... And the ears
seemed to be filled with air because their starting-point is near
the region of breathing.
Accuracy then in judging the differences of sounds and smells
depends on the purity of the sense-organ and of the membrane lying
upon its surface, for then all the movements become clear in such
cases, as in the case of sight. Perception and non-perception at a
distance also depend on the same things with hearing and smell as with
sight. For those animals can perceive at a distance which have
channels, so to say, running through the parts concerned and
projecting far in front of the sense-organs. Therefore all animals
whose nostrils are long, as the Laconian hounds, are keen-scented, for
the sense-organ being above them, the movements from a distance are
not dissipated but go straight to the mark, just as the movements
which cause sight do with those who shadow the eyes with the hand.
Similar is the case of animals whose ears are long and project far
like the eaves of a house, as in some quadrupeds, with the internal
spiral passage long; these also catch the movement from afar and
pass it on to the sense-organ.
In respect of sense-perception at a distance, man is, one may say,
the worst of all animals in proportion to his size, but in respect
of judging the differences of quality in the objects he is the best of
all. The reason is that the sense-organ in man is pure and least
earthy and material, and he is by nature the thinnest-skinned of all
animals for his size.
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