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History of ENT - Freud's Friend, Fliess

Wilhelm Fliess, a Berlin rhinologist, was for many years Sigmund Freud’s closest friend and confidant. He was born in Poland in 1858. In 1887, he visited Vienna for postgraduate studies, and met the famous psychoanalyst, Freud [1]. They were immediate...

The first compact auriscope: the 1865 speculum auris of Dr Brunton

Bringing light into darkness can also be a task for the physician. With the advent of endoscopy (initially by reflecting light into body cavities), new methods of diagnosis and treatment became available to the otologist. In 1865, the Scotsman John...

The pong of poverty: George Orwell on the problem of olfactory classism

Throughout his fiction and non-fiction, George Orwell incorporated references to olfaction to invoke strong reactions in his readers. For example, in Nineteen Eighty-Four the protagonist Winston describes “the pleasant smell of [Julia’s] hair”. Orwell emphasises the invasiveness and emotional force...

Where ART meets Science: The Golden Lines of Life

Each cover in this six-part series is more than an image. It’s a window — into a different way of seeing, of hearing and of healing. Together, they form a narrative that moves across disciplines and perspectives. A story told...

Is one glass of wine on call safe?

It’s a standard question for those about to sit a Specialist Training (ST) interview; you are on call and you call a senior colleague in to perform an operation. You smell alcohol on the breath of the surgeon, so what...

TWJ Fellowship – Toronto 2015: Endoscopic Ear Surgery

The Thomas Wickham Jones (TWJ) Foundation is a charitable trust with the aim of helping patients with deafness overcome their disability. Striving to achieve this goal they provide educational grants to otolaryngologists and other related audiological professionals working within the...

Why is a Raven like a writing desk? Some reflections on countertenors and castrati

The countertenor voice has seen a resurgence in popularity in the last 50 years. Nicholas Clapton is one of the foremost performers and teachers of his generation, and he tells us here about the link between countertenors and the (fortunately...

Ultramarathons, frostbite and running with wolves

“I could just keep going when most sane people would stop”- the secret to success in head and neck surgery? In August 2015 I crossed the finish line of La Ultra - The High. A small camp of tents and...

A surgeon’s perspective on the challenges facing cochlear implantation in children

Cochlear implantation in children offers a different set of challenges and goals to adult practice. In this article, Iain Bruce, Professor of Paediatric Otolaryngology in Manchester, UK, explains some of the current clinical and research challenges in paediatric cochlear implantation,...