tamarack or larch, or else with strips of cedar-bark. | funnel-shaped aperture, at the back part of the They also weave very useful sorts of baskets from mouth, behind the palate, and passing backward, the inner-rind of the bass-wood and white-ash. narrows in its diameter, and opens by a small hole Some of these baskets, of a coarse kind, are made into the chamber of the tympanum. use of for gathering up potatoes, Indian-corn or turnips; the settlers finding them very good substitutes for the osier-baskets, used for such purposes in civilized countries. The Indians are acquainted with a variety of dies with which they stain the more elegant fancy-baskets and porcupine-quills. Our parlour is ornamented with several very pretty specimens of their ingenuity in this way, which answer the purpose of note and letter-cases, flower-stands, and work-baskets. 2. The oval hole, or foramen ovale. This is an irregular formed oval hole, situated nearly opposite the tympanum, and opening into the vestibule or central cavity of the labyrinth. 3. The round hole, or foramen rotundum, is placed in the side of the cavity, and leads into one of the scale of the cochlea. Besides these holes, there are, as we have hinted above, several others of minor importance, which open into certain cavities in the substance of the bone forming the base of the scull, and called the mastoid cells, or cellule mastoidea. natural size. 7. THE LABYRINTH. The labyrinth is a collective name for three very peculiar structures which constitute the internal ear, and in which the sense of hearing is produced. These are the vestibule, the semicircular canals, and the cochlea. The cavities we have hitherto described are filled with air, and have a free communication with the atmosphere, but these contain an aqueous fluid in which the auditory nerves are expanded. They appear to value the useful rather more highly than the merely ornamental articles that you may exhibit to them. They are very shrewd and close in all their bargains, and exhibit a surprising degree of caution in their dealings. The men are much less difficult to trade with than the women: they display a singular pertinacity in some instances. If they have fixed their mind on any one article, they will come to you day after day, refusing any other you may offer to their notice. One of the squaws fell in love with a gay chintz dressing-gown belong- External view of the Cochlea and Semicircular Canals, of the ing to my husband, and though I resolutely refused to part with it, all the squaws in the wigwam by turns came to "look at gown," which they pronounced with their peculiarly plaintive tone of voice; and when I said "no gown to sell," they uttered a melancholy exclamation of regret, and went away. They will seldom make any article you want on purpose for you. If you express a desire to have baskets of a particular pattern that they do not happen to have ready-made by them, they give you the usual vague reply of "by-and-by." If the goods you offer them in exchange for theirs do not answer their expectations, they give a sullen and dogged look or reply, "Car-car," (no, no,) or " Carwinni," which is a still more forcible negative. But when the bargain pleases them, they signify their approbation by several affirmative nods of the head, and a note not much unlike a grunt; the ducks, fish, venison, or baskets, are placed beside you, and the articles of exchange transferred to the folds of their capacious blankets, or deposited in a sort of rushen wallet. The women imitate the dresses of the whites, and are rather skilful in converting their purchases. Many of the young girls can sew very neatly. I often give them bits of silk and velvet, and braid, for which they appear very thankful. Lib. of Ent. Knowledge. THE FIVE SENSES. SENSE OF HEARING-No. II. 6. PASSAGES OF THE TYMPANUM. FROM the descriptions and figures given, the reader will easily conceive that the bony cavity of the tympanum is a small chamber, having an opening on one side, closed by the drum, and containing the chain of bones already enumerated. Now, towards the inner side of the cavity, three holes or passages open, together with some smaller ones, which we shall describe. 1. The eustachian tube. This commences in a 8. THE VESTIBULE. This, which forms a kind of antechamber to the semicircular canals, and the cochlea, is a cavity of an oval form, covered with numerous hollows, and pierced with many holes for the transmission of the the oval hole forms a medium of communication branches of the nerves. It will be recollected that between the vestibule and the tympanum. 9. THE SEMICIRCULAR CANALS. When the vestibule is cut open, five circular holes are seen, which are the mouths or openings of the semicircular canals. These canals are delicate bent tubes of bone, so small that the head of a pin will fill one of them. They are distinguished by the names, the superiour, or vertical, the posteriour, or oblique, and the exteriour, or horizontal. The posteriour and superiour run into each other at one end, and open into the vestibule by one common orifice, which accounts to the reader for there being only five instead of six openings, as he might have supposed. 