Year: 1878

DR.. Mason, in a lecture on the Surgery
of the Face, published in the Lancet, saws
that foreign bodies, such as cherry stones
locust beans, brass rings, slate pencils
screws, buttons, pieces OF wood, peas, etc


are not untrequently met with in the
aural and nasal cavities of children, and
even of adults. Such substances have
been known to remain in one or other OF
these cavities for nearly a lifetime, caus
ing little or no Inconvenience. Thus a
case is related OF a lady from whose nos
tril a foreign body was dislodged durin 9
the act of sneezing. 1t was found to be
a button which had belonged to her little
brother when they were both infants
Another case is recorded IN which piece
OF slate pencil was removed from wo.
mans ear, and which had been put there
when she was at school. forty years be-
fore And third instance, in which a
cherry stone had been in an ear for sixty
years case is recorded of gentleman,
aged forty one from whose ear piece of
cedar wood was removed by Swinging
! The patient remembered distinctly the
fact of its introduction when he was a
boy at school, at least thirty years previ-
Gus. No attempt had been made to ex
| tract it, and its presence had not troubled
him until now. 1t occasionally happens,
however, that good deal of infamma-
tory action is set up by the foreign body,
as In the case of a girl who was under the
authors care in the hospital, to which
she had been admitted on account of a
small stone in her ear. She subsequent
ly had paralysis of the facial nerve
case is reported of a child who not only
had facial palsy, but died of meningitis,
caused by the presence of locust bean
IN the ear. Living larvae have been
found in the meatus of the ear. DR..
Routh publishes such a case. The pa
tlent was a gentleman who three years
before was tormented by fly near his
ear. Commissions followed the presence
OF the larvae. but the patient recovered,
although he remained deaf DR.. Blake,
of Boston, has seen four such cases. A
case is reported which shows the curious
course taken by pin that had been in
troduced into the external meatus. 1t
passed through the middle ear, probably
along the Eustachian tube, and was ex-
tracted by the patient from her throat by
hooking it with her finger There are
various instruments employed for remov-
ing foreign bodies from the ear, each
good in its way-a loop of wire, or a nee
die with the point just slightly turned
up, torceps, or an instrument like that
devised by the authors colleague, DR.
Hone. This consists OF two pieces of silk
covered silver wire, wound together in
a single strand, about three inches in
length The whole is insulated and
stiffened with shellac, the ends being left
loose for connection with battery and
galVanometer; the object of the electrical
part being to detect the presence of me-
tallic bodies.


In dealing with foreign objects situated
in the external auditory meatus. syring-
ing the passage will often suffice to effect
their removal; but in many cases forceps
and other instruments must be used vet
they should be employed with the great
est caution. As rule, if lett alone, the
substance becomes loose, and falls out on
the pillow as the patient lies in bed In
extracting foreign bodies from the ear,
M Debout has recommended that the
mouth OF the patient should at the same
time be kept open 1t is sufficient to in
troduce the end of the finger into the
external auditory canal, and to make the
lower jaw move, in order to become con
vinced of the enlargement that the canal
undeTgoes each time the condyle of the
jaw is made to move. DR.. Voltilini, in
some practical remarks on the subject
says that in the removal of these bodies
we should never employ force; not that
foreign bodies should always be left in
the ear, but that matter should not be
made worse by violent manipulations
More recently DR.. Dolby has laid down
the very practical law that no attempt
should be made to remove foreign body
from the ear unless the auditory canal be
thoroughly illuminated. Where this
rule is broken, the tympanic membrane
will most probably be ruptured, and the
life of the patient be thus placed in i'm
minent peril.