The Human Ear PDF

T H E H U MAN E AR
I T S I D E N T I F I C AT I O N AN D
P H Y S I O G N O MY
BY
M I RI A M A N N E ELLI S
L nd m
e ey o ur ears
Jul Cws ACT
. . I II . Sc 2
.
I
W TH I LL menu moms FR OM PHOTO RA H ( O R IGH T)
G P S C PY
C HI L Y
EF F R O) " N T R E RI T
A U -
P N S
L O NDO N
AD AM A N D C H AR L ES BL AC K
1 900
PRE F ACE
TH E following chapters contain a method o f

classifying portraits of the human ear by ,
which reference for the purpose of i d e nti

fi cati on is made possible and convenient .
They also show the value of identification

”
among non criminals by means of a minute
-
,
division of the shapes of the rim o f the ear .
The subj ect of heredity as shown by the

,
shape o f the ear is illustrated by nature

,
prints from members of several families N 0 .
o n e has hitherto investigated this branch of
the subj ect

.
A concise account from original sources

, ,
o f ancient and modern writers upon Ears i s
’
given ending with a full analysis of Lavater s
,
tentative e fforts in that direction Since his

.
time there has been no systematic scientific
1 C9 9 3 8 8 ~
vi T H E H U MAN EAR
investigation of the peculiarities of the forms

of the ear and their important place in
physiognomy e xcept the very recent exami
,
nation of criminals ears alone The non

’
.
crim inal classes have a still more distinctive

and better developed ear
-
.
N ature printing from the ear was invented

-
by me for the purpose of having permanent

,
portraits of ears o f the e xact size and shape

o f the originals by which means they could
,
be compared and collated The illustrations.
have been reduced uniformly in size the ,
proportions being kept the same .
M A E . . .
O XF O RD, 1 9 0 0 .
C O N T E NT S
CH APT E R PAG E
1 . U AN E AR As A M E AN S O F I D E N T I FI CA TION
TH E H M 1
2 T H E LA W O F T H E S HAPE AN D PR O PO R T ION O F T H E
.
O U T ER E A R 13
O
O CLASSIF I CA TION O F EAR S 27
R AR I S T OT L E A N D PLINY ON E A R S
v 43
U M E D IE VA L W R I T ERS ON E AR S 54
D E LL A PO R T A GH I RARD ELLI A N D BU R RIS

D
O , ,
65
I
K LA VAT ER ON T H E E A R S 86
m L AVATER s O U T LIN E S O F E AR S
’
104
D
{ T H E PHYS IO GN O MY O F T H E E A R 1 23
1 0 F U R T H E R E XAMPL E S O F T H E EA R
. 1 47
1 1 H ERE D I T Y A S S HO W N IN E A R S
. 1 66
1 2 EA RS As PO R T R AY E D IN S CU L PT U RE AN D PA I N T IN G
. 1 80
1 3 C ON CER NIN G E AR R IN G S A N D E A R LO RE
.
- -
1 98
1 4 T H E E A R IN L IT ERA T U RE AN D S CI E N CE
. 210
I NDE X 221
W i th photograp h/i0 i llustra ti ons

LI ST OF IL LUSTRATI ONS
F IG . PAG E
1 . Th e F i v D i vi i n
e s o s 15
2 . Th e Eig ht S q ua res 17
3 . Th e Ear -
S h ll e 24
4 . T w nty n Ea (Lava te
e -
o e rs r ) 95
5 . Ni n Ea (La v te )
e rs a r 106
6 . T w l v Ears (La v a te )
e e r 1 13
7 . Th ee Ea (La v te )
r rs a r 120
8, 9 Ea
. f a Ch i l d
rs o 1 26
1 0, 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 Di v
, , isi on
,
. s (5 ) 1 32 1 35
-
15 . Ea w i t h d fi ci n t h li x
rs e e e 1 43
16 . Ea rs o f a co m p oser of m us i c 1 44
17 . Ea rs t v ll
of a ra e er 1 47
18 . Ea of an a ti s t
rs r 1 48
19 . Ea rsof n a tist and t a v ll e

a r r e r 1 49
20 . D i vi si n pu h ed ut of p la
o s s o ce 151
21 . I nd nt i n th h li x
e e e 1 52
22 . Ea rsof an Am i n e r ca 1 53
23 . Ears f a Ro y l N av
o y H sp i tal nu
a o rs e 1 54
24 . Ears of ool gis t

a z o 1 55
25 . E ars O f a p hi l l og i st o 1 56
x THE H U MAN EAR
PAG E
Ears of th e E i dt or o f n
th e E g lis h Di ti ona
c r
y 1 57
27 . Di v i i ns o s alik e i n bo th ear s 1 58
Peculi ar o ri fice 1 59
29 . Ears o f a sc i e nti fi c d iscoverer 1 60
30 . Th e F i v Di v i i
e s ons i n th e b ul g e d forms 161
31 . Ears of ha l Di ck n
C r es e s 1 63
32 35-
. Pare n ts and tw sons o f a ci ng 1 66
36 , 3 7 . Moth and s n
er o 1 68
38 4 4
-
. Pa n ts tw o d ug h te
re ,
a rs , and thr ee son s 1 70
45 47-
. P ent and d ug h te
ar s a r 1 7 4, 1 7 5
48 5 1
-
. Pa n ts daug h t
re , a nd er , so n f a ci ng 1 76
5 2, 5 3 . T w i n i ters
s s 1 78
T H E H U MAN E AR
C H A P T ER I
T HE H UM AN E AR A S A M E AN S OF
I D EN T IFI CAT I ON
SI N CEthere are two e ars to each head it woul d ,
seem that ears are particularl y well adapted

for personal identification A pair a ffords a
.
double chance of variety and if o ne of them

,
should come to harm the other is left to keep

guard over the hearing and the outward
identit y That we can o nl y s ee one ear at a
.
time leads us to bestow the undivided atten

tion on it that is the best aid to memory As it .
cannot meet our gaze like the eyes nor turn i t ,
self up at us like the nose nor twitch about with

,
a torrent of words like the mouth it cannot dis

,
concert us whi lst we are gazing at it With the .
air of a sentinel to guard the head it yet stands

like a host t o welcome us i ts doors ever open
, .
The system of classification used for the

2 THE H U MA N EAR
identification of criminals is not su fficiently

varied to include all types of ear The non .
criminal cl asses have not yet received the

scientific attention they deserve and never ,
th el ess they hold the key to a complete system
o f classification for there is more variety in

,
the shape of the ear among the educated upper

classes o f every country than among the lower
classes After classifying the more complicated
.
forms it is not difficul t to apply the same system

to the less elaborate shapes In the course of
.
observation of the ear as part of the physiognomy

of the face I have noticed that certain types went
,
with particular characteristics The ear cannot .
be altered by ordinary us e and it preserves its

,
type when the other features are changed by

time or circumstance This forms a cl ue to
.
the intricate maze of the convo l utions of the

outer ear After studying many thousands of
.
—
British and foreign ears black brown and , ,
—
white from nature as wel l as innumerable
,
pho tographs and authentic portraits in paint

ing drawing sculpture and casts from the life
, , , ,
enough specimens of the various shapes have

passed before me from which to formulate certain
d a ta for identification as well as for classification .
M EAN S OF I D E N T I F I CA T I O N 3
We must begin by saying that there is no

hard and fast rule as to a good or bad ear
- -
.
There i s however a very distinct law of shape

, ,
and proportion of the different parts of the

outer ear to which good and bad alike have
,
to submit Before stating thi s l a w we must

.
first e xamine the different parts o f the ear .
The p i nna is t he scientific name of the

whole outer ear as distinguished from the
,
inner portion which contains the parts for

,
tr ansmitting sound to the nervous centres .
It is known to vary in appearance in every

individual and al most in each one of each
,
pair of ears This in itself forms a basis for

.
identification which is invaluable These un .
changing marks o f identity remain though ,
every actor l earns how to make himself l ook

l ike somebody else with very l ittl e help from
paint or dyes ; indeed there have not been
,
wanting some who were ab l e to disguis e the

features by the use of the facial muscles alone .
The nose can be shortened or l engthened

a bo ut a quarter of an inch either way The .
eyebrows make the forehead smaller or l arg er

according to their el evation The eyes can be.
altered in apparent size by the position o f the

4 THE H U MAN EAR
eyelids and the cheeks and mouth can attain

,
to a still greater change of shape and size

by their numerous muscles as every school ,
boy knows Even the chin can be brought

.
forward or pulled inward at pleasure Wh en .
we consider how very much alike people of

the same age and class endeavour to make
themselves by force of custom dress and , ,
education we can understand how easily a

,
slight difference could be imitated and an

identification obtained on false pretences In .
other days great store was set by moles or

birth marks as being proofs of identity but
-
,
moles ar e now known to al ter in shape and

size and sometimes to disappear Warts are
, .
often mistaken for moles and wart s have a,
power of vanishing as if by magic being in ,
reality only a nervous complaint of the skin .
The fi ng e r tip identification advanced by

-
,
M r F rancis G alton shows itself to be of

.
,
singular value on careful e xamination It is .
unfortunately difficult to obtain good im

pressions and photography would requir e life
,
size portraits and extreme accuracy This .
difficulty appears to be very slight in theory

in practice however it is found to interfere
, ,
M EA N S OF I D E N T I F I CA T I O N 5
greatl y with the gathering together of man y

“ ”
specimens among the non criminals who -
,
are not compell ed to register their fing er

tips .
The want o f some quick and easy way of

identification without trouble to the observer
o r observed has often been felt As we .
have said there is but one feature that cannot

,
be altered at w ill and that is the ear Any ,

.
attempt at disguising it can be detected and ,
o f course it cannot be pu l led o ut of shape and
place although here and there ears are met

,
with that can be slightly moved by the muscles

from the base in one whole piece Piercing for .
ear rings cannot be obliterated as X enophon

-
,
testifies when he speaks of the ears of

“
Apol l oni d es which were pierced after the
,
”
Lydian manner by which the unlucky man ,
was discovered to be a Lydian and was at ,
once turned o ut of the ranks o f the famous

Ten Thousand (An a b Bk III ch i 31 . . . . .
,
UrOv di am 6 p AvOOv
’
dp gbé repa
‘
i d
’
ev
-
en e
c
T ci
’
) a
y ,
v ev
ov 1113 Bu t I hi m l i k e
'
37 a
( T eT
p l rnp
'
, . s ee a
I/y d i a n ha v
i ng been p i er ced
,
as to both hi s
)
ca rs This.is a very early case of i d entifi ca
tion by the ear "
6 T HE H U MAN E AR
On account of the advantages of keeping

the hair short for men or tied up for women
, ,
the ear has been very generally shown; and

its beauty helps to give attraction to the side
face. It can be photographed with ordinary
care and ear prints can be Obtained direct
,
-
from nature M oreover the ear fulfil s the

.
,
condition of being recognisable without trouble

or inconvenience to the observer or observed .
The e ars alter slightly in shape during

chil dhood until they attain their full growth
, .
This requires a passing reference because it

,
has been taken for granted that the ear does

not alter in shape from its first appearance in
the world M Alphonse Bertillon says : Les
. .
“
variations de confirmation si nombreuses que

pr é sente cet organ paraissent subsister sans
modification depuis la naissance j usq u a la ’
”
mort (L a Photog r ap hi c Ju di ci a i r e Paris
,
We must submit that the assump

tion came from want of d a ta criminals not
,
being found willing to be photo g raphed nor ,
likely to be done in early childhood : By

reference to photographs of children so ,
frequentl y taken from a few months ol d

onwards in the families of the educated upper
M EA NS OF I D E N T I F I CA T I O N 7
cl asses non criminal s the Sli ght alteratio n

-
can be perceived Figs 8 and 9 show ear

. .
prints taken from a chil d at different ages

.
( see chap i x The

. ear.undergoes e nl argement
in conformi ty with the incre asing size of the

nose and j aw altering in shape to tally with
,
them . The heli x or outer rim h as been

, ,
known to curl over aft er birth The e xact .
age at which the ear is full grown differs with

the indivi d ual but it would appear to finish
,
d evelopin g before the full height of the figure

is attained G rowing girls and boys are Often
.
noted for their big ears amongst their parents

and guardi ans and yet when the nose and
,
j aw have grown to adu l t siz e the ears are

”
decl ared to be not so big as formerly .
They cannot have shrunk but th ey have sunk ,
into their right proportion to the rest of the

face and are no longer noticeably large After .
childh ood the ears do not al ter till late in l ife ,
when they enlarge slightly without losing their

shape A good photograph of the full grown
.
-
ear will therefore form a permanent record b y

which the o w ner can be identified at any
period .
Al though the fact that the adu l t ear d oes

8 THE H U MAN EAR
not alter like the other features has been

known and used for the identification of
criminals for some years its value in the case ,
“ ”
of the non criminal classes has been over
-
looked . If every young m an left life size -
photographs Of his ears behind him when he

started on his travels round the world or in ,
search of milit ary glory or of colonial success

, ,
it would be impossible for pretenders to take

his place if he were missing History might .
have been materially altered and romances ,
would have lost a valuable aid for their en

li venm e nt if it had been known long ago that
,
t h e nature print of the ear could calmly and

-
certainly dispose of false claimants to thrones ,
’
to properties or to the heroine s a ffections
, .
The d iffi culty of recognising twins is overcome

by this simple means for they each have their
,
special ear in spite o f constant similarity of

the other features A man could also be
.
found if alive with absolute certainty f or

, , ,
there is no way of disguising the ears without

showing the traces of the attempt and the ,
pair being seldom a good match there is a

double chance of personal identification Even .
if one ear were lost or inj ured it is very un ,

10 T HE H U MAN EA R
into a peak Some ears possess a l ittl e knot

.
in the edge of the rim This is the knot .
described by Darwin It i s s o uncommon.
that it becomes of particular use for personal

identification rarely being in the same part of
,
each ear and seldom in both the ears of the

,
same person Sometimes this knot appears

.
at the edge of the ear when there is no rim

at all .
The branching un d ulatio ns that fill in the

upper par t of the ear above the hollow up to
the helix are called the a nti heli x It has not -
.
been found necessar y to use them in the

“ ”
identification of non criminals where the -
,
other varieties of shape are so numerous They .
are said to be of material assistance in the

identification of criminals where the points , ,
of identification being fe w er every possible ,
item has to be employed Their shape forms .
a kind of ribbing to support the flap of the

p i nna and ,
probably a ff ects the refraction o f
the waves of sound The p i nna or outer
.
,
ear is adapted to the catching o f the waves of

,
sound which get s hot backwards and forwards

,
into the hollow Opening and then along the

inner tube up to the drum of the ear It is .
M EANS OF I D E N T I F I CA T I O N I t
not the siz e of the pi nna but its shape which

, ,
i s cal culated to transmit the waves o f sound

with the l east l oss of strength The hearin g .
furt her depends upo n the make and conditio n

of the inner ear and upon the perfection of
the auditory nerves The connection between
.
the inner and the outer ear will be considered

l ater o n.
To ta ke a na tur e p ri nt of a n c am — Place
-
some printing ink on a piece of glass ; take a

-
ro ll er and roll out the ink till the ro l ler as well

as the gl ass is smoothly covered with it Then .
apply the rol l er to the ear The h eli x and .
l obe and parts of the tr a g ns and a nti tr a g us

,
-
,
w il l be b l ackened . P l ace a piece of fine

grained printing paper upo n the ear ; hold it
-
firml y wi th the l eft hand pressing it down ,
gently and eve nl y with the right hand O n .
removi ng it the nature print wil l be found

-
.
The outl in e of the heli x and the outl ine of

.
the hol low of the ear must be accentuated in

pencil and afterwards traced in ink to all ow ,
of reproduction by photography The process .
must be done quickly as the ink soon dries

, .
The i nk must be removed from the ears by a

soft rag dipped in turpentine or in oil of cl oves ,
1 2 T HE H U MAN EA R
after which the ears must be washed with soap

and hot water and well dried with a soft
towel .
It is best to use the glass glue roller and

,
-
,
specially prepared printing ink and strips of

-
,
paper si x inches long by two inches wide ,
that Mr F rancis G alton has had prepared for

.
taking fing er prints

-
. They can be obtained
from 35 7 O xford Street W, .
C H AP T E R I I
T HE L AW O F T HE S H APE AN D P R OPO R T I ON O F
T HE O U T ER E A R
IT will be convenient first to describe the

divisions of the heli x which are necessary
,
for the purposes of classification They are .
five in number and their position at a first

,
glance might appear to be arbit rary especially ,
in the bulged form adopted in Fig 1 The . .
reason why they are not l ikely to be recog

’
ni s e d at a moment s inspection is because it
,
is very unusual to see all five at once in the

same ear When they are carried in the
.
mind or sketched out for reference as in Fi g

, , .
1 all varieties will be seen to be formed by

,
the presence or absence of any one of these

divisions If two or more divisions are run
.
together into one distinct curve this shape is ,
ranged among the c oa les ci ng forms that make

su bdivisions for cl assification and identification .
1 4 T HE H U MAN EAR
It was not until after I had found that Five

Divisions of the heli x e xclusive of the lobe
, ,
were required f or the classification of the ears

“ ”
of non criminals that I learned that the
-
,
French system o f f our divisions e xclusive o f ,
the lobe was still in us e I n France and was

, ,
employed in England The F rench fir st

.
division consists of about a quarter of an

inch of the heli x where it roots itself in the
hollow of the ear Their second division
.
begins where I count Division ( 1 ) to begin ,
and they carry it right over to the other side

of the top o f the ear thus including what I
,
call Division ( 1 ) and Division (2 ) in one sweep

without distinction Their thi r d division
.
includes the part I call Division together

with a piece of Division whilst their
our th di vision takes the rest o f what I call
f
Division ( 4) and also Division O n exam i n
ing photographs of English criminals through ,
the kindness of the Head of the Identification

O ffice in Scotland Yard it could be seen that ,
:
the French system continued to hold good f or

criminals of another nation in a marked ,
absence of the part I call Division ( 1 ) and a

very rare appearance of the place where I
S HAPE AN D P RO P O R T I O N 1 5
put Divi sion The non criminal cl asses-
appear to have more full y developed ears

than the criminal since a l ar ger number of
,
di visions is requi red to c l assif y them The .
co nverse nevertheless is not tru e i e all ears ,

. .
with a simpl e hel i x do not indicate criminal s ,
()
2
( 1)
Anti h
-
o n e
C
5)
Fi g 1 .
PINNA
al though crimin al s have a comparativel y simple

he lix .
The Divis ions of the Hel i x (Fi g 1 )

Five .
1 ) Is Often s hort and generall y stra ight .
( )
2 Is about twice the leng t h o f
( )
3 Is the shortest o f all .
( )
4 Is as l ong or l onger th a n
( )
5 I s about the same length as
M ore than Five Divis ions have not been

found e xcept as a modi fication of some one or
,
1 6 THE H U MA N EAR
other division The he li x may be j agged or

.
knotted so as to distract the beginner with

,
the fear that di visions may lurk for him

without end though the practised observer
,
will find that the j ags and knots keep in

their divisions with an irregular regularity
and belong to them Sometimes the heli x .
will have a deep perpendicular indent in

Division though hardly ever in the other
divisions At times the rim is absent in
.
whole or in part as if it had been snipped off

,
if the ear is narrow or as if it had been

,
flattened out if the ear i s wide The p i nna .

,
or whole outer ear is flat to the head in the

,
accepted canons o f beauty Every kind o f .
sticking out o r curving over assists in id entifi

-
cation .
The law o f the shape and proportion o f the

different parts of the outer ear may now be
stated The length of the p i nna from the
.
t op o f the ear to the bottom o f the lobe will

be found to be the same length as the nose ,
measured from the top where it j oins the ,
forehead e xactly between the eyebrows to ,
the bottom where the inner wall d ividing

,
the nostrils meets the upper lip This is .

1 8 THE H U MAN EA R
the tr a g us and the a nti txag us A medium

-
.
sized oval ear should be chosen from which to

’
make the measurements As a rule men s
.
,
ears are about a quarter of an inch longer and

’
broader than a woman s O n placing the.
squares on any ear print and e xamining where

-
the parts fit in the proportion of the F i ve

,
Divisions of the he lix and the way in which

they run into one another can be perceived .
We first observe how much of e ach square is

taken up by the h elix and whether the top of
,
the ear is straight or curved and how far it ,
may chance to be curved in proportion to the

whole length The way in which the ear
.
slopes off at Division ( 3) will catch the eye ,
and also how far back the p i nna goes in that

direction and whether or not it has a square
,
corner at that part The size o f the hollow

.
o f the ear wil l then be distinctly apparent .
This is a part of the ear that is rarely dra

correctly ; it is generally made too small or
too narrow or it is squeezed i nto the part
,
’
ne xt to the ch eek in order to make the ear
,
appear unnaturally small This is done even .
in woodcuts from photographs unl ess e xtreme ,
a ccuracy is a imed at for scientific purposes .

S H A P E A N D P RO P O R T I O N 1 9
By the above simple e xpedient its siz e and ,
proportion to the whole c ar is readily seen and

easily drawn As the p i nna is shaped for the
.
purpose o f reflecting waves of sound into its

orifi ce the shape and the size of the holl ow of
,
the ear are of di stinct importance It is as .
necessar y for fidelity of identification that the

Openin g should no t be drawn in the wrong
p art o f the ear as that in s k etchin g a face the
,
mouth sho ul d no t be drawn in the middle of

the nose We could not properly recognise a
.
face so disarranged nor can we fully identify

,
an ear when the hollow is wrongly placed i n

the drawing .
The use of a medium sized ear by which -
to draw the squares will also serve to s ho w

,
h o w much larger or smaller e xceptional ears

may be O ur eyes are so l ittl e trained to
.
gauge the S iz e of the ear that no one can be

sure of it at a first glance and on account of ,
the accepte d contraction of sketched ears the ,
te l l ta le ear pri nt is hailed as im possibly large

- -
.
Very small ears have been considered a S ign

of good famil y but thi s is indeed a baseless
,
superstition Men and women al ike have ea rs

.
that match their noses and whenever they ,

20 T HE H U MAN EAR
pride themselves on having the large nose ,
also considered a sign of good family they ,
must be content to take the desired smallness

of their ears on trust for a moment of
,
measurement will dispel the illusion That .
small ears are to be found among members

of ol d families is due to those members not
happening to have e xtra large noses and not ,
to the fact o f their pe di gree Ears that are

.
small and beautifully modelled are found in

every rank o f life They are always in
.
company with short noses measured in the

,
way described If the tip of the nose should

.
s lant downwards over the lip the nose will ,
appear to be larger than the above proportion ,
and this will cause the ear to look smaller ;

but by careful measurement it will always be
found that the nose is short from the top
between the eyebrows to the j oining at th e
upper lip and is of the same length as the
,
small ear . W here the ear appears to be

enormous in comparison to the nose the ,
same measurement will prove this to be an

illusion depending again o n the shape o f the
,
’
tip of the no se which often in such a case

,
takes a turn upwards that disguises the true

S HAPE AN D P RO P O R T I O N 2 1
length of the nose from the forehead to the

upper lip Where there is a real difference
.
,
this is caused by more or less deformity o f the

p i nn a or o f the nose and the identification is
,
still more completely simplified It must also .
be remembered that the ear whilst retaining ,
the same shape enl arges slightly in later life

, ,
and in that case e xceeds the proportion

allotted .
There is generally a gentl e slope back

wards o f the whole ear in its position o n the
side of the head shown by drawin g a lin e
,
through the centre of the top of the p i nna to

th e centre of the lobe This as a rule is seen
.
, ,
to be parallel to the slope of the nose from its ,
to p where it j oins the forehead to its tip in

the air when the nose is ful ly grown —a
,
process by the way that takes about twenty

, ,
fiv e years Later on the nose alters very

.
much but as the ear remains the same the

, ,
original slope of the nose can always be taken

from it . This helps much in identifying
early photographs o f the same face The .
same piece of glas s with upright squares can

be used with sloping ears ; it is only necessary
to place the t op of the centre line upon the
2 2 THE H U MAN EAR
middle of the top o f the ear and the bottom

,
of the centre line upon the middle of the lobe .
Al l the rest of the ear then falls into place as

before In taking ear prints the slip of paper
-
—s ix inches long by t w o inches wide—is

.
,
placed slanting along a slanting ear so that ,
the ear print appears to be upright when

-
finis hed and can be still more easily measured

,
o n the square marked glass

-
.
The o utline of the heli x or ri m from ,
Division ( 4) down al ong Division follows

the shape Of the outline of the j aw while the ,
size of the l obe tallies in proportion with

the size Of the chin as seen in profil e This .
concurrence o f form is so remarkably persistent

that any discrepancy of outline at once points
to deformity either of the p inna or o f the
j awbone It is not easy to note this where
.
the cheek and chin are plump and well

covered or where a f ull heard is worn This
, .
part o f the outline of the ear therefore gives

useful information as to identification where a
beard has been added either by nature or by
art for purposes of disguise .
The upper half of the ear is sometimes

almost square from the flatness of the top
S HAPE AND P RO P O R T I O N 2 3
and the e xtension of the p i nna back w ards .
Sometimes also the lower half o f the ear is

almost square from the widening o f the
,
“ ”
hollow and the setting back o f the a nti -
tr ag us further away from the cheek These .
square forms are common enough one at a

time more often in the lower half but it is so
, ,
rare to find both the upper and the lower

half of an ear squared in this way that for ,
mere identification the combination is inval u

able .
The perfect form of ear with respect to art

and beauty would seem to be of an oval shape ,
gently curved at the top and sloping off below

to a well rounded lobe with a delicately
-
curved rim embodying Divisions and

which should all be slightly bulged at the
inner edge and tapered at each end This .
is the type that artists and sculptors choose

in their happiest moments of selection It .
belongs both to men and women and it is of ,
”
the kind that poets rave about as shell like -
,
th ough anything more unlike a re al shell can

not be imagined There is however a tiny
.
, , ,
flat and very yellow brown shell actually

,
-
“ “ ” ”
called the ear shel l or s ea ear from a
- -
,
24 THE H U MA N E AR
certain monstrous resemblance it possesses to

the human ear ( Fig .
There is even a trace of the Five Divisions

o f the he li x . D ivision ( 2 ) runs right into
Division and the lobe

appears to be turned back
wards up on to the top of
the place where the a nti
txa g us should be This is
.
not an ear to be coveted

as a beauty " The d epres
sion and the obverted lobe
F 'g s
'
are white and there is o f

,
course no hollow nor any interior at al l

( A u xis m a r ina a genus of shell fi sh
,
-
It is a .
section of G asteropods H a li otid x called ear

, ,
”
shells or sea ears -
. See Ch am b ers s Cy c lo ’
p a di a and the P e nn
y yC c l o
p e di a
) The. per
feet form of ear with regard to science is ,
shown by its possession of all the F ive

Divisions Al l five must be well developed
.
and distinct and the slope o f the ear at

,
Division ( 4) should not be great whilst ,
Division ( 5 ) should be rather smaller and

narrower than Division There should be
a tendency to squareness in the upper h al f ,
shown that the upper part of the left ear and

the lower part o f the right ear were chiefly
distinctive for purposes of identification Th e .
converse here appears to hold viz that when , .
the top o f the left ear and the bottom of

the right ear are in no way remarkable the ,
owner is not likely to be a notability in art ,
science or literature Why this should happen

, .
is beyond the scope of this work and deals

rather with the science of biology than with
that of anthropology It does not follow that .
they may not be noted in some other walk of

life In this we are anticipating the purely
.
physiognomical part of the study of the ear ,
which must be considered later on .
PERCENTAC ES or D I VI SI O N S OF TH E H ELIX
IN 1 0 0 EARs .
( As betw een th e ea r s .
)
Absen t . h k
T ic .
v
Di i si o n 1) 2 m ore 5 m ore 7 l e ss
v
Di i sio n 8 l ess 8 m ore e qual
v
D i i sio n 8 l ess l
4 ess 1 2 m ore
v
D i i si o n 7 l ess 1 more 6 more
Di vi si o n (5 1 l ess l
1 ess 2 m ore
Mor e or l ess i n the ri g ht ear than i n the left ear .

