one of the most astonishing cases
treated by me.
                                 Philadelphia, October 21, 1834.
  My  Dear Sir,
    It is with pleasure I comply with your wishes in communicating
the facts relative to my mother's deafness, and the relief  afforded by
your treatment, while under your care.  She had been exceedingly dull
of hearing for about twelve years, insomuch that it was really painful to
hold a conversation with her; and although she had resorted to various
remedies, none seemed to afford her any relief.  In  the spring of 1831,
she was  providentially placed under your care, and since that period,
her hearing has been perfectly good. Whether her  case resembled that 
                       History of the Cases.                    47

of the  majority of persons afflicted  with deafness, or whether the
means employed in the restoration of  her hearing, would alike benefit
every applicant, belongs not for me to decide.  Of one thing I am cer-
tain, she  was  once very deaf, but now  enjoys as  good  hearing, as
though nothing had ever affected the organs of hearing.
                      Yours, very truly,
                                            JOHN L. GRANT.
   Dr. J. Togno.

                    CASE 32.—July 15, 1831.

   Robert B.  Hutchins, 29 years old, a single man,   He first perceived
his deafness about eight years ago.  The  right ear is the worst; how-
ever, he hears the  watch with both ears at the distance of about eight
inches ; his ears are both inflamed.   He is subject  to headaches ; his
eyes are suffused with blood,  and there is a determination of blood to
his head; he also complains of much  noise in it, resembling the beat-
ing  of  the pulse;  it, however, is  not  constant, but increases every
time his attention is directed to listen to  any thing,  and especially by
night.   He observes, that when a boy he had great dread of water and
could scarcely be induced to wash his face or wet his head.   He  was,
and yet is, very timid.   He  habitually  and  daily indulges in musing
and silent meditations ;  and in this state, to use his  own words, he is
" full of'fancies if not fanciful."   With  this dread of water, he was,
when a boy,  plunged in the water by other boys; and thinks the vio-
lence of the shock affected his hearing.  His  head is singularly flatten-
ed on the side, but the organs  of  ideality, according to  Gall, are  very
much developed.   A short treatment improved him very much—but
Mr. H., before I  could  perfect his cure, disappeared, and I  do not
know how his case terminated, but I  have reason to believe he is en-
tirely well.

                    CASE 33.—July 18, 1831.

   Mrs. Catherine Peterman, fifty-one years old, of Philadelphia, first
perceived her  hardness  of hearing about four  years  ago.   She had
taken cold, which  was followed by  a  discharge of matter from  her
right ear only, which lasted nearly three weeks.  She first observed  a
noise in her  right ear; soon after it discharged, and it has lasted  ever
since.   At the time she had the discharge  from her ear, she had also  a
violent earache, which lasted four  days, during which time she suffered
a great deal.   She faintly hears the tick of a  watch with her right ear,
when in  contact, and with her left she hears only a little better.—
Greatly improved, after a treatment of a few  weeks.

                     CASE  34.—July,  1831.

   Miss  Cresson was afflicted with deafness about twenty-five years.  It
was brought  on by the scarlet fever,  producing  at first a discharge in
the left ear alone:  the other never did.  She has been using remedies
to cure herself, but could never  succeed.  During a short treatment,
greatly benefited.

                   CASE  35.—August 3, 1831.

  L. N. Beauregard, thirteen years old, from New Orleans, of a weakly 
1H
History of the  Cases.
and sickly constitution.   Ever since his friends can remember, he had
a foetid and  unpleasant discharge from both his ears, which had ren-
dered him now very hard of hearing, and had prevented his education
from being attended to.—He did not hear the watch.  He is very stu-
pid ; indeed, he has many symptoms of idiotism.   He has a difficulty
in his speech, caused by his  loss of  hearing;  his mind  is not as de-
veloped as a child four years old; still his countenance indicates a boy
that  might be made a clever  one by education, had he his hearing.
I examined  his ears, and found that there was in the right a polypus,
which had destroyed, by its constant  suppuration, the tympanum, and
carried  away the malleus, &c.  The left ear was nearly in the same
state, except that there was no polypus excrescence.   In the course of
three months,  his ears were  completely cured, his  hearing greatly im-
proved, and could  hear the watch at two feet distance.   In the course
of six months, he heard the watch at the distance of eight or nine feet,
the tympanum was partially reproduced by  nature, his intelligence has
greatly improved from the appropriate education he has been receiving
at Mount Airy College;  and, on  the 26th of May, 1832, he wrote to
me the following letter,  which shows the  superior degree  of intelli-
gence he has acquired, and proves how  completely he is cured.

                                   Mount Airy, le 26 Mai, 1832.
   Mon cher Docteur,
   J'ai re^u une lettre de papal'autre jour, dans laquelle il me dit de vous
demander si vous avez recu le mandat de la  somme de $200 qu'il vous a
envoye: car etant, en ville il y a deux semaines, je comptais aller vous
voir; mais je n'ai pas eu le temps, et il fallait que je revinsse a mon
college le merae jour. Tachez de  me  rendre reponse,  le plutot pos-
sible, parce que je compte  ecrire a papa  aussitot que je recevrais
votre lettre.   Je me porte tres bien,  et mes oreilles sont en  parfaite
Sante, Ecrivez-moi de suite;
      et suis votre devoue ami et serviteur,
                                       L. N. BEAUREGARD.
   Dr. Togno.

                     CASE  36.—July, 1831.

   Elizabeth Tompson, fourteen years old, a brunett, not  scrofulous,
tolerable good constitution, now enjoys perfect health.  When six years
old, the parents first perceived the puriform discharge from both her ears
at once, and this state continued alternating with moments when the ears
would dry up: and, when this was the  case, she did not hear so well.
However, she only hears the watch when it touches her  ears.   She is
very subject to cold in her head.  A short treatment restored her.

                   CASE 37.—August 17, 1831.

   Mrs.  Huntley,  thirty-five  years  old, of Philadelphia,  has had  a
puriform discharge ever since  she was a child, which appeared and dis-
appeared at different times, and at last made her deaf of her left ear, so
as to faintly hear the watch  only when it touched  it.   The left ear
is dry at this time, and there is no discharge.   The tympanum of this
ear is insensible, even when touched  with  a probe, and  there is also  a
white calcareous substance within it, which materially helps to increase 
History of the Cases.
49
her deafness.  In the right ear, there is a discharge of matter which con-
ceals the tympanum, and  has destroyed its texture.
  It must be observed that her sister and  niece were both in the same
state as herself.  After a treatment of a few weeks, she has been cured,
and now hears a vast deal  better, notwithstanding the immense destruc-
tion of the  part by the  long standing of this  discharge.   Her  lett
ear, out of which she  could not hear at all, has become, after the ope-
ration, the best.

