on of the Eustachian
canal; a thorn or twig of a tree accidentally thrust into the head;
picking the ear with a toothpick. In time of battle soldiers sometimes
have their tympanums ruptured by the concussion caused by the firing of
cannon. Dalby mentions an instance of an officer who was discharged for
deafness acquired in this manner during the Crimean War. He was
standing beside a mortar which, unexpectedly to him, was fired, causing
rupture of the tympanic membrane, followed by hemorrhage from the ear.
Similar cases were reported in the recent naval engagements between the
Chinese and Japanese. Wilson reports two cases of rupture of the
membrane tympani caused by diving. Roosa divides the causes into
traumatic, hemorrhagic, and inflammatory, and primary lesions of the
labyrinth, exemplifying each by numerous instances. Under traumatic
causes he mentions severe falls, blows about the head or face, constant
listening to a telegraphic instrument, cannonading, and finally eight
cases of boiler-makers' deafness. Roosa cites a curious case of sudden
and profound deafness in a young man in perfect health, while calling
upon the parents of his lady-love to ask her hand in marriage. Strange
to say that after he had had a favorable reply he gradually recovered
his hearing! In the same paper there is an instance of a case of
deafness due to the sudden cessation of perspiration, and an instance
of tinnitus due to the excessive use of tobacco; Roosa also mentions a
case of deafness due to excessive mental employment.

Perforation of the Tympanum.--Kealy relates an instance in which a pin
was introduced into the left ear to relieve an intolerable itching. It
perforated the tympanum, and before the expiration of twenty-four hours
was coughed up from the throat with a small quantity of blood. The pin
was bent at an angle of about 120 degrees. Another similar case was
that of a girl of twenty-two who, while pricking her ear with a
hair-pin, was jerked or struck on the arm by a child, and the pin
forced into the ear; great pain and deafness followed, together with
the loss of taste on the same side of the tongue; after treatment both
of the disturbed senses were restored. A man of twenty was pricked in
the ear by a needle entering the meatus. He uttered a cry, fell
senseless, and so continued until the fourth day when he died. The
whole auditory meatus was destroyed by suppuration. Gamgee tells of a
constable who was stabbed in the