Part 4

The third division of the organ is the internal ear, which is called the labyrinth; it is divided into the vestibule, three semicircular canals, and the cochlea: the whole are incased within the petrous portion of the temporal bone. The internal ear may be considered as the actual seat of the organ; it consists of a nervous expansion of high sensibility, the sentient extremities of which spread in every direction, and in the most minute manner; inosculating with each other, and forming plexus, by which the auricular sense is increased. Here, also, sound is collected and retained by the mastoid cells and cochlea. To this apparatus is added the presence of a fluid, contained in sacs and membranes; as this fluid is in large quantities in some animals, there is no doubt it is intended as an additional means for enforcing the impression: the known influence of water, as a powerful medium or conductor of sound, strengthens this idea. The internal ear of man, therefore, has all the known varieties of apparatus, which are only partially present in other classes of the creation; and its perfection is best judged of, by considering the variety or form of the internal ear of other animals. The internal ear of some animals consists of little more than a sac of fluid, on which is expanded a small nervous pulp; according to the situation of this, whether the creature lives in water, or is partially exposed to the air, it has an external opening with the ear, or otherwise.--_Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, May 30, 1828--by J.H. Curtis, Esq_.

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THE GATHERER.

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. SHAKSPEARE.

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POETICAL WILL

_Of Nathaniel Lloyd, Esq. Twickenham, Middlesex_.

What I am going to bequeath, When this frail part submits to death; But still I hope the spark divine, With its congenial stars shall shine. My good executors, fulfil } I pray ye, fairly my goodwill } With first and second codicil, } And first, I give to dear Lord Hinton, At Twyford School, now not at Winton, One hundred guineas for a ring, Or some such memorandum thing, And truly much I should have blundered, Had I not given another hundred To Vere, Earl Powlett's second son, Who dearly loves a little fun. Unto my nephew, Robert Langdon, Of whom none says he e'er has wrong done, Though civil law he loves to hash, I give two hundred pounds in cash. One hundred pounds to my niece, Tuder, (With loving eyes one Brandon view'd her,) And to her children just among 'em, In equal shares I freely give them. To Charlotte Watson and Mary Lee, If they with Lady Poulett be, Because they round the year did dwell In Twickenham house, and served full well, When Lord and Lady both did stray Over the hills and far away, The first ten pounds, the other twenty, And girls, I hope, that will content ye. In seventeen hundred and sixty-nine, This with my hand I write and sign, The sixteenth day of fair October, In merry mood, but sound and sober, Past my three-score and fifteenth year, With spirits gay, and conscience clear, Joyous and frolicsome, though old, And like this day, serene but cold, To friends well wishing, and to friends most kind, In perfect charity with all mankind.

C.K.W.

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An Irish gentleman being accustomed to take a walk early every morning, was met by an acquaintance, about ten o'clock, who asking him if he had been taking his morning's walk, was answered in the negative, but, added the honest Hibernian, "I intend to take it in the afternoon."

W.G.C.

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A French writer having lampooned a nobleman, was caned by him for his licentious wit; when, applying to the Duke of Orleans, then Regent, and begging him to do him justice, the duke replied, with a smile, "_Sir, it has been done already_."

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LIMBIRD'S EDITION OF THE _Following Novels is already Published_:

_s_. _d_. Mackenzie's Man of Feeling 0 6 Paul and Virginia 0 6 The Castle of Otranto 0 6 Almoran and Hamet 0 6 Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia 0 6 The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 0 6 Rasselas 0 8 The Old English Baron 0 8 Nature and Art 0 8 Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield 0 10 Sicilian Romance 1 0 The Man of the World 1 0 A Simple Story 1 4 Joseph Andrews 1 6 Humphry Clinker 1 8 The Romance of the Forest 1 8 The Italian 2 0 Zeluco, by Dr. Moore 2 6 Edward, by Dr. Moore 2 6 Roderick Random 2 6 The Mysteries of Udolpho 3 6 Peregrine Pickle 4 6