On the treatment of enlarged tonsils, at any period of life, without the operation of excision / by William J. Smith.

  • Smith, William J.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the treatment of enlarged tonsils, at any period of life, without the operation of excision / by William J. Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    but to completely destroy the upper part; but though the hearing appeared to me to be slightly improved, the patient was unable to perceive any difference. T. T., £et 28, had measles several years ago. Ear- ache and otorrhoea followed, and deafness, most marked on the left side, has lasted ever since. The left tonsil was enlarged, but did not ascend so high as in the former case. After three applications of the caustic, the hearing was much improved on the left side, the patient remarking that she was then, though not before, able to hear the church clock ; and, after two more visits, there could scarcely be said to remain any deafness on that side. I need scarcely say that these results surprised me, as I had entertained a more favom^able opinion of the former than of the latter case. 'For the triviality of the remark that it is always advisable to see that no wax is accumulated in the external auditory canal, when ascertaining the cause of deafness complicating enlarged tonsils, I should feel bound to apologise, had I not on one or two occasions seen the attention so engrossed by the state of the throat that the condition in question was entirely overlooked. There is a point, into the full discussion of which I shall not now enter, though, from its connection with the subject of operation, I cannot entirely omit it; viz., the influence of the tonsils in their normal and hypertropliied condition on the voice, both in speech and singing. Persons who sing, but
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