Note 49 — Chapter XI · The Special Senses.
Reading edition
The organ of Corti is a very complicated structure which it is needless to describe in this connection. It consists essentially of modified ephithelial cells floated upon the auditory epithelium, or basilar membrane, of the cochlea. There is a series of fibers, each made of two parts sloped against each other like the rafters of a roof. It is estimated that there are no less than 3000 of these arches in the human ear, placed side by side in a continuous series along the whole length of the basilar membrane. Resting on these arches are numbers of conical epithelial cells, from the free surface of which bundles of stiff hairs (cilia) project. The fact that these hair-cells are connected with the fibers of the cochlear division of the auditory nerve suggests that they must play an important part in auditory sensation.