INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE PROBLEM
The promising results of the operative treatment of otosclerosis by fenestration of the labyrinth have lately shifted the main interest of otologists from the question of the cause to the question of the therapy of otosclerosis. Nevertheless, from a scientific point of view the investigation of the causal genesis remains the central problem.Many attempts have been made in this direction, and it appears that animal experiments are most likely to bring one nearer to a solution of this difficult problem. It is the general purpose of these experiments to produce changes similar to otosclerosis in the labyrinthine capsule in certain animals. By careful analysis of all the factors concerned in the production of these changes definite conclusions might be drawn as to the genesis of the human disease.The main difficulty with which experimenters are confronted is the fact that in human