Deafness practically illustrated / [James Yearsley].

  • James Yearsley
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

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    believed; but I am equally persuaded that almost all deaf persons suffer from a peculiar kind of nervousness, of a most distressing character, as a consequence or symptom, but certainly not as a cause, of defective hearing, according to the meaning generally under- stood. In short, actual nervous deafness is a very rare complaint. I have elsewhere shown the decided influence of dyspepsia in the production of diseases of the ear. In many cases it can be satisfactorily proved that stomachic derangement is the sole cause of that of the ear, and in the majority of cases occurring in middle-aged persons they will be found associated. It may safely be affirmed, that none can have a better opportunity of examining minutely the different stages of chronic dyspepsia, and its prejudicial effects on distant organs, (particularly those of the brain and senses,) than practitioners extensively engaged in the treatment of deafness. Whether it be entirely attri- butable to the influence of the dyspeptic disorder, to the depressing effects of impaired hearing, or to both these causes conjointly, is a fit subject for further investigation; but it is very certain that a considerable number of deaf persons suffer from a peculiar form of nervous irritability, by which their existence is often rendered completely miserable. The incomparable Beethoven was a striking example of this kind of hypochondriacism in its most intense form. During many years of the latter part of the life of this wonderful man, his extreme deafness, together with the nervous affection to which I have alluded, proved the source of the most poignant misery to him- self, and of disappointment to his friends. In his case,
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