212 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



defect of hearing. Of the twenty five, not more than five con Id 

 be said to enjoy perfect hearing. Four fifths of the patients 

 tested had impaired hearing, and had never suspected any defect 

 whatever. 



Of all the native-born inhabitants of New York and vicinity 

 and of residents who came here in early life before their respira- 

 tory passages were fully developed, probably a not very much 

 smaller percentage have lost some of their ability to hear per- 

 fectly. 



The normal ear is capable of hearing considerably better than 

 is necessary for the ordinary purposes of civilization ; in fact, 

 is endowed with what may be termed "superfluous hearing." 

 Proper tests will discover the loss of even a small portion of this 

 superfluous hearing, and warn us that we are gradually becoming 

 deaf — in fact, already partially deaf — although we may not have 

 noticed the slightest deficiency. This explains why it is that 

 many victims of certain forms of chronic deafness believe their 

 complaint to have been sudden in its beginning, when in reality 

 it has been progressing for several years ; the longer time having 

 been occupied by the gradual loss of the " superfluous hearing," 

 and the patient's attention not having been directed to his afflic- 

 tion until the " necessary hearing " was encroached upon. 



The great majority of all forms of deafness are dependent 

 upon and directly resultant from affections of the nose and 

 throat. 



In the city of New York and vicinity, owing to the extreme 

 variations of the temperature and climate from day to day, it is 

 indeed a rarity to find among the people who have lived here any 

 time a perfectly healthy nose and throat. Such repeated sudden 

 extremes of hot and cold damp weather, which are so common in 

 this location, are ruinous to the throats of even temporary visit- 

 ors with perfectly healthy respiratory organs ; and the effect is 

 so marked, the condition so universal among the inhabitants of 

 this city, that children of catarrhal parents are born with a swol- 

 len, catarrhal condition of the inside of the nose and throat which 

 within very few years closes the nostrils so that proper respira- 

 tion is impossible, and the child becomes what physicians call a 

 " mouth-breather." We meet these children constantly in the 

 streets. The climate of Brooklyn is even worse in this respect. 



From the condition of a " mouth-breather " it is but a short 

 step to one of two results — more often both : deafness, and that 

 peculiarly stupid, sleepy, inane, foolish expression of counte- 

 nance so characteristic of the " mouth-breather." 



To parents who have the welfare of their children at heart, 

 such a warning as this should be of sacred importance. As soon 

 as the child gives evidence of a tendency to breathe constantly 