                   CASE 38.—August 18, 1831.

   *Samuel Hershberger, twenty-three years old, of the Northern Liber-
ties, Philadelphia, a plasterer by trade, being at work in a damp cellar,
five weeks ago, while very warm, and  tired with  working, he set down
to rest himself; he soon felt a kind of deadness, heaviness or  dulness
of sensibility about his ears, which immediately affected his  hearing.
Three days afterwards, he complained of a constant noise in his head,
like the hammering of iron by a blacksmith, which increased  to such
an extent at night, even  to produce a fever: and one  night especially
could not rest at all, in consequence of the violence  of a beating sensa-
tion.   All he did  to relieve this state only augmented his sufferings;
his hearing,  however, grew worse and worse every day; he could just
hear  the watch.—A short treatment  completely restored him to his
former hearing.

                    CASE  39.—August 21, 1831.

    Mrs.  Mary Vanartsdalen, thirty-one years  old,  first perceived her
 deafness nine years ago,  which resulted  from  a  bad cold in her  head.
 This hardness  of hearing came  gradually on her; she complains of
 continual  noises in her  head, but particularly in her right ear, out of
 which she  is very hard of hearing.   She hears the watch with her
 right ear,  at  one inch distance, but at two inches with her left.  She
 was salivated three years ago, her gums still soft, and her breath  mer-
 curial and foetid.—It is a case of internal catarrh of the ear.  After a
 short treatment, she improved very much in  health, and her  hearing
 has improved tenfold, which is very great for her.—The noises in her
 head being scarcely perceptible except at times, when it is very slight.

                         CASE 40.—1831.

    *Mr. J. F. Watson, twenty-six years old, with  an inflammation of the
 whole  ear from exposure, and has an obstruction of the Eustachian
 tube, which has lasted two years.  Mr. W. is  a merchant;—two years
 ago, while on a visit to Philadelphia, he first perceived his deafness in
 the left ear, which however had been increasing gradually.  Within
 nine months, the right ear also had become hard of hearing, while Mr.
 W. was in South America.  While in Chili, he  crossed and recrossed
 the Andes, and soon after felt this hardness of hearing in his right ear.
 He had scrofulous tumours in his neck, to the drying of which  he
 ascribes the  deafness in  his left ear.—He hears in it the watch  only
 when in close contact with the ear,  and then faintly; in the right
 ear,  he hears the watch at two inches tolerably  well; he can  hear
 high shrill voices  best:  but he remarked that "the low, soft undula-
 tions of the human voice, which  constitute its charm,  are entirely lost
                                 7 
50
History of the  Cases.
to me.   A glass of wine, or a segar, produces  a dulness of hearing
quite intolerable, accompanied with a fulness in  the  ears, which op-
presses him.   The treatment of one month cured him completely.

                  CASE  41.—October 4, 1831.

  Miss E.  Houck, twenty-five years old,  of Philadelphia.—She  as-
cribes her deafness to a cold produced by sitting In the draft  of a win-
dow.  She  is deafer  when she has a cold in  her head, and  moreover
the noise which she experiences in her right ear, is greater than before
or after a  cold.   She leads  a sedentary life.—Her  health  generally
good; her right ear first became deaf three years  ago, and six months
since her left ear also became deaf, in consequence of a cold, and she
is now very deaf.  She only  hears the  watch with her left ear, at the
distance of an inch from it: but with the right, only when closely ap-
plied to the ear.  The treatment adopted in  her case, has been signally
successful.  She now hears the watch at the distance of three feet with
her left ear, and with her right at even a longer distance; the noise is
entirely gone.—Improved  beyond expectation.

                  CASE 42.—October 19, 1831.

   Miss Rebecca Davidson, twenty-three  years old, a seamstress, first
perceived her deafness thirteen years ago. She is of a lymphatic tem-
perament, and fair complexion.  She has had a discharge of foetid matter
for fourteen years from her left ear, which has destroyed the tympa-
num.—She hears the watch  with  this ear only when in  close contact
with it.  She hears  the watch at three inches distance with the right
ear; she nevertheless says that this ear is the worst to hear the human
voice.—Completely  cured.

                   CASE 43.—October 27, 1831.

