• A Brief History of the Eustachian Tube

    The Eustachian tube is a passageway that lies between the middle ear and the pharynx, the upper part of the mouth located just below the top of the nose. One of the primary functions of the tube is to equalize ear pressure between the middle ear and the atmosphere; most of the time the tube… Continue Reading

  • Reading Census Reports

    Who’s Matilda? Or you read the name below JH Curtis’s differently? UPDATE: Thanks to @DeafHeritageUK! I got a bit confused since my records said Curtis left his estate to his sister Anne and his wife’s name is Sophia Newman.

  • A Patient Interaction

    An aurist’s assertion of authority could at times be intimidating for deaf patients. An anecdote by a Reverend J. Richard about his “deaf and nervous friend” best demonstrates this intimidation. The friend was too timid to oppose or contradict an opponent, and said “yes” to everything or “no” everything, answering questions as he “conjectured the… Continue Reading

  • A Wartime Medical Dispenser

    The Napoleonic Wars brought John Harrison Curtis’ studies to a standstill, as he became one of thousands of young men conscripted to fight against Napoleonic advances towards Britain. With his medical learning in hand, Curtis enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1808, to obtain his qualifications as surgeon and extend his medical skills. Since 1745,… Continue Reading

  • Diagnostic Instruments & Surgical Authority

    On 29 October 1839 the Bankruptcy Register listed John Harrison Curtis as a “bookseller.” By 1841, Curtis lost his patrons and his career was pretty much in shambles and his Dispensary was sold to the aurist William Harvey. The invention of the cephaloscope and the publication of his treatise on the instrument were aimed as… Continue Reading

  • Ode to the Newly Appointed Aurist

    AURIST! no sinecure in thine, Millions on thee their hopes recline In anxious expectations. For if thy skill (and may it thrive!) The R____’s patriot ear revive Thou sav’st a sinking nation. And wond’rous will thy nostrum prove, If it the Royal ill remove— All others have miscarried: Address oblique, remonstrance plain, petition urgent–but in… Continue Reading

  • Quack Curers for the Deaf

    During the 1830s, Alexander Turnbull (c.1794-1881), advertised a remedy he conjured, which he professed was capable of curing any cases of deafness not arising from organic disease. In particular, he advocated the use of veratria, a poisonous alkaloid obtained from the hellebore root, as an ointment applied to the external ear; the same treatment, along… Continue Reading

  • Acoustic Instruments

    I’ve pretty much been chained to my desk these days, struggling to write the most difficult chapter of my dissertation, which broadly focuses on the historiography of medical specialties and professionalization. The chapter also provides an analysis of how diagnostic instruments (and other medical technologies) served as a nexus for the crystallization of specialist medical… Continue Reading

  • On Deafness

    The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important, than those of blindness. deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means loss of language, sets thoughts astir, and keeps us in the intellectual company of man. Helen Keller, in a letter to J. Kerr Love, as told in The Deaf Child… Continue Reading

  • A fulfilled career

    Twenty-five years have elapsed since I commenced this line of practice; and I have every reason to be satisfied with what I have accomplished in that period. I leave it to the profession to say what was the state of aural surgery before I commenced practice, and what had been done to increase our knowledge… Continue Reading

  • The difference between an aurist and a surgeon?

    “…quacks, and aurists, get reputation for syringing the ear, when surgeons lose it; not because the quack has more knowledge of his profession, but because he takes more pains than the surgeon.” -Unknown, c.1828/1829. (Yes, I’m still holed up in the British Library reading 19th century treatises on aural surgery)