Destruction of the Membrana Tympani. 155 



ships were hailed at sea, could catch words with accuracy, his 

 organ of hearing received only an indistinct impression. But the 

 most extraordinary circumstance in Mr. P — 's case is, that the 

 ear was nicely susceptible of musical tones ; for be played well 

 on the flute, and had frequently borne a part in a concert. I speak 

 this, not from his own authority only, but also from that of 

 his father, who is an excellent judge of music, and plays well 

 on the violin : he told me, that his son, besides playing on the 

 flute, sung with much taste, and perfectly in tune. 



The slight degree of deafness of which Mr. P — complained, 

 was always greatly increased by his catching cold: an effect 

 which seems to have arisen from the meatus being closed by an 

 accumulation of the natural secretion of the ear; for it fre- 

 quently happened to him, after he had been some time deaf 

 from cold, that a large piece of hardened wax, during a fit of 

 coughing, was forced from the ear, by the air rushing from the 

 mouth through the Eustachian tube, and his hearing was in- 

 stantly restored. 



From bathing likewise he suffered considerable inconvenience, 

 unless his ears were guarded against the water, by cotton being 

 previously forced into the meatus. When this precaution was 

 neglected, the water, as he plunged in, by rushing into the inte- 

 rior parts of the ears, occasioned violent pain, and brought on a 

 deafness, which continued until the cause was removed, that is, 

 until the water was discharged : but he had acquired the habit 

 of removing it, by forcing air from the mouth through the ear. 



In a healthy ear, when the meatus auditorius is stopped by 

 the finger, or is otherwise closed, a noise similar to that of a dis- 

 tant roaring of the sea is produced : this arises from the air in 

 the meatus being compressed upon the membrana tympani. In 



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