   *In the year 1826, and I think about the month of August, I received
 my deafness when bathing in Scotland.  The waters (salt)  was  very
 muddy, having a soft clay bottom, and in diving I staid too long below
 the water.   That day, or  the day after, I experienced a severe pain in
 the inside of my left ear, as if it were near the palate, the pain was so
 great that  I had some difficulty in moving my jaws to eat.  I foolishly
 concealed  the real cause of my deafness from my relations at the time,
 and ascribed it to a  bad cold, thereby losing the benefit I might  have
 received from timely measures.   Soon after this (say three weeks or a
 month) I had a bilious attack, and I quite well remember, I was worse
 during the sickness  than either before or after ; the doctor was obliged to
 speak very loud for me to understand his questions.
   In two  weeks, or so, after, I got better.   I left England for Charles-
 ton, still neglecting to take a surgeon's advice.   In the winter of 1826,
 1827, I applied  to Dr. B. Simons, of Charleston, who caused my ears
 to be syringed with  lukewarm water, and afterwards a drop of goose oil,
 I think, with some  cotton, was put in, and this was renewed everyday
 for about two or three weeks ; he finally put a blister behind my left ear,
 but no good resulted.   About this time I also  tried the  steam vapour
 bath once  with the same success.  In the spring and summer of 1827,
 I was put  under the care  of Dr.  Wagner,  of Charleston, who  was of
 opinion that the  deafness  was altogether, or partly, owing to a diseased 
History of the Cases.
51
 state of the  liver, accordingly, I was  put under a course of medicine
 for at least two months.  I found no  benefit to my ears from this,
 although I felt vastly better in health.   Nothing further was done  till
 the summer  of 1828, when I went to New York and applied to Dr.
 Mott, who examined my ear, but he said it was so full of hair he could
 not satisfy himself.   He then put a wire up my nose and found out
 there was  no obstruction in the internal orifice of the ear.  He advised
 me  to  try electricity, and  accordingly,  I went to a  man  who kept a
 machine, and who was recommended by Dr. Mott, for his mode of per-
 forming.  I  was electrified inside of the ear.  I continued this about
 two weeks every morning.  Dr. Mott  gave  at the same  time a pre-
 scription for oil, to be used  with wool, but  no good was done.  In
 1830, I again applied to Dr. Wagner,  in consequence of having dis-
 covered a considerable quantity  of soft wax, which had run out of my
 left ear  on my pillow, and which I thought a favourable sign ; he thought
 so too,  and immediately  syringed the ear and thoroughly  cleansed it.
 He then put in, with a syringe, some mixture (the name I forget) which
 was intended to take off the cuticle  of  the ear; the  liquid made the
 skin black, and in a day or two very fine  particles  of skin,  like the
 wings of insects, came out.  Dr. Wagner ascertained the drums of the
 ear to be unbroken, and  dismissed me  without doing any perceptible
 good.   You  will perceive that to this time every operation was con-
 fined to the left ear,  which  I had  always considered to  be the deaf
 one.  I began to be puzzled which ear to call the deaf one, and never
 precisely ascertained that fact till very lately.  Last spring, Dr. Leseig-
 neur, of Charleston, volunteered to  try  me, and  I was put under his
 care.   I had  been taking his medicine for about a month before for an-
 other complaint, but whether it had any reference to the  deafness or
 not,  I cannot say.  He  commenced by applying two strong blisters,
 one behind each ear, which drew a  great deal of matter, and he was
 only waiting till they would close, and more favourable weather, to ap-
 ply two more, when urgent circumstances obliged me to leave Charles-
 ton.   I  felt slightly better after this and the doctor was  very sanguine
 of performing a cure; as well as I remember, he intended to have put
 my head in  a vapour bath, and to  put  an  issue (I think they call  it)
 in my neck.  He would  not permit me to go out in the night air.  The
 benefit I received did not last long.   I am confident I am  worse now
 than I was five years ago.  At this moment I am certain the right ear
 is worse than the left.  I can hear the ticking of my watch plainly with
 the latter, but hardly at all with the  former.  When I press my jaws
 strongly together, I feel a slight pain inside  of my right ear.  I have
 experienced very little or no pain in my  ears since 1826.  I sometimes,
 but seldom, fancy I hear  the ringing of bells, or sounds of that descrip-
 tion.  The changes of weather seem to make no  difference, but when
 I have  a cold  I  am much worse,  I  have  gradually been growing
stouter for the last six years, and am at this time much fatter than  in
 1826.   I will be twenty-one years of age in January, 1832.  It may
be worth while to say that some  of  my  school-fellows, who got  deaf
about the same time,  and  in the same way, recovered soon after—one
of them  by putting in oil, keeping his head tied up in flannel, and stay-
ing in the house.  I have  not accustomed myself to sleep with a night-
cap.
                                        W. G. BROADFOOT.
  Philadelphia, October  26, 1831. 
52
History of the Cases.
  Mr. Broadfoot, a native of South  Carolina, has been deaf for  six
years; he has undergone a great many treatments, as we see by his own
account, but without the least improvement.  He hears the watch with
the left ear at one inch distance, but with the right only when it is in
close contact with  it.   Treated him only a few  weeks,  but  still there
was a  great improvement, that  gave  some  comfort to  converse with
him, while before I was obliged to speak very loud. His case was not
however completely terminated, because he was obliged to go home.

                 CASE  44.—Septetnber 4, 1831.

   Mr.  Williamson, eighteen  years  old, from  Wilmington.   He  first
perceived his deafness eighteen months  ago.  He cannot  give any ac-
count of the cause of his deafness; but he thinks that it is owing to his
going to bathe in the river while yet warm.  This exposure has  pro-
duced a catarrh of the ear and Eustachian tube.  He hears the watch at
the distance of eight inches with both ears.  After a  treatment of a
month he has been entirely restored.

                 CASE 45.—September 12, 1831.

   *Miss Mary Kirk, thirty-three years old, a seamstress, lives at Willow-
Grove.  She first perceived her hardness of hearing  about  two years
ago.  She hears the watch only when in close  contact  with the right
ear, but with  the  left she hears it at four  inches distance.  After a
treatment of three months restored to her hearing.

                 CASE 46.—September 13, 1831.

   Miss Teisseire, fifteen years old.—She has had  a  discharge  ever
since she was four years old, and it has continued ever  since,  some-
times more, at others less.   The tympanum of both ears  destroyed,
and the small bones carried away by it.   She suffered very much from
her ears ; she does not at present. After a treatment of several months,
cured.

                   CASE 47.—September, 1831.

   *Mr. James Taylor, sixty-four years  old, Walnut street.—He first
 perceived his deafness a few days  previous to coming to me, when
 being exposed to a current of air while in the  cellar of the Unitarian
 church, when yet damp, and on a damp day.   In this place he took a
 catarrh in  both ears; he never was so  afflicted before.   He hears the
 tick of his own watch with his right ear when close in contact with it,
 but with the left, very little, even when close in contact  with the ear.
 He could not hear the preacher, Mr. Furness, whose voice is very dis-
 tinct,  although he was only a few feet distant from him.  After a treat-
 ment of a few days,  he was completely cured,  and his hearing as good
 as  ever it  was.  Before being cured,  could  not hear to  converse—
 which astonished a friend of his ; but after the treatment he had  again
 some business with him, and the friend, as  soon as he  saw  Mr. T.,
 began to halloo as loud  as he  could, to make him hear,  but, to  his
 great surprise, he was told by Mr. T. to speak in his ordinary tone of
 voice, for,  said he, I can now hear as well as  ever.  This gentleman
 was Nicholas Biddle, Esq. 
History of the Cases.
53
  Early in September, 1831,1 became so deaf as not to be able to hear
a person speak, unless he was very near to me. In this situation I ap-
plied to Dr. Togno, and after a few visits to him, he succeeded in  dis-
lodging from my left ear a substance that resembled  cloth,  when  my
hearing was restored.  I have frequently mentioned this fact, being de-
sirous that persons whose hearing is defective may profit  by my ex-
perience.
                                          JAMES TAYLOR,
     To Dr. Togno.                             246 Walnut street.
   October 31, 1834.

                CASE 48.—September 14,  1831.

