Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1875 — Care of the Ear. [ARTICLE]

Care of the Ear.

The Scientific American thinks that the ear is quite as liable to injury from drafts of air as from cold Water. The modern style of cutting the hair in men and of arranging the hair of women is much to be deprecated, because it was intended by nature that the hair should fall over the ear and form thus a protection to it. But as we cannot throw down so great a goddess as fashion, we must use care and artificial means for the preservation of this delicate organ. If sitting in a draft is unavoidable, the handkerchief should be applied to the ear exposed or a pledget of cotton inserted within it. The ordinary manner of washing the face does no harm to the ear because t\e canal leading to the drum of the ear is partially protected by wax and water does not penetrate far; but all the swabbing of the ear, whether with dry cloth or lint moistened with hot or cold water, or other fluid, is by no means to be advised, as it removes the wax, the necessary safeguard to the internal ear.