Browse Items (51 total)

Sir William Macewan's teacher, Joseph Lister, came up with chromic suture, but it could not be well sterilized. But Macewen came up with a chromic catgut suture, which could be sterilized, and he himself prepared this before any operation. He…

Sir William Macewan (1848-1924) was among the earliest surgeons to attach otitis abscesses through the ear. He learned from his teacher, Joseph Lister, to discard those aesthetic handle instruments made of ivory, ebony, bone and tortoise because they…

Dr. Pappas created this shadow box displaying and identifying the temporal bones and structures. A magnified portion of this box shows the mastoid cellular system.

Jacob Henle (1809-1885) gave a detailed and complete description of the temporal bone and was the first to describe the suprameatal spine, though he did not show the structure as a landmark to the antrum. Henle's name was attached to it later by…

In the evolution of the head mirror, it was Turck's idea to attach the mirror to a headband. This idea really took off and even became the symbol of otolaryngologists up until just recently.

Physicians learned quickly that they needed both hands for laryngoscopy, and so several ideas came forth for holding of the head mirror. Czermak suggested the use of a mouth piece to hold the mirror; Semeleder attached the mirror to eyeglasses, but…

In the resolution of the priority dispute, the French medical society eventually awarded Turck priority for the introduction of laryngoscopy, and Czermak priority for the introduction of illumination to laryngoscopy. Shown here is an example of a…

Shown here is an example of the type of mouth mirror used in laryngoscopy.

Shown here is an example of a tubular ear speculum of the sort introduced by Sir William Wilde. Click here to view a 3D model of this instrument from the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences.

Dr. Pappas explains that Sir William Wilde (1815-1876) was one of the first to use a tubular speculum to examine the ear, and that his was cone-shaped. Shown here is an ear speculum with a handle and a light.

Dr. Pappas explains that Sir William Wilde (1815-1876) was one of the first to use a tubular speculum to examine the ear, and that his was cone-shaped. Shown here are various examples of such specula from the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences.

Dr. Pappas explains how Jean Louis Petit (1674-1750) used a curette during the first successful operation for mastoiditis.

In this book, Sir William Wilde (1815-1876) presents the procedure for the "Wilde incision" used in treating mastoiditis. The procedure involved an incision in the swelling behind the ear, and it became the chosen care for three decades.

As a…

Jean-Louis Petit (1674-1750) performed the first successful operations for mastoiditis. His works were published in three small volumes 25 years after his death, and provided an overview of French surgery and every instrument used in the 18th…

Shown here is a fan hearing aid from the twentieth century, along with a photo demonstrating its use.

This hearing aid is similar to those introduced by Le Cat and Itard which mimic the structure of the inner ear.

The "London dome" hearing aid, so called because its shape resembled the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, is very similar to the trumpet hearing aid shown in John Harrison Curtis's 1836 book.

Du Verney's Traité de l'organe de l'ouie (1683) was the first book published solely on the ear; others dealt with the subject in chapters. Du Verney's book was small and concise. In one sentence he struck down the centuries old concept that a…

Valsalva's De aure humana tractatus (Treatise of the human ear), was published in 1704, twenty-one years after Du Verney's Traite de l'organ de l'ouie (1683), and thus was the second book published solely on the ear. But Valsalva included minute…

This slide of the ear anatomy shows structures relevant to the otological comparison of Vesalius and Eustachius, including the Eustachian tube, which Vesalius hardly mentioned but Eustachius described perfectly, resulting in the associated eponym. A…