   Miss Robertson, twenty-five years old, from Wilmington.—She first
 perceived her hardness of hearing after having taken a bad  cold from a
 great exposure.  She has a noise in both ears—rather more in her left.
 She hears worse with her right ear.  She has been  blistered, and has
 been using  many remedies,  without the  least advantage.   After the
 treatment of two weeks, entirely restored to her hearing.

                      CASE  49.—March, 1832.

   *Peter Stewart, 50 years old,  a coloured  man.  He is Mr. Thomas
 Rockhill's waiter. He became deaf gradually, in conseqence of a severe
 cold in the head from exposure.  He has been deaf in the left ear for
  these six weeks so as not to hear at all out of it.  On examination  found
  that the  whole internal ear was inflamed  and  red, like a piece of scarlet
  cloth, and the Eustachian tube closed up so as not to admit any air. A
  treatment of three or four weeks entirely restored him ; and now, Octo-
  ber, 1834, he has his hearing as perfect  as ever.

                     CASE 50.—May  16, 1832.

    Thomas Henry, a cabinet maker,  18 years old.   He has had a  dis-
  charge from his ears ever since he was four years old, particularly from
  the right ear, the left being now nearly dry,  with some  black cerumen
  in the meat. ext.  He complains of great earache in the  right ear, with
  roaring  noise ; he has not been able to sleep for a week from  the  ear-
  ache ; the right ear, just before it is going to discharge, beat like a  pulse:
  and when the discharge  occurs it ceases.  The meat. ext. of the right
  ear contains some foetid matter; he hears the watch with the right ear
  at two inches distance, and with the left at a foot.   The treatment  has
  been long and tedious, in consequence of his being an apprentice,  and
  not able to attend to it regularly; but, at last, he was completely  cured.

                             CASE  51.

    *About the 1st of April last, I took a severe cold, the cause of which,
  I presume was, being in the cellar of my store, selling  goods for some
  two hours, where it was very damp, without a hat.  Immediately there-
  after my hair nearly all came out, and I was very  deaf in the left  ear,
  and had a loud buzzing noise in it also, and  partially deaf in the right
  ear, but no buzzing noise.
     I  did not apply for medical aid  until about the 1st of May.  I
  had  at first twentyfive leeches  applied behind  the  left  ear—after- 
54
History of the Cases.
 wards had blisters behind each ear, which  run for several days, and
 then had a hot substance (I dont know what it was) put into the left
 ear, which caused it to blister the ear inside, which also run for several
 days—all of  which had no effect.  I then for three weeks remained
 without doing any thing for it, and then called on my physician again,
 who advised  me to drop five drops of French brandy in the left ear at
 bed time, which I did for several nights, but it had no effect.  The doc-
 tor then ordered me to be bled a pint, and dieted strictly for a week.  I
 did so without effect, and then called again on the doctor, and informed
 him of the unsuccessful treatment.  He told me he did not think of any
 thing more worth trying, unless I would have the left side of my head
 shaved and blistered.   In  answer to which I informed him, that inas-
 much as this  was but an experiment I could not yield to it.  The pre-
 ceding accounts, as near as I can recollect, are in accordance with the
 advice and prescriptions of Dr. John Wilson Moore, all of which has
 not had any effect, and the buzzing noise and deafness has  reached both
 ears.                                      JOHN W.  HALL,
   Philadelphia, July 19, 1832.                  203 Market street.

   Mr. Hall further remarks, that at the time he was first taken deaf he
 had several lymphatic glands of  his neck swelled.
   The present state of his  ears.—The right ear, the  meatus  is very
 narrow, the tympanum is  very opaque and small; there  is also some
 cerumen.   He hears my watch when touching the auricle.
   The left ear, the meatus is also narrow, the  tympanum also small and
 rather less opaque, some cerumen in the  meatus ext.   He hears my
 watch  when touching the auricle.
   The Eustachian tubes of both ears are partially impervious ;  the pre-
 dominance of his lymphatic temperament is very evident by his delicate
 frame, clear  complexion, &c.  Treated  most successfully and com-
 pletely cured.

                  CASE 52.—August 25,  1832.

   Mr.  T.  F.  Browning, twenty-seven years  old,  No. 127  Chesnut
street,  of a spare, fair complexion.—Was  first taken deaf six weeks
ago, when he was struck with the hand on the left ear, which produced
a noise in his ear that renders  him hard of hearing.  The  right is
somewhat affected by it.
  Examined  his left ear.  It is not inflamed, nor is there any thing in-
dicating any inflammation in any part of it.   He can hear the tick  of
my watch at the distance of two feet.   He says that the noise increases
after dinner, or after drinking a glass of wine.  Treated and cured in
 a short time.

                  CASE 53.—September 3,  1830.

   Rebecca Edwards, when four years  old, had a very severe attack  of
 the scarlet fever,Fand after her recovery from that, a very bad gathering
 in her head;  both her ears  discharged very much.  I have  used a great
 many different applications, but all proved of no effect until I  was re-
 commended to Doctor Togno, and I hope he will prove successful  in
 curing her, as I think she is already better from his treatment.
                                         SARAH EDWARDS.
   August 2,  1832. 
History of the Cases.
55
  This case presents an extremely foetid discharge, at this time, from
the left ear.—Her hearing is very much impaired.—She only hears the
watch when it touches  the ear.—Both  the  auricles and  internal part
of the ears were very much inflamed.  After a short treatment, cured.


                 *CASE 54.—September 20, 1832.

     Dear Sir,
   Permit me to recommend Mrs. Hunt, one of my best friends, to the
best exertions of your skill as an aurist.  I shall greatly rejoice if you
can succeed in even improving her hearing.
                             Your Friend,     CH.  D. MEIGS.
   Dr. Togno.

                               Philadelphia, September 20, 1832.
     Sir,
   About seventeen years ago I perceived that my hearing was affected.
 At the time I took but little notice  of it,  conceiving it to be the  effect of
 a cold I had taken, in consequence of exposure.   At this time my right
 ear only was affected.  I could  perceive, for four or  five years,  my
 deafness seemed to increase whenever I had  taken a cold. At the expira-
 tion of that time my  other ear began  to be affected, and at the same time
 I was affected with dizziness in  my  head, at times. After this I could
 perceive, more particularly at nights, on retiring to rest, a sensation in
 my  head like a noise, attended very  frequently with itching of the ears,
 more particularly in the right one.  My deafness continued to increase,
 from time to time, until within the last six months since which it ap-
 pears to be about stationary.  At  this time the sense of hearing is so
 much affected, that it is with difficulty I can  get along with my ordinary
 business—several members of my family having to speak so loud  that
 it renders my situation  and theirs very unpleasant.
   I have concluded to put myself  under your care, in hopes you may
 be able to do something to relieve me.
                   Yours, very  respectfully,
                                            ANNE G.  HUNT.
   Dr. Togno.

