serene emotion; there is nothing in it of an appetite or a craving so as to be a spur to the volition.

As regards persistence in the intellect, there is a common superiority in sounds in general over Tastes and Smells, which will be alluded to at the close of our remarks upon the sense of hearing. By virtue of that character the pleasure of sound is more extended in its influence over our mental life, by being more realizable in idea, than the pleasures of these other senses.

6. Intensity, Loudness.-Sounds may be either faint or loud, and as such they affect the ear differently. A faint gentle sound, otherwise not disagreeable, is a source of pleasurable stimulus to the ear. The tone of a steady breeze, the distant hum of a city, the rush of a rivulet, are instances of gentle sounds yielding pleasure to the ear disposed to listen to them. If we attend to the nature of this sensation, we shall probably consider it as not very powerful or massive, but as acutely or keenly felt. It does not count for much if weighed in the balance with the feelings of exercise, warmth, &c., but it has the effect common to sonorous influences on susceptible ears, of setting on trains of recollection and reverie. It may thus originate states of excitement without being much in itself.

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When the sound passes from the gentle to the loud, we have as a matter of course a more intense stimulus. The sensation then becomes keen and pungent, like the action of ammonia on the nose, or a smart stroke on the skin. The rattle of carriages, the jingle of an iron work, the noise of a

The words 'acute' and 'keen,' which I have introduced extensively in the description of emotional states, are probably almost synonymous in their acceptation. They both serve the purpose of contrasting with the 'massive' or 'voluminous' in effect; but when I wish to indicate, at the same time, the extreme opposite of obtuseness,' or bluntness of sensibility, I think the word 'keen' is rather the more expressive of the two. Hence, in discussing the sense of hearing, so much more sensitive, and, so to speak, raw, than touch, I feel disposed to use this word very liberally in my descriptions; although possibly many readers may feel that the term 'acute' really amounts to the same thing. In using both together, I indicate, as strongly as I can, the quality of sensitiveness as attaching to the organ in the special case.

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cotton mill, the ringing of bells close to the ear, the discharge of ordnance, are all exciting from their intensity; to fresh and vigorous nerves plunged into them after quietness, these noises are an intense pleasure. They may be described, however, as a coarse excitement; there is a great cost of tear and wear of nerve for the actual satisfaction.

The intensity rising beyond a certain pitch turns to pain; and in proportion to the keenness of the feeling of the pleasurable, is the repulsion of the painful state of the overexcited nerves. The screeching of a parrot-house, the shrill barking of the smaller species of dogs, the whistling in the fingers practised by boys in the streets, the screaming of infants, are instances of painful pungency. It is in pain that the delicacy of the ear makes itself most apparent; the annoyance of a fatigued and jaded ear is very difficult to overcome, and the agony of acute suffering arising from sounds, in certain disorders of the ear, is known to be of the most unendurable kind.

The suddenness of sounds is a feature allied with intensity, and marks a contrast between two successive states of nerve, one little excited, and the other much. In producing anger, terror, and mental discomposure, a sudden sound is very effective; in this resembling an unexpected shock or check to the movements of the body, which has already been adverted to as causing a peculiar and painful emotion.

7. Volume or Quantity.-This means the sound coming from a sounding mass of great surface or extent. The waves of the many sounding sea,' the thundery discharge, the howling winds, are voluminous sounds. A sound echoed from many sides is made voluminous. The shouts of a great multitude is a powerful instance of the voluminous. Grave sounds, inasmuch as they require a larger instrument, are comparatively voluminous.

This multiplication of sounds, without increase of individual intensity, has a very powerful effect on the ear. The stimulus is greatly increased, but not fatiguingly so. The sensation is extended in volume and amount without becoming pungent; like the difference between a warm bath and the immersion

of the feet in tepid water. Apart from music, the greatest pleasure that sound can give is derived from voluminous. effects.

8. Pitch, or Tune.-This is the musical character of sounds. By it is meant the acuteness or graveness of the sound, as determined by the ear, and this is found to depend on the rapidity of vibration of the sounding body, or the number of vibrations performed in a given time. Most ears can mark a difference between two sounds differing in acuteness or pitch: those that cannot do so are incapable of music. The gravest sound audible to the human ear is stated by the generality of experimenters at 32 vibrations per second; the limit of acuteness is various for different individuals, the highest estimate is 73,000 vibrations in the second. The cry of a bat is so acute as to pass out of the hearing of many persons. The extreme audible range would amount to between nine and ten octaves.

