Controversy on the artificial tympanum / by James Yearsley.

  • James Yearsley
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Controversy on the artificial tympanum / by James Yearsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    heavy mass which presses unduly upon the remaining part of the drum, so as to push it inward to the inner wall of the tympanum ; or if the whole of the membrane is absent, then the cotton wool is liable to press against the stapes and inner wall of the tympanum. Again, its constant pressure against the walls of the meatus is calculated to cause absorption of these walls ; in short, when we know that one of the func¬ tions of the membrana tympani is to form part of the sono¬ rous walls of the tympanic cavity this cotton wool must be looked upon, to say the least of it, as an unwieldy substitute. The artificial drum is made of very thin vulcanised india- rubber, not gutta percha ; some of it is nearly as thin as the paper on which these lines are penned ; it is soft, so that its passage along the meatus does not cause pain; it is elastic, so that by the pressure of its margin against the walls of the meatus it is retained in its position, although it still allows the discharge to exude by its side ; it is resilient and firm, so as to reflect the sonorous undulations : its defect is, that when so thin it is apt to be torn away from the silver wire on which it is rivetted. MR YEARSLEY’S REPLY. ('Medical Times and Gazette, No. 388, page 575.) As time wears on, the discovery of the wetted cotton-—-or artificial tympanum, by which name it is now known—cannot fail to engage more and more the attention of philosophic minds. The fact of a fellow-creature, known to have been deaf from infancy, and from a supposed incurable condition, namely, “ loss of the drum of the ear,” suddenly walking forth among his friends hearing like themselves — whilst presenting a living memorial of the success of the treatment— offers a phenomenon which cannot fail to strike the beholders with surprise and astonishment. Then to find that this appa¬ rently miraculous relief is produced by the most simple means, adds to the interest created by such a triumph of art. Having originated this method of treatment, it cannot but be gratifying to me to see the subject followed up, and testi¬ mony borne to its merits by my contemporaries ; and although differences may arise as to the theory of the treatment, and even as to the material to be employed, I may congratulate myself on having a collaborator so industrious and persever¬ ing as Mr Toynbee. I accept, therefore, with thanks the instalment of justice which has been tendered to me by that gentleman in his sup¬ plementary lecture, published in the ‘ Medical Times and
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