C H A P TE R I II
L
C ASS IFI CAT I ON OF E ARS
CLA SS IFI CA T I ON of ears becomes possible whe n

they are sorted under the F ive Divisions of
the hel i x both sin gly and taken in groups of
,
divi sions The piece of glass with eight

.
squares drawn on it must b e laid over the

nature print or life size photograph
- -
.
Th e ears should first be sorted by size i nto

three heaps — I Large ; II M edi um ; 1 11
. . .
Small .
Again applying the squares to these three

heaps in succession we must sort each heap
,
separate ly under the F ive Divi sions and their

combined forms in the following order :
The F ive Divisions (separate and com
bine d ) :
( 2 , 3,
( 3, ( ,
3,
4 ( ,
4 ( 1 ,
2 , 3,
4 ,
This table presents fourteen headings of ,
which very few will occur oftener than one

per cent .
Each o f these headings requires a further

subdivision into five forms
I B ulged
. .
II Thick or long
.
,
.
I II Very smal l or thin

.
, .
IV Absent
. .
V Peculiar
. .
In using this clas sification we first look to

s e e which division is the most bulged because ,
the bulging form is the most distinctive o f the

F ive Divisions of the he li x Should none be .
bulged we take the longest division f or

,
reference Perhaps they are all distinct and

.
all the same length in that case the ear will

“ ”
go under the subdivision Peculiar of the
last heading It is not likely that any ear
.
will be found of this nature though once in ,
the world it may have existed .
If two divisions are bulged the ear will ,
go under one of the headings above according ,
to which two divisions have coalesced and the ,
same method is used for noting down three or

four bulged divisions When all Five Divisions.
C LAS S I F I CA T I O N O F E A RS 2 9
run into one another without a break it is ,
caused by a solidly thick rim al l the way round

the ear and then the rim is generally of an
,
even thickness and not b ulged This ear .
“ ”
would go under the subdi vision Thick of ,
the fo urteenth or last heading More com

, , .
mon though no t frequent are the four di visions

, ,
running together from the middle of the top

o f the ear down to the lobe In that case
.
D ivision ( 1 ) will usually be small and Division ,
( )
2 w ill be pulled partly o u t of place towards
Di vision making the to p of the ear some

what peaked wh ere Division ( 2 ) begins This .
kin d o f ear is generall y thi ck all along the rim

from the pe ak at the top and in that case it ,
”
would go under the subdivision Thick of
the heading ( 2 3 4 5 ) but should an y part
, , ,
o f the he li x be bulged enough to S how itself
apart the whole ear must be put under the

,
“ ”
subdivision Bulged of the tenth heading ,
e g
. . Divisions ( tenth heading) Sub di vision ,
1 Here ( 4 ) means that the he lix is bulged

at D ivision
Perhaps Division ( 2 ) and Division ( 3) are
( )
11 together and also Division 4 and D ivision
,
O bserve which coal ition is the largest ,

30 THE H U MAN EAR
and place the ear under that one Should any .
o ne o f the F ive D ivisions be distinctly marked
and bulged it claims the whole ear even if

, ,
there are one or two others run together and

also bulged I have arranged the fourteen
.
headings in their order of precedence finding ,
by e xperience that this particular arrangement

answers best for purposes of cl assification and
o f reference for identification .
It would be a great advantage if right and

left ear prints were kept for reference in
-
separate cabinets They diff er s o greatly that

.
they cannot be kept in pairs and must in any,
case go under different headings and sub

divisions .
There are some other important marks for

identification but they are not in sufficient
,
numbers to form a basis of classification like

the helix Such for instance is the shape o f
.
, ,
the p i nna at the t op side and lobe These

, ,
.
shapes are partly accounted for under the

preliminary heaps of Large M edium and , ,
Small . F or large ears are generally long ,
medium ears are often oval and small c ars are

,
somewhat round Squared tops are seldom

.
found e xcept amongst large ears The squar ed .

C LAS S I F I CA T I O N O F E A RS 31
lo w er hal f makes a large ear o f what would

other w ise be of medium size or it turns a
,
small ear into a medium ear Really smal l

.
ears are nearly alwa y s rounded off or are very

narrow It is e xtraordinarily rare to find a
.
small c ar that has the square shape both at

top and below and indeed it is very u nusual
,
to find thi s kind of square form both above

and bel ow in any ear even in the large ones
,
The place of the a nti txa g us chiefly causes

-
the shape of the lower half of the ear It .
varies so much in outline that it is used as a

basis of classification under the French system ,
but it requires an e xpert in co nstant practice

to measure it quickly by the eye even s uffi
,
c i entl y to compare it with a photograph .
N othing short of a photograph can give it

accurately though ear prints appro ximate
,
-
fairly well to its shape where the part s are

firm enough to i mpress themsel ves on the
paper Th e hollow which it outlines naturally
.
confuses the eye in computing the size and ,
shape and position o f the a n ti txa g us in

,
-
respect to the tr a g a s when j udged from the

,
livin g ear .
Another val uab l e point is the kno t in the

32 T HE H U MAN EAR
rim Sometimes it occurs two or three times

.
in the same rim in different divisions or in

the same division It should be indicated on
.
the ear print by an arrow

-
.
O ccasionally an i nd ent is formed in the face

o f the he li x as already mentioned or on the
, ,
back of the rim These indents should be

.
noted on the margin o f the ear print -

.
When ears stick very much out or forward

it is difficult t o take a nature print and the -
,
fact must be mentioned to explain the peculiar

thickened or foreshortened appearance of the
ear print
-
.
The advantage of ear prints is the ease with -
which they can be collected collated and , ,
preserved Being done with printing ink they

.
-
resemble finel y drawn woodcuts and their

-
,
relative sizes can be compared at a glance .
Classification becomes at last possible and the ,
ear can be described in writing or telegraphy

in reference to each square and the parts of the
ear that appear in each F or this reason I .
have numbered the eight squares in pairs

( s ee F i
g 2
. chap ii p,
S
.
q u a r e 1 is always
. .
where Division ( 1 ) should be found S qu at/re 2 .
is the second top one and all the uneven ,

34 THE H U MAN E AR
Di v . Sub div 1 . . Top of Div . Sub

div I . .
Sq . 3 . Top of wide c onc ha , and base of
Div .
Sq 4 . . D iv . e xcept top and end Sub ,
div . 1 .
Sq . 5 . Tr a g u s , deep narrow i nl et p oi n t
,
of a nt i -
tr a g u s .
Sq 6 . . End of Div . S ubdi v I . .

—To p
of Div S ubdiv I —
. Anti tr ag u s . .
-
nearly
level scooped back squarely
,
.
Sq 7 L obe long thick rounded three

. .
, , ,
quarters .
S q 8 End of Div
. S ub div I
. . . .
"uarter o f lobe .
F rom this description the ear could be

ske tched in numbered squares whilst it was
being read out The description can be tele .
graphed telephoned or printed An eye

, , .
trained like that of the artist the doctor or , ,
the physiognomist is required to j udge of the

ear with reference to its cl assification as well
as to i ts identification F or as in the other .
features of the face an acute observer will at

once note di fferences in their placing in differ
ent faces so in the same way the F ive ,
C LAS S I F I CA T I O N OF E A RS 35
Divisions are fitted in to the he li x diff erently

in each person A few notes as to the appear
.
ance and probable varieties of form may be of

use
Division ( 1 ) is often o f so S lightly defined
”
a form that it counts as absent In this .
case it does not mean strictly the same as in

the others Of the F ive Divisions f or being the ,
turn o f the ear directly after it springs out of

the c oncha and cheek there must al ways be
some rudimentary rising B ut the helix f re
.
quently does not begin there with any definite

folding over or at most with a very slight
, , ,
and slender one To have Division ( 1 )

.
“ ”
bul ged is not common either and the ,
”
knot is rarely found there When Divis i on .
( )
1 runs into Division ( )
2 it gives a thick
ending o f the top of the ear ne xt the cheek .
This will tilt up the top of the ear slightly in

the prick eared way for which Lavater was at
-
a loss to account as we S hall see later o n If

,
.
Division ( 1 ) runs into Division and

Division ( 2 ) also runs into Division the
res ul t is a thick straight line along the t op of
the ear from the neck of the ear where it
,
j oins the upper part of the cheek This is a .

36 THE H U MAN EAR
very unusual form and it can only be detected

,
by applying the squares by which the line ,
will be found to e xtend too far beyond the

position o f the end o f Division 2 ) in S q ua r e 2
to be counted as anything but as ending in
Division which is al so in S q ua r e 2 .
O wing to the positions of the places o f

Division ( 4 ) and Division ( 5 ) in the heli x there
can be no further running together of the
upper and side divisions unless the ear is ,
totally deformed or unless the whole rim is

,
o ne compact thick curved mass from begin

, , ,
ning to end .
When Division ( 2 ) and Division ( 3) are

run together this gives a thickness at the
outer curve at the top of the ear tilting the ,
ear upwards towards the end of the to p ne xt

the cheek This form must not be confused
.
with what is caused by a large kind of

D ivision By laying the squares on the
ear print we can see w hether the form is
-
Divisions ( 2 3) o r only D ivision

,
In the
latter case it means that D ivision ( 3) is
unusually large and it will be found that
,
D ivision ( 2 ) has in consequence been pushed

out of its place in the centre of the top an d
lies over towards the place wh ere D ivision ( 1 )

should end At the same time Division ( 1 )
.
”
is usually absent altogether .
We find that D ivision ( 3) is very Often

“ ”
absent and it is indistinguishable in form
,
though not in pl ace —when Division ( 2 ) and

Division (4 ) are run together when it can only
,
be known as a connecting centre by the fact

that there is no indent at al l to hint at a
separation between Division ( 2 ) and Division
”
For when D ivision ( 3) is really absent ,
that is when D ivision ( 2 ) and D ivision ( 4 )

,
are run together without any tapering th ere ,
is a S light nick or a tiny indent to show where

D ivision ( 2 ) ends and D ivision ( 4 ) begins .
This is sometimes the shape of the he li x ,
w h en there is a tendency to squareness of the

upper half of the ear — a S hape of ear admired
,
by Lavater and S pecially desired by the early

o t om or h ol o i sts It is noticeable that it is
p g .
the absence of one of the F ive D ivisions that

gives this coveted form .
Another difficult form to anal yse is wh en

Division ( 2 ) is present in its full force and a ,
curve at the bend of the ear in S qu a r e 2 ,
down into S q ua r e 4 seems to indicate that

,
D ivi sion ( 3)is run into Division It is

often found on examining the shape o f Division
,
that this first appearance i s deceptive and ,
“ ”
that D i v ision ( 3) is really absent but that ,
Division ( 4 ) has been pushed a little too high

in the heli x in order to leave room for a l ong er
taperi ng than usual towards D ivision We
may compare this displacement of D ivision
”
( )
4 to the high cheek bones
-
in a face which ,
are not called any other name although they

,
are not in the usual place In the same way

.
“ ”
we may call this Division ( 4 ) high .
D ivision (4 ) is the longest in a norm al

ear Experience shows however that a normal
.
, ,
ear is as uncommon as statistics usually prove

a normal form of anything to be And Division.
( )
4 is often shor t ened to m ake room for a large
D ivision or it is pushed up w ards to allow
a small ear to be delicately formed with ,
tapering ends of Division ( 4 ) both upwards

towards Division ( 2 ) and down w ards towards
Division These tapering ends add much
to the beauty o f an ear but they take up room
,
and push the divisions a little out of place .
Division ( 1 ) and D i v ision ( 3) are Often

absent in this kind of ear O ne very .
pecul iar fact is that Division ( 4 ) is often

l arger in the right ear than in the left so that ,
the left ear is the favourite one for por traying ,
because it is more delicately shaped .
Usually the running together o f divisions

takes place with the group of Divisions
( 2
, 3 , beginning where the midd l e o f
Di v is ion ( 2 ) should be and endi ng where the
,
middle o f D ivision ( 4 ) should be shortening ,
both of them in the process and absorbing

D ivision ( 3) to strengthen the union Some .
times Division ( 2 ) and Division ( 3) are folded

over together in their entire conj oined length ,
lea ving but li ttle space f or Division which

then being pushed out of place puts forth its
, ,
division half length or even quarter length

-
,
-
,
as if afrai d to take up too much space When .
D ivision ( 4) is long without being bul ged it ,
gives a firm straight outline to the p i nna and

,
a tendency to leave room for squareness of the

ear either in the upper or lower half or in
, ,
both halves Lavater has drawn the heli x

.
several times with this straight form .
Division ( 5 ) is the lowest ; it gets lost

towards the l obe and it is frequently fl at
,
tened out th ere It is often found to ru n up

.
40 THE H U MAN EAR
so high that it pushes Division ( 4 ) out O f

the way altogether and tapers o ff above the
,
middle of the ear This tapering will show

.
that Division ( 5 ) h as not absorbed D ivision

f or when Division ( 4 ) and Division ( 5 )
run together the tapering does not appear till
beyond Division high up near the to p of
the ear This running together o f Division
.
( )
4 and Division ( )
5 gives what is called a
“ ”
heavy ear a shape much adorned by ear
,
rings for which the lobe gains support by the

,
strength of Division
As al ready observed the a nti tr a g us when
,
-
,
well set back allows the orifice to be large

, ,
and thus the ear is squared at the base

without any perceptible size of Division
O n the other hand when the squareness is
,
formed by the large size of D ivision the

orifice is often narrow and the a nti tr a g us is
,
-
curved in a sudden slant upwards .
The l obe varies in size as we have seen , ,
according to the size of the chin in profil e .
There are all kinds of superstitions—ancient ,
yet still in e xistence—respecting the position

o f the lobe o f the ear whether it is detached
,
from the cheek or apparently sewn on without

4 2 THE H U MAN E AR
The cases where ne xt to no heli x is seen

will have to be ranged under the subdivision
”
absent . They must be tested by the eight
squares o n the glass to find which divisions
, ,
”
or whether all five are absent ,
The normal .
ear as seen through the squares should be

, ,
laid beside the ear to be described Th e .
effect of the comparison is at first rather

startling Each part of the new ear to be
.
compared seems t o S how o f its ow n accord

that it has or has not any or all of the Five
Divisions of the he li x This is what is meant
.
“ ”
by the phrase the divisions fall into place
, .
A simpler and less scientific method o f

comparing the divisions is to take a tracing of
either Fi g 1 or Fig 2 and lay it upon the
. .
,
ear print noting where they differ

-
,
.
As otology is a medi cal term f or the science

o f the ear we should prefer to use the new
,
word (suggested by Dr R G arnett ) otom or

. .
h olog g the science o f the shape of the ear

p , .
C H A P T E R IV
A R I ST O T L E AN D PLI N Y ON EA R S
FR O M the earliest times those ph ilosophers ,
who had a practical turn of mi n d s e t to work ,
t o catalogue the characteristics of man and to ,
try and fit in the outward manifestations with

the inward qualities They found it as dl ifi .
cul t to accomplish as any other study of

nature As usual they called in the aid o f
.
,
the stars and with the help of astrology they

,
drew wonderful pictures of faces and hands ,
not such as e xisted but such as they imagined

,
ought to e xist The ears alone refused to be

.
bro ught into line with these convenient if ,
impossible maps of character N either the

, .
sun moon nor planets turned the faintest

, ,
light upon the subj ect O ne has to gather .
from this omission that the astrologists must

have felt when they faced the stars and
,
tried to fathom their mysteries by the search

44 THE H U MAN EA R
ing eye (not wholly unassisted by the rudi

mentary telescope ) that the ears were useless
,
in the quest Therefore the ears w ere sup

.
posed to receive no notice from the heavenly

bodies in return f or keeping out of their way .
N ot to be bafll e d these ardent and often

,
very lear ned men found a new method of

accounting for the shapes O f ears They com .
pared human ears with the ears of animals ,
and showed great ingenuity in deducing

character in conformity with the di ff erent
shapes .
At the head o f all little as we should ,
e xpect it we find the name of Ar istotle He

,
.
is often referred to by later writers who appear ,
to have accepted the work on Phy si og nom y

v v o vuo v
(p ) ith complete
’ ’
r h s (D
or e o m d W
at r
faith It is no w classed among the supposi

.
”
t i ti o us works Whoever wrote it the interest
.
,
attaching to it is that the book was believed

to contain the greatest wisdom o n the subj ect
as known either at that period or when it was
forged for the date i s uncertain In its few

, .
pages there are onl y a few lines relating to

ears O f animals those of the panther are
.
,
mentioned as being round rather than flat .

A RI STOTLE AN D PLI NY 45
F urthermoreAristotle is made to s ay They

, ,
having the ears small are ape like but they ,

-
, ,
having them big are ass like Any one will ,

-
.
see at any rate that the best of dogs have

”
moderate ears VI Oi a . T
éxo vres W t dnxcfieo v

'
5 i i 8% pey a k a
'
0 7 a
p px a
'
, w C r
,
5 i vT i e ipid rms
’
23
0 1. ( Ic e 7 6 1 1/ ICU VK IW 7 0 29 c
'
'
ner pta ( 137 aThis e xtract is from a

volume at the Tay l orian Library O xford ,
.
In another still more ancient but fragm ent

ary copy of the same book at the British
M useum the following Latin version appears
“
D e Aur i bus Aures eminentes et valde .
magne stolid i tat es g arrul itate m et i m prud en

, ,
cias signant Aures vero par ve m al ig ni tati s

.
sunt indicia Aures nim ium rotunde homines

u sill ani m um sign ant I nd ocil e m e t d ol os um
p .
Aures j ac entes e t capiti adherentes pig ri ciam

”
signant Concer ni ng E a r s Ears sticking
. .
o ut and e x tremely large indicate stupidity ,
garrulity and imprudence (rashness ) Ears

, .
but indeed small are tokens of mal ice Ears .
to o much rounded in shape show men little o f

soul ignorant and crafty Ears lying close
, , .
”
to the head mean idlenes s )
The treatise on Chiromancy that went
46 THE H U MA N EA R
’
under Aristotle s name is now known t o be
forged nor does the treatise on Ph y siognomy
,
bear internal evidence of the wisdom we are

accustomed to associate with his nam e .
With Pl iny we get to the first attempt to

be scientific as well as popular on the subj ect
, ,
of ears In his N a tur a l H is tor y (s ee Bohn s

.
’
translation o f Pliny s N a tur a l H i s tor y ) con

’
“
taining twenty thousand matters o f i m
”
portance he begins by giving instances of
,
remarkable acuteness of hearing The noise .
o f the Battl e o f Sybaris for instance was , ,
heard at O lympia Cicero corrects this state

.
ment into the B attle of the River Sagras when ,
a hundred and thirty thousand men were

defeated by ten thousand Whether this .
disproportion made the noise so great and ,
which side shouted the loudest we are not ,
told But that cannon can be heard two

.
hundred miles away is stated in Evelyn s ’
D i a ry when he says he heard the gu ns when

,
our fleet engaged the D utch at that distance

from England H e was in hi s gar den at Say s
.
’
Court Deptford
,
.
Pliny delights in the marvellous and he ,
“
ne xt refers to animals which hear w ithout
A RI STOTL E AND PLI NY 47
”
ears or apertures He then proceeds
to m ix what he considers to be fact with
graceful philosophising M an is the only
animal the ears of which are immovable It .
is from the natural fl acc i di ty of the ear that

the surname of Fl ac c us is derived There is .
no part o f the body that creates a more

enormous e xpense for our women in the pearls
which are suspended from them In the East .
,
t o o it is th ought highly becoming f or the men

,
”
even to wear gold rings in their ears .
In considering the parts of the human body

to which certain relig ious ideas are attached
( Bk XI. ch
. he says
. : The seat of the
memory lies in the lower part of the ear which ,
we touch when we summon a witness to depose

”
upon memory to an arrest The goddess o f
.
Retribution Nemesis herself has at last found

, ,
a h ome as the following passage shows

,
The seat too of N emesis lies behin d the

, ,
right ear a goddess which has never yet found

,
a Latin name—no not in the Capitol even It

,
.
is to this part that we apply the fi nger ne xt

the l ittl e finger after touching the mouth w ith
,
it when we S ilently ask pardon of the gods for

,
”
having let slip an in d iscreet word Perhaps
43 THE H U MAN EA R
the modern form of bo xing the ear h as its

origin in a forgotten attempt to propitiate the
pagan divinities.
“
Aristotle owing to the
”
,
supposititious
work attributed to him is not let o ff without
,
blame by the painstaking Pliny who observes ,
with a quaint dignity but without any thought

,
of critical doubt of the authorship o f this

“
ridiculous fragment I am greatly surprised
,
that Aristotle has no t only believed but has ,
even committed to writing that there are in

,
the human body certain prognostics of the

duration of life Al though I am quite con
.
vinced o f the utter futility of these remarks ,
and am of opinion that they ought not to be

published without hesitatio n for fear lest each
,
person might be an xiously looking out for

these prognostics in his ow n person I shall ,
still make some slight mention o f the subj ect ,
seeing that s o learned a man as Aristotle did

”
not treat it with contempt He inserts the
.
list o f which the only point o f interest in

,
these pages i s that it ends with the words

”
“
and large ears .H e remarks that Trog us ,
whom he considers one of the very gravest o f

“
the Roman authors says : Largeness of the
,
50 T HE H U MAN EAR
d ifference between the ears which is done in ,
the modern allite rative and poetic version

”
Left for love and right f or spite ; thi s is
,
contradicted by the prose form Right for '
”
well speaking left for reverse which leaves
-
, ,
us e xactly where Pliny left us M odern .
science unromantically attributes tingling of

the ears to action of the liver .
Amongst remedies for diseases those for ,
aff ections o f the ear were possibly the most

far fetched and perhaps fortunately were
-
, , ,
difficult to obtain at any time Pliny devotes .
great attention to the matter Here are a few .
of the recipes
“
Pains and diseases of the ears are cured
by using the gall of a wil d boar swine , ,
or o x mi x ed with castor oil and O il of roses

,
in equal proportions But the best remedy .
’
o f all is bull s gall warmed with leek j uice
,
-
,
”
o r with honey if there is any suppuration
v
,
( Bk xx. m ch . .
He does not discriminate between the

diff erent ki nds of pain or disease ; it is as
much as he can do to refer to deafness as an
occasion al symptom .
“
Some persons are of opinion that it is a
A RI STOT L E AND PLI NY 51
good plan to wash the ears with ( another )

preparation in cases where the hearing is
affected ; whil e others again after washin g
,
the ears with warm water insert a mixtur e

,
composed of the ol d slough of a serpent and

vinegar wrapped up in a dossil of wool In
,
.
cas es however where the deafness is very

, ,
considerable g al l warmed in a pomegranate

,
rind with myrrh and rue is inj ected into the

,
ears ; sometimes also fat bacon is used for thi s

purpose ,
in all cases however the i n
, ,
re di ents should be warmed care bein g

g
taken to warm the ears before the application ,
”
and all the remedies being wrapped in wool ,
e xcept of course the inj ections .
P l iny seems fascinated by the subj ect and ,
pursues the remedies with more z eal than

dis cretion App arentl y some doctors were
.
afr ai d of applying a cure to the diseased

ear itself f or the following curious mixture is
,
to be inj ected into the other ear the one that,
is not diseased .
“
Centipedes boiled with leek j uice in a -
po megranate rind — i t is highl y e fficacious ,
the y say f or pains in the ears ; oil of roses

,
being ad d ed to the preparatio n and the ,

52 THE H U MAN EA R
mixture inj ected in to the ear opposite to the

”
o ne a ffected .
Possibly an e xcellent recipe for producing

counter irri ta tion but also giving the patient
-
,
a good chance o f losing the hearing of bo th

his ears .
“
Edible sn ails with a small broad shell ,
are employed with honey as a liniment f or

“ ”
fractur ed ears F urthermore . the thi ck ,
’
pulp of a spider s body mi xed with Oil o f ,
roses is also used for the ears ; or else the

,
pulp applied by itself with saffron or in wool

a cricket too is dug up w ith some of its ear th
, ,
”
and applied ( Bk XX I X ch xxx) . . . .
Pliny does not altogether approve of all

the recipes especially when frogs edible
, ,
’
snails pulped spiders bodies and beetles are
, ,
used . He thinks some beetle remedies are

“ ”
quite disgusting even to hear o f with , ,
“ ”
which we agree Yet they are used
. he ,
adds nai vely such unl imited power has the

, ,
medical art to prescribe as a remedy whatever

”
it thi nk s fit G entler remedies suggestive
.
,
rather of magic than of medicine close his ,
e xhaustive treatment o f the subj ect Such .
are the following

A RI S TOT L E A N D P L I N Y 53
“
H oney too in which bees have died is
, , ,
”
remarkably useful for affections of the ears ,
or wearing a cricket attached to the body as

”
an amulet .
“
( Bk XXX
. II ch . Wool
. too that , ,
has been dyed wi th the j uice of the mure x ,
empl oyed by itself is highly useful for this

