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ITCIWPEPLE A1E aOWIMCi DEAF
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RECENT sdentllo experiments
have made certain the dis
tressing fact that the men
and -women ot the present da? who
live In the great modern cltlos are ,
steadily losing their acutenesa ot
- hearing.
It cannot precisely be said that
a man must (hear to live. It Is cer
tainly truo, however, that deafness
Is a dreadful handicap In the battle
of life hard enough as that battle
Is in general for those of us who
hare no physical or mental Impair
ment .
We are all very sympathetic with
the maimed, the halt and the blind;
but. we have comparatively little
sympathy for the many thousands
among us who are becoming deaf
and this so Insidiously, so grad
ually, that the affliction is hardly
realised until It has reached a
stage where relief Is possible, but
full restoration of this precious
sense absolutely Impossible, for
those among us whose efficiency
is lessened in proportion as their
hearing loses Us acuteness.
The most serious and patletio
cases of all are those whose men
tal activity becomes dlmlnshed by
reason that they come to hear the
voices of their fellows less and
less until they cannot hear the
comforting human voice at all.
Hence the progressive Inability of
the deaf to engage in business, the
trades and in human affairs gener
ally, so that they bt :ome either
wholly "undesirable" or have their
earning capacity reduced. In pro
portion tottae extent ot their af
fliction. To keej up In the twentieth cen
tury struggle for existence, one
has to be active and In full pos
session of one's faculties. The
strain on the nervous system la
constant, -especially on the organs
of special sense, the eye and the
ear. The overstrained eye gets at
tended to promptly enough; the
proper glasses are usually the ade
quate remedy.
But for deafness once estab
lished there is alleviation ot the
affliction possible, but no euch rem
edy as glasses afford the strained
eyes. And yet most people pay no
attention to their defective hear
ing until they find, usually by ac
cident, that they cannot hear the
tick of the watch, or of the family
clock, or until there Is a sensation
of roaring in the ears; or until
dlriiy spells send them to the doc
tor for an examination, not for their
bearing, but of their "constitution."
The hearing of even the best en
dowed ot us is not nearly so good
as was that ot our forefathers, who
needed this sense to be acute In or
Done by the Noises of
der to enable them to bunt, and to
detect the prowling Indian. But
to-day the constant use of the tele
phone bell, the strain of hearing
eo constantly that maddening "the
line Is busy" call; the demoniac
blast of the motor horn; the thou-
sand and one horrendous noises of
civilized life, have, by the nervous
fatigue they Induce, brought on a
blunting of the hearing sense. There
has followed a degeneration and a
hardening (fibrosis) of the amat
ingly delicate mechanism in the
middle and internal ear, on which
acute hearing depends.
There Is also thus caused an
atrophy, a wasting away of the
auditory nerve, the office ot which
Is to transmit to tne brain the im
pressions of the world outside as,
which we get by our bearing sense.
Once these delicate and labyrin
thine tissues are destroyed, once
their adjustment to one another Is
broken, the damage is beyond rem
edy; It Is not possible, as In other
machinery, to take out the broken
down material aaid put in new
works.
Such facts as these were actual
ly demonstrated by Dr. Bleber
mann ot Berlin, who gathered to
gether a number ot perfect ears of
healthy rabbits, placed those ears
in kettles and then subjected them
to different noises, after which be
f-und extensive destruction ot the
cells composing the tissues experi
mented on.
Dr. Slebermann found especially
that the "Organ ot Cortl," and the
terminal filaments of the auditory
nerve in the labyrinth ot the In
ternal ear, suffered most In these
experiments. Cortl's organ Is an
extraordinarily delicate mechanism
in which are some 8,000 pairs of
mlcroscoplo pillars, the rods pt
Cortl leaning as It were against
these pillars are minute cells
which end In hairlike processes.
In close relation with these rods
and cells and hairs are the flla
. ments of the auditory nerve, to
which the strands of a spider's
web are about as the hawser of an
ocean greyhound would compare
with well, with the strand of a
spider's web. The organ of Cortl
shows a remarkable resemblance
to the keyboard of a piano, and
the observer finds himself likening
the rods ot Cortl to the piano keys,
and the filaments of the auditory
nerve to the piano wires.