   Mrs. Hunt is thirty-eight years old.   Her ears have  been  inspect-
 ed by me and I found the external  meatus  clear, except a  little ceru-
 men in it.  The tympanum is  tolerably  healthy and.  sound.  Her
 Eustachian tube of the  left ear is partially pervious, but the one  of the
 right is entirely impervious—and  this ear is the one in which she hears
 the least.  She only hears my watch when  it touches the auricle.  Her
 speech is somewhat imperfect from her hardness of hearing, and very
 often she speaks  so low, that it is  impossible to  hear what she says.
 She is of a nervous, sanguine temperament.  She never did any thing
 for her hearing.   She complains of  a constant singing noise in her left
 ear only, and particularly when  she  has her mind engaged in some bu-
 siness.  She is rather a delicate woman, and has complained of  a pain
 in her chest for a year back, which is now fixed in her left side.   She
 is the mother of six children.   She is  very much troubled with cold
 feet.
   The treatment has not lasted as long as it was necessary to complete
 the  cure; however, her hearing has been so far improved as to make 
56
History of the Cases.
her and her friends comfortable when conversing.   During one of the
many injections which were performed to open her Eustachian tubes,
she at last, on the opening of the one on the right side, all at once,
heard so very plainly that she begged me and her children not to speak
so loud, although we were only speaking in our common tone of voice,
and when I happened at that moment to blow my  nose, she  told me
that the noise I made was so great that she could only compare it to  a
noise proceeding from a nose, the nostrils of which were as big as  a
hogshead.

                 CASE 55.—November 9, 1832.

  *Elizabeth Bunting, fifteen years old.—She has had a discharge from
both her ears ever since she can remember.  She is of a lymphatic tem-
perament and delicate constitution.  She can hear the watch at the dis-
tance  of one inch with the right ear, and only when it touches the ear
with the left.  There is in the left ear, at this time, an abscess,  and
the external meatus is very much swollen.  The tympanum of the right
has an ulcer on its centre, but the meatus  is not otherwise affected.
She has a constant beating in  her left ear  especially, which has the
rythm of the pulse, and is no doubt produced by the circulation.  She
lives in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, and therefore saw her only
once or twice a-week during the treatment, at the end of which has been
completely restored,  and  is very much improved in  her general health
and intelligence—for, when she first came to me, like in  many similar
cases,  she appeared rather dull and stupid.

                            CASE  56.

                                          November 28th, 1832.

   *After a severe illness, during the summer of 1830,1 discovered that
my hearing was much affected.  I was advised by Dr. Condie to apply
a few  drops of sweet oil to the  ears, three or four times each week;
after finding this course to be abortive, I made application to Dr. Hor-
ner about  the 1st of May, 1831, who carefully examined  the ears,
syringed them  with  warm water, ordered leeching frequently, during
the three following months ; he then directed an equal quantity of sweet
oil and laudanum to be applied daily;  he also ordered bleeding in the
arms, once in two weeks, while taking some purgative pills.
  Finding this  course to be productive of no benefit, he ordered fine
table salt to be applied to the head at night, and bathing of the same
on the following morning with Bay rum; I implicitly obeyed his direc-
tions until June, 1832.  I then became alarmed in consequence of the
disease growing worse: I could no longer distinguish between chords
and discords, was much  distressed with headache and vertigo, and
heard a continual roaring in the left ear similar to  distant thunder;  I
grew absent, and was tormented with frightful dreams, with their con-
comitant effects.  I consulted Dr. Physick,  who examined the ears in
the sunshine, and remarked that "there was no malformation or any-
thing  of the kind;"  he ordered the same treatment of Dr. H., except
three  grains of calomel,  twice a week, instead  of the  pills.—I have
pursued this course until the present.
                                          S.  ADAMS,
                                  No. 62 South  Fourth street. 
History of the Cases.
57
   Mr. A. is a cabinet maker, and a temperate man; he is not subject
 to catarrhs; he hears the watch with  the right ear, at the distance of
 four inches, but only when it touches the left auricle.
   The meatus of both ears is in a good state as well as the tympai 'n;
 there is no cerumen in the meatus.—The left Eustachian tube is imper-
 vious, but the right is less so.—The noise of which  he complains, is
 entirely or nearly so, in the left ear or  side of his head, which is very
 great.  After a treatment of several weeks, Mr. A.'s hearing greatly
 improved:  and his left ear, which was his worst, is now his best ear,
 and he hears the watch  at the distance of three feet.

                    CASE 57.—June 30, 1831.

   Mrs. Rebecca Hood, aged forty-five  years, of Philadelphia, first per-
 ceived her hardness of  hearing ten years ago.  She ascribes it to her
 having the toothache very often, and to the remedies used to relieve it;
 she complains of a beating  in  the right ear,  precisely like the pulse:
 obstruction of the Eustachian tube; she does not hear the watch with
 the  right, but with the left  hears it at the distance of one inch.  After
 a treatment of several months cured, so as to be enabled to carry on a
 conversation across the room.   This is a very successful case.

                   CASE 58.—November 6, 1831.

   Mrs. Murheid, an old lady, from Trenton, first perceived her deafness
 three years ago.  She has  used, but in vain, many vegetable oils re-
 commended by her friends and by physicians.  Of late, her hearing has
 become worse, owing to an obstruction  of the passages.  She does not
 hear the watch with her right ear, and  she only hears it with her left
 when closely applied  to the ear.   After  a  treatment of a few weeks,
 entirely cured.

                  CASE 59.—January 18, 1833.

   As well as I can  recollect, I have  always been subject to the ear-
 ache at times.   When about seven  years  of age I was  taken with a
 violent pain in my left ear, which  gathered and broke, and  has conti-
 nued to discharge more or less  ever  since, and, at times, would  pain
 me,  though not very severely, but would feel very sore around the out-
 side  of my ear.  I frequently applied warm poultices and hot herbs to
 the ear, and would  drop in the  oil of almonds ; then syringe it with
 warm milk and water, which would frequently relieve me; but for some
 time back it has not discharged so freely as it used to, still my hearing
 continues  very bad.  My right ear has never gathered until last Spring,
 but,  on the contrary, always appeared as if there was  a hard crust upon
 the drum  of the ear, which I used to think caused the deafness; but I
 never felt  any pain.  I would then drop in the  oil of almonds and sy-
 ringe the ear with  warm milk  and  water, repeating this for two  or
 three days, which  used to restore me  to my hearing for awhile, but
 since it has gathered I have  frequently felt the soreness around the out-
side  of the ear.  I have applied both mustard  and fly blisters, warm
poultices and herbs which would sometimes relieve me, and  my hear-
ing in that ear for awhile would  be very good.

