History of ENT
The (Ancient Egyptian) ear that hears badly: otology in Ancient Egypt 1500 BC
The Ebers Papyrus was written around 1500 years before the birth of Christ, and is arguably the most complete and most beautiful of the medical texts to have survived from ancient Egypt. It was purchased from a Coptic antiquarian in...
GP Field and the holes in his book: a British bestseller in otology
The fact that the cradle of modern otology lies in Britain and Ireland was long unrecognised in continental Europe. Yet it was the Teutonic forefathers of the ‘Vienna School’ who drew their knowledge from such British luminaries as Toynbee and...
The Dilemma of Beethoven’s Deafness
Beethoven was one of the world’s greatest musicians, and his deafness is well known. Many details of his medical conditions are known, and various theories of his hearing loss have been proposed. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 in...
Medical Journals and The Journal of Laryngology and Otology
Medical journals have a fascinating history. One early journal, The Lancet, was founded in 1823 and its first Editor, London surgeon Thomas Wakley (1795-1862), had a turbulent life. He lived in an era where quackery was rife and where the...
The father of the history of otology
This year marks the centenary of the death of Adam Politzer (1835-1920). He has been described as the Father of Otology [1] and was certainly the most influential person in otology in the latter half of the 19th century [2]....
