Deafness and Diseases of the Ear; The Causes and Treatment (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1873 Excerpt: ... tubes; or, from the wounds caused by the surgeon's knife for its perforation, which is, however, of very rare occurrence. The treatment of traumatic inflammation differs in no way to that laid down for the idiopathic form. A chronic inflammation of this membrane is commonly met with in strumous and delicate constitutions; the amendment of the general health must in such cases occupy a large share of the treatment. The ordinary result of an inflammation of the membrane is a Diminution of auditory power, which is caused by a thickening of its fibrous layer, or from a loss of its substance from ulceration, --the description and treatment of this condition will be found in another chapter. Inflammation of the tympanum, Acute Otitis, commences with the same symptoms previously described as characteristic of myringitis, but in a more aggravated form. It is a difficult matter to correctly ascertain, after inflammation has made any head in the aural structures, where the disease primarily sprang from. The whole organ of hearing is contained in such a small space, and all its constituent particles are so intimately connected and bound together, that the entire organ soon participates in the disease of a component part. The onset of otitis is marked by acute lancinating pain, described as darting into the brain, usually accompanied with high exaltation of hearing power; in some cases so intense is this susceptibility that the slightest noise becomes intolerable, producing paroxysms of agony. The pain is aggravated by an attempt to masticate, or even to perform the act of deglutition. It is somewhat intermittent, but, unlike that in myringitis, never entirely subsides. The acute darting alternates with a dull throbbing pain, almost as unbearable. If the membrana tympan..