SOME NEW BOOKS. 
THE SENSE OF HEARING. 
L’Audition et ses organes. By Dr. M. E. GELLE. 8vo, pp. 326, with 67 figs. 
(Bibliothéque Scientifique Internationale). Paris: Félix Alcan, 1899. 
Price 6 francs. 
This is a work of great interest, in which the author has brought together 
the results of modern scientific investigation on the structure and functions of 
the ear. It is divided into three chapters, the first dealing with sonorous 
vibrations, the second with the structure of the ear, and the third with auditory 
sensations. In the first there is a fairly complete discussion of the physical 
phenomena of sound—duration, intensity, timbre—but the application of 
Ohm’s law regarding the composition of compound vibrations, and of Fourier’s 
theorem to the analysis of curves, has not received much attention. It is 
impossible to obtain an adequate conception of the phenomena of hearing 
without the aid of these fundamental principles. The novelty of Dr. Gellé’s 
book is that, for the first time, there is a systematic study of phonograms, or 
the tracings made on the wax cylinder of the phonograph. Many examples 
of these tracings are given from the writings of Hermann, M‘Kendrick, Maragi, 
and Marichelle, in which the curious marks are seen, both as depicted by 
photography, as by Marichelle’s method, and by graphic tracings, as recorded 
by the method of M‘Kendrick. These tracings show many of the phenomena 
of tone to the eye of the observer ; the number of the marks in a given time 
(or the duration of each mark) indicating pitch, the depth of the mark intensity, 
and the character or form of the mark quality or timbre. The interpretation 
of the curves, as photographed from above, is, however, much more difficult 
than that of the curves traced by a graphic method, and much yet remains to 
to be done. Dr. Gellé shows the marks or curves obtained from tracings of 
musical tones, as produced by various instruments, and also the tracings of 
syllabic sounds and words. 
The character of a word is clearly brought out. It is a series of more or 
less explosive sounds linked together by vowel tones, each sound and tone 
having its own peculiar record of vibrations, the number of which depends on 
the length of time occupied in the pronunciation of each phone, or distinct and 
separate sound. Little has yet been done in the analysis of consonantal sounds 
and syllabic sounds, so that we may regard this department of phonetics as still 
in its infancy. The time may come when the educated eye, even from a tracing 
of nature’s long-hand system of recording vibrations, will be able to recognise 
the word recorded ; but at present that is impossible. 
The only part of the second chapter calling for special notice is the elaborate 
description given of the deep roots of the auditory nerve. It is certainly 
remarkable that this nerve has more intricate connections with various parts of 
the encephalon than are possessed by any other nerve. As this is the case, 
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