The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-17
THE SEAT OF sEAsIcKNEss.
The Ear, Not the stomach, is Re-
sponsibIe for the Misery.
From the Washington Times.

The Ear, Not the Stomach, is Re-
sponsibIe for the Misery.
From the Washington Times.
seasickness. that woful malady which
first makes the sufferer afraid he is go
ing to die, and later inspires him with
terror for fear he won't die. Is an an
noyance which brings a shudder to the
man or woman who contemplates going
anywhere by water Nearly everybody
knows what seasickness is. 1t is no re-
spector of persons, but attacks the high
and the lowly, the rich and the poor
All kinds of ameliorating agents are
sought and resorted to with religious fer
vency to quell the qaulm 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 sea-
sickness any promise can be exacted of
a victim in return for immediate relief.
And yet the stomach is not to blame.
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 apper-
tains to seasickness, and would in all
probability Indignantly refuse to listen to
learned dissertation on the ear as hav-
ing anything 10 do with seasickness. And
yet it is true that the ear is the part
which first kicks up the disturbance
which manifests itself in the stomach
commissions.
The ear Is not only built to hear with
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
It from the ear. The apparatus OF bal
ance is as follows: 1t is located in the
temporal bone. This bone forms part
of the skull wall in the region of the
temple. and another portion of 1t. which
projects at right angles to that part which
forms 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 1t 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. If he
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 membrane in which the fla
ments OF the nerve which controls our
balance are distributed, or I'm other words,
the nerve which tells us whether we are
erect or lying down, whether we are fail
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
fcrhf IN "a claimants
which the fluid lies. lrritates them and
they send nerve impulse TO the seat Of
origin OF their nerve in the brain and we
are Informed that we are in the erect
posture.
II. 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 new set of nerve
filaments 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
a person is on board a boat, he Is pitched
about by the various motions OF the YES
sci and instinctively gets up different
motion of his own IN his attempts to keep
his balance. This sets that fluid in the
semi-circular canals splashing around
from one plane to another or, in other
sooner does one set OF nerve fllaments 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 a
nerve impulse OF conflicting report. The
result is a strange confusion of nerve
impulses taking place in that part of the
brain where the nerve of balance takes
it's origin.
Now, If this were ALL there would be
- "a l..
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 dis
turbed. This is called the "pneumo-gas-
trio" nerve. and passing down the neck
from the brain gives Off some of its Ma
ments to the lungs and heart ana what
is left is distributed to the walls OF the
stomach.
The peculiar confusion which takes place
in the brain as the result of the tossing
about of the body from one plane TO an
other In quick succession inspires the
pneumogastric nerve to send down an i'm
pulse along its nerve trunk which causes
nausea and the stomachic convulsions
which are associated with seasickness.
The victim of seasckness invariably en-
hances his own discomfort by interposing
a motion OF his own, intended, OF course,
to obviate the motion OF the boat and keep
himself from failing. butt as a rule this
effort on his part only adds to the dis
turning causes and renders the confusion
in the ear and brain more intense. A
sufferer from seasickness is always bet
ter II he lies down on his back and gives
himself up to the motion of the boat BY
so doing while he will be still seasick,
It Will not be so severe, because he Of
fers no opposing motion OF his body 70
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
in both ear and brain will quiet down. and
he will crawl out on deck again, wan and
drawn. perhaps. and begin 20 take an
irnfn In hAn