When we bear in mind that all
hearing is by means of sound con
duction and that the sense of sound
is conveyed to the brain entirely
by the auditory nerve, we can
readily understand how Injurious
to the hearing faculty is the dis
ruption of these most gossamer
like structures. Dr. Slebermann, in
his experiments on guinea pigs,
found the most serious destruction
Pigs' Ears Battered by the.Pound
ing on Tin Boilers-Reveal Damage
to follow" a single blank cartridge
shot close to the ear. Cortl's or- ;
gan and the .auditory : nerve fila
ments were thus severely injured
at one stroke. Conditions resem
bling those in boiler making were
realised by' automatic hammering
on the outside of a big iron tube,
with a guinea pig Inside.
Slebermann found, and here Is a
very practical point, that In order
to ward off harm from long-con- .
tlnued loud noises the air waves ,
can be kept from striking upon '
the mechanism of the internal ear.
The experimented animals whose
ears were plugged with oil-soaked
cotton or 6ther free mass, dldnot
suffer Injury ot the internal ear
from long-continued exposure to
recurring loud noises. .
"Thetransmlsslon of sound by other
routes than by the external and mid
dle ear, has slight, If any, injurious
action on the labyrinthine . struc
tures, and in human beings practi
cally all harm can be averted by
protecting the auditory mechan
ism against excessive sound waves,
by an alr-free,tlght-flttlng, isolating
plug in the external ear. Such a
plug must absolutely not be used,
however.by sufferers from ear ab
scess or catarrh, because then the
discharges resulting from the in
flammation would be dangerously
pent up. Buch discharges, thus
pent up, have been known to bur
row their way even to the brain.
Such substances as thick felt
have been used under foot by work
men to deaden sound. Dr. Sleber
mann could however find in bis
experiments no preventive or at
tenuating or beneficent influence
in this procedure.
Dr. Slebermann intended to have
presented bis valuable researches
on protection against Injury of the
bearing before the contemplated
international congress for occupa
tional affections. It Is an odd conf
luent on how widespread and
world pervading Is the baneful in
fluence of the present European
conflict, that bis humane Intention
was by this fact ot war frustrated.
And the Information here set forth
Is derived from his contribution to
a Swiss Journal
Another very Important cause of
deafness, perhaps the most impor
tant of all. lies In inflammations,
colds, catarrhs, not only of the ear,
but also of the nose and throat. Any
such trouble Is bound to bring on
swelling, congestion of the mucous
membrane; and any such conges
tion in the course of time, and
through constant neglect, results
In a thickened mucous membrane.
These incentives to deafness did
not operate so strongly with our
fathers and grandfathers.
Observe in the accompanying
diagram bow the Eustachian tube
Conrrlsbt 1815.
Rabbits
Kettles
I
Life in Our
How the Tonsils and Adenoid Growths Dreed Germs Which
Spread Into the Tube That Extends Into the
Car From the Back of the Nose.
passes from the throat to the mid
die ear. Catarrh la this tube, re
sulting from catching colds one
after another many times, eventu
ally thickens this tube so that it
becomes closed up. The result Is
increased tension Jn the ar drum,
often to the bursting point For
good bearing the Eustachian tube
has to be open, in order that equilib
rium may be maintained between
the air within the ear drum and
the air outside the drum. In the ex
ternal ear. Besides, the open tube
renders sounds clearer, Just as
those (-shaped openings in violins
do. Adenoids and enlarged ton
sils, obstructions In the boss and
chronic catarrhs, have the effect
gradually to clog up this Eustach
ian tube.
Worse still, the many germs that
lodge in unhealthy throats the
germs of grippe, pneumonia, tuber
culosis, quinsy, mumps, scarlet
fever, meningitis and many an
other dreadful infectionare likely
to travel along the Eustachian tube
to the middle ear; all of which
leads not only to deafness, but also
to the development of such diseases
in the body, possibly Indeed to
meningitis and brain abscess. The
fact is, most cases of deafness are
brought about by chronlo catarrh,
or habitual cold In the bead or
other Irritation ot the nose and
throat; and the trouble all Has in
that by the time people conclude to
get these nose and throat troubles
attended to, the ear condition has
become so far advanced that no
Improvement in the heating is pos
sible. Practically, then, people with
chronlo deafnesa bave got to be
bv lha Star CamDany. Orcat Britain
Experiments on
Shut Up in
and Guinea
A 1
Great Cities
content, as philosophically as they
may, with the motto, that "what
cannot be cured must be endured."
