toms is constant. The intensity of
the pain seldom lasts for more than a few hours, when, in many instances
a copious discharge of matter takes place from the ear, and the child is
well. In some instances, indeed, the subsidence of the disease on one
side is followed by a similar attack on the opposite side, and the same
acute suffering is once more gone through, and terminates in the same
manner. Sometimes, too, this complete cure does not take place, but the
earache abates, or altogether ceases, for a day or two, and then
returns; no discharge, or but a very scanty discharge, taking place,
while, for weeks together, the child has but few intervals of perfect
ease. In infants, earache seldom follows this chronic course, but it
does sometimes in older children, and is then of the more importance,
since it shows that the disease is no longer confined to the external
passage, but has extended to the internal ear.

In children who are too young to express their sufferings by words, the
violence of their cries, coupled with the absence of any sign of disease
in the chest or the bowels, naturally leads to the suspicion of
something being wrong in the head. There are several facts, however,
which may satisfy you that the case is not one of water on the
brain--the child does not vomit, its bowels are not constipated, there
is but little fever, the cries are loud and passionate, and are attended
with shedding tears. If you watch closely, you will notice the dread of
movement and the evident relief afforded by resting one side of the
head, and always the same side, while often the movement of the hand to
the head, and the redness of the ear, with the swelling at its entrance,
will all serve to point to that organ as the source of the trouble.
Sometimes, when in doubt, you will be able to satisfy yourselves that
the cause of the suffering is in the ear by pressing the gristle of the
organ slightly inwards, which will produce very evident pain on the
affected side, while on the other side it will not occasion any
suffering.

The treatment of this painful affection is very simple. In many
instances the suffering is greatly relieved by warm fomentations, or by
applying to the ear a poultice of hot bran or camomile flowers, while at
the same time a little warm oil and laudanum are dropped into the ear.
When these means do not bring relief, a leech applied on the bone
directly behind the ear seldom fails to give ease; while the dispo