Ross Muriel D
Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Acta Otolaryngol. 2003 Sep;123(7):784-94.
In a letter to Robert Hooke, written on 5 February, 1675, Isaac Newton wrote "If I have seen further than certain other men it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." In his context, Newton was referring to the work of Galileo and Kepler, who preceded him. However, every field has its own giants, those men and women who went before us and, often with few tools at their disposal, uncovered the facts that enabled later researchers to advance knowledge in a particular area. This review traces the history of the evolution of views from early giants in the field of vestibular research to modern concepts of vestibular organ organization and function. Emphasis will be placed on the mammalian maculae as peripheral processors of linear accelerations acting on the head. This review shows that early, correct findings were sometimes unfortunately disregarded, impeding later investigations into the structure and function of the vestibular organs. The central themes are that the macular organs are highly complex, dynamic, adaptive, distributed parallel processors of information, and that historical references can help us to understand our own place in advancing knowledge about their complicated structure and functions.
1675年2月5日，艾萨克·牛顿在写给罗伯特·胡克的一封信中写道：“如果说我比别人看得更远些，那是因为我站在了巨人的肩膀上。”在当时的语境下，牛顿指的是在他之前的伽利略和开普勒的工作。然而，每个领域都有其自己的巨人，那些在我们之前的男女，他们常常在可用工具很少的情况下，揭示出一些事实，使后来的研究者能够在特定领域推进知识。这篇综述追溯了前庭研究领域从早期巨人的观点演变到前庭器官组织和功能的现代概念的历史。重点将放在作为作用于头部的线性加速度外周处理器的哺乳动物黄斑上。这篇综述表明，早期的正确发现有时不幸被忽视，从而阻碍了后来对前庭器官结构和功能的研究。核心观点是，黄斑器官是高度复杂、动态、适应性强、分布式的并行信息处理器，而且历史参考文献有助于我们理解自己在推进对其复杂结构和功能的认识过程中的位置。
