EARACHE.

Western Star, Issue 983, 19 September 1885, Page 2

EARACHE.

A paper of a highly practical nature and dealing with an ailment which i« as distressing as it is frequent, appeared m the “ Lancet.” The article fa queg. tion is writeu by Hewetsou, ear-sup-geon to the Leeds Infirmary., and deal* with the value of the injecton of the glycerine of carbolic acid in earache. Mi Hewetsou, by the way, also speaks of the instant relief experienced in distressing toothache when the exposed .pulp of the tooth is touched withitbe substance just named. The details of his first case of cure of earache by the glycerine are thus reported :—“ltrig now about seven years since a patient came to me saying that l\is little boy,of five years of age had, within the ,pre,. vious three hours, developed acute' ear f ache, and that his temperature“was above-lOOdeg, F. The temphrhthrJ had been taken by his motlW, and was rising. The thought occurred'tt? me, why not inject: glycerine and carbolic acid into the cars, as it wai evidently a case of inflammation of the middle ear, which would eventually end in perforation and relief, as it had in this child done several times before f I injected a solution of glycerine and carbolic acid, and to iny great delight, it acted as in toothache, almost instantly relieving the acute pain. This was done at three :u the afternoon, next morning the boy was perfecily vvell, and heard nearly naturally, though not quite, as he still had a gold, ine tympanum (or drum membraqem the ear) never became perforated, as it had done on previous occasions, and the temperature rapidly fell to normal.” In applying this remedy, Mr Hewetsou says that there is one way in which it may fail to relive pain at once, and that is in case it is poured too quickly into the ear, when the patient has his head aside, with the lobe of the ear in its natural position;,! ‘Vlff this way,” he, adds, “ the air cannot- escape sufficiently freely, and a bubble pt air prevents the fluid from reaching the bottom of the meatus. The proper way is to draw the lobe of the ear torcibly upwards-apd baqkwards, as.in syringing th.e ear, to straighten the entrance to the rheatlis, and then allow the fluid- to trickle gently down on# side,...whilst the air-escaped ,up thajap*, posite side.” An equally interesting* remark is that:madeLylthe author, where he says that this remedy applied in scarlet fever cases—-in which, as is well known, ear-troubles are specially liable to occur—tends to prevent such ear-ailments, and more particularly the perforation of the ear drum and discharge, which form such trotiblesome, and often dangerous complications, off