• French Perspectives on Eustachian Tube Catheterization

    Earlier I wrote about Sir Astley Cooper and his procedure of tympanic membrane perforation as a remedy for deafness. While in Britain there wasn’t tremendous grounds being made in aural surgery, the situation was quite different in France, as surgeons made more advancements in Eustachian tube catheterization as a remedy than their British counterparts.  By the… Continue Reading

  • The Pretensions of Dr. Turnbull

    I wrote about Dr. Alexander Turnbull (c. 1794-1881) in a previous post discussing his advertisements for deafness, particularly the use of veratria as a catch-all cure. Even though nearly all medical practitioners of the nineteenth century advertised in one form or another, Turnbull was especially prolific in advertising his cures and remedies, and often supplemented… Continue Reading

  • 61 Questions

    In Advice to the Deaf: The Present State of Aural Surgery (1840), John Harrison Curtis addressed to deaf individuals the importance of seeking out an aurist to receive a through examination of the ear. Acknowledging that some of his distant patients might be unable to find a skilled aurist in the countryside, Curtis describes how he put… Continue Reading

  • What are the Causes? What are the Cures?

    What are the causes of these obstructions [in the Eustachian tube & auditory nerves]? Various traumas, parasites or foreign bodies introduced by mistake, unstable fluids, effects of climate or food, and of age… What are the cures? none when deafness had lasted for more than two years; the doctors were honest and declared it incurable. Otherwise they… Continue Reading

  • The Royal Dispensary: Motivations and Prejudices

    I’ll be presenting at the Deaf World/Hearing World: Spaces, Techniques, and Things in Culture and History Conference on December 10-11 in Berlin and as I write my presentation, I’ve been thinking a lot about how motives and intentions guide history. I also just wrapped up a semester of teaching Medicine from Antiquity to the Renaissance at Ryerson University… Continue Reading

  • Dog Ears

    This has to possibly be one of my favourite engravings ever. “Curtis on Dog Ears?” This could be a mockery of Curtis and his Treatise, couldn’t it?  Wellcome Library no. 12120i

  • History Carnival #115

    Welcome to the 115th edition of the History Carnival, a round-up of some great posts written during the month of October. Special thanks to everyone who submitted in a nomination. Battles and Wounds Rumors of King Richard III and his “monstrous” birth has been hotly debated among historians. What happens once we dig up the… Continue Reading

  • Aurists’ Treatments for Eustachian Tube Obstruction

    In 1834, the aurist William Wright published a treatise addressed to the Honorable Members of the Committee of Inquiry into the State of the Medical Profession. The treatise, The Present State of Aural Surgery; or, Methods of Treating Deafness, Diseases of the Ears, and the Deaf and Dumb (London: T. Hurst, 1834), attempted to assess… Continue Reading

  • Marriage: A Distraction

    Sometimes I get distracted when I go to the library. Case in point: I headed to the Thomas Fisher Rare Books library at the University of Toronto to examine John Cunningham Saunders’ Anatomy of the Human Ear and ended up requesting a manuscript that I looked at a couple of years ago as part of a course… Continue Reading

  • The “Popular Prejudice”

    Throughout my research of nineteenth century works on aural surgery, as well as works on deafness and education for the deaf, I’ve come across the phrase “popular prejudice” often enough to warrant some analysis. The phrase reflects two crucial aspects of how deafness was perceived as a social image: Firstly, deaf-mutes were constructed as social… Continue Reading

  • Teaching Excellence: An Interview

    A while back, I was asked to give a short interview about teaching excellence for the Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University’s Fall brochure. Of course, I was honoured–even though it’s a really short interview. Here’s the article, and you can see the full spread here.