It is not the purpose of this paper to enter upon a critical discussion of otitis media, any further than seems necessary to properly bring before you the history of an unusually interesting case, which has been under my care for the last few months.
Purulent otitis media may be idiopathic, or secondary to catarrhal otitis, or to an attack of the exanthematous fevers, notably scarlet fever or measles. It consists of an acute inflammation of the lining membranes of the tympanum, which may extend to the mastoid cells, and to the eustachian tube, attended by severe pain, fever, and more or less swelling of the external auditory canal and its environments, with early spontaneous perforation of the drum-head, unless previously punctured. After the free escape of the pus, the pain, swelling and fever subside; under favorable conditions and treatment, the discharge ceases within a fortnight—it may stop in a