The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-18
Rare Operations To Be Performed
 Al Clinics Here
Osteopathic Experts Will Show Methods Of Curing Deaf
 ness
Boston Practitioner Uses Cast In Correcting Curvature
 Of Spine


 A number of so-called incurable cases of chronic catarrhal deafness in patients from number Of cities and towns in Connecticut will be oper- ated upon Friday and Saturday at Bridgeport By an entirely new. and radical method. This will be the first demonstration in New England of this discovery The clinic will be held at the annual convention of the New England Osteopathic association at the Hotel Stratfield. Dr. Webb Cranberry, a member of the State Board of Regis- tration in Medicine of New Jersey. will be the operator. He has been a.sso- ciated with. the discoverer of the op- eration, pr. James Edwards of St. Louis. Both Dr. Edwards and Dr. Granb berry are we'll known osteopathic specialists.
 Another somewhat spectacular fea- ture of the convention will be dern- onstratton of the radical new method for Immediate reduction of spinal cIr- vature. Dr. Kendrick Smith of Bos- ton, will operate upon some Connccti-s cut children by reversing their curva- lures and applying plaster of Paris casts to hold them in the new position long enough to counteract the former curves
 Other features on the program will be papers by Dr. H. A Thornbury Of Bridgepo Dr. Louise Griffin of Hart ford, pr. Harriet Van Deusen Of Bridgeport, zDr. Robert I. Walker of New Bedford. Mass, pr. c. Edward Farnham of Newport, R. l., pr. Frank M. Vaughan and pr. F. A. Cave of Boston, Dr. Ward C. Bryant of Green field, Mass, and Dr. E. s. Cave of Ply mouth. Mass. Dr. D. c. Link of Stamford. Conn. the president. will preside.
 Up to this time there has been no sure cure for deafness There are many kinds of ear trouble Interfering with hearing, some of which recover spontaneously; others gets progress lively: worse, and others continue iii chronic state without change The. ostedpaths do not pretend to cure all disease, but claim instead that this new method is applicable to the Iar-' gest class of cases, those known as chronic catarrhal deafness. constitut- ing the vast majority of these unfor- tunates. yThousant1s of cases have been submitted to treatment and the results have been more successful, it it's claimed, than ever known been be- fore in the history of this condition
 Hearing is produced by vibrations of the ear drum in response to sound waves striking upon it from with out. but only winch the drum is intact and at normal tension and freely ventilated
 
 acquainted with anatomy might easily be ignorant of the fact that air is as requisite on the inside of the ear drum as on the outside, but this is very iI1- pdrtant fact. One without technical knowledge might also forget the pub lie school physiology of boyhood which taught him that the inside of the ear was connected with the throat by means of a. little air tube. This tube is lined with a mucuous membrane which is continuous with that of the nose and throat. It has long been recognized that neglected colds and sore throats and catarrhal conditions tend to produce a chronic infiamma- ton which spreads upward into this little air tube. The result of this is a Iesseningi of the ca1ibre of the tube because of increased secretion of ca tarrhal discharge or swelling and thickening of the mucuotls membrane. porary or prolonged closure of the tube. The result Of this is a com l plete defeat of natures scheme of equal air pressure on the two sides of the ear drum, in other words. 3 change in tension of that organ. always re- sulting in some degree Of impairment of hearing.
 This important little air tube is on- ly finch and a half long, but it is important to understand that it is not perfectly straight like chimney. fig it were there might be less deaf l ness. It is somewhat hour glass in | shape.
 Realizing the angles of this tube it is easy to see that a catarrhal i1,- dam1nation may readily cause adhe- sfons between the folds and interfere | with the normal drainage Owing to the fact that the lcartilaginous part | of the tube is movable in any adhe- sfons in the throat near the outlet of | the tube, resulting from sore throat, could easily from their contractions | draw the tube from it's normal pol sition, thus changing it's angles and | interfering with drainage by gravity. When gravity drainage is interrupted | the discharges retained in a mucous | cavity change in character and be- muscle with the long name which | governs the opening and closing of | the tubal opening is very often att tackled by these adhesions and it's | function interfered with.
 Dr. Edwards' discovery is another of those feats of ib1oodIess surgery which were made famous by Lorenz,tl Vienna and Still of KirksviI1e, Mis- | souri, the founder of osteopathy. In stead of burdening the patient with | various trumpets and telephones and | other external devices to try to make a deaf ear hear, pr. Edwards went l right at the root of the matter and | applied his treatment according to | the basic principles of osteopathy it. self; that is, to the cause instead of | the effect. Without the use of the knife | or any surgical instruments the dis | coverer, of this operation by means | of the fingers alone explores in the |