The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-05-08
Terrible Sensations Of One Whose Ear
Had Been Long Stopped.

"You would be astonished," said q
skilled aurist in one of the public eye
and ear infirmaries, ''at the large num-
Der of children who are brought to us
in the course of week to have some
thing removed from their ears that they
have fooGihly stuck in them and have
been unable to get out again. | have
sometimes disposed of ten such cases
in an afternoon, and have pulled most
everything out of the human ear that
it is possible to get tthere-shoeb buttons.
pieces of slate pencil, candies and wads
of paper. Four times out of five the
youngster is old enough to know bet
ter; but it is habit they fall into, the
same as biting their nails or scratching
their heads. One boy not II years old
is almost weekly visitor here. We'll,
l said, as | saw him come in as usual
yesterday afternoon, what have you
got in there this timeP' .Nawthin' but
bean, he drawled.
But recently met with the most
remarkable case of the kind in twenty
years practice. A young woman of
% came in so deaf that / could hardly
make her hear by shouting through a
trumpet. After removing a great
quantity of wax from her ears | found
something metallic.
"'What's this / said, have you
been putting something in your carp
oh, dear. no., she said, Il am not
SO foolish as that
'1magine her surprise when pulled
out smooth, round brass button, with
quite shank to it. This seems to
have been in there a great many years,
/ said. To my surprise the young wo-
man crouched in the corner in undis-
guised terror.
oh, doctor, she said, what is that
awful noise?'
'lt was nothing but wagon rumb-
ling by, but | instantly saw what the
trouble was. Her hearing had become
normal when L removed that button.
and she was frightened and bewildered
at the jumble of confusing sounds. The
ticking of the clock, chirpinr of the ca
nary, or dripping of water distressed
her. and the rustic of her own silk dress
made her start with fear l sent one
Of the assistants home with her in a
carriage, and he said that the clatter
in the street so distracted her that he
was compelled to hold her in her seat.
About a week afterward she came in
again"
"And wanted the button put back,
suppose, interrupted the reporter.
'1Oh, no, she was brimming over
with happiness, though for a day or
two she was afraid to leave the house.
But she told me about that button.
When was about eight years DID, she
said, Il was sent to village church in
New England with my grandmother.
The sermon was always long and tire
some, and l used to amuse myself by
pulling at the brass buttons on my
cloak. One of them came off one Sun
day, and occupied myself for time
with putting it in my ear and shaking
it out again. Suddenly l felt it sink
away in there and [ could not get it
out. was afraid to tell my grand
mother at the time, and soon afterward
forgot it. At 10 years of age [ began
to grow deaf and have been getting
worse ever since, but l never once
thought of that button until you re-
moved it,"
''Do grown people," asked the repor-
ter, sever come to you with things in
their ears?''
Frequently, but in most cases it is
through no fault of their own. l know
one man, a butcher. who comes here
regularly in the summer time to have
flies removed from his ears. I have ta-
ken out six at one time for him. How
ever they get there don't know. He
says they fly in; but they don't fly out,
I'm sure of that. A man called me
out of bed one night to get Croton
bug out of his ear. Now, water bug
will never back. He must either turn
around or go straight ahead. This fell
low had crawled into the mans ear,
and, not finding room enough to turn
around, went ahead. He was paving
away with his feelers on the drum,
causing the poor man fearful agony"