to restore the Deaf and Dumb to hearing. 317 



that in place of the leaden tube employed by Guyot, a flexible one 

 of silver should be substituted and directed into the Eustachian tube 

 through the nose.* This operation was first actually performed by 

 Douglas, on several dead subjects, and shortly afterwards by Wa- 

 then, on a number of living patients. The latter published an account 

 of five cases in which he supposed more or less benefit had been de- 

 rived from the operation-! But subsequently, as we learn from Dr. 

 Sims, a late President of the Medical Society of London, " he be- 

 came less sanguine in his hopes of cure from it, than he was original- 

 ly."! As late as 1791, it was proposed by Lentin, who had somewhat 

 modified the original method of Guyot, to pass the injection through 

 the mouth, <§> but the conviction of its impossibility, or at least its 

 extreme difficulty had become so general, that no one appears to 

 have adopted his suggestion. The injection through the nose, on 

 the contrary, was performed by Sahaiier, Leschevin, Desault, Sais- 

 sy, Boyer, Itard and others, nearly all of whom either invented 

 new instruments or proposed some modification of those already in 

 use. But although the operation had now been practised for nearly 

 a century, it may be considered as having demonstrated nothing, 

 except the practicability of the injection of the Eustachian tube, 

 and the little reliance which could be placed upon it as a means of 

 cure, when M. Deleau undertook another series of experiments, 

 which he affirmed had at length proved that the deaf and dumb might 

 be restored to hearing and speech. The committees appointed by 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences, reported as favorably of his suc- 

 cess as Deleau could possibly have desired. The newspapers ea- 

 gerly seized hold of what so nearly approached the marvellous, and 

 circulated the most exaggerated reports of his magic power. As 

 these accounts were extensively copied into the papers in this coun- 

 try, it is not improbable that many of our readers will remember 

 them. 



There were some, however, who, in the midst of this general en- 

 thusiasm, had the boldness to doubt the reality or at least the extent 



* Phil. Trans, of the Royal Soc. of London, fur the year 1741. Vol. xli. p. 847. 



t Ibid, for the year 1755. Vol. xlii. p. 213. 



t An essay on the deaf and dumb ; shewing the necessity of medical treatment in 

 early infancy; with observations on congenital deafness. By John Harrison Cur- 

 tis, Esq. London, 1829. 8vo. p. 173. 



§ Tentamen vitiis avditvs medendi, etc ; in Commentationibii,s societatis regiae 

 scientiarum Gottingensis ad 1791 et 92. Vol. xi. p. 39. 



