There is no adequate text of the phylogenesis of the ear. Nor is there any work similarly devoted to the embryology of the ear in man which is acceptable to otologists.
For forty years the author has devoted as much time as possible to the gathering of information on the development of the ear from the lowest forms of life up to man. This has, of necessity, meant much laborious study of the periodical literature of the world. It can be surmised that this was often difficult to obtain and presented, among other things, problems of translation.
The author calls attention to the striking similarity of all mammalian ears; he points out the descent of the ear from the balancing vesicle of the Coelenterates long before a definite organ of hearing arose. The functions of hearing and equilibrium have been closely connected from the beginning, and this is no accident,