DISEASES OF THE EAR. 126 



ulum renders a diagnosis easy, even when the polypus is forming and very 

 small. 



Treatment. —Efforts should be made to improve the general health, and 

 relieve the local condition which first induced the formation of the poly- 

 pus. Perfect cleanliness by injections, the use of powdered alum, or 

 boracic acid dropped into the ear, may cause the growth to waste and be- 

 come detached. If this treatment is unsuccessful a skilled aurist should 

 be consulted. 



(Deafness. 



Impairment or loss of hearing power is more commonly the result of 

 organic changes. Very rarely deafness depends upon certain constitu- 

 tional disturbances, there being an entire absence of all symptoms 

 indicative of inflammation. 



Certain drugs such as quinine, taken in veiy large doses, and persisted 

 in for a long time, have been known to induce deafness. In young dogs 

 this is generally transitory, but in older the impairment may be permanent. 



The more common cause is otitis, media or interna, or some organic 

 change in the auditory nerve, possibly induced by blows on the head, or 

 sympathetic with disease of the brain. 



In very rare instances a catarrhal inflammation of the middle ear may 

 be excited and subside without the occurrence of purulent changes, leav- 

 ing a chronic irritation which eventually causes a thickening of the drum 

 membrane, and impaired hearing power in the affected ear. 



Accumulations in the external passage may cause deafness, at first me- 

 chanically, and ultimately by pressure inducing disease, and permanent 

 injury of the parts acted upon. Some puppies are imperfect at whelp, the 

 sense of hearing being entirely absent. 



Treatment. —Excepting in cases where the deafness is due to accumu- 

 lations in the external ear, the results of treatment will prove negative. 

 If congenital, positively nothing can be done. If the drum membrane 

 has been perforated, a judicious treatment of otitis will favor a closing of 

 the opening, and the hearing power will in a measure be restored. 



The deafness of old dogs admits of little or no improvement. Catarrhal 

 inflammation of the middle ear generally results in a chronic disease very 

 difficult to cure, and for which there is no treatment which will promise 

 much. When organic nerve deafness exists, the condition is due to paral- 

 ysis and should be treated as such. Where the cause is obscure or due to 

 evident constitutional disturbances, efforts should be made to tone up the 

 system, thereby improving the general health. Where deafness is sus- 

 pected the ears should be well syringed and then carefully examined. 



