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[October 31, 19 18 



condition of a peace which is more than an armis- 

 be found In a democratic form of govern- 

 ment, The subsequent steps will be arbitration 

 tribunals, disarmament, and an international par- 

 liament. These seem far enough of) al presents 

 . is important to make up oui minds whether 

 .ally desire them, and i! not, i' not. I'rof. 

 [astrow's wisely written I I careful and re- 

 strained ilirmi^lmiii-- makes for illumination. 



7/i. Strategic Geography of thi Great Powers. 

 I Based on a Lecture delivered during 1917 to 

 Officers of the Grand Fleet and of the British 

 Armies in France.) By Dr. Vaughan Cornish. 

 Pp. viii-t-114. (London: George Philip and 

 Son, Ltd., n)iS. ) 2s. net. 

 Within the compass ol a small volume Dr. 

 Vaugfaan Cornish has tried, not unsuccessfully, 

 to crowd many ideas. He describes the great 

 Slates of the world as regards their sources of 

 men and materials, and the lines of communica- 

 tion by which force can be concentrated. His point 

 of view is often fresh and always geographical. 

 The distribution of the British Empire is described, 

 not by continents, but by oceans. The old system 

 merely emphasises the gaps in continuity of the 

 Empire. Dr. Cornish's method indicates an appre- 

 ciation of the ocean as a highway linking together 

 the component parts of the Empire. But land 

 routes may also be of importance. In his treat- 

 ment of Asia Dr. Cornish insists on the strategic 

 value of southern Turkestan and northern Afghan- 

 istan as the eventual crossing-place of the chief 

 lines of traffic from Moscow to Delhi, and from 

 Constantinople, Cairo, and Bagdad to Pekin. 



The volume has small coloured maps ol Kurope, 

 Asia, and the world. The last, on a Mercalor 

 projection, would have been a better illustration of 

 the chapters if it had been on an equal-area pro- 

 jection. Dr. Cornish's work is an excellent intro- 

 duction to the geographical conditions of national 

 security, and should be widely read. 



B.S.A. Musketry Score Book for Use in the 

 General Musketry Course. Instructions for 

 Short Lcc-Enficld Rifle and Enfield Pattern 

 km I Rifle, Using Mark I'll. Ammunition. By 

 E. J. Smyth. Pp. 47. (London : Forstcr Groom 

 and Co., Ltd., 1918.) Price 3d. net. 

 This excellent little book is a combination of a 

 book of instruction and a score record. It con- 

 tains clear instructions for the sighting to be 

 employed at higher ranges after making a group 

 at 100 yds., so that the error of the rifle may be 

 obtained (without the long experience with the 

 individual rifle which is desirable but cannot 

 always be obtained. 'I he instructions for the short 

 Lee-Enfield rifle and for the Enfield pattern iqi-l 

 are placed together, but are indicated bv distinc- 

 tive borders so that no confusion can arise. The 

 book should prove particularly useful to every 

 Volunteer in order to enable him to know the be- 

 haviour of his own rifle on the completion of his 

 musketry course. It is also ,1 mo iseful guide 

 in course itself. 



\' 2557. VOL. I02 _ | 



/ E 1 TERS TO Till: EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 tile writers of, rejet ted manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Perception of Sound. 

 As I had the privilege "I being consulted b) Sii 

 Thoin.i- Wrightson during the later years of his 

 " Inquirj into the Analytical Mechanism of Chi 

 Internal Ear," and advising him a-, regards 1I1, 

 phvsical nature of the cochlea and the arrangement 

 of its parts, I ma) be allowed to u\ to clear up the 

 i objections formulated by Prof. Bayliss 

 (Nature, October 17, p. 1J4), as the) chiefly concern 

 matters relating to anatomy or physiology. When 

 Prof. Bayliss looks again at the title of Sir Thomas 

 Wrightson's work, which 1 have quoted above, he 



will see lhat he is in error in supposing that the 



Wrightson theory deprives the cochlea of Che anal 

 function postulated by Helmholtz. llelmholtz's theory 

 presupposes that the cochlea contains an extensive 

 series of resonators for resolving a sound complex 

 into its component waves; Sii Thomas Wrightson - 

 theor) presupposes thai the cochlea is a machine 

 designed for the purpose of analysing sound complex! - 

 and of registering its component waves as nerve im- 

 pulses. I fear it is a leosi statement of mine on 

 p. 159 of tin Appendix to Sir Thomas Wrightson's 

 book lhat has misled Prof. Bayliss; there I havi 

 written thai "the final analysis must be done in the 

 cortex (jf the brain even if Helmhoftz's theory is true." 

 That I still believe to be the case. 



Prof. Bayliss demurs to the opinion I have ex- 

 pressed that no theory of the mechanism of the ear 

 can be regarded as satisfactory that fails to explain 

 the form and the arrangement of its various parts. 

 I have found that to be an absolutely infallible law 

 as regards every part of the animal body concerned 

 in movement. In every bone, joint, muscle, tendon, 

 and ligament which lias been investigated the result 

 has been the same — the material of which each is 

 made has been found to be so placed, so shaped, and 

 so arranged as to earn - out the particular function 

 which has been assigned to it. Whether we accept 

 Helmholtz 's explanation of the mechanism of the 

 internal ear or Sir Thomas Wrightson's, we are 

 dealing with a machine concerned in movement, 

 and it is, therefore, legitimate to infer that its 

 pails are designed to subserve its various move- 

 ments. The onlv structural feature of the cochlea ex- 

 plained by Helmholtz's theory is the gradual increas 

 of the basilar membrane from its proximal or fenestra! 

 end to its distal or helicottemal end. The elaborate 

 structure of the organ of Corti and the conformation 

 of the canals of the cochlea are left unexplained, 

 whereas in Sir Thomas Wrightson's theory all these 

 matters receive a rational explanation. On the Helm- 

 holtz theon we must believe that the rabbit is provided 

 with a moo delicate analytical machine than man, 

 and the sloth with a more elaborate one than the 

 most tuneful bird. Xav, we are certain that if Ilelm- 

 hokz's explanation had been the right one, Natun 

 could have secured the necessary mechanism in a 

 much simpler way, namely, bv providing the auditorv 

 hair-cells with oroeessfes or cilia of the requisiti quali- 

 ties and dimensions to serve as sympathetic resonators. 



I now come to a very important and \<i\ difficult 

 objection that has been raised bv Prof. Bayliss. Sir 

 Thomas Wrightson's theon certainh presumes thai thi 

 fibres oi the nerve of bea loabli of carrying 



