Ernst Mach on the vestibular organ 100 years ago.

Ernst Mach (1838-1916) performed pioneering research on vestibular function 100 years ago. His experiments were mainly psychophysical and included measurements of threshold and study of the vestibular-visual interaction. Contrary to general belief, he concluded that the adequate stimulus for the semicircular canals must be pressure. He presented evidence specifically against the sustained endolymph flow theory of Breuer (1874) and Crum Brown (1874), with which he is frequently associated. Excerpts from his publications are given and their relevance to current research is discussed.