Structure and Function of the Ears

Insensitivity, or dumbness, or impaired speech. People who have slightly open nostrils were often considered merciful and compassionate. The ears are two in number, placed on either side of the head; serving both outwardly and inwardly as instruments of hearing, and thus an old writer rightly called them the Gates of Wisdom. Outwardly they may seem somewhat decorative, but the shape of their structure is primarily designed so that the brain is not damaged by the incoming air and the movement of loud sound-giving vibrations; similarly, they are internally shaped with a kind of spiral resembling the horn of a snail, so that the sound, like passing through a coiled trumpet, though strongly penetrating, may enter without too great a movement: to which it greatly helps that the shell-like hollowness and some bulging edges around the opening are set against which the air, moved by some sound, is checked and directed inward, without completely bypassing. Similarly, it sometimes happens by way of attenuation, as when we are used to saying of half-heard things; There is something passing my ears; But that mostly happens when thoughts are fixed elsewhere differently. The forms of the ears are somewhat varied; even on one and the same person; for we have known people who had one wrinkled and one smooth ear; also the lobes differ particularly, as some are large and hang down long, while others are short and small; some stand flat and

Translation Notes

Terms like "Maaxel" refer to a structural component rather than a modern anatomical term. The term "witzigheid" has been translated here as "insensitivity" or dullness.