,
purpose ; some persons however moisten it , ,
“ ”
with vinegar and nitre The fat of frogs
.
,
inj ected into the ears instant ly removes all

,
pains in these organs The j uice of river

.
crabs kneaded up with barley meal is a most

,
-
,
”
effectual remedy f or wounds in the ears .
N o wonder that votive o ff erings in the

shape of ears for recovery from deafness are
not Often found among Roman remains O ne .
at the Bristol M useum and two in the Pitt ,
Rivers collection at the University M useum of

Ox ford have come down to us e xcellently
, ,
modelled in terra cotta O therwise we could

-
.
hardly have believed that any ear even one ,
belonging to the conquering race of the world ,
could have been able to survive the me di cal

treatment of that period .
C HAP TER V
M E D I E VAL W R I T ER S ON E AR S
TH E industrious writers in former times drew

up long tables of shapes of ears and the
qu alities they imagined went with them .
After comparing these tables with one an

other we are forced to believe that they
,
indicate rather the character of the writers

than that o f any one else S ome lean to
.
clemency others to severity

,
The quali ties.
are mixed up and are frequently contra

di c t ory and where the writers are found to
,
agree it is unfortunately not from personal

,
’
observation but from following one another s
treatises The satisfaction of being sure that
.
a treatise was inv al uable often fell to the lot

o f the medi aeval writers and it did not upset
,
their conviction when they were forced to

amend any statement The lesser writers
.
evidently copied originals and emendations

M E D I /E VA L W R I T E RS 55
straight on amassing co ntradictions as if they

,
were heaping up treasure . Still the earl y

writers have their u se in showing that ears
were at least as varied in shape and of
probably the same general shapes as at the
present day This is indicated more by their
.
epithets than by their draw ings but we have

no accurate shape drawn nor meas urement of
,
si z e given
.
In this chapter wi l l be found the names of

the principal earl y writers on ears with the ,
e xception of the three most important who ,
will require to be treated at ful l length in a

separate chapter late r on F or the most part
.
they wrote o n Physiognomy and included a ,
few lines on the subj ect of ears They were .
frequently theol ogians and men of science ,
and were evidently careful observers as far as

their powers went but they could not photo
,
graph of course nor even draw correctly and

, ,
the y were hampered by the credulous trust in

“ ”
the virtues of similarit y . This took root
like a weed amongst them and overran the
,
science of the M iddle Ages Some physicians

.
thought that anythi ng that outwardly r e

sembl ed a disease w oul d k il l the patient ,
56 THE H U MAN EAR
others th at it would cure him

,
Phy siog .
nom i sts were convinced that if they could
detect a likeness to any animal in any part

’
of a man s face that man must possess the ,
qual ities o f that animal They seemed to .
think each kind of animal was a bundle of

wel l d efined qualities suitable for parcelling
-
,
out amongst men as shown by the philo ,
sophers and not disdained by the poets

,
.
F ert ur Pr om et h eus add e e p i ncipir r
Lim o c oa ct us a rt i cul am u ndi q ue

p
D ese ctam, et i n sani l eoni s
Vi m stomacho apposui sse n ostr o .
H or Car in . . I x vi
. .
N owadays animals are supposed to be like

men which is the reverse
,
of the old super
s t it i o n.
Porphyry the philosopher pupil of P lo

, ,
tinus (d 30 6 is quoted by the medi aeval

.
authorities .
Averro es the Arabian physician and philo

'
sopher ( d H e translated Aristotle

.
from the Greek into Arabic before the Jews

made their version H e is less known among .
his own nation than among Christians .
The celebrated Albertus M agnus ( 1 1 9 3

him to visit Rome where he became master

,
o f the sacred palace and combined his duties

,
w ith lectures o n divinity Al bertus M agnus .
was a very little man and the Pope thought ,
he was still kneeling when he had g ot up

again After returning to Germany he retired
.
to his cell at Cologne and was then ordered ,
by the Pope to preach the Crusade thr ough all

G ermany and Bohemia In 1 2 7 4 he was the .
Emperor s ambassador at the Council of Lyons

’
and again retreated to Cologne until his death ,
at the age of eighty seven -

.
Pietro d Abano ( 1 2 5 0
’
He w as an
Italian physician and also an alchemist He .
“ ”
is generally referred to as Conciliator the ,
name being a short reference to the full title of

o n e of his books Conc i li a tor D ifler enti a r u m
,
Phi l osoPhor u/m e t Med i c oru m He studied .
Greek medicine and mathematics and went

, , ,
to Paris Recalled to Padua he was made

.
,
professor of medicine and became so cele ,
brat ed as a doctor that many fables were told

of him Being enthusiastic about astrol ogy
.
,
he caused over four hundred astrological figures

to be painted on the ceiling of the public hall
at Padua These were destroyed by fire the
.
M E D IZE VA L W R I T E RS 59
ne xt century and were repainted b y G iotto

,
.
”
Conciliator w as twice accused of h eresy in ,
a somewhat contradictory man ner for some ,
upbraided him for not bel ieving in demo ns ,
while others attributed his e xtraordinary

knowl edge to seven famil iar spirits which he
”
kept in a bottl e He w as saved from penal
.
ties by his friends the first time and the ,
second ti me he was accused he died before he

w as co ndemned Th e Inquisition wished to
.
burn his dead bod y but the Paduans per ,
s ua d e d them to do this in e ffi gy instead He .
wrote many books of which a dozen were ,
often reprinted including works on Phy si og

,
n om y As trology F evers etc

, ,
He is sometimes ,
.
called Pi etr us de P adua .
Bartolomeo Cocles w h o lived in the ,
fifteenth century wrote on occu l t arts both

,
under his ow n name an d the pseudonym of

Andrea Co rvo which caused much confusion
, ,
as the names were l ong supposed to refer to

two di ff erent people He was renowned for .
his knowledge o f physiognom y and he al so ,
studied grammar medicine surgery mathe , , ,
m atic s astrology and chiromancy a frequent

, , ,
course with the l earned men of that period .

60 T HE H U MAN E AR
Jean Tai sni er a Bel gian ( d about

, .
He had a great love o f travel and of l earning .
After entering orders he became tutor to the

pages of Charles V with whom he went on.
,
the e xpedition to Tunis He travelled much .
in Europe and even in Asia teaching in the

, ,
academies of Rome F errara Bologna Padua

, , , ,
and Palermo Finally he retired to Cologne

.
,
where he served in the chapel of the arch

bishop He was e xtremely proud and vain of
.
his knowledge and o f his travels but he was ,
not above t ak ing to plagiarism wholesale on

the subj ects of astrology physiognomy etc , , ,
by which he Obtained a great reputation since ,
refuted by comparison of his writings to the

e xtant works o f others .
The well known theologian Indagine (fl our

-
i sh ed 1 5 2 2 ) was a G erman who had Latinised

his name Johannes vo n Hagen O f good .
descent he lived in his youth at various

,
courts and though an ecclesiastic he was not

, ,
a monk He Obtained a living near Hanau

.
,
where he lived for nearly fifty years H aving .
been sent as envoy to the Pope he wrote ,
against the evil s o f the Church as he saw

them at Rome In spite of his learning and
.
M E D IZE VA L W R I T E RS 61
piety he was given to astrology which was ,
rampant in Italy F rance and G ermany in the

, ,
sixtee nth century H e also wrote on phy si og

.
no my and gave his portrait in his book

,
.
Jean B elot ( end of sixteenth century )

devoted himself to books of occult sciences .
He was cur e of M il M onts and wrote in ,
F rench on his favourite subj ects which in ,
c l iI d e d physiogn omy The peculiar turn Of

.
his mind is shown b y his book in which he ,
tries to S how that by the aid o f some prayers

”
composed of magic words one could l earn all ,
sciences He does not seem to have risen into

.
high distinction nor to have been as learned

,
“ ”
as the others in spite of his magic words
,
.
H onoratu s Ni q u e ti us or Ni cq ue t a French ,
man ( 1 5 85 was a Jesuit professor of

rhetoric and philosophy At o ne time he was .
Censor o f Books at Rome Then he became .
head of several Jesuit colleges in France and ,
he established a society for aiding the sick and

poor at Rouen He wrote lives of saints and
.
,
a book on Physiognomy in which h e quotes ,
oth er writers Ni cq uet thought a ur es ears

.
, ,
came from ha ur i o I drink because we drink

, ,
the words with our ears ( haurim us e nim auri

bus voces ) Whether this was genuine phil o

.
logy or not Nicq uet must have known

,
Horace s original use of the same idea

’
sed ma gi s
Pugnas e t exac tos ty rannos
D ens um um eri s bibi t aure volguS .
H or Carm II
. . . xiii . 30 .
Ni c q uet
has a weakness for what he con
siders to be reasons for his facts both reasons ,
and facts being somewhat after the foll owing

“
fashion : Those who have small c ars are
clever the reason being that the ears lack size
,
owing to excess of heat and dryness from ,
”
which subtle spirits are made He accepts .
the ancient d i c tum that large ears mean long

li fe even quoting Pliny as an authority —w h o
,
himsel f had bl amed Aristotle for this supposed

opinion —and going a little further on in the
mazes of absurdity by giving the reasons .
“
This means there is the best proportion
between heat and damp whence longevity ,
arises S ome with great ears are very melan

.
ch ol for it means coldness and dr yness and

y , ,
this brings timidity like asses and hares and ,
l ong eared anim al s

-
But they have a good .
memory This must be understood as

.
M E D I /E VA L W R I T E RS 63
relating to retaining well what has been taken

in with difficul ty for what i s once marked on ,
what is dry is with difficulty removed and

, ,
dryness of the brain is indicated by large

”
ears He is al so certain that l arge ears are
.
“
quick at hearing because they gather in ,
so much air Again he refers to prick eared

.
,
-
animals being quick to hear .
Pom poni us G auricus ( 1 4 82 wrote

on the human figure in relation to the art of
sculpture hence he took an interest in the
,
shape of ears He probably went to old.
authorities but he does not agree with N ique

,
tius as to size for he says The square ear of

, ,
”
moderate size is especiall y quick in hearing
,
.
He is the o nl y man who has a kind word f or

proj ecting ears and says they S how docil ity
, ,
”
gentl eness benevol ence
, .
Gi ov anni ’I n e neri Bishop of Capo d I st ri a

’
g g ,
(fl . said large ears give loquacity and

“
long life because they show the blood is
,
thick with very earthy spirits and vapours in

” ”
it
. This reason is about as val uable as all
the others Ears with the lobe detached are
.
said to show the owner was born at night but ,
the contrary is as serted by other writers prob ,

64 THE H U MAN EA R
ably equally well informed so that the average

,
reader is left precisely as ignorant as before he

read the two contraries This is not surprising
.
,
as of course the kind of lobe has nothing what
ever to do with the natal hour .

66 THE H U MAN EAR
on the Phy si og nomy of Ma n in six books , ,
was printed at Venice in 1 6 4 4 in an Italian ,
translation The second book refers to ears

. .
’
It is illustrated by woodcuts of animals heads ,
together with those of men believed by della

Porta to resemble them He quotes Ar istotle .
,
Pliny Galen Pol e m on Adam anti o Concilia

, , , ,
tor Loss o Suetonius Columella and M ele

, , , ,
tius ; and he dares to differ from them when

he feels inclined but the reasons given do not
,
seem to be of any more val ue than the reasons

overthrown by them — much like dried pease
shot amongst tin soldiers F or when ears .
,
whether large or small proj ect too much , ,
“
della Porta thinks it means timidity like , ,
for e xample the hare called the long eared

, ,
-
,
rabbits and so on ; whilst the li on dog and

, , ,
other courageous animals have short square

”
ears .After this it is not to be wondered at
,
that he considers Pol em on wrong in attribut

“
ing folly to dogs which no other philo ,
S ophers do N evertheless he is not wholly ,
“
faithful to dogs f or he considers long and
,
narrow ears mean j ealousy because they are ,
”
shaped like the ears o f the domestic dog hav ,
ing j ust said that dogs have short square ears

D E L LA P O R T A A N D O T H E RS 67
There are in fact many ki nds of dogs

, ,
named by the philosophers very confusedly ,
and compare d by them to men First they .

,
sa
y such “
dog —
eared men are”
genero u s and
magnanimous then that the y are envious and

,
hurtful ; now stupid now wise now lovers

, ,
o f wil d beas ts .M any dogs they cal l vigorous

and magnanimous like lions ; others are wise ,
as dogs o f the chase S ome are swift li ke

.
,
greyhounds others are the guardian s o f the

,
flock and ever barking while others again ,
“ ”
guar d houses and are called wheedlers or
“ ”
fl att erers
. O f these last another writer ,
we shall consider later on ( Ghirard el li ) says

they are by nature easily given to anger and
easily flattered they like good eating and are
,
called greedy These dogs are faithful and

.
devoted to their masters which may be sup ,
posed to infer that the d og eared man will -
show th e same qualities towards those men

who are placed over them .
We may here mention that moderate sized -
ears on the whole are most approved of by

all the early write rs As far as we can asc er
.
tain this selection of a favourite size does not

,
rest upon an y firmer foundation than the

68 THE H U MAN EAR
words of one man Suetonius who said , ,
“
Augustus had moderate ears and w as ,
adorned with the best of m anners and th e

”
highest gifts of mind Such a happy mean
.
,
”
by the law of the ogive coul d o nl y occur ,
once and no man can hope to have such

,
moderate ears as these again Augustus .
therefore remains unique and j ustifies to the ,
utmost the superb praises of Horace who di d ,
not know what an opportunity he missed by
not hymni ng the ears o f the emperor .
Della Porta h as a pleasant ca ndour in his

style of writing and a systematic way o f
,
quoting his authorities that is agreeable if

un convincin g Hi s portr ai t in his book shows
.
a pers onable man in the handsome dress of

the period The somewhat retreating hair
.
leaves a forehead well rounded ; arched ey e

brows large eyes and rather holl ow cheeks
, ,
are completed by a small pointed beard allow ,
ing the lips to be seen He wears a small .
ruff to his j erkin and a M edici collar to his

coat .
Cornelio Ghirard ell i ( e arly seve nteenth

century ) of Bologna to whom we lately
, ,
referred was a F ranciscan

,
He studied .
ph y siognomy in th e usual way by annotating

previous writers He added art and poetry
.
to the shaky science and made his book Cef a

,
l og i a fis onom i c a the more amusing for the

mi xture He gives quaint woodcuts illus
.
trati ng the te xt and under each monstrous

,
presentment he pl aces an Ital ian sonnet and

a Latin distich We require every aid to
.
make out what he me ans and occasio nally ,
we are rewarded by finding a passage record

ing observations of his own We subj oin his .
ten e x amples of ears
1 . The l a rg e thi c k ea r
S im p l ex e st, crass e nutri tus e t i mmem or i ll e,

Cui plus quam d ebe t , crass i or auri s i nes t .
( Simple rudel y,brought up and forgetful , ,
the more so the thicker the ear ) .
Ghirard elli says he h as observed men w ith

such ears have a long head lips lowered , ,
legs thick voice harsh S low cold con temners

, , , ,
”
o f fati ue and inj uries He does not credit
g .
large thi ck ears with a good memory and in ,
these f e w lines he ske tches the typical country

bumpkin .
In the small picture given the ear is drawn ,

70 T HE H U MA N EA R
with more care than usual but the orifice is ,
unnaturally small and the lobe is a little lump

,
added in a perfunctory manner The he lix .
is rather narrow —Division ( 1 ) is absent D ivi

sion ( 2 ) is rounded at the top making it ,
thicker ; D ivision ( 3) is absent The ear is .
Sl ightly squared where Division

( )
4 begins
and goes straight down squaring again where ,
Division ( 4 ) j oins Division It is really

an uncommon ear neither rude nor uni nt ell i
,
gent al though the small orifice and lobe are

,
deformities apparently drawn thus to make

,
the rest of the ear look l arger .
2 . The sm a ll ca r
Anribus e xig ui s m emor es t, ani m osus, honestus,

Pacificus, m eru ens, obse q ui i sq u e d atus .
( With tiny ears he possesses a good memory ,
is courageous honest peaceful deserving and

, , , ,
given to obedience ) .
Ghi rarde lli nevertheless obj ects t o these

small ears and declares they S how e xtreme
“
malice He believes their smal lness shows
.
overheat and they are quick to all 111 not

, ,
”
val iant but blamab l e and perverse
,
.
In the woodcut this ear appears to be a

D E L LA P O R T A AND O T H E RS 7i
shrivell ed copy of the large ear whilst keep ,
ing the orifice and the lobe the same attenu

ated size and altering the top by pointing
,
it a little by sloping Division ( 2 ) into Division

It suggests the idea that the artist had
but one model to dr aw from which was ,
probably his ow n ear doubly reflected b y ,
mirrors .
3 . The l ong a nd na r r ow ea r
Tur gi d u s i nv
idi a, f erus ,
i mprob us , q at ue mali g nus,
Lo ngi s, et stri c ti s auribus e sse s ol et .
( Swollen with envy wild dishonest a nd , , ,
malignant he with long and narrow ears is

,
accustomed to be ) .
Ghirar d el li considers this kind to belong

to m en who are envious and ambitious ,
slanderous astute giddy j ealous and open

, , , ,
to corruption This is evidently a gl eaning

.
o f bad qualities from o ther authors shown ,
by its inco h erent and composite character .
Again the ear appears to be dra w n from

,
the same model as N o 1 only the top is .

,
pushed up into a peak by elongating D ivision

making Division ( 2 ) very short stretching ,
Division ( 3) down into Division w hich

again runs into Division The he li x is

narrow and there are the same orifice and
,
lob e as before which are big enough f or so

,
narrow an ear .
4 . The l a rg e w i d e ea r
Auri bus e st l ongi s al i quantum ,

stul tus e t am plis ,
Est vaf er
, es t mul tae garrul i tatis h omo .
( The man w ith somewh at large and wide

ears is foolish cunning and very loquacious )
, ,
.
The physiognomists do not often mention

this sort of ear Ghirar d elli makes a grea t .
e ffort to analyse his authorities and solemnly ,
declares he does not think it possibl e for such

ears to mean both mal ice and madn ess for ,
madness raves whilst malice knows its own,
”
end hence they are incompatible
,
N or does .
he deem them covetous of gain At last he .
floats on two opinions like a twin steamer ,

-
,
“ “ ”
j oined by a perhaps The great width .
and size of the ears will convince us of the

truth Of this (i e that this shows malice )
”
. .
,
“
er hap s even inclined to madness as reason
p ,
”
is no longer taken for guide .
In the illustration the artist enl arges the

orifice and l obe and boldly draws an ear ,
74 THE H U MAN EAR
and Division ( 5 ) is rather bulged As the .
width of the human ear is entirely due in the

lower part to a widening o f the orifice which
the pi nna e xtends itself to hold room for ,
thi s ear is a monster o f an ear impossible ,
for that o f man and the hel ix and lobe make

,
it impossible for that of a monkey .
6 . Good ea r s
Cuj us h b et gra nd es
a , et quadras p
occi ut aur es,
Hic forti , et magna ca l idi ta te vir es t .
( This man is strong and o f great warmth ,
whose head has large square ears ) .
Al l the authorities quoted by Ghirard el li

concur in praising th is ear He himself says .
the men with thes e ears are valiant astute , ,
and of good intellect and desirous o f the ill ,
”
of others thoug h they have good manners
,
.
This little touch of surprise shows that the

good men Ghirard ell i had met must have
had the best o f manners and had desired the
well being of others He enlarges further on
-
.
“
the subj ect They have good intellects
.
,
but are desirous o f ill through severity which

is far from love and affection and nature ,
opposed to humanity and allied with ferocity .

They might be like Sylla and others w ho ,
delighted in wounds and the misfortunes of

”
others .
The picture represents an ear rather square

at the top and suddenly rounded outwards
,
from the middle with an orifice about two ,
thirds i ts proper size and with a moderate

lobe There is a narrow rim the same size
.
all round e x cept a thickening in Division

,
and a slight bulging at the bott om of D ivi

sion
7 . The v
u nc a r ed r ound c or
/r
Si quem forte vi d es aures g estare rotundas ,
Ancipi te m t imi d um dix eri s atque ru d om

, , , .
( If perchance you see any o ne bearing

round ears you should te rm him undecided
, ,
timid and rough )

, .
“ ”
Ghi rard elli seems to mean by uncarved
that the helix is lacking in parts He says : .
“
As they are wanting in the right form so ,
the man is wanting in goodness and j ustice .
The better carved the better the manners ; ,
those not well carved S how depraved men ,
rough indocile timid and unreasonable i n

, , , ,
discreet and importuning The peasant often

, .
76 THE H U MAN EA R
h as it ; he does not know the end of things ,
nor how to distinguish the beginning from

the middle governed only by his natural
,
appetite He with such ears is i nd oci le

.
,
because he is generally incapable of know

l edge O r discipline and unreas onable because ,
he is never sustained by duty but by a way ,
ward obstinacy and without any restrictions

,
of good breeding remains ever o f his own ,
opinion Besides he is timid in everything

.
,
and can never resolve he appears to have ,
paralysis o f the brain and to tremble beyond

measure even though there is no cause f or
,
”
fear Ghi rar d el l i then gives a short account
.
from his ow n observation having known men ,
with such ears who were dishonest in reason

ing full of vain laughter presumptuous in
, ,
glance and annoying in conversation They

, .
are ta ll but have a small mouth and face

, ,
a long neck troubled eyes trembling eyelids

, , ,
legs no t very big hands very long the voice

, ,
”
delicate and sonorous .
Afterwards Ghi rard elli gives one of his

customary e ffete reasons Round ears mean .
too much water in the composition as women ,
have It causes weakness timidity bas eness

.
, , ,
D E L LA P O R T A AN D O T H E RS 77
and irresolution We feel quite at sea with

.
’i
s o much water "
The artis t has drawn a little ear It does .
n o t seem e x actly round being elongated with

, ,
a hanging lobe but the top of the ear is round

,
and the he li x is drawn very smal l in parts .
In fact here is an example of the tapering

,
ends of the divisions of the heli x Division .
( )
1 is small and runs into D ivision which
is tapered at the other end Division ( 3) is .
very tiny Division ( 4) is long and bulges

.
,
a li ttle and i s tapered at each end D ivision

,
.
( )
5 is moderate tapered at t
,
h e top towards
Division The orifice is represented as

being e xtremely narrow Such an ear is not
.
likely to be found on the typical peasant or

rough man But the artist h as evidently
.
been endeavouring to foll ow the writer s ’
“ ”
description of uncarved by tapering parts
o f the he li x though not removi ng them alto
,
gether . The curious fact remains that a

really natural ear has been drawn — except
as to the orific e — of an e xceptional l y well
developed typ e o f modern times If we co ul d .
hope that it was a portrait of any actual

’
peas ant s ear o f th e si xteenth century we ,
73 THE H U MAN EA R
might understand why so m any talente d men

sprang from the lower classes in those days .
F or priests and monks were often recruited

from amongst them and this kind of ear
,
i s susceptible to l earning .
8 . The mo der a te si zed -

ea r
Auri ci med iocr e no a nt t vi rtutis ama nt es ,
I ntrepi d os , d o ci l e s , i ng enuosq ue v
i r os .
( M oderate cared
-
men signify those that
love virtue and are brave docile and candid )
, , , .
Ghirard el l i fairly surpasses himself in

admiration o f such ears He confirms all .
the good things said of them by previous

— “
writers whether in supposititious works ”
or no t—h e is wrapped into an ecstasy o f j oy

“
in their contemplation Such ears are ever
.
open to the most sane a nnouncements Such .
men gently and politely listen to all that

relates to good and ha te and abhor what is
,
ill and take the moderate way in every place

,
.
”
They are o n the very throne of vir tue .
The ill ustration is not good The orifice .
and lobe are rather small and again the heli x ,
is the same thickness al l round and almost ,
all the five divisions are of equal length .

The ear is very slightly curved at the t op .
It is somewhat squared both above and below .
Thi s form is very unusual in modern times ,
and the head is general ly well formed t o ,
which such a squared ear belongs But the .
di visions are too similar in length for natural

resemblance .
9 . P oi n ted ea r s
Aures parvae cani s i nstar hab ebant

e xpli ci t ae e t
Ing enii s to li di stul ti ti seq ue n ot am

, .
( Ears small and e xtended are like unto a

’
dog s and are the S ign of stupidity and fol ly
,
Ghirar d ell i is not as har d o n these c ars

as his favourite auth ors S how themselves .
“
Dogs with little e xtended ears often leap
and bay forth without any reason as if they ,
were mad which they are not nor are men

, ,
’
with simil ar ears M oreover he allows them
.
,
“
to be lively and facetious and when they ,
fall in a passion their ears redden and move .
And sometimes their temples redden which ,
”
is a S ign of modesty B ut if the ears are
.
flat and small with the curled parts smoothed

,
”
out they are cru el like the rustic dog
, .
The ear depicte d is square at the bottom

80 THE H U MAN EA R
with a small lobe and the orifice is much too

,
sm al l The pointed top is formed by a long

.
straight Division ( 1 ) slanting upwards at half

a right angle Division ( 2 ) is very small and
.
,
is like a little cap to the point D ivision ( 3) .
is absent Division ( 4 ) is thin and perpe n

.
d i cul ar bulged below where it runs i nto

, ,
Division This D ivision ( 5 ) takes a

sudden angle in order to go nearly hori
z ontall
y to meet the lobe .
10 . W omen s ’
e a rs
Anribus e ss e so e l t muli er m ed i ocris h on e t a

s
Pru d e n s et quae si t mori bus eg regii s .
( Anhonest prudent woman is wont to be

moderate in the size of her ear and such may ,
be o f the best of good manners ) .
Ghi rar d elli only admits one form of ear for

women and that is of moderate size
,
He .
seizes the opportunity to describe his ideal

“
woman .F or a woman to be prudent ,
modest and wise she should not only have

, ,
ears o f a moderate size but also her figu re , ,
and with a square forehead of j ust me asure ,
her cheeks somewhat plump with a natural ,
colour a pure speech voice between grave

, ,
82 THE H U MAN EAR
partook somewhat of the miraculous O cca .
s i onall
y he describes with su fficient accuracy
for us to be able to place the c ar more or less
under a modern category but the results are
,
much more prosaic than his W e have had .
more careful analysers of charac ter since those

times whil st the introduction of photography
,
has given us e xact shapes to catalogue The .
long lists of shapes O f ears and their attendant

qual ities remind us o f the co urtly fashions of
old when kings and queens went about pro
,
perly crowned and having attendants holding

up their trains Sometimes imposters wore
.
those crowns but the attendants still held up

,
the trains So the ancient lis ts o f ears e xpect

.
to be accepted a s perfection and the qualities

as inevitably true Unfortunately no logic
.
was present as mas ter o f the ceremonies and ,
the resul t is an o dd j umble of ideas forming ,
the vaguest possible ske tches o f character ,
often of i mpossible characters themsel ves .
Dominico de Rub eis of Venice ( 1 6 39 )

w as one of the most careful compilers o f
this kind . He drew up a set of tables in

Latin giving thirty six kinds o f ears large
,
-
,
and smal l and medium sized long short

-
, , ,
D E L LA P O R T A AND O T H E RS 83
square or round If we take these thirty six

.
-
kinds thrice over for the three S iz es and four ,
times again for the four varieties we obtain ,
four hundred and th irty two various kin d s of

-
ears About ten qualities go to each ear on

.
an average so that after all we have l ess than

,
five thousand specimens to choose from It .
did not occur to this or to any ot om orph ol o

gist that every ear diff ers from every other ,
hence that each is a specimen in itself Even .
two centuries ago the general notion of rela

tive numbers was very inaccurate Statistics .
rel ating to anthropology were governed by

astrology or g uess work and whether a
-
,
nought or two were added at the end o f any

statement i n figures depended more upon
what the compil er thought probable than
upo n investigations . Rub ei s doubtl ess b e
l i eved his li st was e x haustive and he had no
,
idea of the number of peop l e in the world

who would have to g o without a p l ace in his
tables . He seems also to be wel l satis fied as
to the characters sh own by them .
W e subj oin one or two specimens of his

nomencl atur e because he h as evidentl y written
,
in good faith and with u nusual succinctness .

