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GERMINATION 



These are chiefly interesting from the view they give 

 of the nerve fibres and of the membrana tectoria, a process 

 apparently protecting the hairs of the cells from injury. 

 It is also very noticeable how the whole structure is built 

 up to give strength and resist strain. 



A more useful diagrammatic illustration, however, is 

 given by Howell, in his Text Book of Physiology. 



Diagrammatic View of the Organ of Corti. 



{After Howell.) 



A. Inner rods of Corti; B, Outer rods of Corti; C, Tunnel of Corti; 



D, Basilar membrane ; E, Single row of inner hair-cells ; 6, 6', 6', Rows 



of outer hair-cells ; 7, 7', Supporting Cells of Deiters ; 1 to 5, Hair-cells. 



Now, there are some 16,500 hair cells, similar to those 

 shown in the last illustrations and I am going to suggest 

 that they are condensers or Leyden jars, each of a slightly 

 different electrostatic capacity and that the rods of Corti, 

 together with the tunnel from which they rise, are designed, 

 partly at all events, to give strength and secure insulation ; 

 much in the same way that a careful electrical instrument 

 maker would mount the terminals of a standard condenser 

 upon ebonite supports. 



We must also remember that all these cells are in a closed 

 circuit, in a liquid (the endolymph) and may reasonably 

 postulate that the hairs are their antennae, to enable them 

 to receive and deliver charge. 



That being so and both perilymph and endolymph being, 

 in the absence of sound, in a condition of neuro-electrical 

 equilibrium it follows that anything causing an alteration 



