EAMES, William S., American architect: b. Clinton, Mich., 4 Aug. 1857; d. 5 March 1915. He received his education at Washing ton University and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, and at Rome. He settled at Saint Louis, Mo., and there practised his profession after 1862, where he also served as deputy commissioner of public buildings in 1881-83. In 1904 he represented the United States at the International Congress held at Madrid, Spain. In 1904-05 he was president of the American Institute of Architects.
EAR, Anatomy, Physiology and Disorders of the. In most of the animal creation the vibrations which we term sound have special portions of the body for their recognition, more or less precise; although in the lower forms every part of the simple organism may respond to them in some degree. The earliest separation of a distinct organ of equilibrium rather than of hearing is seen in the Itedusx, of which the common nettle,of the salt waters is a well-known example. Here we find certain of the tentacles provided with delicate cells hav ing hair-like projections and enclosing a chalky concretion, the otolith (Fig. 1). This struc ture of a tiny vesicle with single or multiple otolithic contents (Fig. 2), connected with the more sensitive or distinctly nervous portions of the organism may be regarded as the funda mental form of the ear; but it must be ques tioned whether the otolith apparatus has a really auditory function or is wholly concerned with the equilibrium or static sense, the stony concretions serving like plummets to indicate the direction of gravitation. As it develops, it takes on more and more complicated forms of fluid-containing sacs deserving the name of ((labyrinth,) in which chalky particles (often of special crystalline form) lie in close relation to uhair-cells,))— as we term these structures with their delicate prolongations. A nerve, more or less defined, passes to the sac (Fig. 3) and connects it with the sensory centres, which in the vertebrates and some of the higher inver tebrates may be called brain-centres. This apparatus is in the vertebrates embedded in the cartilage or bone on either side of the head; and in those creatures which do not live in the water, accessory apparatus is present to help transmit the air-vibrations to the fluid lymph))) of the labyrinth. As we pass up the
scale of animal life the organ of equilibrium is found more distinct from that of hearing; and thus in the lowest fishes we find that the sac assumes a ring-form (Fig. 4) by reason of the formation of a semi-circular canal with a pear-shaped widening or ampulla at either end. In these the nerve terminates in hair-cells without otoliths; while between these a large portion of the sac receives the main nerve supply at a protninent supplied with hair-cells and otoliths. A second and a third semi-circular canal, each with its own ampulla and nerve, is found in the higher forms, and the main sac divides into two increasingly sep arate portions with separate nerve-supply. One of these portions communicates with the semi circular canals while the other is connected with a tubular outgrowth, which in the high est forms coils into a spiral and is encased in a snail-shell covering, which gives it the name of "cochlea) The nerve passing to this becomes highly developed and the end-organ is greatly elaborated into an apparatus generally called after its discoverer, organ;) (Fig. 7). Around this essential apparatus more and more complex protective envelopes and spaces filled with have been developed; while accessory apparatus, called middle and external ear, have been formed to aid in the conduction of sound-waves to the percipient contents of the labyrinth.
The development thus roughly traced in the ascending scale of animals can be still more perfectly seen in the development from the ovum of the embryo of the higher forms. Here we see a portion of the external surface dip in ward as a pit, become separated as a closed sac beneath the surface, undergo the elaboration described, secure nerve-connection with the brain and at such points of communication de velop its hair-cells and otoliths. Originally a spherical sac, its complexity soon merits its name of labyrinth and this membranous laby rinth gives form to a surrounding labyrinth of cartilage or bone, which has been longer known and studied (12, Fig. 9).