CAUSE OF SICKNESS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 29 November 1924, Page 7

CAUSE OF SICKNESS.

AMERICAN DOCTOR’S VIEWS.

According to Dr. Shields Warren, an American physician, sea sickness is due to disturbance Of the organ of balance. “This organ,” he says, “is in the base of the skull, close to the ear; a set of three bony canals on each side of the head. The canals ate semicircular and about as big round as the lead of a pencil, and the three of each group communicate with one another. , The canals are lined by special cells, each of which has a relatively long, fine hair attached to its inner cell. A nerve fibre runs from each cell to the brain. A fluid, rather fchin and watery, called the endolymph, fills the canals, and when the head is moved in any direction the endolymph surges along the canals, increasing the hydrostatic pressure in thjit canal in the plane of motion, and so stimulating the cells.

“The constant motion of a ship sets the endolymph swinging every way, until the semi-circular canals are so continuously and variously stimulated that the brain revolts. The stomach follows, and nausea results. The motion of the ship, acting as I have shown, the glare of the sun, bad smells, and indigestion complete the downfall.”