Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony

io6 WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY he membraneous lining on which the ultimate ends of t e nerves are spread is virtually a sensitive beach, and the little otoconia, showers of pebbles and sand, which are raised and let fall by each succeeding wavelet of sound. This wonderful mechanism constitutes the inner ear. The ear, as a whole, consists of three parts: the outer ear, which is a trumpet-shaped passageway called the pinna serving to collect the sound waves and pass them on through rHAMM£R Fig. 12i.—The ossicles. the auditory canal to a small membrane called the ear- drum; the ossicles, a series of three little bones, the ham- mer, the anvil, and the stirrup, they are called; and the inner ear just described. The foot of the stirrup is connected with an oval mem- brane, which closes a hole in the inner ear. Sounds pass- ing through the auditory canal cause the drum to vibrate and send tremors through the bones to the liquid in the little sacs. The tumbling of the “pebbles” against the fila- ments of the auditory nerve sends the intelligence to the brain. The impression which the mind receives through the organ of hearing is called sound. All bodies which pro- duce sounds are in a state of vibration, and they communi-