10. THE COCHLEA. The cochlea is one of the most curious pieces of apparatus in the body, and, from its complicated structure, is so difficult to describe, that it will be best understood by reference to our figures. It consists of a central pillar of spongy bone, called the modiolus, round which is wound a spiral chamber, which, making two turns and a half, narrowing from the base to the apex, is called collectively scale cochleæ. This is divided, throughout its whole length, by a thin plate of bone, called the spiral lamina, We e shall now describe the connexion of these several parts, and the manner in which they discharge their important functions in the production of hearing, and trace the progress of sounds from one structure to another, till their final perception by the mind. Let us imagine the Swiss soldier, far from his native land, suddenly aroused from the dull monotony of his duties, by the sound of the Rans des Vaches, that simple melody, which never fails to call up the associations of home so strongly, as to induce him to quit his post, and return to his family. What is his first emotion? He turns an ear in the direction of the musick, and stands as still as death. The body, by its disquietude, disposes itself to an undisturbed reception of the sounds, and this is done by an instantaneous sympathy between all the parts of our complicated system. An ear thus placed, collects the atmospherick tremours, and converges them into the auditory passage, and through it to the membrane of the tympanum. Against this, (the drum of the ear,) the musical tremours strike, and cause it to vibrate in accordance. These vibrations are immediately communicated to the chain of bones which chanical operation, they are then increased or dilie behind the membrane; and by a beautiful meminished in their intensity, according as the sounds are too low in themselves to be heard distinctly, or too high to be borne with pleasure. To comprehend the mode in which this is performed, it will be necessary to consider the connexion and function of the four bones which we have already described, and which our young friends will now be pleased to read again. The end of the long handle of the malleus, is fastened to the centre of the tympanum, and is destined immediately to receive the vibrations of that membrane. The head of the malleus is joined to the body of the incus in such a manner, that the vibrations of the malleus are considerably magnified in their passage through it. In fact, the two bones act as a compound-lever, in which, while one end moves at one speed, the other moves at three times the rate, or more, as the case may be. It is, however, quite impossible to convey a clear notion of this contrivance by words only, and we therefore beg a close inspection of the following figure, which represents the chain of bones in their natural position. The nerves of hearing, called by anatomists the seventh pair, enter the ear by the internal auditory passage, and are spread in beautiful ramifications upon the membranes in the labyrinth. 4, the Malleus; B, the Incus; C, the Os Orbiculare; D, the Stapes; a, b, a line representing the centre of motion of the Malleus; c, d, the centre of motion of the Incus. In this view, to quote the words of Sir Charles Bell, "we see that the head of the malleus is so Our readers will now have traced clearly the proarticulated with the body of the incus, that the cen-gress of a sound to the stapes, the last of the chain of tre of motion of the incus is in a line drawn through bones, which they will please distinctly to observe the centre of its body, and consequently, that the is placed accurately upon the foramen ovale, or oval extremity of the long process, to which we see the hole of the labyrinth, in the same way as a seal os orbiculare and stapes attached, moves through a rests upon its impression. When it has reached greater space than that which receives the impulse this point, the oscillations of the bones are given off of the head of the malleus. Thus a very small to the membrane, which, like another tympanum, is degree of motion, communicated by the head of the stretched across the oval hole, and from it communimalleus to the body of incus, must be greatly cated to the fluids which fill the vestibule. The increased in the extremity of the long process of the tremours in the labyrinth are then carried in an unincus, and, consequently, this mechanism of the bones dulating wave through the semicircular canals, and essentially assists in giving strength to the vibration thence into the spiral passages of the cochlea, in which is transmitted inward to the great seat of the both of which, it will be remembered, the auditory nerves are expanded, and which now receive the aerial vibrations, and communicate them to the brain. nerve." We have frequently tested this adaptation of the ear for the perception of the lowest sounds in the following manner, and have received very high grati- But the function of hearing is not yet complete : fication by the result:-In the stillness of a summer's the walls of the labyrinth being composed fully of day, when it is usually considered that all sounds bone, some contrivance is wanting to get rid of the are at rest, and when indeed they are so to a com-vibrations after they have struck the nerves. In the mon observer, we have sat ourselves down by a cavity of the tympanum we observed that two holes hedge, closed our eyes, and listened to the silence. communicated with the labyrinth, the foramen ovale, Immediately thousands of miniature melodies have or oval hole, and the foramen rotundum, or round peopled the empty void, and the very silence has hole. The latter of these answers this important become eloquent. The trill of the butterfly's wing, purpose. When the sounds have done their office, the notes and peculiar noises of multitudes of in- and reached in the scala of the cochlea the end of sects, the vibrations of a leaf, and the low gratula- their journey, they collectively strike against the tory notes which loving birds emit, all became membrane which closes this hole, and are given off distinctly audible. Indeed, we have almost fan-to the air in the tympanum. Now, it will be