CORRESPONDENCE 



To the Editor of " Science Progress " 



THE INTERNAL EAR 



From Sir Thomas Wrightson, J. P., D.L. 



Dear Sir, — The criticism of Professor Barton upon the theory- 

 advanced by me and supported on anatomical grounds by 

 Dr. A. Keith, is one which we welcome as putting forward the 

 contrast between the Helmholtz theory and our own in a definite 

 form, and which calls for serious reply. 



Professor Barton at the outset questions whether, in regard- 

 ing the internal ear as a mechanism, we have " sufficiently 

 borne in mind the high frequency at which it works." The 

 answer to this is that our sensations are sufficient proof that 

 some work has been passed through the cochlea, and that 

 these sensations correspond to the main periods of the wave 

 forms in the air as delineated by mathematicians. The high 

 frequency with which we deal does not therefore appear to 

 interfere with the perception of sound within the limits of 

 audibility — which audibility incontestably proves that mov- 

 ing pressures have been transferred through the mechanism. 



Professor Barton in paragraph a states that, " The reson- 

 ance theory regards some particular part of a graduated 

 mechanism in the internal ear as capable of sympathetically 

 responding to the air-waves of correspondingly suitable fre- 

 quency falling upon the external ear." This hardly exhausts 

 the case, as a scientist wants to know — What is this capability ? 

 and how does it work ? Some of our greatest intellects have 

 demonstrated how the action of elastic vibrating bodies is 

 carried through the air to the drum of the ear, but surely it is 

 equally important to follow those actions into the liquids of 

 the ear, which lie in the only route by which pressure and motion 

 can reach the nerve terminations to be passed forward to the 

 brain. 



Professor Barton in paragraph b proceeds to describe his 



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