360 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 





might be expected that a total 

 annihilation of the powers of the 

 organ would have followed : but 

 the deafness was inconsiderable. 

 This gentleman, if his attention 

 were exerted, was capable, when 

 in company, of hearing whatever 

 was said in the usual tone of con- 

 versation ; and it is worthy of 

 remark, that he could hear with 

 the left ear better than with the 

 right, though in the left no traces 

 of the membrana tympani could 

 be perceived. 



When attending the anatomical 

 lectures also, he could hear, even 

 at the most distant part of the 

 theiitre, every word that was 

 delivered; though, to avoid the 

 regular and constant exertion 

 which it required, he preferred 

 placing himself near the lecturer. 



I found, however, that when a 

 note was struck upon the piano- 

 forte, he could hear it only at two- 

 thirds of the distance at which I 

 could hear it myself; and he in- 

 formed me, that in a voyage he 

 had mad^ to the East Indies, while 

 others, when ships were hailed at 

 sea, could catch words with accu- 

 racy, his organ of hearing received 

 only an indistinct impressiim. But 

 the most extraordinary circumstance 

 in Mr. P — 's case is, that his ear 

 was nicely susceptible of musical 

 tones ; for he played well on the 

 flute, and had frequently borne a 

 part in a concert. I speak this, 

 not from his own authority only, 

 but also from that of his father, 

 who is an excellent judge of music, 

 and plays well on the violin : he 

 told me, that his son, besides play- 

 ing on the flute, sung with much 

 taste, and perfectly in tune. 



The slight degree of deafness of 

 which Mr. P — complained, was 

 always greatly increased by his 



catching cold : an effect which 

 seems to ha ve aiisen from the meatus 

 being closed by an accumulation of 

 the natural secretion of the ear ; 

 for it frequently happened to him, 

 after he had been some time deaf 

 from cold, that a large piece of 

 hardened wax, during a fit of 

 coughing, was forced from the ear, 

 by the air rushing from the mouth 

 through the eustachian tube, and 

 his hearing was instantly restored. 



Fron: bathinglikewise he suffered 

 considerable inconvenience, unless 

 his ears were guarded against the 

 water, by cotton being previously 

 forced into the meatus. When 

 this precaution was neglected, the 

 water, as he plunged in, by rushing 

 into the interior parts of the ears, 

 occasioned violent pain, and 

 brought on a deafness, which 

 continued until the cause was 

 removed, that is, until the water 

 was discharged ; but he had ac- 

 quired the habit of removing it, 

 by forcing air from the mouth 

 through the ear. 



In a healthy ear, when the 

 meatus auclilorius is stopped by 

 the finger, or is otherwise closed, 

 a noise similar to that of a distant 

 roaring of the sea is produced : this 

 arises from the air in the meatus 

 being compressed upon the mem- 

 hrana tipnpani. In the case here 

 described, no such sensation was 

 ]irodueed ; for, in Mr. P's ear, the, 

 air, meeting with no impediment, 

 could suffer no compression ; since 

 it found a passage, through the 

 open membrane, to the mouth, by 

 means of the eustachian tube. 



Mr. P — was liable to the sensa- 

 tion commonly called, the '• teeth 

 being on edge," in the same degree 

 as it exists in others ; and it was 

 produced by similar acute sounds, 

 as by the filing of a saw, the rub- 



