Observations on the effects which take place from the destruction of the membrana tympani of the ear. By Mr. Astley Cooper. In a letter to Everard Home, Esq. F. R. S., by whom some remarks are added

Abstract

The case to which we owe the observations contained in this paper, is that of a youth, who at the age of ten was attacked with an inflammation and suppuration in the left ear, which continued discharging matter for several weeks; and who after the space of about a twelvemonth had the same symptoms in his right ear, the discharge in both cases being thin and fetid, and conveying many small bones and particles of bones. On probing the ears when the youth was about twenty years of age, it was found that the membrane tympani of the left ear was totally destroyed, and that but a small part of it remained in the right ear. So free was the passage through both the ears, that the patient, by closing his nostrils and contracting his cheeks, could with ease force the air from the mouth through the meatus auditorius; and yet what is most remarkable, the sense of hearing was by no means materially impaired by this imperfection; especially in the left ear, where the whole of the membrane was dissolved. The organ even retained a nice musical discrimination.