Contributions to aural surgery / [W.R. Wilde].

  • William Wilde
Date:
1844-1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Contributions to aural surgery / [W.R. Wilde]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    minence, in the hollow formed by depressing the jaw(a). From four to six leeches may be readily applied around the meatus, and in this situation they will produce more permanent and im¬ mediate relief than three times the number affixed over the mas¬ toid region. The application in front of the tragus is also very much more effectual than upon the mastoid region. When, how¬ ever, the latter locality becomes itself the seat of inflammatory action, they should also be applied freely all over it. Where we have already recently applied leeches in the two first-mentioned localities, and that the parts have thereby become swollen and irritated, the next most advantageous position is beneath the lobe of the auricle, behind the ramus of the jaw. I do not know any painful affection in which leeches applied in the manner directed produce the same amount of immediate relief, as in the disease under consideration. They should be had recourse to again and again, even upon the same day, to relieve paroxysms of pain, as well as to lessen the degree of redness and vascularity observable. The application of heat and moisture is particularly grate¬ ful in such cases; steaming the ear by holding it over the vapour of some very hot water placed in the bottom of a long, narrow vessel, medicated with hyosciamus, opium, belladonna, or with the ordinary decoction of marshmallows, camomile, or poppy- heads, if faith be placed in such, gives great comfort. The Rus¬ sians employ a peculiar apparatus for relieving pain in the ear, consisting of a funnel-shaped roll of linen, the small end of which is applied to the meatus, while the large end, in which various balsamic substances are placed and set fire to, is allowed to burn down slowly like a moxa. A warm linseed-meal poultice re¬ newed every two or three hours, and particularly applied at bedtime, gives great relief. Stupes and fomentations are not, I find, as efficacious in aural as in ophthalmic inflammations. (a) A morsel of cotton should bo inserted into the auditory canal before applying the leeches ; this prevents their going in too far, and also excludes the blood, and keeps it from collecting and clogging within the passage. F
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