84 THE H U MA N E AR
A si gn i fi ca n t
( ure s
)
a mpl ae au dac em , vanum ,
i mpud entem, s ed l ong aev

um .
That is to say large and wide ears indicate

,
the owner to be courageous rash impudent , , ,
”
but long lived -
This l ittle word but
.
brings up a picture of the period of Char les I .
o f England and o f the state of the city of

,
Venice two hundred and sixty years ago ,
”
when to be courageous rash and impudent , , ,
commonly led to sudden broils and early

deaths Rub eis himself seems surprised that
.
the man with a large wide ear should ever

escape with his life and reach O ld age He .
regards with more certainty and complacency

the chances of the man whose ears are only
moderately large and who has therefore a
,
good memory which ret ai ns things well and ,
who is also wise honest strong a nd long

, , ,
lived
b onae retenti onis et memori es ,
ma gn ae mod ice sa pi ent em probum r ob ustum

, ,
a t que l ong aev

um .
Rub eis has a weakness for littl e ears that

ar e thin
prob um, fidum, j ustum, p acem

ama n t em, secretum, m emorem
parvae sub til es
mediocri te, timid um, t ena cem,
b onae indoli s ( s) atq ue d ocil em
, .
Yet there is a mi xture of qual ities we c an

“
not admire i n this honest man faithful , ,
j ust a lover of peace very secret with but a

, , ,
moderate memory timid tenacious of good

, , ,
character and docil e It seems to be almost

as dangerous to have smal l ears as wi d e ears
—memory and courage being of so poor a
sort.
These e xtracts are enough to show the

kind of way in which ot om orph olog y was
studied at that period It was never as
.
favourite a subj ect as the face al one because ,
it was be y ond the domain of astrology ,
although it did not escape the interference

of the prognostications belonging to the
”
“
temperame nts And when wigs became
.
universally worn the ears went out o f fashion

, ,
so to s ay and nothing more was heard about

,
them for more than a century .

C HA P T ER VII
LA VAT ER O N TH E EA RS
TH E quaint descriptions of c ars already given ,
culled from ancient sources are chiefly useful ,
to S how the futility of non sci entific work on-
the subj ect With the eighteenth century a

.
new method w as adopted by the celebrated

physiognomist Johann Caspar Lavater ( 1 7 4 1
,
He was a Swiss pastor of a Protestant

church in Z urich Switzerland In his youth
,
.
he went to Berl in w ith Fuseli the artist He

, .
“ ”
wrote Swis s Songs and numerous other
,
works in prose and verse and his sermons ,
were admired and printed Lavater was a

.
friend and correspondent o f G oethe who ,
much admired him and submitted to hi s

,
physiognomical criticisms Goethe wrote :

.
Lavater s S pirit was al together imposing

’
.
O ne amongst the most e xcellent with

whom I have ever attained to so intimate a
LAVA T E R O N THE E A RS 37
’
relation Lavater w as shot at by a sol di er
.
when Z uri ch was taken by the Fre nch in

1 7 9 9 and after pro l o nged su ff ering of more
,
than a year he di ed of the wound in 1 80 1 .
Lavate r w as o f benevol ent temper and he ,
devoted himself to physiognomy with the

spirit of an artist caught in the new magic o f
science H ithert o science ( Lat sci enti a ) had
. .
meant simply know ledg e but now it had ,
taken the m eaning of a particular way of

obtaining a special kind of knowl edge by ,
careful observation and recorded research .
The book by which he is chiefly known is

hi s fo l io work in four vo l umes profusel y ,
il l ustrate d called Phy si og nom i ca l F r a g m ents

, ,
tow a/rd s Pr omo ti ng the K now l edg e of Men
a nd H u m a n L ov e .
Lavater coul d not help beginning by read

ing the ancient so call ed authorities we have
-
named but he soon began t o observe for

,
himself and to make or obtain portr aits

,
selected for the features he required to ill us

trate his theories There is a pecu l iarity in
.
his meth od which i s apparent on a careful

e xamination of the hundreds of faces in these
vol umes and of the j udgments he gives on
,
88 T HE H U M A N EA R
them with energy and with ine xcusabl e
vagueness ; it is that he j u d ges every one
by a rigid Swiss standard whatever may be
their nationality Little alterations of feature
.
due to race alone are seized upo n as proving

a whole new theory o f character and this is ,
in spite of his endeavour to give the faces o f

various nations as typical instances of racial
form The Swiss nation contains both German
.
and F rench pop ulations welded together by

,
their unique position among high mountains ,
and by their original form of government .
They present strong national characteristics ,
shown in their faces with greater freedom

though not with greater play o f feature —than
is usual in other countries Therefore when .
,
’
ever Lavater tried to j udge other nations
physiognomies he read them fr om his S w iss
,
standpoint and this led him to g ive emphasis

,
to the wrong parts It is this una ck now

.
l edged cause which has ofte n made him to be

d iscredited because with all his painstaking
, ,
details he is so often in error in their appli

,
cation . Besides he is full o f e xclamatory

,
admiration and di sdain without e xplaining

,
what has caused these emotions further than

such as novel ists shoul d possess which w as ,
all suffici ent to himself but whi ch eluded

-
,
employment in accurate description Being .
a pastor he had opport unities of knowi ng the

,
characters of his flock that were probably

useful to him with regard to individuals but ,
the range was not wide enough for him .
When he took to the study of portraits he ,
did not make enough al lowance for inaccur

acies in portraiture Lavater complained .
gently at times that a profile would seem to

” “ ”
be ill drawn and that it was unnatural
-
,
“ ”
and impossible yet when he chances to,
point out the parts he considers to be

“ ”
impossible further investigation from real
,
life is apt to prove th eir existence and that ,
the shape had evi d ently been sel ect ed by the

limner as a beautiful and uncommon form .
The e xtreme difficulty in presenting the

shape of the ear in dr awing painting or , ,
sculpture i s emphasised in the portraits

given . Even when Lavate r draws attention
to a drawing o f an ear as being worth in spe c
tion the shape and position are incredible to
a modern ot om orphol og i st and the lobe seldom ,
tal lies with the chin He does not appear to .

have got much help from ancient write rs

which is not surprising —and his ow n best
attention was usually bestowed upon the rest
o f th e face and figu re In the first edition o f .
his well printed folios published by sub s crip

-
,
tion in Leipzig he gives one short page

,
about ears with five full sized and shaded

, .
-
drawings with the following remarks

,
U p to now i d noth ing ab out ears i n a

w e ha ve sa
gen eral w ay But it has already of t en b een remark ed

.
th a t th ere i s a sp ecial phy s i ognomy o f th e e ars I am .

,
h ow ever still so far b ehi nd hand t ha t I h ave extremely

,
li ttl e to say ab out the matter This time t h erefore I .

, ,
sh all s pea k onl a b ou t a f ew ears H ere i s a pa g e w i t h

y .
four .
Not one is tha td inary man Not one

of an extra or .
of a ma n w h o w ork s w i t h c ourag e a nd z eal ri gh t a nd ,
left high and l ow n ea r and far w i th ease com pell i ng

, , ,
n oti c e "
The first ear i s t h at of a comm on w eak p erso n Th e , .
s econd I sh oul d certai nl y say i s m or e op e n and d eci d ed

, , .
Th e t h ird i s of a p erson w h o h as v ery grea t capaci ty

f or l earn i ng and f or t each ing a s if m ea n t f or a sch ool ,
m a st er or pr ece n tor not a m ere h ear tl ess smatt er er i n

,
knowl ed ge The l ob e i s much more d elicate at th e

.
b ottom than th ose of th e rest esp eci all y th e four th , .
As to th e f our th I a l mos t th i n k i t must b el ong to a n

,
1 Phy si ognomische F r agmente, zur Bef or dm m g der Men

‘
sche nkenntni ss u nd Menschen li ebe, von Jo a Caspar Lava er h nn t .
n t th
L eip z ig und W i er ur, 1 7 7 5 (Bod Lib O x ord ) . . f .
9 2 T HE H U MAN E AR
extrem e ly weak h ead The b road flat ear with out a .

,
ri m a t th e top mi g h t oth erw i se sh ow an exce ll ent

g enius—and is espe ciall y ob servabl e i n ma ny musical
,
ears—but h er e th e w h ol e h as such a p erv ad i n g fl a t n ess
a nd c oar se n ess and sp r ea d i ng out ( I s pea k from th e
c opp er p la te l y i ng b efore m e ) t ha t I v
-
ery m u ch d oub t
i f ev er an i nna t e g e ni us coul d hav e Su ch an ear Th e .
ear b el ow thi s n oti ce i s to o d e ci d ed to b el ong to a
coars e pe rson and t oo round to b el ong to a n extrem el y

,
cul ti vate d ma n
1
.
W e m ay now briefly describe the ears .
Ea r —Division ( 1 ) is short and thick

1 . .
Division ( 2 ) is long arched and thin Division , ,

.
( )
3 is absent Divisio n ( )
4 is well shaped .
-
,
bulged and tapered into Division

,
The
lobe being thick and wide denotes a large
square chin The orifice is moderate in size . .
E a r 2 — Division ( 1 ) is too shapeless to

.
define Division ( 2 ) is arched and shapeless

. .
Division ( 3) i s very long D ivision ( 4 ) is very .
short Division ( 5 ) is long and thick

. The .
lobe is very wide and thick i ndicating a heavy ,
wide j aw The orifice is Of medium size

. .
E a r 3 —Division ( 1 ) is long and thick

. .
g i n gi v n i n L v t l t
E1 3 4 nd 5
a rs a ar e a a e a a er s
’
a er
, ,
“
Ad d i ti o ns
,
”
u nd
Ad i i o C, Ea rs 1 , 2 ,
er th e h ead ing of
“
dt n
and I h ave gi e a m ore d e ail e d anal y si s o fv nem , t th
tog e th
er w i th
a ph o ogr aph ( ak e t
b y pe r m i ssi o f rom t h e t n n
c opy of
’
v t
La a e r s b ook i n th e Bri i s Museum) in th e t h
f n h t
oll ow i g c ap e r un d er th e l a e r ea in g t h d .
94 THE H U MAN EAR
I frankly kn ow l ed ge th at this subj ec t is y et rather

ac
new to m e a nd t ha t I p r et e nd not to p ron oun ce w i t h

,
ful l assuran ce co n cerni n g i t I n the mea ntime I am .
f ull y convin ce d t h at th e ear as w ell as p erh aps more , ,
th an th e o th er parts of the h uman body has i ts

,
d et erm ina te signi fi ca tion th at i t ad mits not o f the

,
l eas t di sg ui se tha t i t has i ts sui ta b l eness to and a

,
pa rticula r anal ogy wi t h th e indi vi d ua l to wh om it

b el ong s All ph y si ogn omi ca l st udy ough t to b e founded
.
o n exa c t dra w i ng s on com paris ons a nd a pproxi m a t i on s

,
frequen tl y rep eate d With regard t o the ear I woul d

.
,
ad v i s e y ou t o pay a t te n ti o n ( 1 ) to th e to ta l i t y o f its
form and si ze ; ( 2 ) to i ts i nteri or and ex teri or con tours ,
to i ts cav i ti es and th e h oll ow of i t ; ( 3) to i ts po si tion

,
.
You m ust o bs erv e w h e t h er it ad h ere cl os e to th e h ea d
or b e d e tac h ed f ro m i t Ex amine thi s part i n a brav e

.
m an a nd i n a c ow ar d i n a phi l oso ph er a nd a Cha ng el i ng

,
b orn a nd y ou will soon p erceive distin ctive diff eren ces

,
r ef era b l e to ea ch c h arac t er I n th e vi gn e t te b el ow I d o
.
not p erce iv e one S i ngl e form w h i ch I coul d sus p ec t of
s t up i dity I even be li eve th em all to b e abo ve m edi ocri ty

.
,
a nd t ha t w hi ch i s i n the c e n tre m ost p roba b l y su pp ose s
a sag e and l umi n ou s mi n d .
This vignette we reproduce It holds .
twenty one ears prettily though not very

-
,
accur ately drawn and all at first sight appear

,
to be much the same Lavater does not te l l .
us for evidently he does not know himself

, ,
where to look for these in di cations of a sage

”
and luminous mind or how to prove that ,
none o f the number could be suspected of

stupidity. P robably it is the presence of a
distinct h eli x in every ear that averts his
suspicions and the squareness of several of
,
the ears would attract his favour as the ,
presence o f a he li x and an y squareness of shape
Fig 4 .
were both much approved of by the ancient

physiognomists some of whom L avater refers
,
to by nam e It wo ul d be of use to know

.
whether these ears are portraits or are draw n

,
from casual recoll ection or from mere fancy as

to what ear the wise man should possess .
They are certai nl y not common ears as the y

,
have very o dd collocations of the Five Divisions

of the heli x These are indeed s o arbitrary in

.
arrangement that it is scarcely possible to

believe these ears ever e xisted in the shape
given . F or however strangely nature may
deal out the Five Divisio ns there is a certain ,
“ ”
method in her assortment wholly wanting
to the imaginary ear .
( g
Fi 4 is
. photographed by permission from
Lavater s work at the British M useum )
’
.
A quaint little show boy hides o ne ear -
with his arm and a special part of the he li x

,
o f another ear is hidden by his leg These .
t w o c ars have therefore been omitted in the

following description and are not represented ,
.
W e can now describe these ears taking ,
them in rows from left to right beginning at ,
the top row .
Ea r 1 Division ( 1 ) is short and thick

.
,
much curve d and j oi ning Division ,

Division
( )
3 is absent Division ( )
4 is long
. and well
shaped nicked slightly where Division ( 5 )
,
begins which is very long and thick running

, ,
down to a large pendent lobe The orifice is .
rather narrow .
E a r 2 —D ivision ( 1 ) is long and thick

.
,
making a point wh ere it j oins Division

93 T HE H U MAN EAR
( )
3 runs into Division whi ch is short and
bulged and runs sloping back into Division
which is thick and long The lobe is .
very long and pendent The orifice is .
shapeless .
E ar 6 —. Division ( 1 ) is absent Division .
( )
2 is short thin and
,
slightly
,
curved Divi .
sion ( 3) is very thick and long Division ( 4 ) .
is very short thick and bulged Division 5 )

, ,
.
is short and thick The lobe is long and

.
poin ted The orifice is tiny

. .
Ea r 7 —. Division ( 1 ) is short and thick

and with a square inner corner where it runs
into Div i sion which is short and thick .
Division ( 3) is very tiny Division ( 4 ) is .
straight and short and runs into Division ,
whi ch is thi ck and long The lobe is .
h eavy and very wide The orifice is medium .
S ized.
E a r 8 —Division ( 1 ) is short and bulged

.
,
’
nicked in a point where it runs into Division

,
which slopes rapi dl y down absorbing ,
D ivis ion ( 3) and running into a thick S hort , ,
bulged Division Division ( 5 ) is short .
Th e lobe is heavy The orifice is tiny The

. .
p i nn a is very narrow and long .

Ea r 9 —Division ( 1 ) is shapeless Divi

. .
sion ( 2 ) is bulged and pushed backwards

towards Division making a point at the
end towards Division The p i nna then
slopes gradually outward s to the middle o f
the helix Division ( 3) ru ns into Division
.
which is thick and long and runs into Division

The lobe is very large and wide and deep .
The orifice is very narrow and upright .
E a r 1 0 —Division ( 1 ) is short and with a

.
square corner where it j oins Division ,
which has also a square corner where Division

( )
3 should be but is absent Division
, ( )
4 is .
very long curved and thick tapered into

, , ,
Division which is thus prevented from

being further shaped The lobe is very large .
and pendent The orifice is small . .
Ea r 1 1 — Division ( 1 ) is short and squared

.
where it j oins Division which is straight

and thick and long and is squared where ,
Division should be but is absent Divi , .
sion ( 4 ) is very large long bulged pushed t o o , , ,
high and sloping outwards to the middle o f

,
the ear .Division ( 5 ) is too high and is ,
short The lobe is e xtremel y large thick and

.
, ,
pendent .
100 T HE H U MAN EAR
Ear 1 2 .
—
Division ( 1 ) is shapeless
Divi .
sion ( 2 ) is small Division ( 3) is short and

.
thick running into a large bulged thick

, , ,
Division that goes into a thick Division

W here Division ( 5 ) ends it is bulged ,
outsid e The lobe is long and pendent The

.
orifice is rather s m all .
E a r 1 3 — Division ( 1 ) is long thin and

.
, ,
upright with a square corner where it j oins

,
D ivision which is very short and pointed

upwards where it j oins D ivision The
p i nna is long and narrow Division ( )
3 is .
short and straight and j oins D ivision

which is short bulged and pushed too high
, , .
It j oins Division which i s thick and short

and bulged outs ide at the bottom The lobe .
is long and pendent The orifice is medium .
sized .
Ea r 1 4 — Division ( 1 ) is thick and shape

.
less It pushes up into a point where it j oins

.
Division which slopes down and has a

square corner where D ivision ( 3) should be ,
but is absent D ivision ( 4) is tapered above

.
,
a nd is very long bulged and thick below , , ,
w here it pushes out like an elbow where it
j oins a long thick Division sloping into

sion This runs into a short thick D ivi ,
sion ( 5 ) with a square bulge outside The .
l obe is wide and heavy The orifice is very

.
small .
E a r 18 —
. Division ( 1 ) is short thick up , ,
right with a square corner where it j oins Divi

,
sion ( 2 ) which slopes downwards and is squared

at Division This runs into a long bulged ,
Division ( 4 ) which tapers into Division

thus preventing it being further formed The .
lobe is short and wide but th ick The orifice

, .
is also too small .
Ea r 1 9 . Division ( 1 ) is short and thick

-
,
it pushes up into a point where it j oins

Division which slopes down and tapers
where Division ( 3) should be but i s absent , .
Division (4 ) is tapered thick bulged long , , , ,
and with a square corner where it j oins

a short thick Division The lobe is
e xtremely wide heavy and pendent
, ,
The .
orifice is square .
E ct/r 2 0 — Division 1 ) is short thin

.
, ,
squared where it j oins Division which

is short thick and bulged and squared
, , ,
where D ivision ( 3) should be but is absent , .
Division ( 4) is long thick goes straight

, ,
LAVA T E R O N THE E A RS 10 3
d own ,
but is bulged and runs into Division
with a slight nick sho wi ng where it
begins ; it is very short The lobe is long .
( I pointed The orifice is small

. .
Ea r 2 1 .Division ( 1 ) is short and thick

-
,
and squared where it j oins D ivision which

is short and runs in t o Division This
goes into Division which is long and
S lightly bulged and tapered and where it ,
j oins Division ( 5 ) there is a bulge outwards .
The lobe is wide and rounded Th e orifice .
h as not been drawn .
O ut o f these twenty one ears Division ( 4 )

-
,
is long in fifteen cases and where it is short it

,
h as the S ig n of activity v i z being thick or

, .
bulged .
C H A P T ER VIII
LAVA T ER S O UT LI N E S EAR S
’
OF
LA T ER on, Lavater adds a series of lar ger

ears in outl ine rather better drawn and
, ,
occasionally almost life like His comments

-
.
on them are unfortunately of the same

confused nature and can only be accounted
,
f o r by h is having read the O l d writers —such

—
as della Porta carefully and differed from
,
them by instinct without method or reason

,
.
AS we have seen they strongly insist on the

,
necessity of a distinctly curved heli x and of ,
the advantage of square bits about the ear .
B ut they d i d not sort the S hapes of the heli x

at all definitely and when they drew ears
,
the result was not satisfactory L avater was .
very conscientious and painstaking but he ,
could not draw well enough nor get suffi

c i ent l y accurate draughtsmen for the work .
N othing short of photography or nature

Accord i ng to my t ext EM 7 a nn oun ces a man

,
m od est, h umbl e ,
and gentl e perh ap s ti mi d and appre
,
h ensi ve .
1 2
Fig 5 .
E ar 8, a nd s till l ess 9, ca nno t p ossib l y be l ong to
or d inary mi nds .
LAVA T E R S O U T L I N E S ’
19 7
I t w oul d b e i n t eresti ng t o
b i ng to g eth er a hund red r
d iffe en t nd w ell known h ea d a nd to b stra t f om

r a -
s, a c r
th em th e p op e and p eci fi c ch act e of t h ei ears

r r s ar r r .
In t h ose und e e vi ew t h e t ip i
r r diseng ged w h i ch s a ,
may a l w ay s b e onsi d e ed a s a g ood om en of th e

c r
i n te ll ectual facul ti es .
( These nine ears are photographed by per

’
mission from Lavater s work in th e British
M useum ) .
B y describing these nine ears after the

method I have used in the previous chapter ,
we can bring them into range for purposes o f

c l assification identification and physiognomy
, , .
It w ill be seen at once how very incorrectly

they are drawn .
Ear 1 — Division ( 1 ) is thick and much

.
curved it thins a little as it runs into

,
Division The heli x then remains the

same thickness through out Division which
slopes down into D ivision ( 3) and Division
until it reaches Division where it is
bulged a l ittle outside The lobe is long and .
hanging The orifice is very narrow and

.
upright The curve outwards o f Division ( 1 )

.
is s o marked that it brings the whole heli x

much to o forward o n to the cheek .
E a r 2 —This is a specimen S haped like

.
’ “ ”
those o f Ghirard elli s d og ear d men The -
’
.
lo w er half o f the p inna is broad and nearly

square the lobe is pushed up as if lying on i ts
,
back it would be large and pendent otherwise

,
.
The rest o f the p inna is very narrow and

upright Division ( 1 ) is very large and
.
bulged it goes nearly straight up and p artly

,
absorbs Division which itself slopes sud

d e nly down into a long narrow Division
upright and a little bulged Division ( 3) is .
absent Divis ion ( 4 ) runs into Division

.
which makes a kind o f elbow of itself and

is also a little thicker than all the other
d ivisions e xcept Division
,
The orifice is
m eant to be o f the wide shape b ut it is drawn ,
on l y half the right size .
E a r 3 —Division ( 1 ) is large curved and

.
, ,
much bulged Division ( 2 ) is thick and

.
curved but short and runs into Division ,
Division (4 ) is long and bulged and well

shaped j oining Division ( 5 ) and pushing it
,
downwards Division ( 5 ) is thick and short

. .
The lobe is almost round and hanging The , .
orifice is upright and to o small .
Ea r 4 — Division ( 1 ) is long upright

.
, ,
bulged and tapered below

,
It j oins with .
1 10 THE H U MAN EAR
the top o f the p i nna rather less cur v ed and

almost flat Division ( 2 ) is very short and it
.
,
runs into Division which is large and

bulged Division ( 4 ) is long and tapered
.
above and below it is bulged and it is , ,
pushed much too low by Division There

is but little room left for Division but it
i s bulged The lobe is long oval and hang
.
, ,
ing The orifice as usual is too small it is

.
, , ,
upright The p i nna is of a rather narrow

.
form .
Ear 7 Division ( 1 ) is long rather

.
,
straight and narrow It runs into Division .
which is slightly thicker and is curved ,
and runs into a S hort Division Division

( )
4 is short and bulged and tapered above
,
and below it is pushed to o high to make roo m

, ,
for a long thick D ivision which is bulged

below The lobe i s small and hanging The
. .
orifice is square and large and drawn quite ,
o ut o f pl ace .
Ea r 8 — Division ( 1 ) i s very long tapered

.
, ,
bulged rather curved ; it runs into D ivision

,
which is thick and sloped into Division ( 3)

and Division A slight bulge in Division
( )
4 shows it is well placed ; it is upright and
I11
a good length and slightly tapered as it reaches

,
Division which is short and bulged The .
l obe is very large long and hanging ,

The ,
.
orifice is very narrow and upright The p inna .
is rendered too l ong in proportion to its width ,
o n account of the large lobe .
Ea r 9 — .Division ( 1 ) forms an elbow with

a thick bulge tapered at each end and it runs
, ,
into what should be Division but this is

hardl y more than a bend j oining Division
This latter is tapered and al so very lo ng thick , ,
and b ul ged not only taking up what should be

,
most o f the space f or Division but also

running down so far that it pushes Division
( )
4 too l o w which is
,
itself rather straight ,
short and bulged Division ( 5 ) is short and

, .
thick and bulged outside The lobe is wide

, .
and pendent The orifice is not much t oo .
small .
Lavate r obtained the outlines of twelve

more ears and wrote of them as fol l ows
,
Add i ti on B .
T w el ve Ea s r .
Ea ch f th e e fo m vri e i n i t l eng t h nd c v
o s r s i ti e
a s s a a s,
i n i t e x t e i o cont urs nd th e h oll ow i n th m i dd l e

s r r o ,
a e .
Ea ch i ada pte d t o onl y u h and such

s h d e hs c a ea ac
b r the im p e of n i nd ivi dual ch r t e

ea s r ss a a ac r .
1 1 2 T HE H U MA N E AR
Ear l is l ikew i se th e fi rst i n ra nk f or ge ntl eness ,
si mp l i ci ty ,
m od est y a nd ca nd our
, .
E ar 2 i s m ore u nd ul ated more suscep t i bl e o f cul

,
ti v
a ti on .
E ar 3 i s ti ll m ore d eli cat e m ore sp righ tly a nd m ore

s , ,
a tt enti v e t h a n th e pre ced i ng t w o .
I co n fi d e n tl y m a i nta i n th a t 4 ca nno t b e th e ear o f

a n ord i n ary m an b u t i s pe rh a p s a li ttl e more h ars h
,
th a n 3 .
Ea r 5 i s p rob ab l y the m ost ori gi n al a nd m ost l iv el y
o f th e t w el v e
Ear 6 —More p h l e gma ti c t h a n 3 4 5 wit h l e ss

.
.
, , ,
s e n si b i l i ty t ha n th e l as t b ut of m u c h gr ea te r ca pa c i ty
,
th a n 1 .
Ear 7 Rep l ete w i t h wi t and i ng enui ty

-
E ar 8 —Th e round i ng of t h e upp er c ont our i s v ery

. .
s ingul ar . I know not w ha t to mak e of it onl y I

d oub t w h eth er t his ear has th e m eri t of th e prece ding .
I susp ec t 9 of a li ttl e timi di ty ; i n oth er respe cts I ,
as cri b e to i t j us ti c e a nd ac ti v ity .
Ear 1 0 a pp ears to m e i n si gni fi ca n t i nconsi d era te , ,
vol a til e and i n sipi d i ts facil i ty i s m ere shuffli ng

,
.
Ear 1 1 — Cir cum spection d es ti tute of ev

’
. ery S p eci es
of coura g e .
E ar 1 2 scarc el y a d mi ts of v i ol e n t pa ssi on I di s .
c ov e r i n it m od est y a nd g entl ene ss f ou nd e d on d i g nity ,
of se n tim e n t .
F ollowing the same arrangement as before ,
we now give a photograph of these twelve

outlines o f ears and proceed to their analysis , .
( These ears were photographed by per

1 1 4 THE H U MAN EA R
curved tapered below but a little thinner

, ,
above where it runs into a long flat Division

,
( )
2 of the same breadth Th i s latter runs .
into Division which is short and thick and ,
slightly bulged and it pushes Division ( 4 )

,
downwards Division ( 4 ) is rather short and

.
bulged Division ( 5 ) is scarcely formed The

. .
lobe is long and hanging but is not thick , .
The orifice is drawn too small .
E a r 2 — Division . 1 ) is large bulged , ,
and sloped up to Division which is S hort

and very curved and runs into Division ,
The p i nna is thus made rather narrow at the top .
Division ( 4 ) is long and bulged slightly inside

,
and a good deal outside It is pushed rather .
l o w and tapers slightly into Division

,
which has a slight bulge where it slopes off to

the lobe and another bulge j ust before touch
,
ing the lobe Al though the l obe is really

.
nearly as long as usual it is very slightly ,
marked in consequence of these bulges in

Division so near to it The orifice is very .
upright and very narrow though rather square ,
at the bottom .
E a r 3 —Division ( 1 ) is large bulged and

.
, ,
nearly upright It runs into Division .

