Some remarks on mal-formation of the internal ear, being the result of post-mortem investigations performed in five cases of congenital deafness / By Mr. Edward Cock. Communicated by Dr. Bright.

  • Bright, Richard, 1789-1858
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some remarks on mal-formation of the internal ear, being the result of post-mortem investigations performed in five cases of congenital deafness / By Mr. Edward Cock. Communicated by Dr. Bright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    whereas, in the natural state, a fine hair can with difficulty be introduced into the canal. The present state of our knowledge, respecting the function w hich the different parts of the ear exercise in the appreciation of sound, is so vague and limited, that it is impossible to hazard even a conjecture, as to the effect likely to be produced by the mal-formations I have just described, for, until we can assign a pro¬ bable office to the various divisions of this complicated organ, it is useless to attempt more than a plain statement of facts. Little doubt, however, can be entertained of the importance- of the semicircular canals, and that they are essential, not only to the perfection of hearing as enjoyed by man, but to the appreciation of sound itself*, as possessed by inferior beings, probably not endowed with the same powrers of discrimination; since we find these tubes fully de¬ veloped in many of the lower animals, where the tympanum and cochlea are altogether wanting, or exist only as rudimentary appendages. The earliest formation of an acoustic apparatus is found in the crustaceous animals, and consists of a membranous sac filled with fluid, and containing a little bone or some cretaceous matter, on which the auditory nerve becomes distributed. Such a struc¬ ture is seen in the crab and lobster, and appears to correspond with the vestibule of the mammalia. If w e ascend the scale of organization, the next