Hardness of hearing may be produced by cold, mechanical injury, various diseases, and in many cases, as where it occurs in the aged, be developed without pain, and give to the patient no clue to its cause.

Sometimes from birth, the ears are impervious to all sound, and consequently the child, having no guide in the sound of others' voices for the modulation of his own, is not only deaf but dumb. This condition at first thought so dreadful, is now through the interposition of science and our various excellent asylums, deprived of half its terrors.

We shall only have space to give some of the leading indications for the treatment of the various forms of deafness, yet sufficiently full however for domestic practice, as it is often complicated with other difficulties rendering the skill of the physician essential. Derangement of hearing, the result of catarrhal or rheumatic affections, produced by a chill, generally requires Arsenic, Belladonna, Mercury, Pulsatilla, Galcarea, Gausticum, Hepar-s., Nit.-ac, or Sulphur.

Occasioned by suppressed eruption: Sulphur or Antimony.

The result of measles: Pulsatilla or Carb.-v.

Of Scarlatina: Belladonna or Hepar.

Of Small Pox: Mercury or Sulphur*

Of abuse of Cinchona in Intermittent Fever: Carb.-v* Galcarea, Pulsatilla.

Of Abuse Of Mercury, Nit

ac., Aurum, Carb.-v., Sulphur.

Of Fevers, Nervous Affections, etc.: Arnica, Phosphorus, Veratrum.

When produced by by a suppressed discharge from the ears or nose: Hepar-s., Lachesis, Belladonna.

Symptomatic Indications

Calcarea. - Deafness as if the ears were obstructed; humming, rolling or tinkling, singing, and noise, or throbbing and heat in the ears. Dryness of the ears or purulent discharge; pressive headache in the forehead.

Gausticum

Vibration of sound, even the patient's voice in the ear; sensation of obstruction, with rumbling, humming, and roaring in the ears; discharge from the ears; rheumatic pain and great sensitiveness to cold.

Graphites

Dryness in the ears or purulent discharge; singing, whistling, tinkling or humming, and thundering in the ears, particularly at night, eruption around the ears.

Zachesis

Often after Causticum, and where there is dryness in the ears, painful pulsations or cracking, rolling, drumming and reverberation of sound in the ears; excoriation around the ears.

Mercurius

Sensation of obstruction, ceasing when swallowing or blowing the nose; reverberation of sound 11* in the ears; tinkling, roaring and humming, particularly in the evening; discharge from the ear, sometimes with ulceration; rheumatic pain in the ears and head, and great tendency to perspiration.

Nitric-Acid

Dryness or discharge from the ears; sensation of obstruction, with grumbling, throbbing, or cracking; frequent toothache, with affections of the gums.

Phosphorus

Great difficulty in hearing sounds, and yet excessive reverberation of sounds in the ears, with resonance in the head; throbbing and pulsations in the ears.

Pulsatilla

Tinkling or chirping in the ears, or sensation as if they were stopped, with roaring and humming; shooting pains in the ears; hard, black or liquid wax, and sometimes discharge of pus or blood.

Sulphur

Difficulty of hearing, especially the human voice; closing up of the ears, particularly when eating, and blowing the nose; gurgling, as if caused by water, or humming and roaring; discharge from the ears, and disposition to colds in the head.

Consult also Inflammation and Running of the ear.

Administration

Deafness is sometimes caused by a collection of hardened ear-wax, in which case, have it carefully removed. A powder, or six globules, may be given morning and night, every night, or every other night, according to circumstances. See also page 12.