DEAFNESS. 



255 



cheerful or animated, and the stomach ami liver are in good working order. Deafness 

 varies greatly in degree in diil'erent patients. We meet with one person who, as he 

 says, is ''only a little hard of hearing," whilst another is "as deaf as a post." 

 Curiously enough some people hear very much better in the midst of a noise than 

 when things are moderately quiet. Although very deaf to conversation they tell 

 you that when travelling in a carriage or eab, or by railway, they hear much better 

 than usual. Jt has been said that the improved hearing is imaginary, and that it is 

 explained by the fact that people raise their voices in order to counteract the 

 surrounding noise. This may, in some instances, be the true, explanation, but it 

 must be remembered that ordinarily the speaker raises his voice sutliciently only for 

 those whose hearing powers are intact. And it has been proved too, experimentally, 

 that some people who can ordinarily hear the tick of a watch at only an inch or two 

 from the ear, can in a railway carriage hear it at a distance of some feet. Instances 

 are related of people who, although ordinarily very deaf, could h-ar fairly well when 

 near the noise of a mill, or in a blacksmith's .->hop when hammering was going on. 

 An American writer tells us of a mail agent, on one of the railways, who was deaf, 

 but was never supposed to be so l>v those who only talked with him amid the noise 

 of the train. The treatment of deafness is not on the whole very satisfactory. In the 

 lirst place the ears should be examined for wax by means of the speculum, and should 

 there be an accumulation it must be removed by syringing as alreadv directed. 

 Should there be no wax the introduction of a drop or two of glycerine 1 may do good. 

 Should the general health be below par, iron and cod-liver oil mav be given advan- 

 tageously. Often benefit is derived from taking a table-spoonful of the tonic quinine 

 mixture (Pr. U), three 

 or four times a dav. 

 For old people, or 

 those who have done 

 much brain -work, 

 phosphorus, or the 

 hypophosphites (Prs. 

 53, 54, or 55), may 

 be employed with a 

 lair chance of success, 

 although of course 

 they often fail to do 

 any good. Several 

 kinds of hearing 

 trumpets are sold, 

 some of which are 

 here figured. The 



first is a flexible speaking-tube, which is very convenient for conversation, and 

 is, in fact, often called a conversation-tube. The second and third figures represent 

 the ordinary metallic trumpets which are used by persons with impaired hearing to 

 hear addresses, sermons, and so on. In some churches long flexible tubes run from 

 beneath the pulpit to the seats of those whose hearing is impaired, and are used as 



g. 6. HEARING TRUMPETS. 



