Cases illustrative of diseases of the ear / by T. M'Call Anderson.

  • Anderson, McCall, 1836-1908.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases illustrative of diseases of the ear / by T. M'Call Anderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    CASES ILLUSTRATIYK or DISEASES OF THE EAR. No. IV. POLYPI. Polypi of the meatus are of very frequent occurrence, and give rise to much annoyance, owing to the discharge with which they are associated, and the impairment of hearing which accompanies their formation. This discharge of purulent matter must not he considered, as some would lead us to helieve, as the result, but rather as the cause of the morbid growth; and the disease can generally be traced back to a catarrhal inflammation of the pas- sages, often following scarlatina or some other fever. Indeed all purulent discharges from the meatus are apt to be associatedwith polypi, especially if they have existed long; and, in such cases, a careful examination must always be made to see whether one of these is present, as the treatment which suffices to remove a simple discharge is almost invariably ineffectual for the cure of one complicated with a polypoid growth. I am not prepared, however, to assert that polypi do not keep up the discharge; for we often meet with cases in which it ceases whenever the growth has been completely removed, although it is pretty certain that they are never the original cause of it. In form, these growths vary greatly, sometimes being quite round, hke a pea, at others very irregular on the surface, and they have a great tendency to assume the lobulated form. Sometimes they are divided into two or more lobes, at others, many superficial lobules mark its surface, while one of the com- monest forms of all is that in which it is divided into many minute lobules appended to a central stalk, like a bunch of grapes. This corresponds to the raspberry cellular polypus of Toynbee. Sometimes they are sessile, but more usually pedunculated (see fig. 6). They vary as greatly in size as in form, being sometimes