rememcied we could hear the unfolding of the buds and flowers. The kind Creator does not, however, stop here; for as we might have been incommoded by the inability to perceive very low sounds, so also we might have suffered from loud, sudden, or piercing ones; but for all these he has made complete provision. In the case we have described, the object to be attained was the increase of sound; but in that which we are about to explain, the end is to diminish it. This is effected by a combination of two very simple operations; first, by a relaxation of the tensity of the tympanum, just as we would slacken the string of a bow; and, secondly, by abridging the amount of leverage in the bones. The immediate agents in producing these changes, are four little muscles : the first, which is called the tensor tympani, is fastened into the body of the malleus, and by pulling the long handle of that bone, draws the tympanum inward, and, of course, tightens and prepares it for the reception of low sounds; but when a sudden irruption of sound shakes the air, the contrary effect is produced by a relaxation of the muscle, and the tympanum, loosened from its grasp, becomes comparatively flaccid, and in that state transmits a deadened, muffled impression of the offensive noise to the brain. But to ensure an immediate and sufficient relaxation of the tympanum, it has not been left to the action of this muscle alone; a second one has been added, called the laxator tympani which arises from the temporal bone, and is inserted into the handle of the malleus, and at once pulls it forward, and of course aids, while it ensures, the desired alteration. A third muscle is also inserted into the malleus, and a fourth into the stapes, and by their joint action, modify the degree of motion in the bones, and limit the quantity of sound which they transmit. bered, that we mentioned a third aperture in the tympanum, communicating with the mouth through the eustachian tube; and as the air in the tympanum by this means is enabled freely to interchange with the atmosphere, it is at the same time enabled easily to dissipate the worn-out sounds which it receives from the foramen rotundum. Thus is the sense of hearing made complete; and thus is man blessed by his Maker with the power of perceiving upwards of twenty thousand simple sounds :-a glorious alphabet! which we may be allowed to say, should never be prostituted to any lesser use than its GREAT AUTHOR'S PRAISE. [The Sense of Smelling in our next,] For the Family Magazine. THE WISH.-BY MRS. LYDIA BAXTER. Oh! could I dwell with one kind friend, Whose sorrows with my own should blend, I would not ask for India's mines, Nor princess' gay attire; But sweet content a wreath should bind New York, May 16th, 1836. LIVING COSTUMES. [Foulah Blacksmith.] THE above illustration represents a blacksmith at his daily avocation in Freetown. In the Foulah suburb of the capital of Sierra Leone, we see artisans sedulously employed in various trades: making sandals and war-pouches, platting straw for hats, or writing Koran verses for sale. Their blacksmiths work ingeniously and well, in spite of the want of such tools as an American smith would consider indispensable. Sitting on the ground, the Foulah holds his strange rude bellows between his legs, and contrives to heat his metal in a little heap of glowing charcoal. These bellows are of simple construction: A couple of calabashes, with a hole at the top of each, crowned with a band of loose goatskin or calfskin, and connected together by two hollow bamboos inserted into their sides and uniting at an angle, where another single straight bamboo is fixed to serve as the nose. In working the apparatus, the Foulah grasps a skin in each hand: one he holds tightly, and strikes it down on the calabash, so that the air is forced through the tube at the side; at the same time he is raising the other open skin to its utmost stretch, so as to contain as large a volume of air as possible: he then closes it with a firm hand and dashes it down: alternately raising and depressing, he maintains a uniform current of air through the single bamboo. The gaudy-peaked cap, the curled ringlets on the shoulders, and the abundance of cotton drapery falling to the ground during the operation, make the smithy of Foulah a sight worth seeking. At the island of Tombo, I was shown the lock of a rifle, which had been beautifully repaired by one of these men, who had never seen any excepting the fractured one in question: he had made a new bridle, and long examination was necessary to discover what part had been substituted. On first beholding a pair of fine steel spectacles, the astonished Mahometan lifted his hand in extreme wonder at their fine workmanship and spring, and, looking at me, uttered the wonted Bismullah! (in the name of God!) yet he subsequently repaired them neatly and effectually. Silver rings of portentous dimensions, shieldshaped and stamped with abstruse hieroglyphicks, are favourite specimens of their art. In steel and leather-work, the Foulahs excel. To do them justice, however, they are great knaves. Peace be to them! It is worthy of remark, that the blacksmith and the tailor are two of the honourable professions or castes : and when in the wild country of the Timmanees, I have stood by the royal hovel of one of the great king Ali Carlie's sons, a convert, and watched the cross-legged prince, plying his coarse needle, as indefatigably and as regally as did his late majesty of Spain, of pious memory, when embroidering the garment for the virgin. His royal highness of Magbelly, however, was more selfish in his pursuits, being simply occupied in repairing an antique pair of his own trowsers. Such peaceful tastes, such industrious habits, such economical practices, are commendable especially in a prince. White Man's Grave. Benevolence.