Basic Aural Dyscrasla. 25

generations, and steadily, determinedly, though slowly it must be, remove the evils which the community has permitted to arise, and which the community must now abate.

The qnestions connected with the removal of these evils are essentlaily non-professional, and I shall not, therefore, attempt to discuss them here.

In conclusion, I would appeal to all my professional brethren to aid, as far as in them lies, the great movement now in progress for the improvement of the dwellings of the artisan and labouring classes. I believe in this respect our profession knows more, and has more influence, than any other section of the community. Let them express their opinions fearlessly. :Let there be no half-hearted advice or levelling down to meet sanitary shortcomings. Let us all state positively what we believe the standard of health should be, and in no way lower that standard because it is not immediately attainable. A great deal of patience and up-hill work is necessary, but let us not think, as many seem to think, that because a little has been done much has been already accomplished, and that our methods of working are adequate to abate this great evil. I f by the foregohlg remarks I succeed in inducing my professional brethren to look after this as the most pressing sanitary question of the day, I shall have accomplished the main object I have in view.

ART. III .--Basic Aural Dyscrasia; being an inquiry into a con. ditio~, of system disposi~g to Aural Disease, now for the f r s t time described as t/~e Basic Aural Dyscrasia, involving an explam, tion of tlLe mode of cat~satioa of 77~,,,itus Aurium, and a description of a lLitherto un~wticed form of Deq/hess--Vascular Deafness. By ROBERT T. Coovna, M.A., M.D. Univ. Dubl., London.

[Continued from Vol. LXXIX. , page 509.]

TI~E chronic diseases of the ear, and we believe, but to a less extent, the womb as well,* involve their organs in an inflammatory process that requires for its successful dispersion the application of as much warmth of every description as is possible; at all events warmth, constantly and perseveringly applied, is essential for the complete rehabilitation of the ear when it has been subjected to a long continuance of the exhausting and degenerating inflammations that affect its circulation. This I would lay down as a cliHical axiom, as irrevocable as it is possible for laws in medicine to be--that

�9 Vide'Tilt. Uterine Therapeutics. Pp. 56-58. John Churchill & Sons, London. 1868,

26 Basic Aural Dgscrasia.

all ear diseases, whether acute or chronic, are improved by the application of warmth, and aggravated by that of'cold ; and, I believe, in making this statement, I am largely, if not unanimously, supported by all distinguished aural physicians. Thus, Dr. A. Guye, ~ or' Amsterdam, says : --" I have seen people with slight growth of hair, in whom the wearing of a wig was followed by decided improve- ment in hearing. And what," he asks, "is more natural than that an organ which, in its normal condition, is so little exposed to varia- tions in temperature, should endure such exposure badly, and undergo a loss of its functions?" In one important particular, then, aural medicine does not labour under the reproach that attaches to other departments of medical practice. Tim aurist can meet him who asserts the superior scientific claims of sm'gery, by proving that in one respect we have the advantage, and that we are not exercised by at least one perplexing problem. Ear diseases, then, present us, uniformly, with the purest variety of a localised inflammatory debility to be met with in the whole range of medicine, this being quite accounted for by their pathology.

Furthermore, if the chronic diseases of the ear, manifested to us as they so largely are by the symptom, deafness, belong to the inflammations, is it not in perf.ect accordance with fact that each case of such chronic inflammation has its counterpart among the acute diseases? That is to say, that just as acute inflammations possess, in each individual instance, a plainly marked and prominent character, requiring fbr descriptive pvrposes such distinguishing appellations as rheumatic, gouty, scrof.ulous, syphilitic, diphtheritic, so may not each case of deafness be impressed by, but to a much less extent, a similar individual disease tendency, the miasmatic character of the person so afflicted, and is not such co-extensive with diseqse-force of every description ?

The idea would be that, as with the ear, so with other organs, no chronic disease exists that has not its counterpart among the acute maladies. Certainly, I have seen acute psoriasis, and acute eczema is common enough. Are there--for the reverse must be held to be true--such unlikely diseases as a chronic form of small-pox, scarlatina, and measles, and by what indications are they known? This is by no means a ridiculous question to ask, seein~ that clinical investiganda are calculated to stimulate the most useful form of" medical inquiry.

But the question ought not to be so much--Is there chronic small- a_Arehives of Otology. P. 232, 1880. Art. ' On Meni~re's Disease."

