238 AYERS. [Vol. VI . 



In Hermann's HandbiicJi do^ Physiologic, III, 1879, p. 138, 

 Hensen, in writing on tlie auditory . function, says : " Trotz 

 ausgiebigen Stadiums der Literatur und trotz eigener, seit 10 

 Jahren gemachter Erfahrungen kann ich fiir eine Schlussfolge- 

 rung geniigende Basis nicht gewinnen." Although this was 

 written in connection with his essay on the functions of the 

 semicircular canals, I think it would need very slight, if any, 

 modification in order to extend it to all other parts of the audi- 

 tory canal complex and the contained sense organs. As Hasse 

 had found the lack of a sufficient basis for generalization the 

 one characteristic common to all the works on the morphology 

 of the ear, so Hensen has found a similar lack of a basis of facts 

 sufficient for satisfactory conclusions the ever-present character 

 of the literature of the physiology of the ear. 



Under the circumstances one is hardly to be pardoned for 

 writing more words on the subject unless he shall add to a 

 foundation of fact, and not merely to one of speculation. 



Most physiological laboratories contain an ever-increasing 

 quantity of apparatus and experimental devices which, having 

 served their purpose, are laid aside. They have, perhaps, been 

 instrumental in making important advances in knowledge, but 

 are now no longer useful, owing to, it may be, the very ad- 

 vances they themselves have been instrumental in bringing 

 about. As a rule, however, so far as any future advance in the 

 physiological domain is concerned, this apparatus is useless. It 

 may have an historical value, it is true, and is often preserved 

 for this reason alone. 



I think it cannot be gainsaid that all of the theories with 

 reference to the physiology of audition are so entirely inade- 

 quate that to continue their use is to hinder the progress of 

 knowledge. Hence these theories stand in the same relation 

 to the literature of this subject that the antiquated apparatus 

 does to the newer investigations of the laboratory. If what has 

 been written about audition is in the main inoperative, the only 

 promising way to the light is a return to first principles. We 

 must experiment for facts and relations on which to build up a 

 consistent theory. 



If our predecessors had only begun with the alpha, and 

 learned the auditory alphabet morphologically as it is displayed 

 in nature, instead of learning the form of the omega of the 



