SOMETHING NEW ABOUT THE EAR. 169 



comes to a stop. Experiment helps us here. A re- 

 volving table is constructed as in Mach's experiments, 

 and this is placed in a hut on whose paper-blinded 

 windows no changing lights or shadows are allowed to 

 impinge : or the subject may be simply blindfolded. 



Lying on this table on his side and comfortably 

 resting with his head on a pillow, the person is whirled 

 rapidly round by the rotation of the table. At first 

 he is conscious of the motion, but in a moment this 

 sensation disappears, and, if the table whirls on at a 

 given steady pace, all sensation of movement continues 

 to be absent. Let the rate of rotation, however, be 

 altered, or let the table come to a standstill, and 

 the consciousness of motion once more wakens into 

 activity. Some means or other we must and do 

 possess, therefore, for enabling us to determine this 

 alteration of speed. 



As our friend lies on the table placidly on one side, 

 consciousness of motion is absent. When, however, 

 the subject is placed on his back, or when he turns of 

 his own accord suddenly, he feels as though the table 

 had stood straight up, and as if he were being shot 

 headlong into some vast abyss. Here, it is evident, 

 consciousness and reason itself, of which conscious- 

 ness is the servant and minister, are evidently much 

 at fault ; for the person is lying flat and safe on his 

 back, after all. 



Next comes a little hint from that experimenter on 

 our bodies we name " disease." There is an ailment 

 called " Meniere's disease," which, first described in 

 1 86 1, shows as its symptoms giddiness, a staggering 

 walk, with a tendency to fall on one side, and deaf- 

 ness on one or both sides of the head. Examination 

 of the ear in such cases seems to show that the seat 



