ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE 217 



CHAPTER XVI 

 THE EYE AND THE EAR 



THE EYE 



IF I shrink from giving a detailed description of the 

 manner in which I believe these two organs of special sense 

 operate, it is not because the task is beyond me, but because, 

 owing to my limited knowledge of histology and the 

 paucity of information as regards the neuro-electrical 

 ramifications of the circuits for my enlightenment, I 

 grudge the time that would have to be spent in further 

 research ; whereas a physiologist who could bring himself 

 to ponder the matter from a purely electrical, or rather 

 from a purely telegraphic and telephonic point of view, 

 would, I have no doubt, be able to do the subject greater 

 justice. 



At the same time, it is incumbent upon me to put upon 

 record my opinion that the eye is strongly suggestive of a 

 compound selenium-cell transmitting apparatus, and that 

 the ear does not differ in any essential respect from a 

 telephone system, the outer ear being the receiver, the 

 middle ear the microphone, and the auditory nerve the 

 line wire or wires to the brain. 



The element called selenium is not very well known 

 outside the precincts of the laboratory. It was discovered 

 in the year 1817 in the refuse of a sulphuric acid 

 manufactory in Sweden by Berzelius, and is obtained in 

 two forms, one of which is soluble in carbon disulphide, 

 the other being insoluble in the same medium. The first 



