The Ear a Barometer

Abstract

AT a time when I frequently went between Peterborough and London by the Great Northern Railway express trains, I found that the sudden compression of the air produced on entering a tunnel was not only perceptible by the ear, but even unpleasant, and that this unpleasant sensation remained till the open air was reached, when it suddenly ceased. Of course it was natural to suppose that the noise was the primary cause, but I satisfied myself that this had nothing to do with the effect, for on swallowing after entering the tunnel the sensation ceased, but recurred in the opposite sense on leaving the tunnel, when a second operation of swallowing removed it. This showed clearly that what was observed was real.