  Miss Elizabeth Cresson,  No. 138 North  Eighth  street,  aged  19
                               8 
58
History of the Cases.
About seven years ago, the  affection of the ear, above described, ap-
peared;  now, (Jan. 18, 1833,) her ears are both  with sores over the
tympanum, and there is a discharge of matter, with some mucous. She
hears my watch at the distance of two inches; she has a difficulty in
her speech ; she is subject to sore throat and enlargement of the tonsils,
and whenever she has a cold she is worse.  She is of a lymphatic tem-
perament.  After a short treatment greatly improved.

                 CASE 60.—February 1, 1833.

  Mrs.  Guier, 43 years old.  About nine years ago she was at the Sea-
shore, where, going into the water, she was exposed to a violent surge,
which brought on this deafness soon after  returning home.   She had
also a cold soon after she had been in the water, and Avhen she went in
she was very warm, which  produced it.  She had no sickness since
this exposure to which this  can be ascribed; she is now in good health,
with a tendency to obesity.   When she first had this attack  she had a
great noise in her head, but more on the right side than on the left.
She has, however, very little now.
  The right ear—she does not hear the  tick of my watch when it
touches the auricle of this ear; the Eustachian tube impervious.
  The left ear—The tympanum very clear and pearly; the Eustachian
tubes are partially impervious in both ears.  She hears  the watch only
when it touches the  auricle.
  After a short treatment greatly improved.

                           CASE 61.

   Miss Longacre, daughter of Mr. Longacre, Engraver, four years old;
in a short time entirely cured of a catarrh in one ear, and of an abscess
in the other which rendered her very uncomfortable.

                            CASE  62.

  *Mrs. West, niece of  Mr. Longacre, Engraver, 20 years old,  of  a
fair and decidedly lymphatic temperament; very  hard of hearing ac-
companied with headaches and violent earaches.   After a short treat-
ment restored her entirely.


                            CASE  63.

  *Mr.  H. Buzby, 40 years old ;  hard of hearing for many years; but
he neglected it, not  knowing that  he could receive any relief, having
already tried,  without any  benefit, many  remedies that were recom-
mended to him by various physicians.  Cured entirely.


                            CASE  64.

  *Mr.  Simmons, Lumber Merchant, 30 years old ; has been very hard
of hearing for many years ;  could not hear the tick of my watch unless
close to the ear; both the Eustachian tubes partially impervious.   Af-
ter a treatment of two months entirely cured. 
History of the Cases.
50
                            CASE 65.

   Mrs. R. M. Pennock, of Chester County, in consequence of a seden-
tary life had a continual rush of blood to her head, with enlargement of
the arteries about and close to the organ of hearing, which produced a
constant beating in her head, and she was so deaf as scarcely  to  be
able to hear the watch.   After a tedious treatment so much improved
as to make her and  her  friends very comfortable.  She can carry  on
a conversation now across the room.

                            CASE 66.

   Miss Frances Fisher, aged 22, a seamstress, and leads a very seden-
tary life.   It is already three years since she was first attacked with
hardness of hearing which was brought on by a very bad cold in her
head.   She called on Dr.  Wood, who recommended a blister behind
the right ear, which is now the best ear for hearing. Some other things
were done to the meatus ext. in order to produce cerumen,  but  none
was produced, on  the contrary,  the meatus  became hard and  rough.
Ever since she has been putting in some almond oil or sweet oil, which
she thinks did her good,
  Right ear—Meatus ext. no cerumen, and tympanum  clear, very lit-
tle mucus  within it,  the  Eustachian tube is  less impervious than the
left; there is a  cracking when the  air is  forced into the cavity of the
tympanum—not so in the left ear.   She hears the watch only when it
touches either auricles; but better with the right than the left ear,
  Left ear—Meatus  ext.  the same; tympanum opaque and whitish,
mucus within; Eustachian tube  and cavity of the tympanum partially
full of mucus.
  She has had from  the  first, and  there still continues, a variety of
noises in her ears,  such as ringing of bells, rush of wind, &c.   She is
very subject to having colds in her head, which affects her hearing.
In a short time greatly improved ; and we suppose by this time entirely
cured, for she never came  to see  us again, or to pay her bill.

                 CASE  67.—November 12, 1832.

  Mrs.  Risdon,  thirty years old,  residing at No. 353 North  Sixth
street, has had  seven children,—and always enjoyed excellent health.
She  first  perceived her hardness  of hearing about  three years  ago;
when she had a cold, it  became more perceptible;  but within a year
she has  become worse, and the noise which was at first a mere buzzing
sound is annoying  to her now.   She has used sweet oil, but it did not
agree with her ears,  and  she thought that animal oil did better.  She
secretes very hard cerumen: and when it accumulates, the noise in-
creases in her ears; the meatus externus of both ears looks very well:
there is  cerumen  in  it;  the tympanum  depressed and muddy; she
hears the watch at  the distance of two inches; when she has a cold in
her head,  and she blows her nose, the air passes into the cavity of the
tympanum with difficulty, and  in  its passage produces considerable
pain, being a chronic inflammation  of the Eustachian tube, extending
into the cavity of the tympanum.—Entirely cured.

                    CASE 68.—July 29, 1831.

  Miss Rachel Saulnier,  No 438 Race street, twentv-four years  old, 
60
History of the Casts.
has had a discharge from  her right ear ever since she was four years
old; it discharges from  time to time,—and before  it discharges, there
exists a considerable noise and hardness of hearing: but after discharg-
ing, they cease.   There is now a mucous puriform discharge, and  at
times it  is, she  says, very foetid.—The meatus exter. is  very small.
She sometimes hears very well, and  at other times she is very hard of
hearing, and has considerable pain in her ear.  After a long and tedious
treatment, cured.

                    CASE 69.—June 30, 1831.