1 1 5
which is narrow rather short and not much , ,
curved The p i nna here slopes suddenly as

.
,
Division ( 2 ) runs into Division 3) and a rather

bulged Division B y this m eans D i vision
( )
4 is pushed t oo high in order to absorb
Di vision ( 3) above and to leave room belo w ,
f or a large Division which is bulged and

tapered b eg m nm g above the middle of the
,
ear There is a very long thick hanging

.
, ,
l obe This is what would be commo nly called

.
“ ”
a usual form o f ear and it is the normal ,
size —that is the length i s double the width

, ,
but the orifice is drawn much too small .
Ea r 4 Division ( 1 ) begins very low down

.
-
and bulges whilst curving very much out

,
wards .Division ( 2 ) is thick and bulged ,
pushed backwards o n to the top of D ivision

and then it makes a sort of flat bend
towards Division into which it slopes and
is absorbed Division . has only a slight
indent to sho w where it runs into Division
which is short thick and bulged inside and
, ,
outside and is rather high It runs into

, .
Division ( 5 ) with an indent to S how where

D ivision ( 5 ) begins ; this is thick and bulged
outside above and below and al so slightly ,
1 1 6 T HE H U MAN EA R
bulged inside The lobe is thick and hangin g

.
,
but it does not S how its full length as Division ,
( )
5 ru ns so low down towards it The orifice .
is too small .
E a/r 5 — Division ( 1 ) is short Division

. .
( )
2 is pushed down o n it at one end and then ,
slopes suddenly upwards into a kind of peak .
Division ( 2 ) then completes this peak by

sloping suddenly downwards into Division
which is long and thick bulged outside run , ,
ning into Division The latter is bulged

both inside and outside The heli x makes a .
sort o f e l bow where it j oins Division

which begins high up at the middle of the
p i nn a and ,
it is long and thick and bulged ,
below outside The lobe i s small pendent

.
, ,
and rather pointed The orifice i s much too.
small rath er square at the bottom but very

, ,
n arrow .
E a r 6 — Division 1 ) is tapered very long

.
, ,
and rather upright and is thick and bulged,
both inside and outside It runs into Divisi on.
which is thick and moderate in size and ,
goes at once into a thick sloping bulged , ,
Division This runs into a long Division

which is nearly upright and of medium
1 1 8 THE H U MAN E AR
length The orifice is t o o small and slopes

upwards .
E a/r 9 —Division ( 1 ) is thick be l ow then

r .
,
it narrows as it goes up and widens again by ,
absorbing part o f D ivision The top is

not m uch curved and it runs quickly into ,
Di vision which is pushed too high and is

bulged outside It run s into Division .
which is also bulged outside and al so pushed

too high and which runs into Division
,
bulged below The lobe is very round though .

,
hanging The orifice is very small as usual

.
, ,
and too narrow The p inna is much less in .
length than twice its width .
Ea r 1 0 — Division ( 1 ) is bulged both si d es

.
,
and is long and thick It goes nearly straight .
up into a large Division which i s rather

thick and flat and runs into Division ,
There is a slight nick where the latter j oins

Division which is upright and gently
bulged l ong and tapered into a short bulged
, ,
Division The lobe is l ong thick and , ,
hanging The orifice is not drawn so small as

.
usual but it is somewhat too narrow

,
.
E a r 1 1 —Division ( 1 ) makes an elbow at

.
its start and then another as it O ins Division

,
LAVA T E R S O U T L I N E S
’
1 1 9
This latter is long and thi ck fl at topped ,

-
,
and bulged i nside The helix i s well nicked

.
where Division ( 3) should be but is absent , .
Division ( 4 ) begins therefore too high ; and

, ,
it is thick bulged and tapered below in to a

, ,
long thi ck Division

, that begins above the
middle of the p i nna By this means th e .
p i nn a is square in the upper part but slanting ,
belo w The orifi ce though bigger than usual

.
, ,
is still rather small and is square at the ,
bottom The lobe is very pointed with an

.
,
outside bulge near the top .
E a r 1 2 — Division ( 1 ) is very l ong bulged

.
, ,
and nearly upright It tapers into Division

.
which is narrow and not long and runs ,
into Division The latter runs into

Division which is slightly bulged It .
slopes outwards and tapers vaguely into an

,
indefinite kind o f Division Th e l obe i s

hanging and is rather rounded though long
, , .
The orifice is too small and slants upwards .
“ ”
A final Addition C is supplied by
Lavater who seems to have here o nl y kept
,
the three last out of the five ears given by him

in the early edition of his book quoted in the ,
previous chapter
F ig 7.
1 . S eem s made f or a
m an pabl e of ac qui ri ng
ca
a nd t ra n smi t ti ng knowl ed g e ;
f or a pe d ag ogue w h o m echani
,
call y c oll ec ts a gr ea t num be r
o f sci e n ti fi c a rt i cl es .
2 Ca nn ot be refe rred to
.
an
y b ut a h ea d excessi v el y
w e ak This form broad a nd sm ooth ; th is w an t of

.
rou nd i ng i n th e co n to urs m ay i n t rut h sub si st w i t h
sup eri or faculti es and parti cul arl y b e found w i th

,
musical ea rs but w h e n th e w h ol e i s so fl at so coarse , ,
S O t ens e i t c er ta i n l y e xcl ud es g en i u s
, .
3 Has t oo much p reci sio n to a scri b e i t t o a b l ock

.
h ea d ; but on the oth er hand i t i s too round and too

, ,
m assy to fur ni sh th e i nd i ca t i on of a n ext raordi na ry ma n .

( )
2 should be Division ( 2 ) is very short
.
,
and in fact j oins the a n ti heli x so that

, ,
-
,
there is no more he li x all round the rest

of the p inna The ear is wide both above
.
and belo w The lobe is wide straight and

.
, ,
narrow The orifice is al most square and is

.
too small .
E a r 3 —Division ( 1 ) is thick and bulged

.
both inside and outside ; it j oins Divisio n

which is very thick and bulged below and ,
sloped towards Division The latter is

only indicated by the thick j oining with
Division which is bulged and tapered
below into Division This last is of medium
thickness and seems to be a roll upon the ear
,
rather than a rim and it slopes and slightly , ,
tapers towards the lobe It is this kind of .
rounded Division ( 5 ) which makes the ear

noteworthy The l obe is rather pointed
.
,
short hanging but wide and thick above The

, ,
.
orifice is odd in shape the bottom being curled ,
as if deformed fro m a blow ; it might be termed

shapeless and it is also too small
,
.
C H AP T E R I X
T HE P H Y S I O GNO M Y O F TH E EAR
TH E characteristics shown by the ear form a

sort of physiognomy of their ow n It is a .
peculiar kind of physiognomy for it does no t

,
mention the usual qualities seen in the face ,
but it gives a mere list of capabilities without

saying whether they are used or not And .
though there are very few in this list the ,
combinations of the qualities are s o numerous

and varied that it would require a m ath em ati
cal calculation to compute them Ye t they .
can be all ranged as they occur under the

, ,
rules given in Chapter II These character

i sti c s appear to be congenital indicating ,
certain qualities waiting to be developed As .
the ear appears to a casual observer to be

beautifully and perfectl y formed from infancy ,
it has been supposed never to alter W e have .
al re ady noticed that M Bertillon assumes this

.
as probable in his book on I d entifica ti on .

l
B ut in fact the ear grows and adapts i tself to

, ,
the growing face .
I t is very curi ous indeed to watch the ears

o f children altering slightly in shape as they
develop their bodily and mental features The .
size o f a baby s ear in comparison to i ts mite

’
of a nose and rose petal of a face will hint

,
-
,
as to the future development of that nose and ,
the lobe will suggest what shape the tiny chin

will tak e An infant can be identified by its
.
ears wi th the greatest ease for about two

years After that they gradually alter more
.
,
often in the actual shape and size o f the p i nna

than the way in which the rim is folded over .
The ears ar e sometimes flat without any

he lix but thi s is not of frequent occurrence
,
.
The rim h as been known to curl over of itself

at the age of two weeks and to tighten the ,
fold later on Such a case was brought to .
the notice of the present writer .
Although the ear indi cates qualities waiting

1 Th e t w ord s are "u l q u unes d es vari ati ns d
e xac e es - o e
f m q ue p ésent t ga n e p arai nt subsiste sans m od i

or e r e ce or sse r
fi ca ti on d p ui s l a n ai n ce j usq u a l a m t (I d nt fic ti n ’ ”
e ssa or e i a o
anth pom t i q u
ro e rI ns t u ti n
e. i g n l é ti q ues pa Al p h on
r c o s S a ,
r se
B ti ll n 1 89 3
er o ,
47 p , , .
’
shape of a child s ears from the age of two
years and a h al f to that o f five and a half .
The following is the analysis
Fig 8
.
F ig 9 .
At
two and a half years ol d th e r ig h t
was as foll ows ( Fig 8) —
. Division ( 1 ) is long
and thick and runs into Division
,
This
latter is thick and runs into a long thick ,
Division which tapers where Division ( 4 )

P H YS I O G N O M Y O F T H E EAR 1 2 7
begins .This Division ( 4 ) is well shaped ,
tapered above and below and is of good,
length It h as been pushed rather l o w by the

.
long Division Therefore Division ( 5 ) has

,
to begin lower down than its right place and ,
it is short and thick and runs into the wide

,
lobe which is gently curved

,
.
At two and a half years ol d the lef t ca r

was of the following shape (Fig 8) —Division .
( )
1 is short Division
.
( )
2 is thick and bulged ,
and pushed backwards o n to Division

Division ( 3) is only indicated by a slight
squareness as the he li x slopes downwards and
,
then outwards with a long slender slightly, ,
bulged Division The latter tapers s l ightly

as it runs into a long and slender Division
which is bulged below and then makes a slight
,
elbow as it j oins the wide lobe itself of a ,
moderate size .
Comparing the abo ve with the following
( g
Fi . we find the alteration as be l ow
At five and a half years ol d the r ig h t ca r
h as altered a good deal Division ( 1 ) has
.
separated from Division ( 2 ) and is now short

and thick and nicked where Division ( 2 )
begins The latter is large and well curved
.
,
1 2 8 THE H U MAN EAR
and pushed a little backwards into the place

of Division and at the other end it runs
into Division ( 3) as before but Division ( 3)
,
has grown larger with the lengthening o f the

p i nn a and instead o f tapering to Divis ion
,
( )
4
it absorbs Division p ul ling it upwards .
Division ( 4 ) is thus a good deal shorter ,
besides being altered in shape and position ,
though it still tapers d own into Division

which has a short thick elbow close to th e
lobe . The lobe remains the same size as
before .
At five and a hal f years old the lef t c a r has

thickened both i n Division ( 1 ) and Division
whilst Divis ion ( 3) has enlarged and
tapers to Division This Division
owing to the increased length of the p i nna ,
has had room to lengthen downwards til l it is

now unusually long It tapers into Division
.
which is flat and makes a square bulge

outside a sort of elbow Although the p i nna
,
.
is enlarged as I s the case with the other car

, ,
the lobe is about the same size as before .
We find that the tops of the ear s are

developed in the same direction and the ,
lower portions are also develope d rather than

,
talents above the average N ow the average.
ear is possessed by astonishingly promising

you ng folk F or it contains tendencies
.
towards capabi lities of every kind together ,
with the freshness of untri ed powers Besides .
a great many genuine capabilities have to go

towards making up a sound and useful
character The point to which we wish to
.
draw attention is that the ear will show

,
which is the quality with the strongest

staying power so that it m ay be relied on to
,
help the other po w ers to keep the whole up

to the mark without any e x ceptional talent
,
.
If the boy or girl has any d esire for a special

pursuit this can be taken into account with
, ,
o ut o ur being obliged to believe that this
desire in itself indica tes a talent The ear .
that is wide and square at the lower part

generally bel ongs to a more impressionable
character than the narrow ear and the o w ners,
in youth frequently desire a career entirely

unsuited to their powers simply from having
,
a friend or relation whose achievements in

that direction have dazzled the m Ye t if .
’
they want to follow their father s profession ,
and if he happens to be able to as sis t them

P H YS I OG N O M Y O F T H E EAR 1 31
to do s o then their impressionability comes

,
in useful in making them eager to learn what

they m ay not have any talent for their one ,
talent being in fact an adaptability to

, ,
favourable circumstances The narrow ear

.
sel d om adapts itself to anything .
There is no fortune tellin g to be found in

-
the ear as we have al ready observed Even

,
.
the ancient magicians —often the most learned

doctors of their time — could not get the stars
and planets to l ook after this portion o f the
rofil e face and though these learned doctors
p
-
,
o f all the science o f the period harped upon
temperaments they could not e xplain away

,
this very obstinate member of the human

’
frame As we have seen they thought men s
.
,
ears resembled those o f animals and that , ,
therefore such men had the same characters

,
.
’
If we sho uld try to tell animals characters by
their ears we S hould have to invent a system
,
for each kind or we might invert the ancient

,
process and s ay the animals had human qual i

ties according to h o w their ears resembled
human ears .
The following classification of capabilities

b y the Five Divi sions of the he li x are ill us
t rat edin each case by e xamples taken from

,
nat ure prints

-
F ig 1 0.
D iv
i si on This refers to personal pride
Fig 1 1
'
“ ”
of the kind called proper pride . The
owner of this ear is fully aware of
p
os
D iv
i si on — This belongs
( 4) a power of to
continued attention o f the mind but it does ,
not indicate mind alone It is often pushed

.
upwards as if drawn up by the tendency to a

,
deficient Division or sometimes as if to

leave room for a large Division O n the
F 19 1 3
other hand it is sometimes pushed down

,
wards absorbing part of Division

,
and
thus leaving room for a well developed upper -
part of the he li x Its normal place ( see

Fig 1 ) is from abov
. e the middl e of the side
of the p i nna ending j ust bel ow the centre of
the ear (Fig .
Di vi si on — This gives a persistent

P H YS I O G N O M Y O F T H E E AR 1 35
attention to ma terial circumstances . H ow

this qualit y is appl ied will be seen in
e xam ples later on ( Fig
.
This short list must appear to consist o f

mere vague capabilities Such as they are
.
,
they will be found to be distributed diff erently

in each ear and here the mystery of the
,
F 19 1 4
working of these capabilities begins to be

seen.
In e xplaini ng the method in which these

F ive Divisions can be usefull y employed in
the attempt to catalogue certa in qualities no
,
as sertion is made as to whether these qu alities

are good or bad All that is claimed is that
.
the probable manner in which the native

qualities will be used is indicated in the ear .
Each ear announces the way in which o ne

half of an undert ak ing will be carried out .
F rom the observation o f many thousands o f

ears I am inclined to consider that whatever
i s placed in the right ear will sho w the
method followed in the first half of an under
—
taking that is in right handed people but
,
-
,
the reverse in those that are left handed -

.
This is only advanced as being possibly true ,
because I have never yet found an e xception

to the rule But this is not so important as
.
the particular fact that where the ears differ ,
the undertakings will vary in their course .
Very seldom are a pair of ears found which

are a perfect match and hence a good deal o f
,
time and an xiety would be spared if the

owners of the usual unmatched c ars could
guess betimes which w ay they were likely to
vary in their undertakings This makes at
.
once a wide Opening f or the unrolling o f

character and the best way to make use of
,
’
one s qualities .
F or instance if Division ( 1 ) is absent in

,
both ears the personal pride does not lead

,
the character but if it appears in one ear

, ,
half of every undertaking is tinged with this

THE H U MAN EA R
Division ( 3) on each side of it The normal .
shape is a gentle arch The position merely .
modifies the way the whims are s et about .
With Division ( 3) the tendency to delight

in things of the past is chiefly found amongst
the upper educated classes Arch aeolo g y and .
antiquarianism in some or all of their branches

are the most common pursuits It gives also .
a bent towards out o f the w ay and ancient

- - -
languages or philology in connection with the

,
ancient parts of modern languages It goes .
also with the search after c u r i os or any thing ,
o r any subj ect apart from the beaten track o f
the owner s life It is absent in more than

’
.
5 0 per cent and when present it is seldom

,
found in more than one c ar So stro ng is its .
influence that when it is present in bo th ears

it sh apes the career o f the owner in spite o f
himself The particular quality it indicates
.
in any given ear may be surmised from com

paring the shape and size of the other divisions
o f the he li x .
The special power of fi xing the attention

o n any subj ect shown in Division
,
works
in very unforeseen ways It does not make .
people clever yet clever people are seldom

,
P H YS I OG N O M Y O F T H E EA R 1 39
without some of it and real ly stupid people

,
if such e xist — will have some more or l ess

futile form of it overbalanced by one of the
,
other divisions which drags off the attention

to its ow n quality Ye t e xtremely stupid
.
people m ay possess Division if they persist

in their stupidity with sufficient dil igence .
Very clever people can be entirely without it if ,
persistent attention is not required for their

form of tal ent It can be seen in abundance at
.
al l meetings o f learned societies amongst the

industrious o f those who attend Extension
lectures ; in the ha bi tues of the British M useum
’
reading room ; and at afternoon teas amon gst

-
“ ”
noted housewives W here it is onl y present

.
in one ear the owner is either precocious and ,
a subsequent failure in life or else accounted ,
stupid in youth and une xpected ly clever in

middle age W hat to make of such a capability
.
lies apparently in the power of the possessor .
Skilled workmen have it and members o f ,
Parliament who are hard working repre se n -
t a ti ves o f ou r country There is something

.
akin to pleasure in the spectacle of a man with

a feeble D ivision ( 4 ) makin g a speech where
most of his audience listen with ears w ell
dowered with long bulged and tapered forms

, ,
o f Division The dawning astonishment

o n their faces at being e xpected to accept
such inadequate representations as are being

forced upon them followed by involuntary
,
and unanimous laughter succeeded by well ,
timed repression o f the speaker by the chair

man o r president at last goaded into O lympian
,
though restrained wrath and the spluttering

,
o f the repressed speaker like a cheap lam p ,
turned down to o suddenl y—al l testify to the

value of the physiognomy of the ear in rela
tion to Division A very common form
o f Division
( )
4 is when it is run up into
Division and also down into Division
without any break or nick and the hd i x is ,
sometimes very thick The way in which

.
their owners pursue their obj ects through

thi ck and thin is amusing because they do ,
not stop to thi nk a thing out properly for

itself but only regard it in connection with
,
their own wants They are limited in spite

.
,
o f apparent intelligence by this devotion to

,
their own well being If this composite shape

-
.
i s slender and tapered t op and botto m the

owner requires early instruction to be well
and the converse strengthens it A bulge on .
both sides gives overflowing energy .
W e require but a S light knowledge of

the laws of ethics to guess ho w the Five
Divisions m ay clash and counteract one
another and to select the characteristics that
,
can be deduced from the whole combination .
Emotion and goodness p er s e are not t o be

found in the ear nor intellect nor wicked
, ,
n ess .The only possible hint at any one of

them is in the proportion o f one division to
another .
As all the specimens given in this book are

selected from the ears of the upper educated
clas ses it is interesting to note how the capa
,
bili ti es marked by the Five D ivisions work in

the m Some of them belong to self made
.
-
members o f society risen through sheer force

,
of talent and rectitude O thers belong to

.
members of ancient or titled families Many .
are celebrities and others are of eminence in

,
their respective careers .
To complete the physiognomy of the ear ,
we must now refer to the remaining points to

be observed .
Wherever a little knot occurs that d ivision ,

P HYS I OGNO MY O F T H E EAR 1 43
possesses a power of specialising ( Fig .
This c ar has very little heli x yet it belongs

,
to a tale nted woman who has two specialities

apart from her usu al avocations They are .
m arked by the arrows .
When the ear is wide at the base of the

openi ng it shows a power of appreciating
,
F ig 1 5 .
diff erences of sound We give an exampl e

.
( g 6 ) in the ears of Sir John Stainer M us

F i 1
.
, .
Doc lately Professor of M usic in the University

.
,
of O xford The square shape is identical with

.
’
the form of M ozar t s ears in the best portraits
of that great composer It will be noticed
.
that the left ear h as a sli ghtly squarer opening

than the right ear and it is very remarkable
,
’
that in compari ng them with M o z art s the
, ,
1 44 THE H U MA N E AR
same diff erence of S hape is found with the ,
noticeable fact that the orifice o f Sir John

’
St ainer s left ear resembles that of M ozart s ’
right ear while the orifice o f the right ear o f

,
the former repeats that of the l eft ear of the

latter .
The square form is seldom absent in the
F 19 1 6
orifices of the ears of musicians especially ,
composers but though it brings delight in

,
sounds it does not always belong to musicians .
It is seen in large numbers in the best orchestras

and at concerts where classical music is played ,
and amongst linguists it is not uncommon in

a modified form .
When the orifice is much narrowed there is

a tendency to deafness that should be guarded
position or special knowledge . It is more

common in men than in women and this ,
’
perhaps accounts for the former s zeal in
oratory and leaders in newspapers The .
’
patient talking for talking s sake which is a
,
feminine trait—intended for the transmission

of languages to chil d ren from their earliest
age—is not shown by any squareness of the
ear and must not be confused with this shape
,
.
In fact the wo m en who may chance to possess

,
this shape of ear are likely to take to writing

for the press or lecturing in public as an un
,
ceasing flow of oratory is not apprecia te d in

the domestic c ircle even by children .
CH AP T ER X
F URT HER E X A M PL E S O F T H E EAR
TH E variations of the shape of the ear and o f

the rim and of the orifice we have S hown can
,
be cl assified both for identification and for
F 19 1 7
physiognomy In fact the latter helps to fix

.
,
the S hape in the memory making id entific a

,
tion more quick and easy W e gi ve some .
more e xamples of the way these rul es can be

applied together with further modifications

,
and their indications o f capabilities .
When the top o f the ear is straight (Fig .
there is a kind of independence of char

acter that is often found amongst travellers .
This level shape is in a very distinct form in

the left ear of Fig 1 7 It belongs to M rs
. .
F ig 1 8
.
Theodore Bent the wi dow of the distinguished

,
traveller in the G reek Archipelago in M ashona

,
land Arabia and the island of Socotra She

, ,
.
accompanied her husband on all his j ourneys ,
which were often very arduous undertakings .
A gentle curve is the most usual form of

the top of the p i nna (Fig The very high
pointed form caused by Division ( 2 ) being
,
1 5 0 T HE H U MAN E AR
An interesting e xample of how these two

forms of Division (2 ) act together is seen above
( g
F i The right ear gives a traveller ,
the left ear an artist the large Division

,
( )
3 betokens a delight in o u t o f the way things - - -
,
and the attention to details and masses o f

people is S hown in the long Division
They belong to the well known traveller M r
-
, .
A Henry Savage Landor who describes hi m

.
,
“ ”
self as artist and traveller and who seeks ,
the most out of the way tribes and places to

- - -
travel amongst and to sketch Division ( 4 ) .
being slender the attention is more devoted

,
to action than to continued thought The large .
Division ( 1 ) gives him self reliance which is a -

,
different qu al ity from independence and even ,
more neces sary under diffi cult and dangerous

circumstances .It is noticeable that in the
portraits of M r A H S Landor before and
. . . .
after torture the only feature that appears the

,
same is the ear and although it had become

,
rather thinner it could have been at on c e

identified (see I n the F or bi d d e n L a nd vol ,
.
p . O wing to the head be i ng more

upright in the second portrait the ear appears ,
to be placed higher up This illusion is dis

