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MICROSCOPICAL INVESTIGATION. 365.
observed that the pupils contract when the eyes are fixed
upon near objects. The Prior of the Monastery of St.
Martin, E. MARIOTTE, made the discovery that the place
where the optic nerve enters the globe is insensible to rays
of light*
The foundation of the physiology of hearing was laid
by CLAUDE PERRAULT, the famous physician and architect,
the builder of the Louvre at Paris. He was the first to see
the nerve-fibres distributed upon the lamina spiralis of the
cochlea, and declared them to be the seat of the sense of
hearing.t He also recognized the part played by the
labyrinth and the semi-circular canals in the conduction of
sound. DUVERNEY followed the distribution of the auditory
nerve in the internal ear more closely, and rendered PER-
RAULTS results more conclusive on certain points. Then
followed VALSALVA'S excellent work.
CLAUDE PERRAULT also attempted to throw light upon the
origin of the voice, while drawing attention to the structure
of the larynx. DENYS DODART was of opinion that vocal
sounds are produced by the constriction or widening of the
glottis in association with the passage of air to and fro.
ANTOINE FERREIN recognized the fact that vibrations of the
vocal cords are of the greatest importance in phonation.J
P. CAMPER tried to explain the different character of the
voice in various classes of animals by the differences in the
structure of their vocal organs. AMMANN, W. V. KEMPELEN,
and KRATZENSTEIN studied the physiology of speech, and
constructed the first specimens of an apparatus for imitating
human articulation. The papillae of the tongue were
declared by MALPIGHI and BELLINI to be concerned with
* Lettres ecrites par MARIOTTE, PECQUET ft PERRAULT sur le sujet d'une
nouvelle de'couverte touchant la veue par MARIOTTE in the Recueil de pleusieurs
traitez de mathematique de l'Acad. Royale des Sciences, Paris 1676.
t CEuvres diverses de physique et de mechanique, Leyden 1721, Vol. i, p.
247 et seq. (du bruit, partie iii).
X Histoire de l'Acad. Royale des Sciences avec les me'moires, etc., Paris 1700,
p. 244 et seq.; 1706, p. 136 el seq.; 388 et seq.; 1707, p. 66 et seq. ; 1741, p.
409 etseq.