  Mrs. Anne Brown, fifty-seven years old, residing at No. 250 North
Second  street, has been hard of hearing  for four or  five years.   She
perceived her left ear  to be worse than  the right from  the begin-
ning.   She is of chlorotic taint.—When she stands, she hears a noise
in both ears at times, but particularly in the left ear, which is the worst.
When she  lies down, she  does not hear the noise of thunder, but hears
it very distinctly when sitting up. When she has no noise in her head,
the thunder does not appear to her louder than  the noise she has in her
head.  Her tympanum  is depressed,  and very sensitive;  the Eusta-
chian tube  is tolerably pervious.   She  hears my watch at the distance
of two inches with the left ear, and at the distance of three inches
with her right ear.   Treated her only a short time, whereby she was
greatly improved: but,  like  many other patients, as soon  as they get
well, never call to see the doctor, even to let him have the gratification
of perceiving that they  are entirely well,—we have reason to believe
her perfectly cured.

                            CASE  70.

  Mrs.  Margaret C.  Breautigam, aged thirty-seven  years, first per-
ceived the  deafness of her left ear three years ago, and it  has grown
worse.   She only hears the tick of the watch when  very close to the
ear.   In a  very short time she was perfectly restored to her hearing.

                            CASE 71.

  Mr. Cunningham Brown, aged  twenty-seven  years, first perceived
his deafness seven months ago.—He is subject to cold in the head, and
this came on him after a bad one;  the first symptom was a beating
noise, which still continues. The right ear, although inflamed, did not
discharge—but the left did, and has continued ever since at times; his
hearing has varied in the left ear with  the  discharge; the right is now
well; the left, however, contains a quantity of matter. When he walks
fast, or  goes up  stairs,  the beating noise  increases considerably; blis-
ters were applied behind the left ear, and even in  the meatus  ext.,
without any advantage; he hears the tick of  the watch only when it
touches the left  auricle.   After a short treatment, greatly improved.

                            CASE 72.

  *Samuel Horner, nineteen years old.—I  first discovered a sort of tick-
ing in the  ear, when I was fifteen years old, something similar to that
of a watch.  About two weeks after, a sort of  ringing came  on, and
then I found my hearing  was  deficient; there appeared to be a  great 
History of the Cases.
61
confusion of noise, and a  sudden change of it; I cannot  describe it
exactly;  it was not confined to the continual noise, sudden  fright or
great anxiety, or anything of that kind: or, when I am spoken to, and
do not understand, it causes great noise and confusion, especially in
company;  in the evening, it appears to be worse.   My mother's deaf-
ness came on about the age of twenty-five  or thirty.—She is  of a
nervous  disposition.   I have a brother who was taken deaf about the
same age as my mother: but he had had a bad spell of sickness just
before.   I applied to Dr. George M'Clellan, who ordered cupping and
purging, and a strict  diet.   I went on in that way about two months or
ten weeks, and found no relief, any more  than when I was in a weak
state, the noise was not so  great;  then I did nothing till last January,
when I applied to Dr. Gibson, who told me to ascertain whether.it was
hard wax, by syringing them out with milk and water every day, for a
week,  which had no effect.  Then he ordered a blister behind each
ear, to be  kept open continually; I have  had them on  three months,
and found no relief, any more than the noise had ceased somewhat, but
not altogether.—My head used to be  giddy at times:  but  the applica-
tion of the blisters helped it.  There was  an itching in the ear, but no
aching—never had much  of the  headache, but my eyes ached  occa-
sionally.  I think it proceeded from a cold, which I had caught by get-
ting up  out  of bed half-dressed, and wading  into a pond  of water in
cold weather.

   The treatment of  this case was long and  tedious: but at last suc-
ceeded in curing Mr. Horner, not only of  his deafness, but of another
infirmity that afflicted him, which was very intimately connected with
his deafness.

                            CASE  73.

   Miss Neagle, four  years old, daughter of John Neagle, Esq. painter.
She has  a lymphatic  temperament, has had a puriform discharge from
her ear,  which rendered her hard of hearing;  and had it been neglect-
ed, would  have terminated in the destruction of the membrane of the
tympanum.—Entirely cured: and now, November, 1834, still entirely
well.
                            CASE  74.

   Miss E. Ogden, mantua-maker, 20 years  old, has  been long  com-
plaining with a discharge and with hardness of hearing for many years.
A short treatment entirely restored her to hearing.

                            CASE  75.

   Mrs. Stevenson, 50 years old, very hard of hearing.  She is  very
corpulent; her Eustachian tubes  partially impervious.  Treated and
greatly relieved.

                            CASE  76.

   John Stall, a butcher, 20 years old; from  exposure both ears  very
much inflamed;  great noise in his head; the membrane of  the tympa-
num very red and full of blood; he could not hear the watch.  In a few
weeks' treatment cured completely. 
62
History of the Cases.
                               CASE 77.

      Mr. Burn, confectioner,  North Third street, 35 years old, has been
    deaf for many years, and hears the watch  only at one inch distance.
    A short treatment improved him  so as  to  hear the watch at two feet
    distance.

                     CASE 78.—November  3, 1832.

