THE SENSE OF HEARING IN MAN AND BRUTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2010, 26 May 1885, Page 4

THE SENSE OF HEARING IN MAN AND BRUTES.

The efficiency of the sense of hearing in bmtes is a imtter of notoriety. Whoev or has had the opportunity of watching a hcril of wild animals, while iinoh>ci\ed by thi'in, will have been stiuck by the vigilance with which eacli unaccustomed sound is leniarked. The electiic start, by wh.eh every individual of the community is thrown at once into an attitude of attention and piepaiation for a hasty fight is a beautiful bight. Wheu wo remember how many animals are nocturnal in their habits, how many find their home in dense tangled forests, and alao how necessary it is that dispersed membeis of a gregarious tribe, the sexes of wandering species, the helpless young, and protecting clams, should be able to find each other, it is not surprising that this sense is made so wonderfully acute. So much is this sense relied upon for the above named purposes, that the ciafty back-woodsman finds no better expedient for alluring shy game to within leach of his rifle than by imitating the call of the species; jet so discriminating are the wild animals, that the slightest en or in the intonation, or even the frequency, of the cry, will send them scampering away fiom the ambush. It would seem a3 though man, who employs this organ so generally in the higher uses of the mind and soul necessrii ily sacrifices to these uses some of the acutencbs to mere sound of which the ait is capable. The sdvagp starts like the brnte when <i so.md, such as the Einopean would scarcely be aware of, readies him from the distant hill; but chihsed man, who passes his life amidst the hum of ciowdtd utics, stnv ing i other to abstract his thoughts from intrusive noises, and diieeting his attention, even when rno3t attentive, to tho thought that sounds embody rather than the sounds themseh es, is at a disadvantage when hi ought into contact with the unthinking biute, and he will sometimes pass thiongh scenes teeming with life, and think them inanimate solitudes, because he, the object of dread, had no corresponding acuteness of observation to detect the animals which hide themselves at his approach. Yet, as we have seen, his organ is as delicate and complicated as any of theirs, and the disadvantage arises rather from neglect than deficiency, and when the kind of impression comes which strikes the mmd, the sunso is found to bo wondei fully wakeful. Many will remember the tlnilling anecdote of the Scotchwoman, whn, when besieged at Delhi, exprcting with all the Kuiopeans nothing but cruel mnssaeu', for no earthly help seemed available, started up, and said, " I hear them ; they aie playing ' The Campbells are coming.' " And those who then thought bet mad rfjoiced with hei on the same day, for a regiment of Scottish soldieis had matched to their relief.