176 THE AUDITORY NERVE AND COCHLEA, BY W. WALDEYER, 



According to my observations, two principal bands of spiral 

 fibres can be distinguished in the organ of Corti : one internal 

 and the other external. The internal, and at the same time 



Fig. 334. 



Fig. 334. The organ of Corti. A surface view of a specimen pre- 

 pared with needles, from a woman aged 28, showing the spiral bands, 

 and magnified 400 diameters, a, Internal hair cells ; 6, small round 

 cells of the sulcus spiralis internus ; c, capitular portions of the 

 pillars of Corti ; d, small punctiform formations upon the latter ; e, 

 capitular lamina of an external pillar glimmering through the capitu- 

 lar lamina of the internal, and becoming continuous with the first 

 phalanx, e, ; /, lamina reticularis, withfour rows of hair rings and four 

 rows of phalanges, which are continuous with large laminae (Deiters' 

 terminal frames) ; g, membrana basilaris ; i, internal spiral fibrous 

 band ; k I m, three external spiral fibrous bands, with intervening 

 external hair cells ; 7i, connective tissue with fusiform cells of the 

 tympanal surface of the membrana basilaris. 



the smallest band (fig. 334, i; fig. 335 A, e), corresponds to the 

 series of the inner hair cells, and runs beneath the lamina re- 

 ticularis along the lower ends of these cells. The external band 