-IT was remarked by Cicero, that man resembled God in nothing so much as in doing good to others. Benevolence is one of those virtues which redeem the human character from the thraldom of sordid selfishness, and is indeed, as Shakspeare terms it, like the gentle dew from heaven, refreshing and cheering the kindred virtues of the heart, while it diffuses life and fertility over the "place beneath." LADIES' DEPARTMENT. AMUSEMENT AT HOME. four inches and a quarter at M and N, draw lines from I through M and N to meet the outer arc at K and L. Now mark off an additional slip O P about To make Card-board Flower-stands.-PROCURE an inch wide, to serve as an overlap when glued four round pieces of deal-wood, from a turner, for together, and the figure is complete, unless you wish the bottom of the flower-stands, each half an inch in to have the top finished off with a vandiked or thickness, and having a sloping edge, like the sides scolloped edge, in which case, before it is cut out, of a saucer, but not so much aslant. The card- the form of the vandike must be drawn in the folboard, on which the paintings are done, is now to be lowing manner. Determine the height, and mark it marked with a pair of compasses, making the upper off at a, through which draw an arc as before; now line parallel to the lower. Perhaps the most satis-ascertain the middle point of the arc C K, this may factory plan will be to form a pattern upon a stiff be very quickly done by lightly placing one leg of sheet of common cartridge-paper, to avoid the risk the compasses on the point C, and with the other, of spoiling the paintings. This may readily be done having fixed upon the centre as near as the eye can in the following manner :-draw a straight line, A B, judge, turn the compasses alternately from C to K, to down the middle of the cartridge-paper, then measure see how much you are out; by repeating this once the height of the flower-pot placed on the wooden or twice you will find the exact centre, which mark at bottom, and mark it on the upper part of A B, as at b; divide b K in the same manner as at c, and c K CD; you must next measure the width across the as at d; now run the compasses along the arc from K top of the flower-pot, adding about half an inch, to L, making a puncture at every step, and you will otherwise you will not be able to get it out when you find that you have very correctly divided it into sixteen wish; divide the measurement in half, with a pair portions. To find the points for the top of the vanof compasses, and placing one leg on the point C, dike, I again halve these portions as at e f, and with make a mark on each side, as at E and F; the a long straight rule carry lines from I through e and smaller diameter of the wooden bottom must be f, making pencil-marks at g h, and so all along the treated in the same manner, and marks made as at arc. It will much assist the operation if a stout pin G and H on each side of D; then, with a long be stuck perpendicularly into the table through I, ruler, draw straight lines through E G and F H, and against which one end of the ruler may rest, and you will find that they both pass through the line turn as on a centre. If you then draw lines from A B at the same point I. Draw through D the arc point to point the figure is finished; and it may be MG HN with the compasses; but as they will cut out with a pair of scissors. This pattern may then not be sufficiently long to describe the upper arc, be placed over each of the drawings, and a pencilyou can take a long slip of Bristol board, about an line carried all around it; placing it so carefully as inch wide, and fixing one end with a drawing-pin to to let the drawings be straight in the middle. the point I, make a small hole through the other end at the proper distance to fall upon C; insert the point of a pencil through it, and describe the arc K EFL: If you like to trace the outline of this form upon transparent tracing paper, you can place that over the paintings, and trace the form with black paper; or a more simple plan still will be, to place the paper, out of which the form was cut, and mark a pencilline round as much of it as is left whole from cutting out the form; or perhaps it will please you still more if you place your pattern on another part of the cartridge-paper, and after drawing a line round the whole, cut it out so as to leave the opening entire, when it may be placed over the drawings without any uncertainty. With some strong gum, thick paste, or thin glue, the ends are to be joined together It is now to be placed on a board or table, and a flat ruler laid upon the pasted parts, with some lead weights on that, to press it well while wet; in about two hours it will be set enough to admit of being removed without the risk of separating, and the piece of wood for the bottom may be put in, by applying thin glue to the lower part of the cardboard inside, where the wood will touch it, and also to the edge of the wood. This must be done as quickly as possible, lest the glue become dry, which it will do rapidly. To set the bottom in its proper place, without touching and soiling the sides, fix a tracer firmly into the middle of the wood, and lower it down carefully until it reaches the bottom of the card-board. Before the card-board is joined together in its circular form, a piece of drawing paper, one half of which is notched all along, is to be pasted on the inside of the card-board, letting the notched part hang below the card: it may then be bent into its round form and fastened, and when dry, the notched |