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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    the ear with pins, and other mechanical means, such means being unfortunately the most certain to per- petuate and increase the incipient disease. The mucous discharge continues, unless great care be taken, and as the follicles of the meatus become more diseased, it at length degenerates into a secretion of puriform matter, (otorrhcea purulenta.) The lining membrane of the passage becomes thickened by the chronic inflammatory action, and fungous growths or polypi arise, which not only impede the hearing, but frequently become so large as to fill up the meatus; and by exerting pressure on the sensitive parts, produce intolerable pain until their removal is effected. Preparatory to the treatment of these discharges, one circumstance should be invariably attended to, which is the state of the membrane of the tympanum. Previous to the application of injections of any kind, a careful exploration of this membrane should be made by the aid of the speculum and lamp, in the absence of the direct rays of the sun, or by the-injection of air through the guttural passage into the tympanum, to discover whether or not the membrane is perforated. There is no doubt that many cases of purulent otorrhea have terminated fatally from the neglect of these measures, injections of an irritating and astringent nature having been administered, without first discovering whether or not the tympanic cavity was implicated. If an injec- tion of this character be forced into the external meatus, when an opening exists in the membrana tympani, it necessarily enters the cavity; and as in these cases the Eustachian tube, which is the only natural exit from the tympanum, is generally obstructed, the matter injected remains, in great part, within that cavity; for the mem- Cc
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