Reading Four

Sir James Jean, “Science & Music,” The Coming of Music

The author starts explaining the intricacy of the human auditive system. He gives a broad panorama of how the labyrinth inside our ears work and explains the evolution of internal auditive structures. In primitive creatures, there was only labyrinths. The more evolved beings had cochleas—the essential part of the ear in vertebrates—and bigger, more complex labyrinths. The anatomy of our ears allows sound waves to travel through the auditory canal to reach the ear-drum, which is an extremely sensitive membrane that will transmit the vibrations for later processing.

Among the five senses, hearing was the last one to be developed and refined. At the time it was operating at its optimum, other senses such as vision had already been stablished as indispensable. In this light, Jean argues that hearing and seeing do not complete themselves, they rather compete; and the latter usually wins over the former.

Finally, along the chapter, Jean comments on the transmission of sound, the necessity of a medium for that to happen, such as the air, and the propagation of the sound as represented by curves.

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