j^S AVERS. [Vol. VI. 



conclusions with reference to the functions of parts of the ear 

 which are entirely untenable, owing to the false anatomical 

 premises. He says {loc. cit. p. 957) : "When we come to study 

 the ear we shall find that one division of the auditory nerve is 

 distributed to tJie cochlea alo7ie, and is called the nervus coch- 

 learis, the rest of the nerve being distributed to the utricle 

 saccule and semicircular canals as tJie nerviis vestibidaris " 

 [italics mine]. As we shall see, there are reasons for thinking 

 that the vestibular nerve carries up to the brain from the semi- 

 circular canals impulses other than those, or besides those, 

 which give rise to the sensations of sound, whereas (he con- 

 tinues) the cochlear nerve appears to be exclusively concerned 

 in hearing; and in some structural details these two divisions of 

 the auditory nerve differ from each other. Hence it is impor- 

 tant to note that according to careful investigations the cochlear 

 nerve is the continuation of the dorsal root, and the vestibular 

 nerve the continuation of the ventral root. 



The latter statement is correct when the previous error is 

 corrected, for that the cochlear nerve supplies the cochlea, the 

 saccithts, and Xh^ posterior ampulla in the hnman siLbject is a fact 

 beyond. disp7Lte, and since physiologists lay such weight of specu- 

 lation on the nerve relations, it is desirable that the anatomical 

 basis should be as exact as possible. 



In his account of a 16 mm. sheep embryo, Boettcher, in his 

 extensive monograph (31, 1869), p. 15, says: " Untersucht man 

 die mehr nach vorn gelegenen Ouerschnitte so findet man 

 noch eine zweite betrachtliche Gruppe von Ganglienzellen (6^'), 

 welche durch ein starkes Biindel Nervenfasern mit dem Nach- 

 hirn in Verbindung stehen (Fig. 9, N). Dieses Ganglion Hegt 

 dem mittlern Theil der Labyrinthblase an und befindet sich, 

 wie bemerkt, vor dem Ganglion cochleare. Dasselbe gehort 

 unzweifelhaft, wie spater genauer erortert werden soil, zum 

 grossen Theil dem Nervus vestibuli an ; inwieweit der facialis 

 mit seiner ganglionalen Anschwellung dabei betheiligt ist, lasst 

 sich in diesem Entwicklungsstadium nicht scharf entscheiden ; 

 es scheint, dass eine Abgrenzung beider um diese Zeit iiber- 

 haupt nicht moglich ist." 



In an embryo 2.0 cm. long Boettcher found the following con- 

 dition of the nerve apparatus (loc. cit) : " Ausserdem bilden sie 

 eine continuirliche Reihe, welche mit der Hauptmasse des 



