Is there any difference between the vibrations of sound on the tympanum
of the ear and those on the surface of the water? Science does not seem
to see a great difference, but Ruskin finds, in the differing effects,
an illustration of the mystery of consciousness:
It is quite true that the tympanum of the ear vibrates under
sound, and that the surface of the water in a ditch vibrates,
too; but the ditch hears nothing for all that; and my hearing is
still to me as blest a mystery as ever, and the interval between
the ditch and me, quite as great. If the trembling sound in my
ears was once of the marriage-bell which begun my happiness, and
is now of the passing bell which ends it, the difference between
those two sounds to me can not be counted by the number of
concussions. There have been some curious speculations lately as
to the conveyance of mental consciousness by “brain-waves.” What
does it matter how it is conveyed? The consciousness itself is
not a wave. It may be accompanied here or there by any quantity
of quivers and shakes, up or down, of anything you can find in
the universe that is shakeable--what is that to me? My friend is
dead, and my--according to modern views--vibratory sorrow is not
one whit less, or less mysterious, to me, than my old quiet one.
(546)