The Operation of partial excision of the cartilage for the treatment of deflections of the nasal septum was perfected by Krieg.

See No. 3305.

The first laryngeal operation through the mouth with external illumination.

“Avellis’s syndrome”, recurrent paralysis of the soft palate.

Caldwell–Luc operation (see also No. 3301). Scanes Spicer independently devised a similar operation (Brit. med. J., 1894, 2, 1359-60).

Grünwald was the first to attempt the surgical treatment of nasal suppuration and disease involving the ethmoid and sphenoid bones. English translation, 1900.

Loewenberg found a bacillus of the Friedländer group in ozena.

Classic paper on atrophic rhinitis (ozena).

“Plaut’s angina” (necrotizing ulcerative gingivostomatitis). He noted the association of fusiform bacilli in ulcerating lesions of the tonsils. Vincent (see No. 3309) gave the first comprehensive description of this condition.

Vincent described a fusiform bacillus and a spirillum which, in association, were responsible for hospital gangrene. Later, in Arch. int. Laryng., 1898, 11, 44-48, he showed these two organisms to be present in “Vincent’s angina” (acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis), also known as "trench mouth."

Malignant granuloma of the nose first described.

Gluck improved the technique of laryngectomy.

Hajek, Professor of Laryngology in Vienna, particularly distinguished himself by his classic work on the acccessory nasal sinuses. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. English translation of the fifth edition: Pathology and treatment of the inflammatory diseases of the nasal accessory sinuses ... Translated and edited by Joseph D. Heitger ... and French K. Hansel ... Fifth edition, completely revised and enlarged. 2 vols. St. Louis: Mosby, 1926.

Perez isolated an organism from the nose of patients suffering from ozena. He named it Coccobacillus foetidus ozaenae and considered it to be causally related to the disease.

Improvement of Ingals’s operation (see No. 3289).

Killian devised an operation for the treatment of pathological conditions in the nasal sinuses. It consists of excision of the anterior wall of the frontal sinus, removal of the diseased tissue, and formation of a permanent communication with the nose.

The first important work on the radiology of the accessory nasal sinuses.

Waugh introduced blunt dissection tonsillectomy.

Reverse guillotine tonsillectomy.

“Trotter’s syndrome”; deafness, palatal paralysis, and facial neuralgia, usually due to a nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

See No. 3321.

See also his later paper in Minnesota Med., 1922, 5, 107-08. The syndrome of dysphagia, glossitis, and hypochromic anemia has become known as the Plummer-Vinson syndrome (see No. 3320). A. Brown Kelly and D. R. Paterson drew attention to it in J. Laryng., 1919, 34, 285, 289.

Conservative treatment of sinusitis.

In this classic paper Ullmann reported the transmission of the virus to animals.

Independently of Howarth (No. 3322), Lynch devised an operation for the conservative treatment of sinusitis.

Displacement method of treatment of nasal sinusitis; published in book form, St. Louis, 1931.

Thomson’s technique in the laryngofissure procedure for intrinsic cancer of the larynx was published in his Diseases of the nose and throat, London, 1911, pp. 732-37.

Babington was responsible for the introduction of laryngoscopy. He demonstrated a crude “glottiscope” to the Hunterian Society on March 18, 1829, but his effort attracted little attention.

In his day Liston was the most dexterous and resourceful surgeon in the British Isles. He was the first in the country to remove the scapula and the first – on 21 Dec. 1846 – to perform a major operation with the aid of an anesthetic. On p. 350 Liston suggested the use of a mirror which could be used for viewing edematous tumors of the larynx.

Garcia, a teacher of singing, invented the modern laryngoscope.

Türck, at first sceptical of Garcia’s laryngoscope, later adopted it and claimed from Czermak priority in its clinical employment; these two gentlemen fought one another bitterly for some years over this point.

Czermak was the first to demonstrate the utility of the laryngoscope invented by Garcia. He substituted artificial light for sunlight and made other improvements.

Czermak’s method of exploring the nose and nasopharynx with small mirrors.

First direct-vision laryngoscope.

Introduction of direct bronchoscopy.

First textbook on endoscopy.

Introduction of suspension laryngoscopy. English translation in 1914.

One of the most comprehensive treatises on the subject ever published, with a 636-page appendix describing, and in most cases illustrating, 3266 foreign bodies and how they were removed.

Continued through 18th and part of 19th century in articles in Z. Laryngol., vols. 7, 8, 9, 11, 1914-23. Reprinted, 2 vols., Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1967, with title Geschichte der Nasenheilkunde … bis zum 19 Jahrhundert.

From antiquity to the beginning of the 20th century. 

The De oculorum et aurium represents the first “clinical” manual on diseases of the ear. Mercuriali was primarily concerned with treatment.

Demonstration (Cap. I, p. 587-91) that some people who cannot hear by air conduction can do so by bone conduction.

Bonifacio’s sign-language for the deaf and dumb employed almost every part of the body for conversational purposes.

