142 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ever keeps us from colds helps us to preserve our hearing. We should 

 do, therefore, those things that help to keep colds away: for which 

 the first is taking plenty of fresh air; the second using enough, but 

 not too much, cold water all over us, taking especial care to rub our- 

 selves thoroughly dry, and never to let it chill us ; and the third is to 

 avoid draughts, and wet, especially sitting in wet clothes, or being in 

 close or very heated rooms. But there are some kinds of cold espe- 

 cially hurtful to the ear. One is sitting with the ear exposed to a side 

 wind, as too many people do now on the roofs of omnibuses, and so 

 on. We should always face the wind ; then, if we are not chilled, it is 

 hard to have too much of it. Another hurtful thing is letting rain or 

 sleet drive into the ear, against which, if it were not that people do 

 sometimes suffer from this cause, it would seem as if it could hardly be 

 necessary to caution them. 



Another source of danger to the ear, however, arises from the very 

 precautions which are sometimes taken against those last mentioned. 

 Nothing is more natural than to protect the ear against cold by cover- 

 ing it by a piece of cotton-wool ; and this is most useful if it is done 

 only on occasions of special exposure, as when a person is compelled 

 to encounter a driving storm, or has to receive on one side of the head 

 the force of a cutting wind. But it is astonishing in how many cases 

 the cotton-wool thus used, instead of being removed from the ear 

 when the need for it has passed, is pushed down into the passage, and 

 remains there, forming itself an obstruction to hearing, and becoming 

 the cause of other mischiefs. Three separate pieces have sometimes 

 been found thus pushed down, one upon the other. Paper rolled up, 

 which is also used for protecting the ear when cotton-wool is not at 

 hand, is still more irritating when it is thus left unremoved. The way 

 to avoid this accident, besides being careful not to forget, is to use a 

 large piece of wool, and to place it over, rather than in, the passage. 



It should be remembered that constantly covering up the ear is 

 adapted to injure it. On the whole, men in whom the ear is habitually 

 exposed, suffer if any thing less from ear-disease than women, in whom 

 it is so often covered. Nor can the " hat " be held an unsafe head- 

 dress in this respect for the latter sex. But it is important that there 

 should not be frequent changes, especially in cold weather, from a 

 head-dress which covers to one which exposes the ear. It is better 

 that the air should always have free access to it ; but if this has not 

 been the case, the summer should be chosen to make the change. 



All sorts of substances are sometimes put into the ear by children, 

 who do it to themselves or to each other in ignorant play. If every 

 parent and teacher warned his children against doing this, it would not 

 be a useless precaution. When the accident happens, the chief danger 

 is that of undue haste and violence. Such bodies should be removed 

 by syringing with warm water alone, and no attempt should be made 

 to lay hold of them or move them in any other way. It is enough to 