.
F U RT H E R E XA M P L E S 1 51
ell e byd placing a ruler even with the top of

p
the ear and eyebrow in each case when they ,
are seen to be really in the same place .
( Fig .
— This ear is adduced to il l ustrate
the way in which the Five Divisions are some
times pushed about the heli x much as th e
,
features of the face are often out o f proportion .
F 19 2 0
Here Division ( 2 ) is bulged and pushed down

towards the place of Division ( 3) in the left
ear and then runs straight into Division
,
dragging it a little too high because Division

( 3) is absorbed between Division ( 2 ) and
Division Division ( 5 ) is tapered begin ,
ning rather high and it is of the form found

,
when the owner has to superintend the wel fare

of others In the right ear Division ( 2 ) ab

.
sorbs Divis ion ( 3) altogether and Division ( 4)

,
is not clearly shown e xcept by i ts tapering

top ; it runs into Division thi ckening the
heli x without a break showing that the at ten
,
tion is used fo r emergencies belongi ng to

Division
F 19 2 1
( Fig .
— This is another peculiarity viz , .
a double bend of the lw li x It is deeply in

.
dented all down the side of the left ear where ,
the he li x begins to bend over from wh ere

Division ( 3) should be through Division ( 4 )
,
down to the end o f Division This in

itself is so rare as to be of the greatest use
for identification whilst the right c a r h as
,
the owner actually belongs But h o w often

.
we have met members of one nation whose

characters strongly rese m bled those of another
nation " Books of travel mention people who
are f ound e xceptional in their own nation .
Such persons are attracted to the people of

the other nation and frequently make their
way to the country of their choice S howing ,
F 19 2 3
an unusual facility in learning and pronounc

ing the language .
( g
F i .
— This an e xample o f energy in
e xceptional circumstances Division ( 3) ah

.
sorbs Division ( 4 ) in the right ear and pulls

it too high ; and in the left ear Division ( 3)
is as large as Division Division ( 5 ) has a
large place in each ear and is well shaped
,
.
Independence is shown in the top o f the

p i nn a being nearly flat It is
. this together ,
with the siz e of Division tha t gives the

energy in looking after th e well being of -
many The pai r belongs to an Irish lady a

.
,
nurse at the Royal Naval Hospital at Hasl ar .
M iss E K eogh is o ne of the only two naval

.
nurses who have receive d a medal This was .
F 19 2 4
for vol untary hospital service on board ship

o ff the tropical coast of Benin during the e x
p e di t i o n sent two o r three years ago by the
Engl ish against the natives o f Western Africa .
The ear is remarkable in itself but might,
belong to any civili sed nation .
( g
F .i — The peculiarity in the le f t ear
i s the long thick and straight Division
, ,
which is tapered abo ve and runs into a short

thick Division betokening unusual powe rs

o f atten tion B y the addition o f the large
.
Division ( 3) in the other c ar the bu l g ed ,
Division and the large Division we

may guess the owner has chosen so m e unusual
fields of research in a strictly scientific domain ,
no t unallied with
powers o f original discovery .
F 19 2 5
M iss Florence Buchanan the University o f,

of
O xford has already been known as a lecturer

,
and discoverer in the science of zoology .
W e give in Fig 2 5 a portrait of the ears

,
.
,
of M iss E E W ard al e Ph D of Z urich who

. .
, . .
, ,
al though English has obtained th is G erman

,
degree owing to her linguistic attai nments

, .
Division ( 3) is in both ears showing interest ,
in o ut of the w ay subj ects and dominating the

- - -
,
to an o ut o f the way subj ect which in c onne c

- - -
,
tion with the pear like opening of the orifice

-
indicates linguistic interests In the left ear .
Division ( 4 ) is long and tapered Division ( 3) .
is short and of a compact shape making the ,
ear push outwards with a tendency to square

ness and the combination of Division ( 3) and
,
F 19 2 7
Divisio n in th es e forms shows a n attention

,
to the value of words The l obe is large

.
,
givi ng firmness This pair of ears so admi r

.
,
ably adapted to the selection and weighing

o f words according to their linguistic value ,
belongs to Dr J A H M urray the editor of

. . . .
,
the great English Dictionary now being pub

l ish ed by the Clarendon Press at O xford .
W e h ave hitherto dealt with pairs of ears

where each ear differed more or less in a
noticeable way from its fell ow for this is the
,
most frequent cas e ; and it is not easy to find

a pair so much alike as those presented in Fig .
27. In both ears the rim is continuous with ,
only a slight hint of narrowing where Division
F19 2 8
( )
4 runs into Division The lobes
somewhat but this is owing to u nequal
,
piercing for ear rings -

.
( g
F i .
— H ere the ears form a tolerable
pair and are al so an e xamp l e o f an unusual
,
kind of helix The right ear is somewhat

.
similar to the left but the p i nna is more

,
pointed In the left ear Division ( 1 ) is large

.
and bulged Division ( 2 ) runs into Division

,
whilst Division ( 4) is bulged and pulled

up too high and it has the knot that i ndicates
,
a speciality in its use Division ( 5 ) is long

.
and tapered and the dotted line shows where

,
the delicate indent runs which marks the roll

form of h elix giving a tendency to obey laws
,
and make rules for the well being of others -

.
F19 2 9
The orifice is of a very pecul iar shape so m e ,
times found with a taste for music or singing ,
but not with a general quickness o f hearing

for other sounds .
In Fig 2 9 we have a splendid form of helix

.
f or the active u s e o f Divisions and

They are all j oined together into a large
bulged rim Division ( 4 ) coming wel l tapered
,
left c ar all in their own places and all well

, ,
proportioned and developed ; whilst in the

right ear they are again indicated though ,
with much less precision but in addition , , ,
there is the knot in D ivision ( 4 ) — indicated by

the arrow— which gives a speciali ty to wh ich
the at te ntion is mainly directed The orifice .
is of a pear like shape in both ears alike

-
, ,
though here not clearly shown owing to ,
omission of the outline That these ears must

.
belong to a philolo g ist of the highest rank is

inevitable For Division ( 3) is o f the accen
.
t u ate d shape that is nicked inside at the two

ends and with the elbow form outside whilst
-
,
the orifice gives minute attention to the

so und s of words and the roll form of Divi sion
,
-
( )
5 causes the seeking of laws in th ese subj ects .
They belong to Professor A H S ayce Pro . .

,
f e ss or of Assyr io l ogy at O xford It wo ul d not

.
be possible to find a more brilliant e xample o f

a special character formed for the particular
purpose o f amassing curious and invaluable
lore on ancient languages .
I had already seen all the Five Divisions

separately before I found any ears with all of
them show n at once in any separate forms .
F U RT H E R E X A M P L E S 1 63
Usually the Five D ivisions are to be found

co al escing in groups It is o ne o f the rarer
.
types of ears ; and this is the only case in

which I have seen each division e xactly in
place nicked and shaped as if on purpose to
e xhibit them in proper order .
A peculiar form o f hel ix is in the ears o f

the novelist Charles D i ckens ( d
,
.
W hich have been obtai ned from two di ff erent
F ig 31 .
sources ( Fig . The right ear is repro

d uc ed by special permission from a photo
graph by the L ondon S tereoscopic Co L td .
,
.
,
1 0 6 and 1 0 8 Regent S treet W and 5 4 ,

.
,
Cheapside E C The left ear also reproduced

,
.
,
by special permission is from a ph otograph

,
belonging to Mr G L . . .
1 64 THE H U M AN EA R
P rinter , S t Al ban s Road W atford

.
’
Herts , , .
The right ear has D ivision ( 1 ) j oined to

D ivis ion ( 2 ) There is no D ivision
D ivision ( 4) i s o f a very unusual shape It is
long and tapered top and bottom with a ,
slight tendency to begin the tapering too

soon and then to give it up and to begin
,
again lower down If this is to be translated

.
like the rest it would mean that hi s powers of

,
attention habitually tried to leave off in the

middle o f a subj ect And if we turn to his .
M SS and exam i ne them the peculi ar way in

.
,
which they are almost doubled in lengt h by

additions and insertion between the lines
would seem to bear out the suggestion of the
rim as to the kind of action of the attention
of the mind It is as if he caught up the
.
train of th ought again and completed it on ,
revision D ivision ( 5 ) is tapered above and

.
below ; this form means dealing i n d eta il with

masses o f people certainly an absolute necessity
,
to a novelist o f his kind .
The left ear is nicked where D ivision ( 3)

sho ul d be and the part is pushed outwards
,
with a squ ar e form showing an abundant flow

,
of words Division ( 4 ) is long and ta pered

.
,
C H AP T E R XI
H ERE D I TY AS SH OW N IN E A RS
TH E question how far heredity can be shown
in the ear is e xtremely interesting when we
consider its ful l import F o r by comparing .
careful portraits of ears with those of the

parents the children may be identified as
,
their offspring when the other features do

not give su fficient clue It is in the re com
.
bination of the Five D ivisions of the helix

that the child asserts its own identity but ,
the kind o f divisions are generally hinted at

in those of the parents In the case of the .
orifice this is equally noticeable as we shall ,
see later on .
O ur first e xamples are those of a father

and mother and two o f their sons ( Figs 32 .
,
In Fig 34 in the kf t ear D ivision ( 1 ) is

.
’
thick like the father s but the rest of the
,
H E RE D I T Y S H O W N I N E A RS 1 67
he lix is narrower and the lobe is pointed

,
’
and small The orifice is like the father s
.
,
but the whole p inna is narrower We may .
’
here observe that the father s ear is very wide ,
’
and the mother s ear is rather narro w The .
r i ht ear o f Fig
’
g 3 4 begins like
. the father s
l ef t ear ( Fig D ivision ( 1 ) running into
.
D ivision and both these divisions ar e

thi ck D ivision ( 3) has an origin al shape of
.
its own not borrowed from either parent and

, ,
the helix is again narro w er than the father s ’
ending with a smal l pointed lobe The orifice .
of t he r ig ht ear is like that o f the fath er s lef t ’
ear.
In Fig 35 the lef t ear is l ike the father s

.
’
l ef t ear ( Fig 32 ) on a smaller sc al e with the

.
,
divisions less marked but D ivision ( 2 ) is ,
pushed up where it j oins D ivision and

the latter runs into D ivision ( 4 ) without a
nick The t op of the ear is flat like the
.
,
mother s ( Fig’
The orifice is in shape
.
between that of each parent In the r ig ht .
ear the resemblance to the father s r ig ht ear ’
is noticeable but all on a smaller scale and

, ,
with th e difference of having a flat t op to

’
this ear also again like the mother s ear
,
.
1 68 T HE H U M AN EAR
We have already given the ears o f S ir

John Stainer Mus Doc lately P rofessor of
, . .
,
Music at Oxford the well known composer

,
-
( Fig 1 6.chap
, .
F ig 36 .
These of his wife L ady Stainer and

, ,
of
F ig 87
.
their eldest son Mr J F ,

. . . R . S tainer ,
a
barrister are shown in Figs
,
. 36 and 37 . A
1 70 T HE H U M AN EA R
in Fig 4 1 ) by th e larger lower inlet of the

.
orifice of the mother s ear Fig 4 3 has the’

. .
orifice much more rounded in its contours

’
than the father s .
D ivision ( 1 ) is large in all cases e xcept ,
th e r ig ht ear of Fig 4 1 . .
The peculiar bulged D ivision (2 ) o f the

mother s lef t ear ( Fig 39 ) reappears in both
’
.
ears of Fig 44 . .
The way D ivision ( 3) and D ivision ( 4) are

run together in the father s xig ht ear (Fig ’
.
38) reappears in the l ef t ears of Figs 4 0 4 1 .

, ,
and 4 2 whilst it occurs in both ears of Fig

,
.
44 in a lengthened form .
D ivision ( 5 ) is well developed in both

parents but of di fferent shapes Both shapes
, .
are adopted and modified by the five children ,
the tendency being chiefly to follo w the wider

’
outline of the mother s Fig 4 4 however . .
, ,
very nearly reproduces the outlines of the

’
father s ears at D ivision although the
whole r ig ht lobe is wide like the mother s r ig h t ’
lobe .
None of the children have the knot in the

mother s r ig ht ear ( Fig
’
In this respect .
they all follow the father w ho has none , .

H E RE D I T Y S H O W N I N E A RS 1 7 1
The strongly marked nick where D ivision

-
( ) ( ) f
’
1 j oins D ivision 2 in the mother s l e t ear
( Fig . 39 ) is hinted at in the l f

e t ear o f Fig .
4 2 and it also reappears in both ears of Fig

,
.
44 . The nick at the other end of D ivision

( ) l (
’
2 in the mother s f
e t ear Fig where .
it marks the place where D ivision ( 3) runs

i nto D ivision
( )
4 and pulls it t o o high is ,
hin ted at in the rig ht ear of Fig 4 1 and

"
.
in the lef t ear of Fig 4 2 and it also reappears

.
,
well marked in both ears of Fig 4 4 . .
The pear shaped orifice in the mother s

-
’
r ig h t ear
( Fig 39
.
) does not seem to reappear

in the children In Fig 4 0 and Fig 4 2 the
. . .
r i h t ear orifices have not been outlined but

g ,
other indi cations infer that in each case these

resemble their o w n l ef t ear orifices as also ,
in the case of the father s ears ( Fig ’

.
Another point to observe in heredity is

the shape of the t op o f the p inna If there .
is any special curve or flatness in the top o f

either ear of either parent it is generally ,
reproduced in the O pposite ear of one of the

children As far as we have observed the
.
,
chances are equal as to whether it is the ear

of a son or a daughter that may take after
the ear of the father or the mother In the .
family at present under consideration the ,
father s ears ( Fig 38) have both a more

’
.
complete arch than the mother s ( Fig ’

.
“ ”
whose l ef t ear has a tendency to the elbow
’
form o f he li x j ust w h ere D ivision ( 2 ) runs into

the short and thick Division which latter
pulls D ivision ( 4) upwards o ut o f place The .
eldest daughter ( Fig 4 0 ) has a tendency to .
straightness at the top of both ears evidently ,
o t from some ancestor as it is not seen in

g ,
either parent The second d aughter ( Fig 4 1 )

. .
h as her lef t ear arched like her father s lef t

’
ear whilst her r ig ht ear is drawn out at the

,
top somewhat like her mother s lef t ear The ’

.
eldest son ( Fig 42 ) has the lef t ear to pped

.
like the lef t ears of both his father and his

mother i e the outline is like his father s
, . .
’
’
only it is widened like his mother s and the ,
arch is lowered whilst his e ig ht ear is topped

,
al most the same as his own lef t ear The .
second so n ( Fig 4 3) h as the gentle arch in

.
both ears like that in his fath er s r ig ht ear ’

,
only that the wh ole top being wider it slopes

o ff more gradually The third son ( Fig 4 4 )
. .
has the outline of the top of the r ig ht p inna

1 74 T HE H U M AN E AR
the full —
face view Yet where the lobes di ffer
.
very much from one another it is usually an ,
F ig 4 5
.
indication that some chance has deformed one

o f them and the chin on both sides seen in
, ,
F ig 4 6
.
profile will be more like one ear than the

,
other We cannot be sure from this shape

.
H E R ED I T Y S H O W N I N E A RS 1 75
of the ear of a boy of six as to which lobe ,
his chi n will follow in shape As a rul e .

,
however the chin grows up to match the

,
lobe of the lef t ear We may perhaps e xpect

.
this chin to become rather flat with a little

point in the centre that will not show so much
’
in the profile as in the three quarter s View -
.
The ears of D r Richard Garnett late of

.
,
the B ritish Museum ( Fig and of his

.
( Fig . and of their eldest daughter ,
Mrs Guy Hall ( Fig

. show in a marked
.
manner the tendency of a child to select an

ear shape from each parent
-
.
Th e father s r ig ht ear ( Fig 4 5 ) is copied

’
.
in the r ig ht ear of the daughter ( Fig 4 7 ) with .
’
but slight modifications whilst the daughter s
,
l ef t ear ( Fig 4 7 ) copies the mother s l ef t ear

’
.
( Fig . e xcept that in the shape of D ivision

( ) it follows the mother s r ig ht ear The
’
2 .
orifices of both ears of the daughter ( Fig 4 7 ) .
resemble that of the father s lef t ear ( Fig ’

.
’
The lobes of the daughter s ears are smaller
’
and are most like the father s .
’
The way in which children s ears modify
’
their selections from their parents c ars can be
seen in the following e xamples
D ivision ( 1 ) is large in both paren ts ( Fig .
4 8 and Fig It is not so thick in the

.
daughter s ears ( Fig

’
or in the son s ( Fig ’
.
but the length o f D ivi sion ( 1 ) in Fig 5 0 is .
’
like the father s and in Fig 5 1 it resembles
,
.
th e mother s
’
.
D ivision ( 2 ) in the father s lef t ear ( Fig 4 8)

’
.
is like D ivision ( 2 ) in the daughter s lef t ear ’
( (
r i h t ear Fig
’
Fig . and in the son s g .
but in the other ears D ivision ( 2 ) resembles

’
neither parents form .
D ivision ( 3) is small and yet bulged in the

father s r ig h t ear ( Fig
’
and it reappears
.
large and thick in the son s l ef t ear (Fig ’

.
and in his r ig ht ear D ivision ( 3) runs into

D ivision ( 4 ) and drags it too high whilst ,
D ivision ( 4 ) ends with a ni ck wh ere a narrow ,

1 78 THE H U M AN EAR
This particular form o f D ivision ( 4 ) is generally

individual rather than hereditary .
The above e xtremely interesting varieties o f
F ig 5 2
.
ears in members o f the same family belong to

D r Griffiths lately Chief S urgeon of the Royal
.
,
F ig 5 3
.
Naval Hospital Hasl ar with his wife their

, , ,
only daughter and youngest son

, .
That the ears of twins should d iffer mani ,

H E RE D I T Y S H O W N I N E A RS I 79
fe stl y comes under the heading of Heredity .
In these e xamples o f the ears of twin sisters -

,
the ears differ so much in size and in shape

that identification is easy It happens that
.
these twins are not alike in feature and this

,
can be gathered from the lobes indicating a

different size of chin for each the varying
,
length of the p inna implying also a d i ff erent

length of the nose f or each .
A case o f t w in sisters who closely resemble

-
,
each other in appearance has come under our

,
notice but we are not permitted to give the

,
ears We may mention that these ears vary

.
also both as to size of p inna and shape o f

,
h e l ix .They are not quite as dissimilar as the

above but the helix varies su fficiently for
,
instant identification .
C H AP T E R XII
E AR S R R E
AS PO T AY D I N S CULPTU RE AN D
I NT IN G
PA
F R O M the sculptures and bas reliefs that rem ain

-
to us belonging to the Assyrian period we find

, ,
that the Assyrians preferred to carve a very

round ear almos t circular at the top and run
,
ing down suddenly to the lobe from what we ,
may now refer to as the middle of Division

( )
4 in its normal s i tuation Many s p
.ecimens
are to be seen in the s l abs let into the walls
along the Assyrian Galleries at the British
Museum . This form of ear is repeated
regularly on all profiles wheth er of kings o r
,
of captains or of common sol diers with the ,
singular e xception of some of the captives or

slaves —showing that the sculptor knew what
he was about The circular shape is also used
.
for the Assyrian human headed bulls at the

-
entrance to the Egyptian Hall at the British

1 82 THE H U M AN E AR
characte r in itself the most artistical ly decor

,
ative alphabet ever invented .
No other nation has seen fit to adopt this

form in its portraits though the Egyptians , ,
with whom the writers of cuneiform have o f

late been shown to have been in constant
correspondence have also a tendency to carve
,
the tops of the ears in a somewhat too arched

and decorative way elongating the whole ,
p inn a at the same time The E gyptians .
delighted in giving the natural ears of the ir

animal headed idols which shows their know
-
,
ledge of the subj ect They possessed however

.
, ,
the artistic perception that the human ear ,
being by nature beautiful and intricate in

shape woul d attract too much attention if
,
represented with the same amount o f finish

bestowed upon the other features and accord ,
i ng l y it is kept in subordination They .
invented a peculiar trick of putting the orifice

in the w rong place i e too high and formed
,
. .
,
like a mere indent which deludes the eye on

,
a cursory glance and actually induces it to

,
return at once to the consideration of the

more accurate profile The outline is some
times correctly given in relation to the j aw ,
P O R T RA Y E D IN S C U L P T U RE 1 83
but while the bas relief of the p inna is pur

-
os e l scamped the e x quisite carving of t h e

p y ,
cheek and chin shows that the sculptor must

have had an eye for form and a hand for
e xecution which could have caused him to
represent th e ear faithfully if he had so
chosen W e are driven otherwise to suppose
.
that the royal owners had very sorry speci

mens o f ears and that attention was not
,
particularly desired as to their he lix and

orifices.
The Egyptian ears are usually placed

vertically against the side of the head It is .
not possible that every Egyptian should have

h a d them in this position P ossibly it was
.
considered to be a beautiful and kingly

attitude And indeed as ears follow the
, ,
slope of the nose and th e Egyptian nose took

,
the flat form of t he aquiline probably a good ,
many cars were tolerably bolt upright .
Although the ears are often sculptured in

right proportion to the nose yet th ey are ,
sometimes hoisted so high that the bottom

of the lobe is scarcely below the lower eyeli d .
This gives a new decorative effect of an

e xtraordinary kind which must have been
,
intentional It alters the e xpression of the

.
rest of the features and by preventing them

,
from looking too human subtly suggests that ,
the statue o f the king represents something

superhuman I have not observed this posi
.
tion of the ears e xcept in statues of Egyptian

kings and gods or on the carved coffin lids
, ,
where a decorative and superhuman e ff ect is

the first obj ect Neverth eless there is an
.
,
e xception and Tahutm es IV ( B C 1 4 1 4 ) is

, . . .
remarkable for having a really human ear ,
with the orifice in the right place and the

helix and lobe distinctly carved as if r epre
senting a true portrait of an ear In spite of .
the careful carving it is much too large for

,
the face and does not tally in outline with it

, .
B ut the head dress that closely fits the fore

-
head and then stands straight out behind the

,
ear at right angles to the head seems to ,
demand some huge ornament to be set in the

cavity to relieve its austere lines and to set
o ff the small and delicate face It was a bold .
sculptor who ventured to enlarge an ear for

the sake of decoration W e are grateful to .
him for the ear is essentially of present day

,
-
type showing that ears do not belong to time

,
in a different manner to the Egyptians The .
hair being worn thick and waving helped to

, ,
shade the c ar more o r less when desired and ,
the type o f ear chosen for statues was of the

elementary kind where the helix was gently
,
rounded to harm onl se with the rounded cheek

instead of with the outline of the j aw bone -
,
and the lobe w as not la rge whatever might ,
be the size of the chin The hol l ow of the .
ear though in appro ximately the right place

, ,
merely suggested the shape it would assume

to a casual glance from a distance That this .
was done on purpose from a conventional ,
rendering of a Grecian idea of beauty is ,
proved by the greater care w ith which the

ears of portrait busts are rendered The
short hair of the emperors senators and , ,
generals compelled their ears to be a visible

part of their recognisable features and the ,
way in which the outline of the helix repeats

the outline of the j aw bone proves the genuine
-
representation of the original ear Julius .
C aesar Augustus and Cicero are e xamples

, ,
.
The ears of Marcus Aurelius are well done i n

the best busts but his head was copied and
,
r e copied frequently till the ears were scarcely

-
,
PO R T RAY E D I N S C U L P T U RE 1 87
the same and later on it is evident that some

,
alien model was substituted for them .
The best carved bust of Julius Caesar

corresponds with the best e ffi gy of him o n a
coin as regards the ear By comparing other
,
.
l ikenesses of him we see h o w the original

,
form o f ear h as been altered by a carel ess or a

less skilful hand in reproduction or in copying .
The original form was o f a thoroughly well

developed type following the outline o f the
,
j aw and chin and the slope and length of the

nose and with all the Five D ivisions separately
,
marked in the helix They are in fact so

.
, ,
well carved that we can read their phy si og

n om y which certainly is unique and could
, ,
belong to none but Julius C aesar As he was

.
known to be particul ar about his personal

appearance it is not unlikely that he insisted
,
o n his ears being as accurately rendered as his
other features he could not but be aware that

they were remarkably shapely ears .
Although a conventional ear was adopted

for statues occasionally a real c ar was substi
,
tut e d giving a startling air of superabundance

,
o f life without any apparently adequate cause .
W e may refer our readers to the statue of

Hermes with the infant D ionysos by P raxi ,
tel es which has a very beautiful ear Th e

, .
proportion is true the l ength being twice the

,
width The h elix is gently curved and

.
tapered whilst the incl ination to mark each

,
o f the Five D ivisions by a l ittle nick inside

“ ”
and a sl igh t elbow form outside is very ,
noticeable because s o rare The lobe is well

,
.
curved and pendent and of medium size .
The orifice is large s l ightly square at the

,
bottom and then sl anting up to fit the slope

o f the ear The artistic physiognomy o f this
.
ear points to it as belonging to P raxiteles

h imself for assuredly h e coul d have g o t no
,
other model for it .
The sculpture and the bronzes of the

Middle Ages appear to ad opt ears by chance ,
and f or centuries no feature was so i na d e

q uat el y represented S ometimes they
. seem
to be dropping o ff or again to have been ,
stuck into the skull with a thud that would

h ave gone through it in a real head O r they .
are made t o o small and placed too high or ,
brought forward into the cheek —especial l y

in women s faces where a small ear close to
’
th e nose w as considered e x quisitely enchanting .

e xcept the o to m orphol o g ist can more fully ap

,
r e c i a t e the beauty and the manifold varieties

p
of the ear than the artist The colour and .
delicacy o f the skin attracts attention as

well as the beautiful curves o f the p inna the ,
hel ix and the c onc ha besides the varied

, ,
forms o f the tr a g us and the a nti tr a g us that -
seem to stand to challenge each sound before

it is permitted to ente r the ever open door -
.
The ear is e xtremely di fficult to draw And .
several of the great art ists seem to have

adopted an ear form of their o w n which
-
,
becomes one of the signs by which a doubtful

picture can be authenticated W ith regard to .
thi s point we would refer to th e L ife of L otto

,
l
,
the Venetian painter where this is frequently

,
mentioned and a further account pro mi sed for

,
the future I have observed that the greatest

.
’
artists drew men s ears like those in their own
portraits whenever they coul d and that they ,
’
took some favourite model s ears for their
feminine heads This can be tested by
.
noticing the outline of ear and lobe and ,
whether they coincide with the j aw bone and -
1 L orenzo L otto An E ssa y i n Constructi v

e Art Cri ti ci sm,
b y Bernha rd Bere nson , 1 89 5 .