By DR. :ROBERT T. COOPER. ~7

pox, &c.? as--Are chronic diseases specially modified by the small- pox,scarlatina, measles, &c., to which they date their inception ? And .in my own practice I am emboldened to ask such a question, by observing that some chronic ear-diseases, datln~ back to a scarlatina, require, for their successful dispersion, different remedies fi'om those that attribute their onset to small-pox.

To return to the bruits. If, in their earlier stages, these bruits betoken an irritation or inflammatory condition of the coats of the blood-vessels, they would naturally be found, if looked for, in such cachexim, chronic and acute, as are attended with inflammatory action settling especially upon the vascular structures. Conse- quently, we shall find them present in pymmla, erysipelas, parotitis, lymphadenltis, the exanthemata, febrile influenzas, in puerperal fever, and other post pavtum and catamenial febrile attacks, and, in fact, in all affections in which there is a diffused involvement of the vascular tissues--ln other words, in those affections where the inflammatory tendency is of such a nature as finds expression in sympathetic disturbance. In every one of the diseases so charac- terised I believe these bruits, from actual observation at the bed- side, to be in much greater prominence than the descriptions of such disorders in books would imply.

Hence, the very interesting and important conclusion arrived at is that the imbibition into the system of mephitic vapours and various forms of mlcro-organisms ~ is accountable for the acute affections from which chronic deafnesses, or rather inflammatory changes in the ear, take their origin; and the conclusion is equally legitimate that the high degree of initial inflammatory action is by no means necessary for the development and maintenance of these long-lastlng and distressing complaints. So that it would appear that these obscure departures fi'om health tlmt are represented by the chronic aural affections are in every way like the distu,'bances that disease produces in other parts of the system, only that the ear, owing to its anatomical construction, does not display such obvious inflammatory manifestations as are so easily demonstrable in other organs of" the body.

As we hope later on to prove, however, the early symptoms pointing to chronic aural involvement are as easily recognised, and, when recognised, as easily arrested, as are those that usher in and culminate in morbific disturbance of other organs.

With reference to this, see a very interesting, paper by the late Dr. ft. Patterson Cassells~ in Edinburgh Medical Journal, April., 1878, on Sewer-Gas and Ear-Disease.

28 Basic Aural Dyscrasia.

There ~s great reason to suppose that aural affections, like many other v.qr~eties of chronic disease, are on the increase; this view of their mtiology would afford an adequate explanation of the fact; ('or, with the modern tendency of population to crowd together, indi- viduals are exposed to contaminating influences not otherwise in operation. Obviously, the same causes operate to enfeeble the process of adult dentition, of which impel'f~ctly developed wisdom teeth are the expression, and it. is a trite observation among dental s,,rgeons that civilisation is rapidly causing the disappearance of these organs.

We wish it, however, to be understood that we by no means tal~e the view that living germs are the exclusive cause of these or any other diseases ; their influence would appear to preponderate over that of other agencies exercising a hurtful and injurious effect upon the human constitution; more than this we do not thi,lk it wise to predicate, at least as to aural diseases. The effect of the excessive use of alcohol in causing a pyrexial disposition in the system must also be considered. Dr. Alfred Cart)enter and others attribute to it a tendency to fittty degeneration throughout the circulatory org'lns.

Without going further into this matter, the important lesson in general medicine to be learned from this inquiry is that departures from heahh, not recognisable by the patients' complainings, are more fi'equent than is generally admitted, and that these may exercise a destructive influence--a death, in flint--upon the organs of sl)ecial sense, as well as lead to the disintegration of tissues, the cohesion of which is necessary to the maintenance of llfe itself.

As these unnoticed variations from health are often due to m~nute but "diagnosable" and easily curable degrees of arteritis, phlebitis, carditis, and the like, the inference is plain that increased inquiry into disease of every description convinces us more and more of" the imperative necessity for a periodical examination of the human body, to be undertaken in the interests not alone of l~ealth, but h fortiori of longevity.

The future of preventive medicine will, I feel assured, depend upon the proper recognition and interpretation of the I)henomena of sympathetic vaso-motor disturbance.

We cannot pass on without one more reference to a question of interest for general medicine mooted by this investigation.

