OSSICULOTOMY IN CHRONIC SUPPURATION OF MIDDLE EAR.

In chronic suppuration of the middle ear where there is necrosis of the soft tissues, tympanic walls and attic, and caries of one or both ossicles, the most rational treatment consists in removing the carious ossicles and all necrosed granular and fibrous tissue in the tympanic cavity. Ossiculotomy for caries has passed the experimental stage and is now recognized not only as justifiable, but a rational method of treatment. There being no such thing as special surgery, we are no more justified in leaving carious bone in the middle ear than is the general surgeon in leaving it in any other portion of the body accessible to removal. The same general and well-known principles of surgery which apply to caries and necrosis of other parts of the body, are equally applicable to the ear, and when we find carious ossicles and necrosed tympanic walls they should be removed and all