j 52 Mr. Cooper's Observations on the 



demned criminal was pardoned, on condition of his submitting 

 to it ; but, a popular outcry being raised, it was thought proper 

 to .relinquish the idea. 



Though denied the aid of experiment, we are not without the 

 means of obtaining knowledge upon such subjects ; since the 

 changes produced by disease, frequently furnish a clue which is 

 equally satisfactory. 



It often happens, that some parts of an organ are destroyed 

 by disease, whilst others are left in their natural state; and 

 hence, by the powers retained by such organ, after a partial 

 destruction, we are enabled to judge of the functions performed 

 by those parts, when the whole was in health. 



Guided by this principle, I have made the human ear the 

 subject of observation, and have endeavoured to ascertain the 

 degree of loss it sustains in its powers by the want of the mem- 

 brana tympani ; a membrane which has been generally consi- 

 dered, from its situation in the meatus, and its connection with 

 the adjacent parts by a beautiful and delicate structure, as essen- 

 tially necessary to the sense of hearing; but which, as appears 

 by the following observations, may be lost, with little prejudice 

 to the functions of the organ. 



Mr. P , a medical student at St. Thomas's Hospital, of 



the age of twenty years, applied to me, in the winter of 1797, 

 while he was attending a course of anatomical lectures, request- 

 ing my opinion upon the nature of a complaint in his ear, 

 which had long rendered him slightly deaf. 



Upon inquiring into the nature of the symptoms which had 

 preceded, and of those which now accompanied the disease, he 

 informed me, that he had been subject from his infancy to pains 

 in the head, and was attacked, at the age often years, with an in- 