I t is well known that among the very obscllre i)oints the prac- titioner of" medicine may be called on to decide is that of the cause

By DR. ROBERT T. COOPER. 29

of a fever in a child in whom the age or the prevailing cerebral disturbance renders the little patient incompetent to express hls feelings. Some very interesting examples of cases of this descrip- tion, in which the ear proved to be the )Cons et origo mall, after all sorts of haphazard trials had been undertaken to dislodge imaginary offending materies from the intestinal canal, and also to relieve dentition, are given in Mr. Hinton's suggestive little work. a One of these cases, furnished him by Dr. Wilks, wa~ particularly painful. I t occurred in tile child of a medical practitioner, and not: until after a month fi'om the commencement of the boy's illness, and when the child was wasted to a mere shadow, did a dischal~e occur, "first from one ear and then from the other," with, after an interval of a day or two, perfect remission of the symptoms..

I t is all very well to say, " Examine the ears," but it is by no means easy to examine the tympanal membranes of a chiht rolling about in delirium; and, besides, before undertaking suelK examina- tion, it surely is desirable to have some grounds fbr supposi,~g the ear to be involved.

I t is in such positions of perplexity that I trust this investlga- tion will prove of use to the family physician, and that he will find, where aural mischief is in the ascendant, that these bruits are a more than usually pronounced feature of the case.

The other day a little deaf mute (supposed), a boy of two years, was brought to me for an opinion upon his case. On examination of the cervical blood-vessels, I found loud bruits present on both sides, and pronounced that certainly there existed a weakness of the ears, and that in all probability he had had some kind of feverish attack, and that perhaps the condition had. come on after birth2 The parents' reply was suggestive : ~ " Oh, yes, he had a fl'ightfuI attack of t~ver seven months ago, the cause of which could not be ascertained, though we had the best medical opinion possible, and towards the close of the fever one of the ears discha~:qed."

From all that has preceded it will be evident that a t:air acquaint- ance with ear-diseases is absolutely essential for all educated physi- cians.

A proper understanding of the way in which disease force affects the aural circulation and disposes the ear, as an organ of hearing,

s Op. elf. Pp. 224, 225. b This last by no means follows. I have not examined a sufficient number of cases,

but am inclined to think from actual observation, that idiocy with aural enfeeblement is attended with these bruits~ even when congenital.

30 Basic Aural 1)~jscrasia.

to inertia and disuse, explains and illustrates so many of the phases of the chronic, aye, and of the acute diseases of other parts of the body--and, besides, the majority of its ailments are of a nature so uniform, and therefore susceptible of such simple illustration--that the conclusion is irresistible in favour of constituting these diseases the subject for the commencement and not the termination of a medical educational caree~: In other words, the study of chronic deafness should undoubtedly be made the Alpha, not the Omega, of medical knowledge.

The intricate anatomy of the organ, obviously, cannot be put forward as an argument to the contrary. When we undertake the instruction of students, it is our imperative duty to qualify them for the practical evel~'day duties of their profession, and not merely to fi,rnish them with instruction that will constitute them natu- ralists. How absurd it is to expect a student to answer questions in regard to rare and uncommon forms of disease, the perforating pedal, the warty ulcer, and the like, not to mention advanced facts in the science of embryology and histology--at a time when he is utterly ignorant of the proper treatment to be pursued for the arrest and dispersion of a simple affection having a diminution in hearing power for its predominating feature!

We now come to discuss the pathological meaning of that intrac- table symptom, tinnitus aurium. This we cannot do without referring to the recent researches of that able and independent physiologist, physician, and aurist, Dr. Edward Woakes. But, however unbecoming it may seem to one who'undoubtedly must be considered the pioneer of rational aural morbid physiology, I prefer to consider the matter from my own independent standpoint, and then to show in how far I consider myself in agreement with him, and to what extent we differ.

The symptom, tinnitus, is, it is but too well known, one that has baffled the physician and bewildered the patient to a degree greater than any form of suffering to which the disease of any single organ subjects the human body. Such authorities as Sir William Wilde, of former days, and Dr. St. John Roosa, of living fiune, despair of ever furnishing an adequate pathological interpretation of its presence.

Probably no one, however healthy, can be said to be absolutely free from the recurrence of slight noises in the ears at times when the system is subjected to unusual strain, whether mental or phy- sical ; these are not noticed, or if noticed are soon forgotten.

By DR. Rosy.aT T. CooPEm 81

In diseased states, however, the case is very different ; for here such noises assume a character so varied as to resemble the notes of almost every sound-producing instrument, especially are they likened to the sounds of the sea (tidal noises), the steam-engine, the whistling of the wind, and the rumbling and vibratory sound given off by machinery. I t would answer no good purpose to describe all these; such noises are usually classifiable under the denomi- nation of musical tinnitus ; these are more or less continuous.

