Politzer's text-book of the diseases of the ear and adjacent organs... / by Adam Politzer ; translated by Oscar Dodd ; edited by Sir William Dalby.

  • Politzer, Adam, 1835-1920.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Politzer's text-book of the diseases of the ear and adjacent organs... / by Adam Politzer ; translated by Oscar Dodd ; edited by Sir William Dalby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    coachmen, masons, tanners, fishermen, sailors, soldiers in the field, etc.—in a word, among persons who are continually exposed to all the vicissitudes of the weather. It is just as certain that the affections of the ear, associated with subjective sensations and an irritated or paralytic state of the auditory nerve, are influenced in a detrimental manner by noises in certain occupations continually acting upon the organ of hearing. We observe, for instance, in locksmiths, blacksmiths, millers, coopers, workers in noisy factories, and so on, in consequence of the excessive irritation of the auditory nerve, an obstinate continuance of the subjective noises, and an increase of the same, as well as of the deafness.* That climate, the condition of the dwelling, the mode of life of the patient, the excessive indulgence in spirits, smoking and snuffing tobacco, etc., influence the course of affections of the ear, requires no further proof. It is also important to note the mode of development and the course of an afi'ection of the ear, as they not unfrequently permit of a conclusion as to the nature of the disease. It is, therefore, necessary to find out in every case whether the disease has arisen with acute inflammatory phenomena, or without them, with rapid decrease of the function of hearing, or whether the disease has taken a slower, insidious course, with gradually increasing deafness. We must likewise learn whether the power of hearing varies to any considerable extent or not. For experience teaches that great fluctuations in the hearing-distance are generally observed in secre- tive inflammations of this cavity capable of resolution; but that in the insidious inflammations of the middle ear, unaccompanied by swelling and secretion, which cause permanent disturbances of hearing by the fixture of the ossicula, the hearing is subject to only very slight fluctuations. A few remarks may here be made from a prognostic point of view regarding the frequency of the diseases of the ear at different ages, and the influence of age upon the course and issue of the disease.! * That occupations which are associated with continuous noise not only act un- favourably upon already existing affections of the ear, but cause ear disease, is beyond doubt. In the investigations which I undertook in regard to this with different tradesmen, I found that, next to the locksmiths, coppersmiths and coopers were most afflicted by disturbance of hearing. Upon the latter especially, according to their own statement, the so-called hollow stroke when hooping the casks is said to have such a deafening effect, that most of them, if they remain at their trade, become hard of hearing in time. f Weil found among 5,905 children about 30 per cent, with deafness of different grades, and Bezold among 3,826 children about 20 per cent, with deafness. These have, however, only a local value, as the results of statistics for different climates and other local peculiarities are certainly very different, which accounts for the great