American medical books on the ear contain so little on the subject of congenital and traumatic anomalies of the external auditory canal, that it seems fair to infer that they are of uncommon occurrence in this country.
Only the following four cases of complete and permanent imperviousness of the external meatus have come under my observation during a practice of fourteen years, eight of which have afforded me quite a respectable experience in hospital and dispensary work.
Case I was a man 32 years old, who applied for treatment August 15, 1883. Several years previously he had been run over by a railroad train, that severed the auricle from the head. The surgeon in attendance is said to have had no hopes of the man's recovery, but sewed the auricle to the side of the head, to make the subject appear more presentable at his funeral. The result was