That other most pronounced form of the affection, uniformly described by patients as pulsative--in the homely vernacular of some sufferers, " a pulse in the ear"--resemblcs in every way arterial pulsation; this is the pulsatlve ti~nitus, and being synchronous with the heart, is invariably intermittent.

:But there is, besides these, a large class of noises complained of, a distinctive appellation for whlch will be better taken from their presumed I)athological mode of causation, rather titan fi'om the character of the sounds thereby produced, and these are the obstructive noises (tinnitus). Some of these are happily easily remediable; such, for example, as that arising from the sudden dispersion of air that has been pent up in the cavity of the middle ear, or the channel of" the Eustachian tube, owing to tim removal of a clot of mucus, or that caused by cerumen pressing in the membrnna tympani ; while others, alas ! indicative as they are of Meni~re's disease or embolism of the vessels, are often irreme- diable. Suddenness of access, some reservation being allowed, will eharacterise this large class more than any other feature. And, then, supposing ocular examination of the auditory canal and nasal and post-nasal regions not to have filrnished explanation of its occurrence, account will lmve to be taken of the character of the tinnitus, whether paroxysmal or continuous, and its association with vomiting, head-ache, and the vertigo peculiar to labyrinthine disturbance. A little patience on the part of an intelligent physician will enable him to estimate very fairly the gravity of a given case.

There is yet another form of tinnitus, which is supposed to be due to deranged muscular action. I am not prepared to deny that an abnormal condition of the tensor-tympani, and other muscles of the ear, may expl,dn some of the lesser continuous humming and ringing noises ; but that muscular action is largely operative in the production of the more distressing forms of tinnitus complained of" in disease, I am certainly inclined to doubt.

The bruit musculaire, emitted while a muscle is in a state of

3~ B~sic Aural Dgscrasla.

contraction, is a low ringing sound (Draper); and never, that I am aware of, assumes any great intensity in other parts of the body ; why, therefore, should it in the car ? That the contraction of the intrinsic muscles of the ear, particularly the tensor-tympanl, may occasion pressure-efi~cts upon the circulation of the middle and internal ear, and so induce tlnnitus to any great extent, is, to say the least, doubtful ; even if it did, the sound would not, properly speaking, be a muscle-sound.

Of course the consideration of the way in which the various noises in the ears are brought about, affords matter for absolutely unlimited speculation. If , however, we limit ourselves to the simple teachings of parts of the body, distant from the ear, and draw inferences from these in regard to aural derangement, we can, it seems to me, obtain, by thus restricting inquiry, a fairly clear comprehension o f ' t he nature of the disturbances present when tinnitus aurium is a prevailing symptom.

Thus limiting inquiry, we find the portions ot ~ the human body disposed to abnormal bruits are those which arc hollowed out for the rapid passage through them of air or fluid, the respiratory and abdominal cavities, as well as the eil'culatory system,

The ear, however, is constructed so as to restrict movement as much as possible ; we have nothing analogous, therefore, in the ear cavities to respiratory bruits, save such as will be comprehended under our term obstructive noises; but we have bruits resembling in every way those given off by the circulatory organs, as can be proved by a physical examination of the blood-vessels themselves.

Patients that consult us for tinnitus are found to ref?r their sensations not alone to the ear, but, as well " t o the head ;" cerebral tinnitus, as observed long since by Sir William Wilde, must be considered an established affection, apart fi'om and independent of that referable to the ear. This we m,~y reasonably suppose to be due to a limitation of the irritative process to the cerebral circu- lation, a

a Venous murmurs proceeding from the cerebral circulation have often been observed. "They may be heard over the voursc of the superior longitudinal sinus, and at the maximum intensity over the Torcular Herophili" (Wa]sb, quoted by ~kitkcn). Dr. Fowler (olo. clt., p. 29), in support of Chauveau's theory, that abnormal bruits in certain veins are due to the anatomical eonnexions of these veins preventing them aceommod:~ting themselves to the reduced diameter of their respective blood-currents, goes on to say : - " TImre is an interesting confirmation of the truth of this theory in the fact that a similar bruit to that audible in the innominate veins may occasionally be beard over the cerebral sinuses at the Toreular Herophili, where the same conditions as to non-contractility are present ; and also in the fact which I have observed~ that

]3)' DI~. ROBERT T. COOPErt. 33

If', then, irritation can so limit itselt, obviously, cervical bruits need not necessarily accompany all cases of tinnitus aurium; and, on the other hand, these latter need not be attended with aural enfeeblement. The wonder is that cervical bruits are heard in such a large proportion of cases.

