Avicenna mostly borrows his account of the case from Paulus. When the obstruction is occasioned by a fleshy excrescence he directs it to be burnt down with arsenic or some other escharotic. He also approves of perforating the membrane. (iii, 4, 1, 17.) The account given by Haly Abbas accords very well with our author’s. (Pract. ix, 30.) Fabricius ab Aquapendente describes correctly the treatment recommended by the ancients. He admits that he had never attempted to perforate the membrane when deep-seated. (Œuv. Chirurg. ii, 41.) SECT. XXIV.—ON SUBSTANCES THAT HAVE FALLEN INTO THE MEATUS AUDITORIUS. Not only do stones fall into the meatus, but also glass, beans, and the stones of carob nuts. Of these the stones and glass retain their original magnitude, but the beans and stones of carobs being swelled with the natural moisture of the body, occasion very severe pains. They must therefore be extracted by an earpick, a hook, or tweezers, or by using powerful shaking of the head, while the ear is placed upon some circular board. In like manner we extract bodies frequently by sucking them through a reed; and do the like with water when it falls into the ear, covering up the outside of the reed with wax when it is applied to the ear in order that there may be no outlet to the breath. Stones and such like bodies we extract by wrapping wool around an earpick, and smearing it with turpentine-rosin, or some glutinous substance and introducing it gently into the meatus auditorius. If it does not yield we introduce a sternutatory into the nose and close the mouth and nostrils. If it yield to none of these, before inflammation, convulsions, and dangerous symptoms supervene, we must bring it away by a surgical operation. Wherefore, having placed the patient in a proper position with his ear turned upwards, at the base of the ear, behind what is called the lobe, we make a small lunated incision, and with the circular part of an earpick we extract the body which is lodged there. After the extraction the wound is to be sewed up, and the cure completed by the treatment applicable in cases of recent wounds. * * * * * COMMENTARY. See Celsus (vi, 7); Aëtius (vi, 87); Alexander Trallianus (iii, 6); Oribasius (Loc. Affect. iv, 36, 39); Galen (de Med. sec. loc. iii); Avicenna (iii, 5, 1, 23); Mesue (ii, 7, 8); Serapion (ii, 12); Rhases (ad Mansor. ix, 36; Contin. iii); Haly Abbas (Pract. ix, 31.)