Report of the Edinburgh Ear Dispensary : with notes of one hundred cases of diseases of the ear treated in succession during the first months of 1861 / by Thomas Keith.

  • Thomas Keith
Date:
[1862]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Edinburgh Ear Dispensary : with notes of one hundred cases of diseases of the ear treated in succession during the first months of 1861 / by Thomas Keith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    right ear the hearing distance is barely two inches, and little more than one inch with the left. The meatus is dry; the right membrana tympani is more concave than natural, its upper portion thickened, dull, and white, numerous large vessels running along the manubrium of the malleus. The lower part is dull and con¬ cave. The appearances are much the same in the left ear; both Eustachian tubes are permeable. A free discharge was kept up behind the ears, and one-sixteenth of a grain of bichloride of mercury given three times a-day. This treatment was per¬ severed in for upwards of three months, with occasional intermissions of a week or ten days. There was no improvement perceptible for upwards of four weeks, when the hearing began to improve, and by the end of July the watch was heard at the distance of fourteen inches on the right side, and about twelve on the left. 52. Case of Feigned Deafness (?).—G-eorge Scott, set. 16.—States that during a quarrel with his brother five days ago his hearing suddenly left him. He says he does not hear the watch when applied to the ears or the temples, but only when placed on the crown of his head. # The meatus contains a good deal of very fluid cerumen, the removal of which did not improve the hearing; otherwise there is nothing abnormal to be seen. Botli membranse tympani are perfectly healthy. He returned a week afterwards to say that his hearing had returned as well as ever. . He had come a long distance from the country, and had remained in town during the week, and there was all along a strong suspicion that he was feigning deafness to serve some purpose of his own. 53. Congestion of Middle Ear: and Thickening of Membrana Tympani.— Janet Hay, set. 11.—Got deaf after a cold in the head four weeks ago. Hear¬ ing distance, one inch and a half in the right ear, and upwards of two inches in the left. The meatus is dry; the right membrana tympani is very much drawn in¬ wards, so much so that the parts anterior and inferior to the tubercle of the malleus are invisible ; the upper portion is dull, vascular, and thickened. The left is not so concave; but the polish is lost, and it has a dark colour, and many enlarged superficial vessels are visible. Both Eustachian tubes are shut. After a month’s treatment the hearing had quite returned. 54. Chronic Thickening of Membranes Tympani—Occlusion of Eustachian Tubes.—Anne M£Call, set. 50.—Has been dull of hearing for two years. Two months ago her deafness suddenly increased. At present the hearing distance is two inches on the right ear, and contact with the left. Both membranse tympani are considerably collapsed, and the triangular bright spot is much enlarged ; there is a very distinct thickening of the inferior margin. of both membranes, resembling the arcus senilis in the eye ; the left membrane is much more uniformly dull than the right; the throat is red and swollen, and the Eustachian tubes both impermeable. On the 20th of May the hearing distance had increased to three inches in the right ear, and two and a half in the left. Both Eustachian tubes are now permeable. 55. Atheromatous Deposits in Membranes Tympani.—Mrs Hay, set. 45.—Has been gradually getting deaf for the last twelve years, and now only hears the watch faintly on pressing it against the ear. She can assign no cause for her deafness, for beyond suffering occasionally from rheumatism she has enjoyed good health. She has never had pain in the ears, and has all along been free from the usual distressing noises. The light meatus is dry; its dermoid layer thickened; here and there are small nodules, like small exostoses of the size of pin-heads, projecting from the oor of the meatus; the membrana tympani is normal in its curvature. Pos¬ terior to the handle of the malleus there is an irregular triangular patch of deposit apparently atheromatous; its greatest length is about two lines, and it
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