P O R T RA Y ED IN S C U L P T U RE 1 91
chin and whether the ear is in proportion to

,
the nose and has the same slope .
Rafia ell e used to draw ears that must have

’
belonged to the face he was painting ; they

tally e xactly to the face and are equally
accurate in form F or e xample notice the
.
,
foreground figure of a kneeling woman in the

”
great picture of The Transfiguration S he .
is in profile and her ear is carefully given it ,
tal lies in every respect with the face and both ,
are beautiful It is the arrangement of the

.
hair that prevents too much attention being

absorbed by the c ar which is therefore kept
,
in artistic subordination although it is per

f ec tl y drawn
. It was also by th e hair that
P ra xiteles subordinated the interest o f the
splendidly human ear he gave to his Hermes
w ith the infant D ionysos already mentioned, .
The tendency of the inferior artists is to draw

ears th at have no a nti tr a g us with a rim l ike
-
,
a hem all round a heavy lobe that appears to

,
grow o ut of nothing and a dark and shapeless

,
splash o f paint th at does duty for a n ti helix -
and orifice in one No nation or period can

.
claim the shapeless ear for its own speciality ,
for the inabil ity to draw an ear besets the

1 9 2 THE H U M AN EA R
artis ts of every country and o f every time .
In por traits th e ear is frequently shirked

by means of overhanging headgear or hair .
There w a s a period of about eighty years

w hen short wigs or long hair hid all but the
l ower half o f the ear between 1 7 7 0 and 1 85 0
, .
The peculiar way in which this unfortunate

truncated ear is hi tched on to the side of the
face sugges ts that it was fastened to the wig
and put o ff and on daily P rofile portraits
.
were common at the time for the style of wig

,
suited the profile better than the full face .
The black silhouettes helped to perpetuate

this fashion and on some of them can st ill be
,
seen dainty little curves in gold supposed ,
to represent the ears Ringlets o f ladies were

.
added in much the same manner .
P hotography ha s cha nged the whole worl d

of portrait painting ,
and in nothing has it
done more good than in the recogni tion of the
rights of the ear . Full face portraits were
-
chosen at first but the sticking out of the ears

,
-
appalled the beh olders Every way was tried

.
to disguis e the size of the ear s L ooking .
through old photograph books we can see to ,
wh at strai ts the p h otographers w ere brought .

placed from days o f old in temples and

churches as votive o ff erings in gratitude for
recovery from some affection o f the ear They .
were used by the Roma ns as wel l as by suf

f erers in later times After rea di ng the ancient
.
cures for deafness one would hardly e xpect to

,
find any ancient votive o ff erings o n this score .
Nevertheless several have been found and

, ,
those no w in the Museum at Bristol were dug

out from Roman remains about two or three
years ago They are made of terra cotta and
.
-
from their well modelled shape nothing seems

-
amiss with them even the physiognomy can be

,
deciphered ; but in each case th e orifice is of

the somewhat restricted kind which indicates
inclination to deafness P erhaps some tem
.
orary attack had occurred or was threatened

p ,
and had been cured f or the time being .
The form does not show hopeless deafness but ,
a hardness of hearing The modern votive.
ears of s ilver in the same place are absolu tely

, ,
conventional and are merely stamped on thin

,
s il ver plates.
In the P itt Rivers Collection in the Uni

versity Museum at Oxford there is a small
case containing votive o fferings includin g ,
P O R T RA Y E D I N S C U L P T U RE 1 95
several ears O ne
terra cotta tablet has a
.
-
pair of ears affi x ed These two ears differ a

.
little in size and still more in shape yet they

, ,
may possibly belong to the same person and ,
it does not seem likely that a right and a left

ear o f different persons should be m odelled for
o ne tablet The orifices are both very sm al l
.
and conventional one being a round indent in

,
the very middle o f the ear and the other is ,
shaped like an inverted fan S everal of the .
ancient votive offerings in th i s case were found

by General di Cesnol a in the ruined temple of
Gol g oi during his ex cavations in Cyprus but ,
which these are has been left unspecified In .
General di Cesnol a s book there are woodcuts

’
of some o f the ancient votive offerings that he
found and amongst others I have identified

,
this pair of ears ( Cyp r us by Gen L P , . . .
di Ce snol a 1 87 7 p , Another terra

,
.
cotta right ear on a plaque is long and well

modelled as to the s h ape and the he l ix but ,
the orifice is entirely conventional long bolt , ,
upright and very narr ow

, .
Among the modern votive ears in the

Oxford Col l ection there is a large one from
Brittany stamped in thin white w ax without
, ,
1 9 6 T HE H U M AN E AR
a plaque It h as a very thick he lix at the top

.
and sides running away to a threa d for the

,
lower half of the ear with a long square lobe

,
and a hole through it as if f or a mock ear

,
ring The orifice is large and oddly shaped

.
,
as if it h ad lost its way in the upper part .
Evidently this is a conventional o ff ering and ,
without any definite relation to the owner of

the ear that should desir e to buy a votive one .
There are also four stamped silver votive

ears from D almatia B elgium Italy and , , ,
Greece which deserve attention They are all .
modern That from Spalato is very

thin and is stamped on a plaque The t op of
,
.
the ear is almost as flat as a ruler and the ,
he lix is narrow all round The ear is wide .

,
yet it runs suddenly inwards to a small pointed

lobe The orifice is almost in the right place
.
,
but it is so very small that o ne can hardly

suppose it to be other than a deformity per ,
haps caused by the complaint This looks like .
a rough portrait of an ear possibly used as a ,
model for sale and taken from a chance deaf

,
person .
The ear from Antwerp is carefully struck in

a plaque that has a raised dotted b ackground
C H AP T E R XIII
CO N C ER N I NG EAR- R I NGS AND EAR L O-

RE
IF we e xamine the ways in which nations seek

to adorn themselves we become full o f amaze
,
ment at the customs of the savages and of

admiration at the artistic beauty attained by
th e civilised communities Yet amongst both
.
savages and the civilised folk the delight in

the ear ring is a bond of union none the less
~
remarkable for not being recognised W e may .
call it a barbarous custom to allow the ears to

be pierced but it lingers amongst women
, ,
although men have discarded it for themselves .
The origin o f person al adornment seems to

be a desire not only to be superfine in appear
ance but also that it should be attained at a
,
difficulty or cost which will ensure distinction .
S ome savages are e xtremely vain o f their com

plicated plaits of hair and they are obliged
,
to rest their necks on wooden blocks for

E AR RI N G S A N D E A R
- -
L O RE 1 99
pill ows in order to avoid disturbing the bunchy

mops at night It must be a very uncomfort
.
able and inconvenient form of repose a kind ,
of constant rehearsal for a beheading that is

neither ordered nor e xpected Yet the blocks .
also are matters of pride and are plain or

,
inlaid according to taste

, S avages have
.
another way of making discomfort a proud

distinction by slitting the lobes of the ears
,
and inserting tufts of grass or leaves as

ornaments Others put in di scs L obes thus
. .
distended must be somewhat precarious

treasures and may best be described as of
,
”
no value to any one but the owner unless ,
when the dis cs are replaced by pl ugs o f

tobacco .
As no one can possibly tell wh at made

women take to ear rings when they must have
-
had ample opportunity of seeing h ow unbe

coming they were to the warrior braves we -
,
may pass at once to the fol lowing Mahometan

legend S arah being j eal ous of Hagar
, ,
declared she would not rest unti l her hands

’
had been imbrued in her bondmaid s blood .
’
Then Abraham pierced Hagar s ear quickly
and drew a ring through it so th at S arah was
,
200 THE H U MAN EAR
able to dip her hand in the blood of Hagar

without bringing the latter into danger From .
that time it became a custom among women

”
to wear ear rings ( see Mich aelis L a w s of
-
,
, , .
—
Moses 1 81 4 vol ii p 1 7 8 N otes a nd "
. u eri es
.
,
Jan 3 .
,
But the custom was already old before the

time of Abraham as we see by the passage
,
in Genesis xxiv 2 2 where Abraham as a

.
, ,
matter of course w hen he sought Rebecca for

,
Isaac gave her at the well a golden earring

,
of half a shekel weight W e quote from a .

”
very interesting account o f ear rings in N otes -
a nd " ue r ies ( Nov 1 0 from which also

.
,
t he following particulars on ear rings in this -
chapter are taken —It was from the golden

ear rings worn by the Israelites after they left
-
Egypt and of which they had spoiled the

,
Egyptians that the golden calf was made by

,
Aaron whilst M oses was in the Mount ( Ex od .
xxxii . The Ishm aelites wore golden ear

rings even i n battle and Gideon after beating ,
them obtained ear rings to the amount of

,
-
seventeen hundr ed shekel s of gold (Judges

viii 2 4
.
Amongst the P ersians both men and women

for the Lydian not having been found out at

once as the mark of the piercing woul d have
,
healed up from not being used after childhood .
B esides these nations the Carthaginians and

,
other Af rican colonists wore ear rings More

-
.
over they were used i n India for when

, ,
Ale xander the Great arrived there he found an

Indian prince wearing them ( Curtius lib ,
.
i x cap
. .
The Greeks who of all nations must have

,
most fully understood the beauty of the

unpierced ear fell a prey to this aggravating
,
custom when they were already well advanced

in civilis ation The reason given is that they
.
misunderstood an oracle of Apollo that d e ,
“
c l are d if they wished to have good citizens ,
they were to put what they held most precious

”
into the ears of their children (D i o Chrys .
cap . Greek avarice prevailed over

Greek philosophy and instead of putting
,
’
words of wisdom into their children s ears ,
they put literal gold and j ewels into the lobes .
In remote B ritain the habit spread but ,
apparently the men refused to be so i ncon

ve ni entl y adorned At least ear rings and
.
-
necklaces and such like articl es of feminine

-
E A R RI N G S A N D E A R
- -
L O RE 20 3
finery were classed together and fell by the ,
’
S a xon laws to the daughter at the moth er s
death ( Tit vi . .
Ear rings became at last so intrinsically

-
valuable that they got to be considered as

marks of rank or royalty Even P lato the .
,
greatest o f philosophers is said to have worn ,
ear rings as he was of noble family ( Apuleius

-
, ,
D e H a bi tu d i ri e lib P erhaps hi s philo

, .
sophy accepted them as inevitable If we can .
f or a moment imagine the handsome and

maj estic P lato as a young chil d which he must ,
have been at one period o f his momentous

career we may be sure the pretty boy questioned
,
the use and abuse o f ear rings as well as of -
the other facts of the universe .
The Roman Emperor Gal ba pledged o ne

’
o f his mother s ear rings to defray all the -
e xpenses of a j ourney from Rome into L ower

Germany ( Suetonius Aulus Vi tell i us cap , , .
Another historical ear ring was that -
owned by Cleopatra from which she took the ,
celebrated pearl which she dissolved and drank

at the banquet she gave to Antony (P liny ,
I I ist N a t lib i x cap

. . . . .
Often only a single ear ring was worn as -

,
if to enh ance its val ue but it must have given

,
the face a l op sided air W e have now finished

-
.
the e xtracts from the long article on ear

rings i n N otes a nd "uer ies (Nov 1 0 .
,
but with regard to the single ear ring there -
are two further notices There is some doubt .
“ ”
whether the single ear ring given by -
Abraham to Rebecca was intended for the

ear or f or the nose or whether it was a j ewel
,
for the forehead (N otes a nd "uer ies D ec , .
8 1 87 7
, ,
and Feb 1 6 . The last ,
named ornament woul d be the most humane

and also the most beautiful adornment .
In the matter o f ear lore there are many -
curious things to cons ider There are all .
sorts of phrases that refer to the ear such ,
“ ”
as to turn a deaf ear which is to refuse ,
”
to listen or to play by ear without know
, ,
“
ing the notes of music In at o ne ear and .
”
out at the other powerfully describes an
,
inattentive mind to what is heard To have .
“
no ear is simply to be devoid of an ear
” “ ”
for music whilst to be all ear is to give
,
’ ”
one s full attention To give one s ears f or
’
.
anything is to make a considerable sacrifice

for the purpose This refers to the time when
.
20 6 T HE H U M AN E AR
his ears through with an awl in token of his

voluntary servitude ( Exod xxi . .
A misprint in a copy of the B ible in 1 81 0

“
has caused it to be known as The Ears to
Ear Bible The text Wh o hath ears to
.
” “
,
”
he a r ( Matt x iii 4 3) was printed by accident
. .
“
W ho hath ears to ea r .
”
W e have the old English word ca r i ng for

p l o u hin
g g in th e follow i ng te x ts A nd yet
there are five years in the which there shall ,
neither be earing nor harvest ( Gen xl v 6 ) ”

. .
“
In earing time and in harvest thou shalt
”
rest ( Ex od xxx iv . .
W e must refer our readers to Brewer s ’
D ic tiona r y of Phr a se a nd F a bl e for further

e xamples from which the above have been
,
selected .
“ ”
Under the heading Ear in the great
English D ictionary edited by D r J A H . . . .
M urray we have an e xhaustive list of uses

,
of the word from which a few may be taken

, .
For instance To sleep on the right or left

,
”
ear is to sleep lying on one side whilst To ,
be able to sleep on both ears indicates one is

free from an xiety “
W ine of one ear is
.
”
good wine this is a French idi om of obscure

E A R RI N G S A N D E AR
- -
L O RE 20 7
”
origin .To hear of both ears is to be i m
“
partial l istening to both sides of a question

,
.
”
“
At first ear means on the first hearing .
’ ”
To have a person s ear is to have his
favourable attention The odd phrase ear .
”
kissing merely means th at it is whispered
in the ear not that the ears are rubbed ,
together as the words would seem to

imply "
The word ea r is used f or small proj ections
of inanimate things — such as ear of a bell by ,
which it is hung Ears o f bombs ear shaped .

,
-
rings f o r lifting them by Ears of a pump .

,
the support of the bolt f o r the handle or brake .
Ears of a cap the parts that come over the ,
ears ; in men s caps they are often cal led ’
ear fl aps
-
.
“
Ear wise means after the manner of an
-
ear of corn .
B esides th e ear shel l to which we have -

,
referred in the first chapter there is a bird ,
called the ear dove which has two spots o f -

,
a dark colour one o n each side o f the head, .
The vegetable kingdom is represented by the

ear wort (D y sop hi la a ur i c u la r is ) a plant
-
,
su pposed to be good for curing deafness A .

less pleasing live obj ect is the ear worm or -
ear wig It is not precisely known what is

-
.
the origin of this name There is a popular .
s uperstition that this insect del ights to enter ,
and even reside in the human ear but this , ,
has not been proved to be a fact O f course .
bees flies wasps or any creeping or flying

, , ,
insect may have a chance of entering the

ear and the remedy o f pouring in sweet oil
,
o r warm milk is the same as for dislodging
any other foreign substance Another sup .
position for the origin of the name is that

the gauzy wings o f ear wigs are shaped some -
what in the form o f the human car In .
N o tes a nd " u er i es (April 1 2 1 85 5 ) it is ,
erroneously traced to two Anglo S axon words -

,
meaning ea r of corn or bu d o f flower and ,
d w el ling Dr M urray says that etymology

. .
shows that this derivation is not possible .
The following charade on the ear wig is -
ingenious if not strictly accurate

,
CH ARADE .
( EAR W I G)
-
My f irst if l ost ,
d i gr ,
is a s a ce
Unl ess mi sfortune b ea r th e bl am e
My th ough it can t efl ace ’ ‘
second,
The d readful l oss y et h i d es th e sh ame

,
.
C H AP T ER X IV
T H E EAR 1 N L T RATU I E RE AND S CI E N CE
TH E ear has been well treated on the whole

by writers in prose and poetry Its beauty .
is unquestioned in fiction and a heroine has

,
al ways dainty ears Yet this vagueness of

.
description leaves much t o be desired an d ,
from no source can we gather what it is like

without the aid of an illustration from a photo
graph D rawing painting and sculpture are
.
, ,
often in vain W here artists — the men of

.
trained observation of form — h ave been un

“ ”
certain h o w could poets in a fine frenzy
,
be more accurate " Ears are described as

being like a shell —
“
that is like a hard , ,
shiny unsympathetic substance of an un

,
natural white or salmon pink colour W hereas

-
.
part of the charm o f an ear lies in the mar

vell ousl y fine skin that covers it of admirable ,
te xture and o f delicate pink or living white

,
I N L I T E RA T U RE S CIEN CE 2 1 1
in tint An ear can flush can turn purple

.
, ,
can seem pu ffed up or abased in short it has ,
a number of powers and qual ities in common

with the face It has also o ne special qu ality
.
in i tself that dr aws and attracts with a magic

charm we kno w that it wil l gather in our
,
words and speed them swifter than a lightning

flash to the very citadel of the soul .
P erhaps we may know that an ear is large

or small but to a poet an ear is always smal l
, .
In the following passages from Shakespeare

it is to the use of the ear rather than to its
appearance that reference is made which ,
sh ows how littl e the ear was observed for i ts

own sake He gives us incidenta lly a hin t
.
that monsters were hard o f hearing

0,
’
twas 3. d in to fri gh t a mons te r s
’
ea r
1 .
In contradistinction to this he puts the ,
’
lover s ear before that of the m usician
A l ov er s ’
ea r will h ear the l ow est sound .
Love s La bour s Lost i v

’ ’
,
. 3 .
P hysicians te ll us that lunatics have ofte n

maladi es of the ear but none go further than
,
’
Shakespeare s sweeping condemnation
2 1 2 T HE H U M AN EAR
0 , th en I see th at madmm h av e no ears .
3 .
And when an evil deed has to be sug

gested he ensures secrecy by saying
,
H ear me wit h out th ine ears .
3 .
Macbeth mocks an apparition that calls

him thrice by name by replying ,
Ha d I th ree ea rs , I l d h ea r th ee
’
.
Macbeth i v ,
. 1 .
The e ffect of music on the ear is shown in

the well known passage which we give with
-
,
“ ”
the modern emendation o f south (i e the . .
”
south wind ) for sound
Th at strain again it ha d a d yi ng fall
0 it ca me o er my ear lik e th e s wee t south
’
, ,
Th a t b rea th es upo n a b ank of vi ol ets ,
S tealing and gi vi ng od our .
S hakespeare the king , of quips and cranks ,
could say
A j est s p r osp erity li es i n th e ear
’
Of him th a t h ears it never i n th e tongue

,
Of him th at mak es it .
Lov e s Labour s Lost v

’ ’
, . 2 .
2 1 4 THE H U M AN EAR
f ecti ons y in
sawhich S ir P hilip S idney
praises the ear at the e xpense of the ear ring -
,
from which he draws a brilliant simile whilst ,
in fact denouncing the custom contains the

, ,
following lines
Th e ti p no j ew e l ne e s to d w ear
,
Th e ti p is j
e w el of th e ear .
If we turn to prose perhaps t he best and ,
most eloquent nomenclature that ever clattered

’
about the ears will be found in Charles L amb s
A Chap ter on E a r s It begins abruptly .
enough
I h av e no ear
Mi stak e m e not r ead er nor i ma gi ne t hat I am b y
, ,
natur e d estitut e of t h ose ex t eri or twi n app end ag es ,
hangi ng ornam ents and (ar chitecturally sp ea ki ng) h and

,
som e v ol ute s to th e h uma n c ap ital B ett er my m oth er .
ha d ne v er b or ne m e I am I th ink ra th er d eli ca t ely

.
, ,
th an cop i ousl y prov i ded with th ose c ond uit s and I feel
no d i sp ositi on to e nvy t h e mul e f or h i s p l ent y or th e ,
m ol e f or h er ex a ctne ss i n t h ose i ng eni ous la by ri nth i ne

i nl ets —th ose i ndi sp ensabl e si d e i ntelli gencers
,
I -
.
e v en t h i nk t h a t s enti m ent all y I a m d i sp os e d to b ar

, ,
mony . But or ga ni ca ll y I a m i ncap ab l e of a t une .
Ch arl es La mb A Chapter on Ears

,
.
S cience h as
an interesting word to say
about the outer ear although it is generally ,
I N L I T E RA T U RE S CIEN CE 2 1 5
badly drawn in scientific illustrations The .
chief interest to scientific men seems to lie in

th e inner ear which is so carefull y drawn in
,
their books and contains such beautiful curves

that we trust it is more accurately delineated
than the outer ear Nevert heless each inner
.
,
ear probably varies in consonance with the

outer ear and indeed the nerves are said to
,
vary in number and size according to the

powers of hearing In my account of ears of
.
musicians in opposition to ears that inclin e to

deafness in early life I drew attention to the
,
wide square orifice as betokening strong and

,
acute natural powers o f h earing P robably

.
the auditory nerves are stronger and more

numerous in the inner ear that goes with an
outer ear of this shape It would be worth
.
while to take e xtra care o f chil d ren s ears ’
where the narrow shapes are found so as not ,
to wear o ut the auditory nerves too soon j ust ,
as delicacy of eyesight is tended Hitherto .
we have had no warning betimes until the ,
mischief is done or at least begun .
The outer ear called the a ur i c le vari es in

, ,
shape for the purpose o f catching the sounds

at the best angle for reflectin g them into the
auditory canal .And when the waves have

got into that curving canal they splash back
,
wards and forwards as it were so that by the ,
time they reach the drum o f the ear they

strike it straight on its membrane giving the ,
best volume of sound possible Therefore it .
matters very much even in the eyes of

,
science what shape the outer car may be

, ,
because upon that depends the size and power

of the waves of sound at the outset of their
j ourney to the inner ear The easiest w ay to
.
make a somewhat deaf person hear what is

said without an ear trumpet is for the speaker
-
,
to be about ten inch es o ff and to direct the

voice straight into the orifice in a level stream
of sound and with a very distinct articulation
of the words The ear should be kept e xactly
.
in the same place the face of the listener

,
being in profile W ith scarcely the least

.
raising of the voice by observing these simple

,
precautions to set the waves of sound going in

a right direction for a concentrated e ff ort to
reach the dulled tympanum every word can ,
be distinctly heard D eaf people often com

.
plain of being shouted at for shouting bangs

,
the waves of sound about like a storm hurtl ing

2 1 8 THE H U M AN EAR
S ound i s th e g l t
name th e sa e se ec s
F or th e concl ud i ng te rm
Of a l ong seri e s of effects
Of wh i ch th e bl ow s th e germ ’
.
Th e foll owi ng b ri ef anal y si s

Sh ows th e i nt erp ol a ti ons Mi ss , .
Th e bl ow wh i ch wh en th e cl pp er li ps
,
a s
F ll s on y our fri end the B ell

a ,
Ch ange s i ts i l to ellip se
c rc e
( A w ord y ou d b ett er sp ell )

’
.
And th e n comes el asti city ,
Rest orin g w h at it u sed to b e .
Nay , maki ng it a little m ore ,
Th e ci rcl e sh i f ts ab out
As m uch as it sh ru nk i n b efore
The B ell y ou s e e swell s out
, ,
And so a new elli p se i s ma d e

r e not a t tend i ng I m af rai d )
’ ’
( Y ou ,
.
Th i s ch ange of form di sturb s th e air ,
Wh i ch i n i ts turn be haves
I n lik e e l asti c fash i on t h ere ,
Cr eati ng wa v es on wav es
Wh i ch p ress each oth er outward d ear , ,
U ntil th e ou tmost find s y our ear .
With i n tha t c ar th e surgeons find

A ty mpa nwm or drum
/ ,
Wh i ch has a littl e bone behi nd ,
Ma lleus it s call ed by som e

,
’
But t h os e not p rou d of L ati n Grammar

H umbly translate it as th e hamm er .
I N L I T E RA T U R E S CIEN CE 2 1 9
Th e wave s vi bra tions th i s transmit s

’
O n t o th e i ncus b one
( I ncus m eans vil wh i ch it h its)
an , ,
And t h i s tra nsf ers th e t one

To th e sma ll 0 3 orbi cul are ,
The ti ni est b one th a t p eop l e carry .
The stapes x
ne t —th ll s
e nam e r eca
A s ti rrup s form my daugh t er

’
Joi ns th ree h al f ci rcul ar canal s

-
,
Ea ch fill d with li mp i d wat er

’
Th ei r cur i ous l ini ng y ou ll ob serv e

,
’
Mad e of th e audi t ory nerv e .
Th i s vi bra tes nex t —and th en w e find

Th e m y sti c work i s crow n d
’
For th en my d augh t er s g entl e Mi nd

’
Fi rst r eco gni s es sound .
S e e w h a t a h ost of causes sw ell

To mak e up wh at y ou call th e B ell
“
.
Awh il e sh e paused ,
my b i gh t Loui
r s e,
And p ond ered on the case

