462 OTOLOGY AND LARYNGOLOGY 



the standards of his measurements before applying the latter to 

 the question which he intends to study. 



IV. Meteorology and Climatology 



A few words only are requisite at the present state of our know- 

 ledge with regard to the connection between meteorology and 

 laryngo-otology. The more we learn of the influence which climatic 

 and meteorological conditions exercise upon certain diseases, the 

 more necessary does it become to study these conditions in order 

 to benefit our patients, and to avoid serious mistakes in sending 

 them to localities which, however suitable in other affections, are 

 not adapted for their particular case. This general rule applied 

 to our specialties comes particularly into force with regard to 

 laryngeal tuberculosis and to middle-ear catarrh. With regard to 

 the former, I need simply mention that at present the opinions as 

 to the suitability or otherwise of high altitudes in cases of laryngeal 

 complications of pulmonary tuberculosis are extremely divided; 

 with regard to middle-ear catarrh, one sees it frequently stated 

 that seaside places exercise a distinctly unfavorable influence 

 upon them. But the relation of meteorology and climatology to 

 our branches is certainly a wider one than indicated in the fore- 

 going illustrations, and well deserves and will no doubt receive 

 further attention. 



V. Philosophy, Logic, History, and Literature 



Of the connections of philosophy, logic, history, and literature 

 with laryngology and otology I wish to say a few words jointly, 

 because their relations to our specialties are similar in kind. They 

 are not of that palpable and, if I may say so, tangential character, 

 as those of physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and of the other 

 branches of human intellectual activity to be touched upon here- 

 after, in that it is impossible to name individual distinct points 

 in which their achievements touch equally distinct and individual 

 points of -specific interest for us. But, although more subtle, their 

 relations with the higher aspects of our work are no less intimate, 

 and additionally, if I may say so, are all-pervading. The specialist 

 who is endowed with a philosophical turn of mind will look upon 

 his own work and upon the interests of his specialty from a much 

 broader point of view than the man whose horizon is obscured by 

 the limited and more or 'less narrow-minded doctrines of one indi- 

 vidual school of thought. He will not be swayed by the fashion- 

 able currents of the moment, and will be consoled when he sees 

 that not only the public but many within the ranks of his own con- 



