Essentials of the diseases of the ear arranged in the form of questions and answers : prepared especially for students of medicine and post-graduate students / by E. B. Gleason.

  • Gleason, E. Badwin.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essentials of the diseases of the ear arranged in the form of questions and answers : prepared especially for students of medicine and post-graduate students / by E. B. Gleason. 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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    case in localized pointings of pus from within the tympanum. If ahscesses rupture or are incised, ulcers result, which may either heal or cause perforations of the drum-head. As the inflammation subsides the portion of the membrane at the umbo is the first to resume its normal appearance. The periphery of the drum-head and a triangular portion, whose base includes Shrapnell's membrane and whose apex is at the tip of the malleus handle, remain red and swollen for some days. Finally, the swelling and congestion disappear from these parts of the membrane, the light spot becomes distinct, and the drum-head assumes its normal appearance. Relapses are not of unfrequent occur- rence, or an acute attack may assume the chronic form of the disease. Chronic my- ringitis sometimes occurs independently, the only symptom being progressive deafness and itching and a feeling of fulness within the ear. Ordinarily the disease is only part of an inflammation involving the auditory meatus and tympanum. Abscesses sometimes result in perforation, and polypoid outgrowths from the tympanum occur in chronic myrin- gitis, while a more or less offensive discharge is frequently present. What is the treatment ? In acute cases pain may be relieved by the application of leeches or the artificial leech in front of the tragus, and afterward by the use of hot fomentations. When a discharge appears the parts should be thoroughly cleansed by means of a dossil of cotton dipped into peroxide of hydrogen, and the membrane should be covered with a thin coating of powdered boracic acid. In traumatic cases the pain and congestion rapidly subside under drop-doses of tincture of aconite-root administered every hour. A 4 per cent, solution of cocaine should meanwhile also be dropped into the auditory canal sufficiently often to keep the parts moistened until the pain subsides. For the more chronic cases, that seem to result from a rheumatic or gouty diathesis, alkalies, with iodide of potassium or salicylate of sodium, should be prescribed, while for cases where the disease seems Fig. 67. Interlamellar Abscesses of Right Membrana Tym- pani, one at umbo show- ing the pitting caused by pressure of a probe. Three others are seen down and forward (Schwartze).