Studies on the Physiology of the Middle Ear

This work will appeal primarily to the physiologist interested in hearing and to otologists capable of investigative work on this special sense on animals in a properly set up laboratory. The author concerns himself in large part with studying movements of the membrana tympani under varying experimental conditions. The different movements are graphically recorded and the experiments are done mostly on cats and dogs. By means of the necessary controls, tracings of the motions of the membrana tympani are made after administration of various drugs such as epinephrine and pilocarpine and following interference with or stimulation of the nervous pathways, incoming and outgoing, to the middle ear. The clinical significance of the various experiments and phenomena evoked are discussed in a brief fashion and the results obtained are compared with similar neuromuscular mechanisms affecting the pupils, lens and eyelids. For the practicing otologist the book may not present great interest.