Th en settling t h a t h e m eant to t ease
, ,
S h e s lapp e d h er fa th er s fa ce
’
.
“
You b ad ol d m an t o si t a nd t ell
,
S uch g ibb erg osh ab out a B ell

p l i n d 1 2 3 h w th
a e ,
f o e ears o 1 98 2 04 ; th e ear
e ar -l o re,
a c h l d l t 1 2 4 ; th
i a er, i e ear s dv
o e, 2 07 th e e ar or , w t
f ll g w t f t n 1 2 9 ;
u ro n a o ur e e , ib ; ch ara e o n th e ear -
. d ,
wig
no f t t l li ng in th
“
or une -
e
”
e 2 0 8 ; th e ol f k - lo e
r
“
Fi ne
th p b bl m it t
”
ear, 1 31 e ro a e anner ear 2 0 9 ; th e ear in l era ure,
p ty
.
i n w h i h th ti v q l t c e na e ua i i es e g in
. . oe r and p rose , 2 1 0
wil l b d i i d i t d in th
e use s n ca e e o n th e s c e n i fic i t d wira ng s of th e
ea r, 1 35 ; th ig h t d iff e r ear e rs ear ( i nner and t o u er ) , 2 1 5
o ft f m th l f t
en ro 1 36 ; e e ear, poe m on th e m ec h am s m of th e
th n d l
e 1 43 ;
o u e, f th ear o e human ear , 2 1 7
m i l us c a mp 1 44 ; co oser, ca r Ear r n s,
-
pi t tk
t f
a en ir ec r om d
with k 1 45 W d t p
a
“
nec ,
”
i e o , t
na ur e, 6 t tk f
t w o s e s a en r o m
ib ; th . t ght t p 1 48 e s rai o , ea r h d t t
a c i l , s ho w mg al e ra i ons i n
o f t v ll ib ;
a ra e f er, . ear o an g ro wth hp
a nd s a e, 7 ; h o w to
t t 1 49 ;
ar i s ,
f ti t ear o an ar s tk
a e, 1 1th d v t v e ir a an ag e o er
an d t v ll 1 50 ;
ra e fer, ear o an d w p vi
ra i ng s i n rese r ng t h e re
Am i h w m g th
er c an, s i o e re s no tv th i
l a i e Si z es o f c ars, 32 ; e r
i di ti f n t l ty i
n ca on o a i o na i n ea rs , a pp p
eara nc e , i b e ar ri n ts are -
g tv
.
1 53 f vl
e ar o 1 54 ;
a na a nurse, v d k
re ers e ( l i e a ne a i e of a
ear o f l gi t 1 5 5 ;
a zoo o f s c ar o ph t p h
o o gr a ) , 33 ; a lef t ear
p t d ib d
,
a phil l g t 1 5 6 ; o o f th
is ear o e ri n es c r e i n s q ua res, ih
d ib d
, .
e d it f th E g li h D ti n
or o e n s ic o Ear s of ( es cr e )
ar y 1 57 ; ,
W th p l ears i e c u i ar A t C
ug us us h
aesa r , 68 S ir Jo n
or ifi 1 59 c e s, f i tifi ear o a sc e n c t
S a i ner, " K t , Mus D oc , 1 4 4 ; . .
di v sc o 1 60 ; erer, W th t h ea r i e M oz art , ib h d Mrs T e o ore

in ty p i l f m
. .
F i v D i vi i e s o ns ca or s, B t M A tt
e n , 1 48 i ss nne e El i as,
161 f n v l t ( Ch
ear o l
a o e is a r es 1 49 A
Mr v .H enry S a ag e .
D k ) 1 6 3 h di ty th
ic e ns ,
er e in e d M
L an or , 1 5 0 ; h i ss E K eog , .
e ar , 1 66 ; ifi ft
o ne or ce is o en 1 55 M B h
iss F u c anan , 1 5 6 ; .
co p i d f m th f th d th
e ro e a er a n e M iss E E W arda l e , Ph D of
. . . .
th f m th m th 1 6 9 ;
o er ro e o er, Z uri ch, ib Dr J H A
y
. .
th l b f ll w th
. . .
as e o hp
e o o s e s a e M urra , 1 58 S ir Jo n ur on h B d
f th
o h in th i p t f th
e c , s ar o e ear S an ers on, d B arone , ,
t MD . .
i b t l ttl
s u p d d th i e re ro uc e in e etc , 1 6 1 Pro H fA
y
.
h il d 1 7 3 g t diff
. . .
c r en, r ea ere nc e S a ce, 11 6 2 ; Ch arl es i c ens , D k

i thn f twi n i t
e e ars o x -
s s ers , e 1 6 3 ; La dy t i S a ner, 1 6 8 ; Mr
p l i n d 1 7 9 th
.
a e i lp e ear n sc u J F R t S ai ner , ib Dr
Ri h d G tt
. . .
d p int g 1 80 A y i n
. .
,
t ure a n a in ss r a c ar arne R, 1 75
Mrs
G tt
.
ib ; Eg y pt n
, .
e ar, 1 82 ; ia ear , arne , ib Mrs G uy H al l ,

G k G f th
. . .
ree 1 86 ; c ar ,f J li ear o u us ib ; Dr ri fi s , 1 7 8 ; Mrs
G i th M i G f th
. . .
C 1 87 ;
aes ar, f H m ear o er es, r ffi s , ib ; ss ri fi s,
Cy l G th
.
by P it l 1 88 ; d f ti v rax e es , e ec e ib Mr. ri. riffi s , ib .
m d n o l pt
er f s cu 1 89 ure o c ar, i tA
th e anc en th
ss yri ans and eir
th e i d ffi l t t d w
ea r s i cu o ra , ca pti v e s, 1 80 i t th e a nc en
1 9 0 ; th t m e y f
e x re e ac cur a c o Eg y pti ans, 1 82 ; T ah utm es I V , .
th e p i t d by R if l l
e ar a n e a ae e, 1 84 ; A ph i III
m eno s ,
1 85 .
1 91 t t d in p t itru nc a e ear or r a s R a me se s II , ib Pai , ih th e

i t G k
. . .
with wig 1 9 2 ; v t v ff s, o i e o er .
a nc en R
r ee s a nd omans ,
ing f s o i t 1 94 ear , a nc e n ib C i c ero, M 1 86 ar c us
A l l C
.
,
d tt m d n 1 9 5
i o, o i ng
er , ear- r s, ure ius, i b ; Ju i us aesar,
.
I N D EX 2 2 3
1 87 ; Pra xi e l es , 1 88 t
See . d fness
ea , ib . th e p ear- s a hp e,
a l s o L IS T or LL U S TRATI O N S I 1 57
h yt
.
d
Eng lan , Frenc s s e m of i d enti H u ma n E a r, as a Mea ns of
fi ca ti o n o f c ri mina s em l o e l p yd I d entifi ca ti on : p p by
a er th e
in, 1 4 auth d
or, rea at th e mee t i ng of
v y
E el n, hi s a cu e ear n , 46 t h ig . th B i t h A
e r is ss omati on, B it r s ol
S ee E v
’
el y n s D ia r y . 25
v D i vi i n th S D V
Fi e s o s,
”
e . ee I I
Id ntifi ti
e ca o n, th e h uman ear as
H
S I O NS or T H E EL I X .
m eans 1 ; th e s our c es of
of ,
F n h
re c y t m f id t fi ti
s s e o en i ca on,
a
d a ta f or, 2 ; c ar s h a ev b ee n
d f
use mi l xp l
or n d cri na s , e ai e ,
u se d h th t
i er o f or id ti tien fica o n
1 4 ; h w it d i ff f m th
o
y t m i n th i b k f
ers ro e
y
o f c rimi nal s o nl , a nd th os e o f
n w
“
e
i mi l
s s e
”
s oo or
th e i
non cr mi nal s
-
hv b”
a e een
ID
non ib crS na s, . ee
v kd
o erl oo e , 8; t h e B enc h
ENTI F ICATI O N .
yt
s s em of d t ti
i e n ifi c a on f or
G l t n M F i n fi ng tip i
cr mi nal s , 1 4 h d
th e ea o f th e
a o ,
id tifi ti 4 ; hi m t i l
r . r anc s , o er -
Id t ti O
e n i fi ca on ffi ce i n E ng
en
pi t gf m t
ca on, s a er a s
d yt
l an , ib ; th e ne w s s e m o f
i d t ti b
.
f b
r n in na ur e can e
or ro
e n i fic a on y th e ear f or
df
u se p i t 12 or ear - r n s,
i i ”
f y
non c r m nal s, 1 5 th e ul l
Gl pi f W th ght q
-
ass , e ce o
m k d n it 1 7 t b l d n
, i ei s uare s
dv pdf
e el o e orm o f e ar i s r are ,
ar e o , o e ai o
and i s i n it f se l kb
a r emar a l e
a n e an pri nt, ib .
c ase f or id t t
e n i fi ca i o n, 2 5 th e
d g f t
H ea i n s , our e en, use f or th e d p t h
ar s o f th e ear c i efl y d i sti nc
c l aS S I fic ati on o f e ar s , 2 7 ; fiv
tive f or p pur oses o f i d e nti fic a
bd iv h
i si ons of eac , 2 8
e
tion, 2 6 ; a t i d
ra ne ey e i s re
su
d ib v q u rei d d i d t ti
to j u g e en i fi c a on
H el ix, esc r ed, 7
iv D iv i
ar ies i n e ac h
by yt
th e e ar , 34 th e new s s e m
ear, 9 th e F e
d hp
is ons, l 5
of ph i y
y s og nom of th e ear is
ma y be j ag g e i n s a e, 1 6 ;
t f w ti
th e ou l i ne oll o s th e o u l ne
b d p
as e b v ti
u on o ser a on and
o f th e j aw in p ro fil e, 22 ; h o w
f
SC Ienti fic or ms of i d ti t i
en fica on,
1 65
f d
th e j ag s are orme , 4 1 t a l ers
I nd ent in hel ix, d bd escr i e , 1 6 ;
d i h i dh d
ur ng c l oo , 1 24 ; so me
h d
s o ul td i
b e no e o n th e m arg n
ti y b t
me s nearl a se n , 1 43 S ee .
of th e ear pit p
r n , 32 ; e xa m l e
D
-
I V IS I O N S , PIN NA
of , 1 5 2
d i ty
.
H er e hw
, as s o n in ca rs , 1 6 6
th e F i ev D iv i i s ons are rec o m

K d b d ( D wi
escri
’ “
h
b i ne d in th e c i l dre n, not di
not,
d v l bl
n e ar ns o
re c tl y p d
re rod uce , ib th e .
f
10
i d t fi ti 31 n t ft
rare an a ua e
ori fice , 1 69 k t the no , 1 7 0

or
f nd in D i v
ou
en i ca
35 m
on,
i si on
o o
se e
en
s
th e t op o f th e p i nna , 1 7 1 th e
i f mil pp
b
l o e, 1 7 3 Di v i s i on ( 4 ) in r el a
to r un
t g w ith
o o
n 41
pw f p il
a
a
i es,
o er o
a
s ec a
ears
t i o n to 1 7 8
i i g 1 42
.
w i
H ol l o or o r fi c e o f th e e ar, h ow
s n ,
t t tv i
t o es i m a e i ts rel a i e s ze , 1 8
i s r arel yd vd
r aw n or car e ao La vt a er, Jo h ann C pas ar ( 1 741
cura tel y , ih f
th e sq u are or m, co ul d not acc oun t f or
wf p g
.
1 44 th e narro o rm res a es pi td
o n e ears, 35 ; a dm re d '
i a
sq uare n pp h l f f
ess i n th e u e r a o d ntity 4 w t ft n mi
of i e ar s o e s
d w
,
th e c ar, t 37 ; some i mes re t k n f m l ib

a e or o es, .
th h l i e w ith e t i gh t p
x a s ra u M t
o zar mbl n b tw n th
, res e a ce e ee e
i gh t
r tli n 39 h i l if 86
ou e, s e, f S
ea rs J h n St i n
o K t ir o a er, ,
hi b k s Ph y i gn my 87
oo on s o o M D t th
us f 1 43oc o os e o
j d gi n g h
, . .
, ,
hi in ti n t f
s s c or u c arac
t er,89 1 fi t nt f 1 18 rs ac c ou o N t p int f th
a ure -
6 ;
r s o e ear,
ears, 91 i d th w sa e re as a n t p i nt f h il d
a ure -
r s o a c
’
s ea rs
t d iff nt g 7 ; n t
p i l ph y i g n m y f th
“ a e re a es, a ur e
S ec a s o o o e
ears, ib fiv
"
d ib d e ea r s, escr e p i nt r h ld b t k n f v y
s s ou e a e o e er
nd d lt f g d f i d ntity
.
,
9 2 hi nt f
s se c o ac c o u o e ars, a u , as a sa e u a r o e ,
9 4 tw nty ed ib d -
o ne e ars, es cr e 8; h w t t k n t o p int o a e a ure - r s
h i thi d
,
96 s nt f r acco u o cars , of th e e ar, 11 . S ee EAR

1 05 n i n d i b d 1 07 e e ars, esc r e PR N S I T
d b h i n d th
.
hi f s th o urnt f 111 ;acc ou o ear s,

,
N emesi s, resi es e e ri ght
tw l v e d ib d 1 1 3
e e ar s, escr e ear , 4 7 S ee . P I
L NY O N EARS .
h i fi fth s nt f 1 20
ac c ou o e ars ,
,
N o d ul e ,
"
D ar w m s S ee
’
. K NO T .
th d ib d 1 2 1 S
ree cars , es c r e ee Non -
c ri m in a l c asses, l g t re a e r
v ty m n g th i
.
,
l p 92 t
a so an e ari e a o e r ears , ex
d ib d 9 ; diff ph t g ph d
. .
,
L b
o e, es c r e ers c on pl i n d 2
a e are o o ra e
hil d h d h w i n g g w th
,
,
t tl y f m t f ll w ib
s an ro it i s e o s n
i c oo , s o ro
d i n g t th i f p i nn ( g m ) 7 ; t h v l
, .
i
s ze v i ar es acc or o e s ze o a e a ue
i d nti fi ti n h
,
p fil
of th hm i e c 22 ; n ro e,
of f
ea rs or e ca o as
su p titi n g d i n g 40 ; i
e rs o s re ar s b n v l k d m n g t th
ee o er oo e a o s e
f lly d v l p d li th n th i mi n l l
,
u e e o e ear er a e n n o -
cr 8 ; th a c as se s, e
chi n 1 7 3 ; h w it v i i o ar es n n n o i mi n l l
-
cr pp t a c ass es a e ar o
i n di
,
t p d ti n f m th
rec re ro uc o ro e h v m f ll y d v l p d
a e ore u e e o e e ars
p nt f m ib ; w h n i t
are s
’
or s, e th n th i mi n l xpl i n d
a e cr a , e a e ,
th n w y t m f ph y i
.
d ff i v y m h f m th
ers er uc ro e 15
my in th i b k th gh
e e s s e o s
oth 1 7 4 er o no
g s oo ou
i n v nt d f
,
e th n n
e i mi n l or e o -
cr a
M d i v l w it
e ae a n P
r ers o ears : or
l
c ass es, n l b ppl i d t ca a so e a e o
i mi n l 1 6 5
ph y y 5 6 ; Av r ib Al erroes , th e cr S B R a , . ee E
P
.
,
b t M gn
er u s b Pi t a us , 1 e ro TI LL O N , I D ENTI F I CATI O N, HYS I
( ll d
.
O G NO MY
’
d Ab ano c a 5 8; e .
B t l m C l
An d
ar o o
C v 59 J n T i
rea
p d ny m
eo
or o,
o c es, seu
ea
o
a s
O ifi
r th e ear
ce o f S ee H O LLO W .
O F T H E EA R
n i 6 0 ; I nd gi n ib J n
er, a e, . ea
O tom orph ol ogy , l i t th e sci e c e
.
n
B l t 61 H hp
.
e o t N i q ti o nora us ue us
,
o f th e s a e of th e ear, 42
or Ni q t i b c P mp i
ue o o n us
Ph y i gn my pp ititi k
.
,
G iaur c us,63 G i v nn i I n o a s o o su os o us w or
m di v l
,
g g n i ib
e er Gi v nn i B tti t o a a s a by A i t tl 44
rs o e on, e ae a
d l l P t 6 5 ; d ll P t w it d ll P t
, .
e a or a , e a or s. r 55
e rs on, e a or a ,
q t A i t tl Pl i n y G l n
u o es r s o e, a e Gh i d l li d R b i
rar 65 e , an u e s o n,
Lvt
, ,
P l m o e Ad m t o n, C n i li a an i o , o c 87
a a er on , n ph y i g a ew s o
t L
a o r, S t ni C l
os s o, ue o us, o u nom y o f th e ea r, 1 23 a lth gh ou
m ll e d M l ti
a, an 66 C e e us, or th i b k d l n ly w ith th
s oo ea s o e
n li Ghi d l li 68 ; D mi ni
e o rar e o co n n i mi n l
o l thi
cr a c as ses, s
n w ph y i g n m y l b
,
d R b i 82
e u e s, e n s o o ca a so e
M l f m ly
o es, or nt d p f er c ou e as roo s appli d t imm l e 1 65 o cr a s
'
e ars,
D er/2y 8w Pr zee 7 6d W i t/z 33 fi l m tr al zom
' ’
, Cl ot/z . s. . net . .
THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE

S econd E d i ti on , t/zor oug /zly R ev
i sed a nd m uc h E nl a rg ed
BY K AR L PEARS O N , MA . .
,
F RS . . .
PRO F E SS O R O F A PPL I E D M A T H E M A T I CS A N D M E C H A N I C S U N I VE RS I T Y
CO LL EGE , LO ND O N
t
C o n ai ns tw o nti ly N w Ch pt e re e a e rs o n N t l S l ti n a ura e ec o a nd H e re i d ty ,
emb ing p p l
ra c nt a o u ar acco u of P f P ron w . e a rs o
’
s o n m o re r ec e nt
w k in th i d i ti n
or s rec o .
S C O PE O F T H E B OOK .
T ish wor k tt mp t
giv ph il ph i l b i h f nd m n t l p in ip l f
a e s to e a o so ca as s to t e u a e a r c es o
m d no er i n I
sc e m ce p i l m t h m t i l b i l g i l t in ing h
t as s u es no s ec a a e a ca or o o ca ra on t e
p t f h d b nd v
.
ar o t e re a le r,b f h m ith v g d ti n
ut e ea o u rs to ay e o re t e an W a e ra e e uc a o an
i n t ll igi b l
e nt f h t i n p f
e accou hi v d f h t i d
o w a Th sc e ce r o es s e s to a c e e an o w a t oe s no t . e
fi t f h p t d fi n h m t i l d l d n h i l f ll i n t ifi
rs ou r c a e rs e e t e a er a an ay ow t e p r nC i p es o a sc e c
rea so n ing t h y x p l i n h p m th d d h p f i n d
e e a l ti n
t e sco e, e o s, an o es o sc e ce a n i ts re a o to
o ur t h y f l if T h f ll ing f h p t d i
eo r o e. h x i m d p i n ipl f
e o ow o ur c a e rs sc u s s t e a o s an r c es o
ph y i l i n
s ca d nd v
sc e g iv
ce , a n t i n l vi f m h ni m h i h i
e ea o ur to e a ra o a ew o ec a s w c s no t
o p n h i t i i m i d g i n t i b y B lf W d d t h
e to t e cr c s s nt m t
ra s e a a s t a o ur, ar an o e r re c e e a
ph y i l i t Th n x t th h p t d l ith h i n f g n i f m
,
s ca wr e rs . e e re e c a e rs ea w t e sc e ce o or a c or s,
di sc us smg h p i n i p l f t
t e f v l ti n r d nd v
c i ng gi v t h m x t
a a c o rs o e o u o an e ea our to e e e ac
q uan t it i v d fi ni t i n Th
at e eh pt v l ti n pl b f h d h
o . e tw o c a e rs on e o u o a ce e o re t e rea er t e
p n t p i ti n f h D i n i n t h y h m t im i nd i t i ng h f t il it y f
rese os o o t e ar w a eo r at t e sa e e ca t e u o
n t t i n y tt k Th fi l h p t d l i t h h l i fi t i n f h
,
rec e re a c o ar a ac s. e na c a er ea s W t e c ass ca o o t e
i n d gi v bi d vi f h fi ld h in h p i l i t l n
,
’
sc e ce s, an es a r s -e y e ew o t e e s w e re t e s ec a s a o e ca n
w or k .
PRES S NO T IC ES .
N ot l t in t t ing p t f t h i p f l b k i h d i i n f h ff t
th e ea e re s ar o s o w er u oo s t e s c uss o o t e e ec
on t h mind e t i nt fi
of a d ti n h i h n bl m
ru e sc e m n f m i c e uc a o w c e a es a an or w o a to or
j dg m n t f d f m i nd i vi d l b i
,
u e s ree W ro m m nd l l d d p i ll y ua as . e rec o e a re a e rs , an es ec a
i n t i t m t ph y i i n t h l g i n
sc e s s, e a d l t b
s c a l t it s, i n t ifi eo o a s, an as u t no t e as the w r e rs o f s c e c
t xtb k d d i g t t h i ll i tt n l l y n d d ip t i n f h t
, ,
e oo s , to re a a nd es s we -
wr e c ea r re aso e escr o o w a
i n i n t ifi m t h d i
,
l M
"
sc e d
c e an sc e c e o s. -
Pa l a ll Ga z e tte
W h v b g in d g in i mp d i x m ining h G m m
.
e a e ee n a a an a a re ss e n e a T e ra ar
W ith m k bl l
t h e re id i t y f P f P n x pl n t i n —K
ar a e uc l o ro . e ars o
’
s e a a o s. n o'w edg e .
i t i ll
It g mm i t h t i d l i t h f nd t i n f i n b
s s a ra ar n a t ea s w t he ou a o s o sc e ce ut a far
m o re amb i t i t i tl migh t h v b n giv n
o us em h k Th a e ee e to so co pre e ns w e a w or .
”
e
Bo ok ma n .
A . C . L
B AC K , S O H O S "U A R E LO N D O N , .
BO O K S O N H E AL TH .
Bv G EO RG E s . K EI TH M D , . .
,
LL D . .
,
Crow n 8 w, Clot/i . Pr i ce 2 8 6 d . . ea t /z.
PLEA FOR A SIMPLER LIFE

'
S zx t/z E di t i on .
“
I t is t h e o ld e xh t ti n pl i n iving
or a o , a l a nd h igh t h ink ing . But i t i s m o re , it
sh o w s t h e w a y t o re a c t n t i n t ifi xp iti n f h hi t . I t is i nd d ee a m os ear es y e t sc e c e os o o t e
evi l d we b d i d l d pi it b y m ix d d i h d m di in If
o to o u r o es a n s ou s a n S r s e s es an e c e s. we
w ou l d f l l D K it h d vi d t k h i p ip t i n
o ow r. h ld h v l e
’
s a ce an a e s re sc r o s, we s ou a e e ss
d y p p i d l t h i m m ng t l n d d t
s e s a an e ss m di m a d l e s a o s us , e ss ee f or oc o rs o f e c e an e ss
n d f d t f d ivi n it y
ee or m
oc o rs o .
”
-
E x1fios i to7y Ti es .
Th i d b t h t v th t b k i f ll f i
e re s no n l —E d m 6 l
ou w a e er a th e oo s u o w se co u se .
"
urg z
M ed w a l / o u m a l .
FA DS OF AN OLD PHYSICIA N
“
S o me v y x ll n t h in t
b t m th d f h lt iv t i n f
er e ce e nd s of th e es e o s or t e cu a o o a s ou
mi nd i nd b d y b g l n d by h l ym n v n f m D K it h l i ttl ’
n a so u o are t o e ea e , t e a a e e , ro r . e s e
t t i T h F d f O ld Ph y i i n ( Bl k) Th b kl t f m q l
r ea se ,
‘
e a s o an s c a
’
ac . e oo e or s a se ue to
h
t e au t h Pl f S i m p l L i f h i h
or s
’
iv d i t h
ea ll d v d g i
or a er e,
’
w c w a s re ce e w we - e se r e re c o n
t i n b y m d i l d l y th i t i W l d t h t ll f d h d m h l id th
o e ca an a au or e s. ou a a a s a as uc so w or as
t h f O ld Ph y i i n —P l l M l l G
o se o an s c a .
"
a a a z e tte.
D K it h f d b m k bl mb l n mm n n d h b k
'
r. e s a s e a r a re ar a e re se a ce to c o o se se , an t e oo
t h gh t i mi n n tl y d b l d in t t ing
ro u ou s e ll i n t t i v —S m
e rea a e an e re s as w e as s ru c e .
”
c o ts a n.
ON SA NITA RY AND OTHER MATTERS

hi v l m
T s t itl ind i t t t
o u e , as bj t v ying m h t i k ind
th e e ca e s , rea s o f s u ec s ar so ew a n ,
b p in t ng
ut al l o n it y
i n mi m tt h i h
o u t e rr o rs ly t o n sa ar or e co o c a e rs w c se rio u s a ff ec
th e w ell b ing - mm n i t y
e hi h
of t ng i t i ng p
th e c o u , an d w c , b u t fo r th e s ro re s s o w er o f
conv n t n l m migh t
e io il y
a is m di , ith h dv nt g be ea s re e ed , an d w m uc a a a e to a l l . Th e
l t th p p
as re e m in l y a nfi m h t e rs th go l d y b gh t f da t o co r w a th e a u or h as a re a ro u o r w ar as
h
to t e e v l lt ing f m p n t y t m f v f d ing v m i
i s res u ro d th e rese s s e o o e r- e e , o e r s ti
o
ula t o n, an
d i
rug g rr
g,b th i h lth d d i o n ea an s e as e .
A . C . L
B AC K , SO H O S "U A R E L O N D O N ,
.

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T H E H U MAN E AR

TH E following chapters contain a method o f

which reference for the purpose of i d e nti

They also show the value of identiﬁcation

division of the shapes of the rim o f the ear .

The subj ect of heredity as shown by the

shape o f the ear is illustrated by nature

prints from members of several families N 0 .

o n e has hitherto investigated this branch of

the subj ect

A concise account from original sources

o f ancient and modern writers upon Ears i s

tentative e fforts in that direction Since his

time there has been no systematic scientiﬁc

investigation of the peculiarities of the forms

nation of criminals ears alone The non

crim inal classes have a still more distinctive

N ature printing from the ear was invented

by me for the purpose of having permanent

portraits of ears o f the e xact size and shape

be compared and collated The illustrations.

have been reduced uniformly in size the ,

proportions being kept the same .

D E LL A PO R T A GH I RARD ELLI A N D BU R RIS

W i th photograp h/i0 i llustra ti ons

19 . Ea rsof n a tist and t a v ll e

24 . Ears of ool gis t

29 . Ears o f a sc i e nti ﬁ c d iscoverer 1 60

SI N CEthere are two e ars to each head it woul d ,

seem that ears are particularl y well adapted

double chance of variety and if o ne of them

should come to harm the other is left to keep

time leads us to bestow the undivided atten

cannot meet our gaze like the eyes nor turn i t ,

self up at us like the nose nor twitch about with

a torrent of words like the mouth it cannot dis

concert us whi lst we are gazing at it With the .

air of a sentinel to guard the head it yet stands

The system of classiﬁcation used for the

identiﬁcation of criminals is not su fﬁciently

criminal cl asses have not yet received the

th el ess they hold the key to a complete system

o f classiﬁcation for there is more variety in

the shape of the ear among the educated upper

forms it is not difﬁcul t to apply the same system

observation of the ear as part of the physiognomy

with particular characteristics The ear cannot .

be altered by ordinary us e and it preserves its

type when the other features are changed by

the intricate maze of the convo l utions of the

pho tographs and authentic portraits in paint

enough specimens of the various shapes have

We must begin by saying that there is no

There i s however a very distinct law of shape

and proportion of the different parts of the

to submit Before stating thi s l a w we must

ﬁrst e xamine the different parts o f the ear .

The p i nna is t he scientiﬁc name of the

inner portion which contains the parts for

tr ansmitting sound to the nervous centres .

It is known to vary in appearance in every

pair of ears This in itself forms a basis for

identiﬁcation which is invaluable These un .