Rheumatism, gout and neuralgia, as affecting the head and ear : with remarks on some forms of headache, in connextion with deafness / by William Harvey.

  • Harvey, William, 1806-1876.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rheumatism, gout and neuralgia, as affecting the head and ear : with remarks on some forms of headache, in connextion with deafness / by William Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    very severe, and resisted all opiates and other treat- ment for a period of three weeks. The seizure appeared now to be directed more particularly to- wards the car, and the pain confined to that locality, and to have assumed a permanent character: it was observed to be seated over and in the neighbourhood of the mastoid process; the meatus was swollen, and emitted a yellow discharge of an offensive character. The swollen state of the integuments of the meatus, and the discharge, prevented any ac- curate inspection of the membrane of the tym- panum being made, but with the aid of the otoscope it was found to be perforated, and from the free passage of air through it, when the patient was directed to force air into the tympanum through the nostrils, the aperture was presumed to be a large one, thus fully accounting for the primary attack first affecting the middle portion of the organ. As the means adopted in the previous course of treatment had failed to afford any relief, although it was freely antiphlogistic, I determined on at once liberating the integuments over the mastoid process. and frequently only for two or three Jiours. Permanent benefit, I think, is to be obtained more efficaciously by constitutional treatment, and bringing the membrane into healthy action by the use of astrin- gent gargles, the tube being dilated with caution once or twice a week. I have observed much mischief to arise from the too frequent use of the instrument, and experience informs us that the passage is rarely so obstructed as to require frequent interference by operation.