THE AUDITORY APPARATUS 



A STUDY IN ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY 



THE theory upon which the following thesis is based, 

 or, I should prefer to say, the fundamental truth 

 upon which it rests, is that the body functions are called 

 into operation by a vital fluid, which although not electricity 

 so closely resembles it as to be measurable by the instru- 

 ments of precision used for the determination of electrical 

 quantities and resistances and to be capable of expression 

 in terms of electrical units. 



Briefly, I hold that nerve force is generated in the lungs, 

 with every inspiration, by the combination oxy-haemoglobin, 

 and that the electro-motive force is dependent upon there 

 being a normal quantity of iron in the blood and of oxygen 

 in the air. 



It follows, logically, that the blood-stream being the 

 carrier of energy the brain must be the seat of highest 

 potential, while the nerves are conductors of that energy ; 

 their insulation being provided by the sheaths of medullated 

 and the lipoid coatings of non-medullated nerves. 



It is also postulated that the conduction of the nervous 

 impulse is in accordance with the molecular theory of the 

 propagation of electricity, that the unipolar cells in connec- 

 tion with the sensory nerves are storage cells, the bipolar 

 cells condensers, and the multipolar cells multiple condenser's. 

 Assume also that each synapse is an inductive process and 

 so transmitting impulse, that the sensory nerves are all 

 " closed," and the motor and secretory paths " open " 

 circuits and the study of physiological problems presents 

 fewer difficulties. 



That nerve force is generated in the lungs many things 

 go to show. A few of them may be mentioned without 

 undue digression. 



On the scale of a galvanometer of a sensibility of 4,000 

 millimetres per micro-ampere at 41 inches scale distance, 