Bonet put into practice the “combined” system of teaching the deaf to speak and the dumb to communicate with others. He showed how the deaf could be taught to speak by reducing the letters to their phonetic value, and he advocated the use of finger-spelling. It is probable that he learned his system from Pedro Ponce de León (1510-84), another Spaniard, whose writings have been lost. English translation: Simplification of the letters of the alphabet: And method of teaching deaf-mutes to speak (1890). Digital facsimile of the 1620 edition from Google Books at this link.

Bulwer was the first Englishman to write about the teaching of deaf-mutes. "Chirologia is often cited as Bulwer’s link to later Deaf studies because it focuses on hand gestures ^[15] which have come to be seen as the domain of deaf communication. In fact the book only mentions the deaf in passing.^[16] He believed it was Nature's recompense that deaf people should communicate through gesture, "that wonder of necessity that Nature worketh in men that are born deafe and dumb; who can argue and dispute rhetorically by signes" (page 5). The handshapes described in Chirologia are still used in British Sign Language.^[17] Bulwer does mention fingerspelling describing how "the ancients did...order an alphabet upon the joints of their fingers...showing those letters by a distinct and grammatical succession", in addition to their use as mnemonic devices Bulwer suggest that manual alphabets could be "ordered to serve for privy ciphers for any secret intimation" (Chironomia, p149). Chirologia is a compendium of manual gestures, citing their meaning and use from a wide range of sources; literary, Religious and Medical. Chironomia is a manual for the effective use of Gesture in public speaking" (Wikipedia).  New edition, edited and annotated by James W. Cleary, Carbondale, 1974. Digital facsimile of the 1644 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Wallis, a prominent teacher of deaf-mutes, classified the various sounds of the human voice. He taught by writing and gesture. He was Savilian Professor of Mathematics at Oxford.

Includes a section on the education of deaf-mutes. Paracusis is described in the Appendix, p. 166.

Dalgarno considered that the deaf had an advantage over the blind in opportunities of learning languages. He invented an alphabet for the use of deaf-mutes.

The first scientific account of the structure, function and diseases of the ear. Du Verney showed that the bony external meatus develops from the tympanic ring and that the mastoid air cells communicate with the tympanic cavity. He it was who first suggested the theory of hearing later developed by, and accredited to, Helmholtz. Du Verney also identified a temporal bone tumor, which is believed to be the earliest description of cholesteatoma. English translation, 1737. See also A bibliography of editions of Du Verney’s Traité … published between 1683 and 1750, compiled by N. Asherson, J. Laryng. Otol., 1979, Suppl. No. 2, and book-form edition, London, H. K. Lewis, 1979. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

English translation, 1694, by John Wallis (see No. 3348).

Amman’s method of instructing deaf-mutes. He was one of the most successful of all teachers in this sphere. English translation as A dissertation on speech. To which not only the human voice and the art of speaking are traced from their origin, but the means are also described by which those who have been deaf and dumb from their bith may acquire speech, and those wospeak imperfectly may learn how to corect their impediments. (London, 1873).

Guyot, postmaster at Versailles, also physician, cartographer, inventor, etc., was the first to attempt catheterization of the Eustachian tube. This he did by way of the mouth.

Cleland, an army surgeon, devised the method of catheterization of the Eustachian tube by way of the nose; he designed the instruments necessary for the operation.

Wathen condemned Guyot’s method of Eustachian catheterization, and suggested a method of relieving catarrhal deafness by means of injections into the Eustachian tube through a catheter passed into the nose. Wathen was a surgeon practicing in London.

Records (Vol, 1, pp. 153, 160) the first successful operation for mastoiditis, performed by Petit in 1736. “Petit’s hernia” and “triangle” described (vol. 2, pp. 256-58). (See also No. 3357.) A lumbar hernia had previously been described by R. J. C. de Garengeot, Traité des opérations de chirurgie, 1731, 1, 369-71.

Includes a reprint of the author’s Institution des sourds et muets; ou, recueil des exercices. Paris, 1774.

The Abbé de L’Épée met two deaf girls, decided to educate them, and soon had a class of 60 devoted pupils, whom he supported and amongst whom he lived. He based his methods on those of Bonet and Amman, and was the first to attach great importance to signs. This is l’Épée’s most definitive work. It contains a reprint of No. 3358.

Thomas Braidwood (1715-1806) founded the first British school for the deaf and dumb, in Edinburgh. His method consisted of a combination of lip-reading and signs.

Sir Astley Cooper reported three cases of Eustachian obstruction deafness relieved by perforation of the membrana tympani (myringotomy), an operation first performed by Eli, a quack, in 1760. Cooper’s earlier paper on the subject appeared in vol. 90 of the Phil. Trans. He also demonstrated air and bone conduction by watch (precursor of Rinne’s test). For this work he received the Copley Medal.

Saunders was the first to advise paracentesis in acute middle-ear suppuration.

First of the modern textbooks on diseases of the ear, this work did much to establish otology on a firm basis. Itard described startle tests for the hearing of children and malingerers, and he developed an acumeter.

