Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-29
OTORRHEA;
Discharge from the Ear.
ITS CAUSES, EFFECTS AND DANsERs

This disease IS not constituted by tie
discharge, which only shows the effects
produced by disease of either the external
or middle ear, and is not only disagreable
in IFS nature, but eHdangers the hearing
and is more or less pernicious to the gen
eral health. Acute or sub=acute 1ndamma-
ton efthe external or middle ear in most
cases terminates with a discharge. and not
unfrequently is caused by the evil effects
OF Scarlet Ferer, but is as amenabls to s
judicious treatment as If brought about By
any other cause. At first the discharge is
usually very mild in its character, and if
not checked viii run into-a chronic state,
become profuse, and at times very acriG
and irritating, and frequently assuming
an odor that IS SO very offensive tbst the
patient is Stunned by his or her nearest
friends. In many cases Of Discharge from
me Ear, that have been presented TO ne
for treatment, 1 have found that the dis
ease had attacked the bony structure Of
the ear, destroying the tympanic mem
brane, Ldramheadl producing partial OF
complete deafness. Parents cannot watch
too yigilantly forithe first appearance Of
this disease in their offspring, for if is not
taken in time it viii surely prove a great
evil to the child, If it does not destroy It's
hearing altogether. Neither can they be
too careful to whom they apply for advice
in such cases. Parents are often told by
yof the medical fraternity that the
discharge is caused by some bad humor in
the system, which has selected the easiest
and most natural course to escape, and il
checked would endanger the life of tie
child, thus putting that delicate organ 10
a very dangerous use. The disease does
not confne itself to mere external dis
charge, but frequently extends itself
through the opening of the vestibule into
the labyrinth and attacking the nervous
structure, produces a neuralgia pain in the
head and face and many other nervous de-
engagements, and the parents frequently
get the comfortable assurance, that ifnOth-
ing is done to remedy the discharge il will
in time exhaust itself. But 1 think the re-
cords viii be searched in. vain TO find an
instance where the disease, when a well
defined case, ever terminated beBcGcialIy
without the assistance of a systematically
instituted treatment, and in all cases that
have been presented TO me for advice,
have invariably discovered that the dis
charge continued TO increase and become
more profuss, or if it had dried up without
,F.. FvsF
ly two-thirds of the cases so affected,
perforation of the drumhead OF the ear
was the result, and that the discharge was
not checked al all, but was passing inward
through the perforation and conducted 10
the throat by the eustachian tube, causing
permanent deafness. Also, the internal
carotid artery, the largest artery Of the
head, is in great danger, being in close
contisulty with the labyrinth and the
bony canal through which it runs, and
should thisbe attacked by an ulcerative
process that would reach the artery, fatal
hemorrhage would be the result.
This disease has never received the at
tention at the hands of the medical pro-
fession generally, which it should have re-
ceived, for its slow, insidious course is
of much evil, and a great
amount of suffering and distress could
have been saved had they devoted prop
er attention to it in ITS first stages.
would, therefore, caution, all persons
afflicted with any disease of the ear,wheth--
er it be slight or severe, to have q care how
they place themselves, or their children
in the hands of the regular practitioner, as
he is not supposed to be as wen qualified
to treat these particular diseases as the
physician who has made them special
stndy, and for such diseases always consult
a physician who has made that branch OF
his profession speciality.
s. W. sMYTH, NJ. d.