The perception of pitch must resolve itself into the discrimination by the nerve of the frequency of the pulses or compressions given to it by the surrounding liquid of the labyrinth, set in motion through the bones and membrane of the tympanum. The auditory nerve would require to propagate to the brain a different form of excitement according as the beats are few or many; and in order to great delicacy of ear, extremely minute differences of pitch would have to impress themselves discriminatively on the fibres. We We may suppose that the quality of the membrane of the tympanum itself, and of the connecting chain of bones, may be very unequal as regards the transmission of the beats of the air; in some ears these being imparted to the labyrinth with more precision than in others; but the difference between an ear that is musical and one that is not, cannot be other than a difference in the organization of the auditory nerves and in the connected centres in the brain.

An ear sensible to pitch is also sensible to the difference between a musical sound and a noise; the one having a sustained note, the other being a jumble of innumerable notes. Such an ear derives pleasure from the equal tone, while from

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the other none, or worse than none is derived. A musical note is in itself a harmony; being the equal timing of successive vibrations or pulses. It is, in a minute or microscopical subdivision, the same effect as equality of intervals or time in a musical performance; although the one may be a thousand beats per second, the other not more than two in the same time. It is a keen, lively, stirring sensation of pleasure, more refined and exquisite than mere pungency, or the effect of loudness; and is the basis or foundation of one of the great pleasure-giving arts of life.

9. The waxing and waning of sound. The gradual increase or diminution of the loudness of a sound, is one of the effects introduced into musical composition, owing to the power it has to excite keen and intense emotion. The howling of the wind has sometimes this character, and produces a deep impression upon all minds sensitive to sound. The dying away of sound is perhaps the more exciting of the two effects; 'that music hath a dying fall.' I think it not unlikely, that a muscular effect enters into this sensation: the gradually increased or relaxed tension of the muscles of the ear being a probable accompaniment of the increase or diminution of loudness. On this supposition, the influence on the mind would be one of the very delicate effects of movement. From the character of the sensation itself, I think that muscular motions would account for it in part; but I am not prepared to say that the heightened or lower intensity of the pulses on the auditory nerve would not suffice to produce the effect. Be this as it may, the sensation itself is powerful and stirring; and wakens up an intense current of emotion; in general, I believe, of a very solemnising kind. That such is its usual character is testified by the use made of the tempest howl or moan in poetic compositions.

The waxing and waning of a sound in acuteness or pitch is still more properly a musical effect. To pass from one note to another by imperceptible change, is the essence of 'singsong' or 'whine,' both in speech and music; and is apt to degenerate into a very coarse effect, such as good taste repudiates; a circumstance proving how powerful the action is.

The mixture of the two effects of waning or waxing loudness and pitch is doubtless the most common, both in natural sounds, in music, and in speech. In the notes of birds we may trace this effect; in the execution of accomplished singers, in the violin and other instruments, and in the cadences of a musical orator, we may likewise observe it; in all cases telling powerfully; the plaudits of an admiring audience leave no doubt as to its influence in stirring up some favourite and powerful emotion.

10. Complexity is a notable character of sounds, yielding peculiar sensations of various kinds. The sounds concurring upon the ear at the same moment may be many or few. The membrane of the tympanum may be affected by several series of undulations, which will be transmitted with all their primitive distinctness to the fibres of the nerve of hearing; and the nerve may also transmit them without confusion to the ganglionic centres. But in the consciousness the distinctness is not well preserved; some degree of fusion takes place; and this may be grateful or otherwise according to the nature of the separate sounds. Sometimes a multitude of sounds falling upon the ear together, are perfectly indifferent to one another, as in the ordinary din of a market-place, or a crowded city. At other times a most painful action ensues from the confluence of sounds, as in the jarring sounds of an instrument out of tune. This we call a discord. The effect is a feeling of acute pain, intense in proportion to the musical sensibility of the ear. Discords may be produced more unendurable than a surgical operation, the sensibility of the ear itself being more keen than the tissues of organic life. Some of the intensely disagreeable sounds, as the well-known sound of sharpening a saw, are probably discords; the effect is apparently much more intolerable than the mere shrillness would bring about. On this, however, I cannot speak with certainty.

The opposite of discord is harmony, or the combination aimed at in music. The sounds that harmonize are well known to be related to one another numerically in the number of their vibrations. Of the mental effects of har