A treatise on the structure, economy, and diseases of the ear : being the essay for which the Fothergillian gold medal was awarded by the Medical society of London / By George Pilcher.

  • Pilcher, George, 1801-1855.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the structure, economy, and diseases of the ear : being the essay for which the Fothergillian gold medal was awarded by the Medical society of London / By George Pilcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    and becomes abnormally excited from over-action ; it IS also a very common attendant upon fever during the stage of excitement. This affection, however, fre- quently arises without any evident cause, although a latent one may still exist. The patient is much annoyed by sounds in his head, a tinnitus aurium, which the patient compares to various noises, such as the ringing of bells, roaring of waves, buzzing of insects ; these sounds are at first usually grave and afterwards acute, frequently pre- venting sleep,— he is deaf on the affected side, often to a considerable extent. One of the most annoying symptoms is a pulsation in the ears, synchronous with the heart's action, more or less constant, and always much augmented by mental excitement or bodily fatigue. The Author frequently sees a gentleman whose existence is made miserable from this cause. These unpleasant sensations shift from side to side; and though they almost always begin in one ear, fre- quently terminate by affecting both. At other times the affection commences and pro- ceeds more gradually ; the hearing being impaired, and the above sensations produced, only when listening to minute sounds, which circumstance may be forgotten until the disorder becomes more severe. These symp- toms are increased by circumstances affecting un- comfortably the mind or body, and are lessened by quietude, cheerfulness, and improvement of health. It has been particularly noticed by Sir A. Cooper, and confirmed by many others, that the meatus externus is dry, the secretion of cerumen being lessened, by which the patient's annoyances are in- creased.