Saissy described a Eustachian bougie; he was probably the first to use this instrument. Besides dealing with the labyrinth, his book discusses diseases of the tympanum and Eustachian tube. English translation, Baltimore, 1829. Digital facsimile of the 1827 edition from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Kramer’s first and best work. English translation, 1837.

Kramer was a pioneer German otologist.

Includes Weber’s law on the relationship between stimulus and sensation. English translation of De tactu, New York Academic Press, 1978. Weber's hearing test is on p.41.

Schmalz demonstrated the clinical significance of Weber’s hearing test (see No. 3368). He was a student of Weber.

Schwabach’s hearing test (see No. 3389) was earlier employed by Schmalz.

This work did more to place British otology on a scientific basis than anything previously published. In his own words, Wilde “laboured to rescue the treatment of ear diseases from empiricism and found it upon the well-established laws of modern pathology, practical surgery, and reasonable therapeutics”. He showed the middle ear to be the site of origin of most of the diseases of the ear. He is remembered for his method of treating acute mastoiditis, using “Wilde’s incision”. The book was bitterly attacked by Kramer – see especially Lancet, 1853, 2, 446 – and also by Thomas Wakley, editor of that journal. Wilde was the father of Oscar Wilde.

Rinne’s test.

Operative treatment of acute otitis by drainage through the antrum.

First description of aural vertigo (“Menière’s syndrome”). First appeared in summary form in Bull. Acad. imp. Méd., 1860-61, 26, 241, and in Gaz. méd. Paris, 1861, 16, 29, with title: Surune forme de surdité grave dépendant d’une lésion de l’oreille interne. Menière’s case was a symptomatic form of the disorder.

The foundation of aural pathology. In this book Toynbee described the method of removing the temporal bone and discussed the post mortem appearances in relation to the symptoms observed during life. He made over 2,000 dissections of the ear. 

Invention of the modern otoscope.

The first modern mastoid operation was devised by von Tröltsch.

Tröltsch was Professor of Otology as Würzburg. He was the founder of the Archiv für Ohrenheilkunde. English translation, 1874.

Politzer’s method of effecting permeability of the Eustachian tube.

Politzer was the first to obtain pictures of the membrana tympani by means of illumination. English translation, New York, 1869.

Brunton’s otoscope.

Lucae described an interference otoscope, precursor of auditory impedance devices.

First description of “Voltolini’s disease” – an acute painful inflammation of the internal ear, followed by fever, delirium, and loss of consciousness. Voltolini was the founder of the Monatsschrift.

Wreden, otologist to the Czar, was the first to call special attention to otomycosis.

Lucae was the first to study the transmission of sounds through the cranial bones for the purpose of diagnosing diseases of the ear.

These workers helped to revive the mastoid operation (which had fallen into disuse), placing it on a modern basis. They described the method of opening the ear by chiselling, “Schwartze’s operation”.

Charcot completed the description of the syndrome first described by Menière.

Hinton was one of the most eminent aural surgeons in England during the latter half of the 19th century, and the first Aural Surgeon to Guy’s Hospital. In 1868 he performed the first operation for mastoiditis in England. He proved that aural polypus originated within the tympanum and that cholesteatomata might prove fatal by eroding the bone.

First clear description of mastoiditis.

Politzer was one of the greatest of all otologists. He was the first Professor of Otology in Vienna and his textbook was for many years the standard authority on the subject. English translation, 1883.

Politzer described an acumeter.

First audiometer.

Gellédescribed a test for determination of ossicular fixation.

Improvement of the mastoid operation devised by Schwartze and Eysell.

Schwabach’s hearing test.

Rotational nystagmus described. First published in Magyar in Orvosi Hetilap, 1886, 30, 857, 889.

Includes a history of the subject. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Radical mastoidectomy. (See No. 3392.)

Küster and von Bergmann developed the Operation of radical mastoidectomy.

Stacke introduced the operation of excision of the ossicles.

Stacke did much to improve the surgery of the middle ear. He made important modifications in the radical mastoidectomy operation of Küster and von Bergmann.

Gradenigo’s test for tone decay. Translation in Arch. Otol. (N.Y.), 1893, 22, 213-15.

Mastoidectomy for the efficient drainage of the results of middle ear suppuration.

First report of otosclerosis as a separate clinical entity.

Bezold introduced important tests for audition.

First attempt at improving hearing by fenestration. No title; forms part of a paper by R. Passe.

“Gradenigo’s syndrome” – acute otitis media followed by abductor paralysis. Translation of the paper is in the German Arch. Ohrenheilk., 1904, 62, 255-70.

Helen Keller became blind and deaf at the age of 19 months, as the result of an illness. Her education was a triumph of patience and skill on the part of her teacher, Anne M. Sullivan, and a demonstration of the great possibilities in the teaching of the blind-deaf. Keller studied French, German, Latin, Greek, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, history, poetry, and literature.