Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-06-05
OTORRHCEA;
ITS CAUSES, EFFECTS AND DANGERS

This disease IS not constituted by the
discharge, which only shows the effects
produced by disease of either the external
or middle ear, AID Is not only disagreable
in its nature, but endangers the hearing,
and is more or less pernicious to tho gen
eral health. Acute or sub-acute infamma-
ton of the external or middle ear in most
cases terminates with a discharge, and not
uRfrequently is caused by the evil effects
Of Scarlet Ferer, but Is as amenable TO
judicious treatment as if brought about by
any other cause. At first the discharged
usually very mild in its character. and II
not checked viii run into a chronic state,
become prefuse, and at times very acIid
and irritating, and frequently assuming
an odor that is Sc very offensive thatthe
patient is shu4ned by his or her nearest
friends. In many cases Of Discharge from
the Ear, that have been presented to me-
for treatment, 1 have found that the dis
ease had attacked the bony structure OF
the ear, destroying the tympanic men
brane, Ldrumheadl producing partial or
complete deafness. Parents cannot watch
too vigilantly for.the first appearance OF
this disease in their offspring, for ifs not
taken in time it viii surely prove a great
evil to the child, if it does not destroy its
hearing altogether. Neither can they be
too careful to whom they apply for advice
in such cases. Parents are often told 10y
many sf the medical fraternity that the
discharge is caused by some bad hu1pSrin
the system, which has selected the easie,t
and most natural course to escape, and
checked would endanger the life of the
child, thus putting thst delicate organ TO
a very dangerous use. The disease does
not oonfne itself to mere external dis
charge, but frequently extends itself
through the opening of the vestbule 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 md al
instance where the disease, when well
defined case, ever terminated beneGcially
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 1t had dried up without
the necessary aid of remedies, then in full
~ two-thirds of the cases so affected,
perforation of the drunhead of the eay
was the result, and that the discharge was
not checked at all, but was passing inward
through the pertoration and Conducted to
the throat by the eustaehJc.n tube, causing
permanent deafness. Also, the internal
carotid artery, the largest artery of the
head, Is in greet danger, being in close
contigalty with the labyrinth and the
pony cSnal through which it runs, and
shoald this be attacked by an uIceratiye
process that would reach the artery, fatsl
hemorrhage would be the result.
This disease has never received the al
tention at the hands of the medical pro
fession generally, which it should have re-.
ceived, for its slow, insidious course Is
productive of much evil, and a great
amount of suffering and distress could
have been saved had they devoted prop
er attention to it in It's first stages.
would, therefore. caution, all persons
afflicted with any disease ofthe ear, wheth-
er 1T be slight or seYere, to have a care how
they place themselves, or their children,
in the hands of the regular practitioner a.
he is not supposed to be as well qualified
to treat these particular diseases as the
physician who has made them a speciSI
study, and for such diseases always consult
physician who has msdethat branch Of
his profession speciality.
s. VI. sMYTH, NJ. D.
BARDwBLL HogyE, Rutland, n
Apil 18th, 1873.