The times., 1901-04-21
WHAT CAUSES SEASICKNESS
Ear Nerves, More Than the Stom-
ach, Are Responsible.

Canals in Which the Trouble Hns Its
Origin - The Patients Discomfort
Increased Through His Efforts ia
Preserve His Balance at Sen
Seasickness that woeful maia ~ which
first makes the sufferer afraid he is going
| to die, and later inspires him with terror
for fear he won't die, is an annoyance
| which brings a shudder to the man OF
/ woman who contemplates going anywhere
by water. Nearly everybody knows what
seasickness is. 1t is no respeoter of per
sons. but attacks the high and the lowlY
the rich and the poor alike.
All kinds of ameliorating agents are
sought and resorted to with religious fer
vency to quell the quaIm in the epigas-
trum, but without avail. Lemons lines,
| and all kinds of acids are used to still
! the cyclone going on in the stomach. In
| the agony which follows an attack of
| seastckness any promise can be exacted
| of a victim in return for immediate relief.
| And yet the stomach is not to blames Nine
| out of ten people will declare the seat of
| seasickness TO be the stomach. If one
! should tell a man who had been through
! the ordeal that the seat of the trouble is
| not in the stomach but in the ear. the
| integrity of his mental processes would be
| seriously questioned The ex-victim would
probably regard himself as a past grand
master in all that appertains to seasick-
ness. and would in all probability indig
nantiy refuse to listen to a learned dis
seVtation on the ear as having anything
to do with seasickness. And yet il is true
that the ear is the part which first kicks
up the disturbance which manifests Itself
in the stomach cOnvulsions.
90 n
but also the apparatus which gives to us
the sense of balance is laid in the ear
Before we can know whether we are
standing up or lying down we must learn
il from the ear. The apparatus OF pal
ance is as follows: 1t is located in the
temporal bone. This bone forms part OF
the skull wall in the region of the tenn
pie. and another portion of it, which pro
jects at right angles to that part which
forns part of the skull wall, forms part
of the floor of the skull cavity where the
brain is The latter portion is known as
the ''petrus portion of the temporal
bone and ii is in this portion that the
balance machinery lies. In the petrus
portion are three Semi-circular canals
uniting at their base. These canals lie in
three different planes, and the man, no
matter in what position he may be, Is
always in one of these planes. Ii ne
falls he will fall in one Of these planes
These canals have common base and
are hollow. They are. lined on the IN
side with q membrane in which the MA
meutS of the nerve WnlcR cDulTOtS our
balance are dist ributed. or in other words,
the nerve which tells us whether we are
erect or lying down, whether we are idli-
ing. etc. There is fluid in these canals
which only scantily fills them. When we
are standing erect this fluid lies at the
common base of the canals, and by its
weight on the nerve hlaments, upon
which the fluid lies. irritateS them, and
they send a nerve impulse to the seat OF
origin Of their nerve in the brain and We
are Informed that we are IN the erect
posture.
If. however we change our posture, for
instance, lie down. the fluid in the canals
run into that canal which is in the same
plane in which we are lying Gravity
moves the fluid. Here q new set of nerve
hiaments are agitated by the fluid and
an Impulse is again sent to their seat Of
origin in the brain, and the brain tells
Us that we are lying down. Now, when
q person is on board a boat, he IS pitched
about by the various motions of the YES
sci and instinctively gets up~.a different
motion of his own in his attempts to keep
his balance This sets that fluid in the
semi-circular canals eplaShing around
from one plane 10 another, or in other
words, from one canal to another. No
sooner does one set of nerve tilaments
send warning to the seat of origin IN the
brain. telling of the direction in which
the man is falling than another set sends
out nerve impulse of a conflicting report.
The result is a strange confusion of nerve
impulses taking place in that part of the
braid where the nerve of balance takes
it's origin.
Now. if this were all, there would be no
sense of seasickness But it is not all.
There Is large nerve which has its
seat of origin so closely interviewer with
that of the nerve of balance that when
that seat is in the thrOes of confusion
this large nerve becomes agitated and
disturbed. This is called the ''pneumo-
gastric nerve. and passing down the
neck from the brain, gives off some of
its filaments to the lungs and heart and
what is left is distributed to the walls
of the stomach. The peculiar confusion
which takes place i'm the brain as the re-
suit of the tossing about of the body from
one plane 10 another in quick succession
inspires the pueumogaStric nerve to send
down an impulse along it's nerve trunk
which causes nausea and the StOmaChic
conVulsionS which are associated with
ScsSickueSS.
The victim of seasickness invariably
enhances his own discomfort by inter
posing motion of his own intended of
course. to obviate the motion of the boat
and keep himself from falling. but as "A
rule this effort on his part only adds to
the disturbing causes and renders the
confusion in the ear and brain more in
tense. \ sufferer from seasickness is
always better if he lies down on his back
and gives himself up to the motion of the
boat BY so doing while he viii be still
seasick, il will not be so severe. because
he offers no opposing motion of his body
to that of the boat. and is just that much
better OFF. Barrels Of lemons lines, and
other acids Will not help him much. In
stinCtively he will accommodate himself
to the boats motion and the confusion i'm
both ear and brain Will quiet down and
he will crawl out on deck again, wan and
drawn, perhaps, and begin to take an
interest in his surroundings.