My explanation of the causation of aural tinnltus the intelligent reader has, I dare say, already anticipated--i t is, that the pulsative tlnnltus is due to imperfection of the aural arterial circulation ; and, ther(~fore, most complained of by patients under circumstances that excite the general arterial circulation, as moving quickly, suddenly turning round, &c.; the musical I would relier to a like condition of the coats of the veins ; this variety would therefore be for the most part aggravated upon the patient lying down, when in a warm, unhealthy atmosphere, after, and not during active exertion ; and ] can point to what no writer, as far as I can gather, has yet done, a tangible and sufficient basis upon which to rest my theory-- the co-existence of abnormal murmurs in the cervical blood-vessels.

The venous mur;nurs, or ]~ums, are continuous ]~urnlni~g, buzzini7 , occasionally musical, singling mum'tours ; these are their well~known characters, as described by Dr. Aitken ; and thus in every way they correspond with and resemble the noises complained of by those suffering from the musical form of tinnitus nurture; why, then, resort to other hypothetical, albeit learned, explanations of their mode of causation P

Moreover, often and often have I anticipated, with apparently great accuracy, a patient's description of his symptoms, by resorting to tbe application of a stethoscope to the cervical blood-vessels ; though, as stated, the condition of these is not necessarily an invariable or exact index of the aural circulation.

Had former writers upon aural diseases taken the trouble to adopt this simple and rational expedient, they would, I make bold to affirm, have been less ready to question the ~ccuracy and exacti- tude of patients * descriptions of their sufferings.

Abuse of the plaintiff's attorney implies, in legal circles, a want of success on the part of the defendant's advocate ; how much more does an absence of interest in, and a denial of a patient's accuracy of description, imply in medicine, an unsuccessful and incompetent

in anaemic subjects who suffer from deafness, not dependent upon diseaso of the auditory nerve, and in whom the conduction of the skull-vibrations is normal, a similar sound becomes audible on the affected side. This is, no doubt, the bruit produced in the lateral sinus conveyed to the ear through the medium of the temporal

D

34 Bas ic A u r a l Dyscras ia .

adviser. Patients are right when they require their physicians to manifest a sympathetic and intelligent interest in their symptoms.

An imaginative or wilfully mendacious description of symptoms implies that the patient is labouring under cerebral not aural infirmity--a matter that is only determinable by the intuitive faculties of the diagnostician himself.

We cannot pass on without fulfilling a promise to undertake a comparison of our theory of the causation of the symptom, tinnitus nurture, with that of Dr. Woakes. In the main, our investigations, as establishing the supreme importance of sympathetic disturbance in explaining the phenomena of aural disease, substantiate the theoretical position taken up by him. This is all the more satis- factory to myself, as the present investigation is merely an extension of one begun many years ago, into what I then termed " painless irritability of fibre ;" and which then, as now, I referred to involv- ment of the vascular parietes--it is, in f~ct, simply and solely the outcome of clinical inquiry.

Dr. Woakes has taken the matter up from his unquestionably strong position as an interpreter of the physiological action of the sympathetic ganglia, and he has comprehended tim varying forms of tinnitus in a systematic classification as follows : - -

Local morbid condition. 1. L a b y r i n t h i n e congest ion ; a r te r ia l -

Do. venous - 2. Anaemia, aueu rysm ; ex t ra -mura l - 8. ]Fluid in T y m p a n u m or Eus tach ian t u b e s ; ca t a r rh

of middle ear 4. Congest ion of membrana tympani , cavi ty of tympa-

num, or of Eustachian tube, or of a l l these toge ther ; chronic non-suppura t ive inf lammat ion of the ear -

5. U n d u e cont rac t ion of intr insic muscles ; reflex irri- t a t ion of t ensor . tympani nerve from eric gangl ion

Character of sounds. Pulsat ing. Rush ing noises. Pulsa t ing .

Bubbl ing or gu rg l ing noises.

TidM noises.

S ing ing and t idal , s imi la r noises.

We agree with him, it will be seen from this, in referring pulsa- tire tinnitus to arterial involvement; and the musical, but to a very much larger extent than he does, to the venous circulation. Ttiat this involvement is due to disturbance of the vaso-motor distribution of the sympathetic, there is every possible evidence for supposing; that the resulting disturbance is one of " dilatation of calibre" of the aural blood-vessels, and that when noises are present these vessels "may contain ten to twenty times as much blood as ordinarily flows through them," and that the pulsative noises " may be due to fulness of the venous as well as the arterial

By DR. ROBERT T. COOPER. 35

system," involves an explanation of this symptom that I certainly cannot follow.

