Deafness practically illustrated / [James Yearsley].

  • James Yearsley
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Deafness practically illustrated / [James Yearsley]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    135/200 page 123
    I now pass to the treatment of the third form of deaf- ness, namely, where it is fully formed, where the active stages of the disorder have entirely disappeared, leaving a thickened state of the mucous membrane, and an almost entire absence of the natural secretion both in the middle ear and the external meatus. The dis- order thus marked is by far the most frequent among the cases which come before the aural practitioner. The deafness is here sufficient to debar the patient from much of the ordinary intercourse of life; and until this is actually the case, a great number do not seriously think of seeking any remedy ; they live on, flattering themselves that because they hear tolerably well at certain times, a change for the better must, sooner or later, occur. There is, however, no hope of procuring a sudden change to the healthy state where disease has advanced thus far. Stimuli, such as electricity, galvanism, or irritant external applications, do in some cases produce striking improvement, but when the excitement of the organ has passed over, it invariably falls into a more distressing state of torpidity. For this reason such remedies are worse than useless. The use of the air or vapour-douche, through the Eustachian tubes, daily for a considerable time, pos- sesses more power over the disorder than any othér means with which I am acquainted. It will not often effect the cure, but it will generally afford considerable relief. It has often enabled me to set down an ear- trumpet, and give as great a degree of hearing without the instrument as had been previously enjoyed by its assistance. Patients also experience a great degree of comfort from the use of the air-douche, even where no G2
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