OTI'TIS, or inflammation of the tympanic cavity of the ear, may be either acute or chronic, and it may come on dining the course of certain febrile affections, especially scarlatina, or in consequence of a scrofulous, rheumatic, or gouty constitution; or it may be excited by direct causes, as exposure to currents of cold air, violent syringing or probing. etc. The symptoms of the acute form are sudden and intense pain in the ear, increased by coughing. sneezing, or swallowing, tinnitus curium, or singing or buzzing noises heard by the patient, and more or less deafness. If the disease goes on unchecked, suppuration takes place, and the membrane of the tympanum ulcerates, and allows of the d;schapere of pus, or inflammation of the Jura mater, and abscesses in the brain may be established. In less severe cases there is usually a considerable amount of persistent damage, and an obstinate discharge of matter (otorrhea) is a frequent sequence of the disease.
The treatment of so serious an affection must be left solely in the hands of the medical practitioner. •
Time symptoms of the chronic and less acute varieties of otitis are unfortunately so slight, that they arc often nett:ected, until the patient finds the sense of hearing in one or both cars almost completely gone. In these milder forms of otitis, the genera] indica tions of treatment are to combat the diathesis on which they frequently depend, and to improve the general health. Very small doses of mercury continued for a considerable time (such as one grain of gray powder night and morning), and mall blisters occasion ally applied to the nape of the neck or to the mastoid process, are often of service in very chronic eases. If there is any discharge, the ear should be gently syringed once or twice a day with warm water, after which a tepid solution of sulphate of zinc (one grain to an ounce of water) may be dropped into the meatus, and allowed to remain there two or three minutes.