ear syringe

An instrument for injecting the ear with a liquid or medicated vapor. An ordinary syringe may answer the usual purposes of cleanline , softening indurated wax, ., but this instrument has a further capacity. It consists of an india rubber air-bag, a flexible tube, a bulb of hard-rubber, made in two pieces, which screw together, and contain a sponge to hold chloroform or other liquid; and a perforated bulb. It is particularly used in treating diseases of the middle ear. The sponge IMG:content-0700.png:[blocks in formation] is placed in one nostril, the other is closed by the finger of the surgeon, the mouth is also closed, and the patient, having previously taken a mouthful of water, is told to swallow, and just as he is doing this, the surgeon compre es the air-bag, and sends the iodized air into the faucial orifice of the eustachian tube, and, if the drum be perforated, into the cavity of the tympanum.