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and bright and her hearing immensely improved—a different
being in every way.
Had she left school before I was able to get her operated
on, I doubt if it would ever have been done until serious
symptoms affecting life arose.
Many people will be inclined to say that the time and
trouble taken over discharging ears was not warranted.
Apart from the danger to life that the persistence of the
condition is, no one who knew the child before and saw the
happy result would grudge any of the energy absorbed on her
behalf.
Those who are not deaf do not realise its desolating effect.
I still find it very difficult to make people realise that it is far
worse to be quite deaf than blind. Let anyone think it over
carefully. It is very rare to find a miserable blind person. It
is very rare not to find a miserable deaf person. The deaf are
almost always suspicious and querulous People will always
talk to the blind, but they intensely dislike having to shout at
those going deaf. Intimate conversation with the deaf is an
impossibility.
This case, although an extreme one, illustrates the beneficent
value of this complete supervision of the school child's life that
exists in our district.
Case 2.—That of a girl about 12 with Jacksonian epilepsy of
5 years standing, getting steadily worse. She had
been attending one hospital for three years as an
out-patient and had been an in-patient for three
months. There were in my opinion definite
localizing symptoms.
I was able to get her under the care of a
celebrated Neurologist and she was afterwards
operated on by one of the best brain surgeons in
England. A calculus which was found pressing on
her brain was removed, and from that date the child
has been absolutely free from fits.
My last note is " Splendid !! "