Dr. D. Harold Walker, ot Boston,
makes a very good point with re
gard to the rather fashionable and
up-to-date belief that our children
cannot live too much la the open
air. This would be well enougn If
Just How Hair Turns White in a Nirfht
T
HB sudden turning fray ot
hair tinder the Influence ot
great emotion is a phenome
non so remarkable that it has al
ways aroused cariosity. The well
known historical instance, such as
the ease of Marie Antoinette, who
Is said to have become gray In the
night before Her execution, are open
to some doubt, but several well
authenticated cases have been
noted by medical observers. At a
recent meeting ot a Parisian medi
cal society doctor, Leber reported
the case of a soldier, aged twenty
three years, who was In a trench
In Argonne which wss blown up by
a mine. He was projected Into the
air and fell, covered by a mass of
earth, from which he bad difficulty
In extricating himself.
The detonation was such that he
immediately became deaf. The
flashing of the powder produced su
perficial burns of the face, and
there were several bruises on the
head, which were greatest on the
left side.
He was taken to the English
KlghU Rsasrvtd.
AliV't'! - '
The Delicate Mechanism of the Human Car Exposed to View
Under the Anatomist's Knife.
our human race, as It exists la
civilisation, bad been accustomed,
as the savage Is, to living out-doors
In all weathers; but in children
sleeping exposed to the raw winds
of Winter, and then spending their
waking bours in generally over
heated rooms, tavorable conditions
develop for future ear troubles.
Such children are like to suffer in
time from obstructive adenoids and
enlarged tonsils, which are bound
in turn to affect the ear and the
bearing.
As to chronlo deafness in the
adult, although something may be
done In the way ot relief, there Is,
as stated, little ot enre to be hoped
for. Wbat must be dons Is to pre
vent comparative deafness from
becoming absolute. And not only
the ear, but the nose and throat
also must be looked after, and the
general constitution as well. Es
pecially must constipation bo
avoided, as this tends to conges-
Hospital at Are-en-Barrois, where
on the following day he noticed, to
his surprise, tufts of white hair on
the left side of the head. Those
formed four "islets," separated
from one another by normal balrs.
The loss of color was complete
from the roots to the ends ot the
hairs, and the longest hairs were
just as white as the shortest. There
was not a brown balr among them.
The gray balrs were solidly Im
planted and could be pulled out
only by strong force. The rest of
the hair of the head was dark
brown, and there was not a white
hair in his beard or mustache.
The patient was an intelligent
man, and the truth ot his story was
confirmed by the fact that his hair
was described in the description of
blm made when he enlisted as deep
chestnut
Just how the hair can lose its
color so suddenly is not yet clear.
It might be suggested that in this
case It was due to bleaching by
gases generated by the explosion,
but thla was negatived by the fact
that the parts ot the hair under
neath the skin turned gray like
Je rest
"The hearing of even the best
endowed of us is not nearly so
food as was that of our fore
fathers. The constant use of
the telephone, the blast of the
motor horn, the thousand and
one noises of civilised life hare
brought on a blunting of the
hearing sense. There has fol
lowed a degeneration of the
amazingly delicate mechanism
' of the ear."
r
9 ' i " t,
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don; besides, the absorption, of
toxins from the intestinal tract is
sure by transmission ot these tox
ins in the blood and lymph chan
nela, to affect grievously the ear
mechanism and the auditory nerve.
Another cause ot congestion lead
ing to deafness is the inordinate
use of tobacco not only from the
absorption of the tobacco toxins,
but also by reason ot the irritation
the smoke oocsslons. Alcohol also
should be cut ont Jt Is of course
' hard to persuade the average man
to give up the habits ot years; but
the facts should be explained fully
to him. and then the problem is up
to him.
The deaf should be encouraged
to go among their fellow men and
to use their ears as well as they
can. The tendency of these suffer
ers is to hibernate, to "go by them
selves alone"; they get to imagine
(themselves a nuisance to their fan
illes and their friends.
The studies ot Professor Metch
nlkoff on the whitening of the hair
due to age throw light on the ques.
tlon, says a writer In the LanoeU
According to him, when a hair be
gins to whiten there appear in it
round or oval cells with prolongs
tlons which gradually come into
relation with the cells containing
the pigment granules and absorb
them. These "ptgmentophages." as
he calls them, then descend
toward the root ot the hair to
scatter In the skin, of which they
are, according to him, the pig
mentary cells.
The ptgmentophages, which origi
nate In the marrew of the hair, dis
appear completely when the hair
finally loses its color. This theory
explains the slow and progressive
whitening of the hair In old age,
and also applies to the rapid loss
ot color In cases like that ot this
French soldier.
The rapid mobilisation ot the
cells in the marrow ot the hair
appears to be provoked by a ner
vous disturbance. The place of
whitening seems to be determined
by the points on the scalp whlchj
V been the seat ot lnjurjr, -
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