      Mrs. A. M. Campbell, 32 years old;  married 12 years ago;  she had
    two children, she had her last child three years ago.  She had her first
    eleven years ago, and had  puerperal  fever in consequence of it, and
    then she perceived  she  was deaf of the right ear; so much so, that
    when she laid on the  left side in bed  she could  not hear.  This diffi-
    culty of hearing was neglected, thinking it  would again be restored as
    her strength would return.  After this complaint she remained dyspep-
    tic and nervous  until she had her  second  child, when her health im-
    proved, but her hearing became still worse.  Six years ago, she had a
    bad cold in her head,  in consequence of her sitting near a window in
»    the draft, on a very damp  day.   For this cold she was for six or ten
    weeks, bled, cupped, purged and blistered  every third or fourth  day ;
    when at last she was very weak, she was only bled, leeched or cupped
    only once a week.  She derived no benefit  whatever from this debili-
    tating plan of treatment.  She hears worse  when exposed to  a damp,
    cold atmosphere; however, this does not make a very great difference,
    but whenever  she gets a cold in her head she hears worse.  If she sits
    in a room with the windows open she cannot  hear, in consequence of
    the draft.   When she is in a carriage she hears better than any one in
    it.  During this  last month she has  syringed her ears with very warm
    milk, and believes that her  hearing is, if any  thing,  worse;  (all seem
    to prove that her tympanum is  relaxed and her Eustachian tube partially
    impervious); her nose is very dry, and there is no secretion ; her right
    Eustachian tube is more impervious than the left; formerly her ears were
    dry, and they  ached a great deal; she can hear my watch  at one inch
    distance from the auricle.   Four years previous to her having the puer-
    peral fever, after dancing at a ball and being very warm,  she held the
    right side  of her  head in the rain to  cool it;  but a month after she had
    violent toothache and earache, with  gum bile; indeed, the whole side
    of her face was very painful.   She then  had the right side  of her face
    steamed with herbs, and she got well of it, but she remained a  little
    dull of hearing, on that side especially, when she had  a bad cold.  She
    complains of her tears falling on her face in consequence of the  tube
    being impervious from the want of secretion in the mucous membrane
    generally of the  nose, sinuses, &c.  At first she heard a very  great
    noise in her ears, so great that she  was perfectly distracted, and was
    relieved by bleeding, &c; but  her hearing became worse.   She thinks
    her hearing has improved more since she has  had her last child than
    from any thing the doctors have done for her.  She cannot hear when-
    ever she masticates in consequence of the noise produced by the mouth
    and teeth.   The treatment lasted a month,  after  which she wished to
    return home (to Baltimore); she was benefited by it,  but the treatment
    was not sufficiently  persevered in.   She must be, however, much im-
    proved, for we  have received a letter, in October,  1834, from Mr.
    Campbell, and he no longer complains of Mrs. C.'s deafness. 
History of the Cases.
63
                            CASE 79.

   *In the fall of 1822, when I was only ten years old, my mother per-
 ceived that I was hard of hearing in my right ear,  and she had Dr.
 Shaw to attend me.  He ordered to syringe my ear with warm soap
 and milk, and to apply a blister behind the  same ear.  This was done
 till 1825, which produced no benefit to my hearing.  Soon  after the
 left ear began to trouble  me, by  singing noises, which also increased
 the difficulty of my hearing.   Dr. W. P. C. Barton advised me to drop
 some sweet oil  in the left ear, which I did for several weeks, having at
 the same time dismissed every other application ; but from this, as from
 the preceding remedies, found no benefit for my hearing, or relief from
 the noise.  In the Spring of 1826, I was advised by Dr. Physick to rub
 my head with fine salt, which advice was strictly complied with, dur-
 ing two months, and then discontinued, being persuaded that  it was in
 vain  I tried it.  Finding  all the  preceding applications unavailing, I
 then resorted, for a short time, to the dropping a few drops of Holland
 gin in my left ear only.  I directed all my attention to improving the
 left ear, for it was the one from which I derived any advantage in hear-
 ing conversation, having pretty  much lost all hope for the right ear
 since I could not hear even a very loud noise when the other  was stop-
 ped up.  In this state I called on Dr. Togno, in the Summer of 1831,
 and being very  timid and fearful of any operation which might be ad-
 vised by the doctor, I did not return to see him.  From  that period till
 1834, my deafness gradually increased, so  as to become very difficult
 for me to hear even a loud conversation, when I asked the advice of our
 family physician,  Dr. Meigs, who recommended a seton placed on the
 back of the neck, which was endured for three months, from which no
 benefit was received, but only added to my  distress.  On the 21st of
 October, 1834,  I again called for the advice of Dr. Togno,  with the
 firm resolution  to abide by  his opinion with  respect to my  deafness,
 which now had become intolerable, both as to the noise and difficulty
 of hearing.   In  cool weather, when I rise in the morning, I am unable
 to hear until I have taken exercise; then something appears to move
 gradually in my head;  at eleven  o'clock  the troublesome and unplea-
 sant sounds then begin in my head, and so my deafness increases un-
 til dinner, when I am better able to hear any one speak.   My deafness
 is also augmented  by exercise, by being agitated, or  by any moral af-
 fection that excites my  nervous system, which is very easily excited.
 This  is the history of every day of my life, for many years past; but
 since I have been under the treatment of  Dr. Togno, my left ear is al-
 ready entirely well, and with the right I now hear the tick of the watch,
 which I  could not for twelve years, and the troublesome noise  in my
 head  is now entirely subsided.
                                       ADELAIDE  GILBERT.
   Philadelphia,  Nov. 6, 1834.

   November 10, 1834.—Mrs. Gilbert went  yesterday, (Sunday) to the
 Academy, in N orth Fourth street, and was  placed  in a seat at the ex-
 tremity opposite the preacher; the distance  must be sixty feet.  She
 heard  the whole sermon distinctly, while before she could not hear it
 when she sat near the pulpit.  The noises with which she used to be tor-
 mented have entirely subsided, and her head  is now entirely clear.
   Nov.  12.—Notwithstanding  all the  changes which  have occurred
in the  weather, during these  few  days  past, Mrs. G.'s  hearing keeps
good,  while  before it used to  vary very much with the weather. 
TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.
                                                        Page.
Preface,..........3
Introduction,.........7
The Organs of the Senses in General,.....13
Sense of Hearing,........19
Sound,  or Laws of Acoustics,......ib.
Organ of Hearing,........29
Mechanism of Hearing,.......31
History of the Cases,        .......37

                MOST IMPORTANT CASES

Case 2—(A Duhamel's).......37
     4—(W. G. Malin's).......ib.
     6—(Charles Paist's).......38
     9—(J. Blight's)        .......39
    10—(Angue's)........ib.
    14—(Miss E. Coyle's).......40
    16—Mrs. West's)       .......ib.
    17—(A Rockhill's).......41
    18—(Crawford Allen's)       ......42
   20—(Commodore Creighton's).....44
   24—(Miss E. Camm'sJ.......ib.
   26—(Thomas Roney's).......45
   28—(Rev. Mr. Mayer's)......46
   31—(Mrs. Grant's)      -     -.....ib.
   35—(L. N. Beauregard's)     -    -  '  -    -    -    -   49
   40—(T. F. Watson's).......47
   47—(James Taylor's).......52
   51—(John Hall's)       .......53
   54—(Mrs. A. G. Hunt's)......55
   55—(Miss E. Bunting's)......56
   56—(S. Adam's)........ib.
   57—(Mrs. R. M. Hood's)......57
   58—(Mrs. Murheid's).......ib.
   64—(Mr. Simmons').......58
   72—(Samuel Horner's)       ......60
   74—(Miss E. Ogden's).......61
   76—(John Stall's)       .......   ib.
   79—(Mrs. A. Gilbert's)       ......63
THE END.