Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Supplement/Ear

EAR.—Beside the causes assigned for the painful affection, known under the name of Ear-ach, it may be occasioned by taking cold from exposure to a current of air, or from wet feet, and likewise from blows, falls, or similar accidents.

For persons peculiarly liable to take cold, the best preventive will be, to keep both the head and feet warm and dry. In ordinary cases, Dr. Dancer is of opinion, that the patient will be relieved, by holding the painful side over the steam of warm water, and afterwards putting into the ear a piece of camphor wrapped in cotton, which has been previously moistened with a few drops of laudanum, or vitriolic æther.—Electricity may also be employed, in some instances, with great success.

Should the pain, however, be extremely acute, and accompanied with throbbing, and other inflammatory symptoms, it will be advisable to resort to blood-letting, and to apply blisters behind the ear, or to the neck. If an abscess be apprehended, warm poultices should be frequently laid on the part affected, before they become cold; and when such abscess breaks, milk and water, or chamomile tea with the tincture of myrrh, must be repeatedly injected by means of a syringe.