urs a jet of hot water, which has been
boiled and cooled just sufficiently to permit of its use, is allowed
to flow gently from a fountain syringe into the ear for ten minutes,
and then the ear is dried with cotton, as described under the
treatment of wax in the ear (p. 35). No other "drops" of any kind are
admissible for use in the ear, and even this treatment is of less
importance than the dry heat from the hot-water bag, and may be
omitted altogether if the appliances and skill to dry the ear are
lacking. Ten drops of laudanum[2] for an adult, or a teaspoonful of
paregoric for a child six years old, may be given by the mouth to
relieve the pain. The temperature of the room should be even and the
food soft.

If the pain continues it is wiser to have an aurist lance the drum, to
avoid complications, than to wait for the drum membrane to break open
spontaneously in his absence. Loss or damage of the eardrums may call
for "artificial eardrums." They do not act at all like the drumhead of
the musical instrument by their vibrations, but only are of service in
putting on the stretch the little bones in the middle ear which convey
sound. Some of those advertised do harm by setting up a mechanical
irritation in the ear after a time, and a better result is often
obtained with a ball of cotton or a paper disc introduced into the ear
by an aurist.

[Illustration: PLATE II

=Plate II=

=ANATOMY OF THE EAR=

The illustration on the opposite page shows the interior structure of
the ear. The concha and =Meatus=, or canal, comprise the external ear,
which is separated from the middle ear by the =Drum Membrane=. Wax is
secreted by glands located in the lining of the meatus, and should be
detached by the motion of the jaws during talking and eating. If it
adheres to the drum membrane it causes partial deafness.

The internal ear, or labyrinth, a cavity in the bone, back of the
middle ear, consists of three parts: the =Cochlea=, the =Semicircular
Canals=, and a middle portion, the =Vestibule=. The middle ear is
connected with the throat by the =Eustachian Tube=.

Sound vibrations, which strike the drum membrane, are conveyed by
means of a chain of three small bones through the middle ear to the
nervous apparatus of the internal ear. The Eustachian tube and middle
ear are lined throughout with mucous membrane, and any severe
inflammation of the throat may extend to and involve the tube and the
middle ear, causing deafness.]