An Inquiry into the Analytical Mechanism of the Internal Ear

Abstract

THIS volume is a striking example of the cooperative method in scientific research. The problem is the mechanism and functions of the internal ear, especially of the cochlea, a problem the solution of which has enlisted the attention of physicists, physiologists, and anatomists with more or less success. One associates with the cochlea the names of Bowman, Corti, and Helmholtz, besides many others, but this is the first occasion when it has been studied by an experienced engineer working alongside a learned anatomist. Sir Thomas Wrightson, since 1876, has been deeply immersed in acoustics, and he has brought to bear on the cochlea much technical knowledge, derived from wide and varied experience as an engineer. He has associated with him Prof. Arthur Keith, an anatomist, familiar with structure, fertile in imagination, and skilful in interpretation. It would be difficult to conceive a combination of workers more suitable for the investigation of that remarkable mechanism by which sound-waves act on the ear and affect the terminations, or, rather, the beginnings, of the auditory nerve.

An Inquiry into the Analytical Mechanism of the Internal Ear.

By Sir T. Wrightson, Bart. With an Appendix on the Anatomy of the Parts concerned by Prof. A. Keith. Pp. xi + 254 + plates ix. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1918.) Price 12s. 6d. net.