Deafness practically illustrated : being an exposition of original views as to the causes and treatment of diseases of the ear / by James Yearsley.

  • Yearsley, James, 1805-1869.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Deafness practically illustrated : being an exposition of original views as to the causes and treatment of diseases of the ear / by James Yearsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    as frequently present in deaf-dumbness ; all are to be cured by a single remedy, which with one consists of acoustic drops ; with another, of an ointment to be rubbed into the external passage. How are the public to judge of the rationality and probable truth of these assertions % They are ignorant of the structure and functions of the different parts of the body, of the seat and nature of the great majority of the diseases to which it is liable, and of the principles which should regulate their treatment; whether they are capable of cure, or would get well of them- selves, or are inevitably fatal. They are conscious of little else than suffering and the desire of relief; they look around for the remedy; and the most confident and unlimited assurances of cure, however preposterous, are eagerly believed, their reasoning powers being crippled by the preponderating instinct of self-preservation. Hitherto, assuredly, diseases of the ear have been less under medical control than those to which any other part of the human frame is subject; and our want of method in their treatment has been the natural and inevitable consequence of an imperfect investigation of the affected organ. Happily, of late years, such attention has been paid to this branch of medicine, as cannot fail to be productive of most important results to mankind generally, and must, consequently, be the means of rescuing it from the opprobrium which had previously attached to it.