Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1895 — The Harp in the Ear. [ARTICLE]

The Harp in the Ear.

The majority of people'are not aware, perhaps, says the St. Louis Republic, that each of their ears is provided with a many stringed harp, but such is the case. These wonderful little instruments are named after their discoverer, being called the organs of GortU-JEach of these curious ear harps is provided with 8,700 wonderfully minute strings of varying length and thickness. The larger strings are estimated to be about 1-5,000 th of an inch in diameter, and, as shown by actual measu»3ment, are only l-200th of an inch in length. The smaller ones are so infinitesimal ly fine that no estimate of their thickness (thinness) has ever been made. They are, however, estimated to be about 1-I,oooth of an inch in length. Musicians will tell you that when a properly tuned violin is held near a piano, and the E string of that instrument is struck, the corresponding string on the violin will also vibrate; so with all the rest. Now, the 8,700 strings of the human ear harp have such a wide compass that any appreciable sound which can be imagined can find a string of corresponding tone the moment it enters the ear passages. The sounds thus noted on the many stringed harp are instantly conveyed through the connecting filament to the auditory nerve, thence to the sensorium. Thus a knowledge of the sound is conveyed to the brain.