I content myself with supposing that a bruit can exist in aural as well as cervical blood-vessels without there being evidence of any accompanying vascular distension.

That the area over which the vaso-motor relations of the blood- vessels supplying the labyrinth is correlated by way of the vertebral artery's walls with the inferior cervical ganglion of the sympathetic, is an anatomical fact that Dr. Woakes has done well to insist upon. That these parts being correlated, there must, of necessity, be an over-distended condition of the aural circulation when tinuitus prevails, has not, I consider, been by any means proved ; and Dr. Woakes himself, in explanation of the undoubted beneficial effect of inhalations of amyl nitrite in the treatment of tinnitus, has to resort to the supposition of there having been anmmia present, a

Brown-Sdquard's experiments, as well as those of Claude Bdrnard, repeated as they have been by many other physiologists, in which it is shown that section of the superior cervical ganglion of the sym- pathetic is followed by hyper~mia of the auricle, and a tendency to lacrymation of the corresponding eye, togetl~er with an elevation of temperature, may appear to lend powerful support to Dr. Woakes' opinion, and it would do so had we anything like to tlle condition produced by a section of this or the inferior cervical ganglion present in chronic aural disease.

Dr. Woakes certainly appears to strengthen his position by reference to Morat and Dastre's experiments, which show that excitation of the cephalic end of the cut nerve by the induced current led to the result that the initial constriction of the blood- vessels, due to the excitation, is followed by a long lasting dilatation, greater than that which is induced by section alone of the sym- pathetic, b

I t is, however, from the position of a clinical inquiry we wish to pursue the subject; and we can poiTJt to the fact that where undoubted venous stasis, in connexion with aural disease, is present, indicated as it is acknowledged to be, by the occurrence on an external temporo-parietal cedema, subjective noises are by no means a prominent feature.

In the case before referred to, reported by Dr. Thomas R. Pooley,

a Op. cit., p. 118. b Introductory Chapter, Post l~a~al Catarrh. Pp. 8. By Dr. Woakes. London :

H. K. Lewis. 188~.

36 Basic Aural Dyscrasia.

of New York, where thrombosis of the left lateral, inferior petrosal, aud the cavernous sinuses was found after death, and where absolute deafness to all sound was present for some weeks beforehand, no mention whatever is made of there having been noises present; which would hardly be the case, seeing that Dr. l~ooley himself is an eminent aurist, had tlnnitus constituted a prominent symptom. There is, therefore, every reason For saying that the calibre of the veins, at all events, is not increased, and that these do not contain ten or twenty times as much blood as ordinarily flows through them when tinnitus is present; and, besides, where noises are most com- plained of, at all events in connexion with chronic aural disease, the only parts of the ear open to actual inspection--namely, the tympanal membranes, are more usually anemic than otherwise. So much for the veins ; then as regards the arteries of the ear, I do not know of any pathological aural condition in which ten or twenty times as much blood is contained in the aural arteries as ordinarily flows through them.

The consideration we gave in our opening sentences to the anatomy of the ear, shows that there are serious mechanical objec- tions against such an assertion--an assertion that, as Dr. Woakes acknowledges, is necessary for the maintenance of his theory.

The arteries wend their way to the innermost parts of the ear, through bony canals, that cannot allow of a distension so great as this supposition of Dr. Woakes' would imply.

I f we look in disease for any form of aural arterial distension, we shall find it difficult of discovery--difficult certainly apart from the rubor et tumor cure calo~,e et dolore of old writers--in other words, apart from acute inflammation, and which, of course, would not explain chronic aural tinnitus. In this respect, therefore, I am convinced Dr. Woakes' theory of the causation of chronic aural tinnitus falls completely to the ground.

(To be concluded.)

BILIARY CALCULI.

HVCHARD uses the following combination in the treatment of gall- stones :--1~. Res. podophylli, ext. hyoscyami, saponis, ~ta gr. 5. Make ten pills, of which one or two may be taken daily. The addition of a small amount of rhubarb, or, if constipation require it, of aloes, makes the above a useful formula for a cholagogue cathartic.--Ifevue de T/dr. ~l~'d. Chir, and Phil. Med. Times.