THE EAR 373 



become closed by some inflammation of the tissues about them. 

 This often happens to a person who has catarrhal troubles. 

 A bad "sore throat" may produce deafness or "ringing 

 sounds" in the head for this simple reason. The result of 

 the closure of the Eustachian tubes is that the pressure of air 

 in the tympanic cavity, or middle ear, becomes different from 

 that outside (whether greater or less, the result is the same) 

 and the membranes involved will not act well under these 

 strained conditions. Such circumstances impose a kind of 

 stress on the fluids of the inner ear, so that they can move 

 very little, if at all. "Ringing noises" may be due to the 

 fact that the fluids cannot move in the normal way, and these 

 being under extra stress, a large proportion of the nerve end- 

 ings in the ear feel the strain, and innumerable mild messages 

 go to the hearing center in the brain. These may be so con- 

 tinuous and disturbing as to induce headaches and generally 

 disagreeable results. One should not allow the trouble to 

 continue long without submitting it to skilled treatment. If 

 a "buzzing in the ears" or temporary deafness occurs as the 

 result of a cold, a physician should be consulted, since such 

 troubles, left unattended, may result in permanent deafness. 

 The other so-called special senses are taste, smell and the 

 sense of feeling, including touch, heat and cold. Each of 

 these has been considered in previous chapters and need not 

 be discussed here. 



