Note p — BOOK IV.

Valsalva hath given us a more accurate Description of the Tuba Eustachiana, or Passage to the Palate, than any other Author, to whom I therefore refer, De Aur. Human. c. 2. §. 16, &c.

The chief Use hereof, he thinks, is to give way to the inner Air, upon every Motion of the Membrana Tympani, the Malleus, Incus and Stapes. This Passage, if it be shut up, Deafness ensues: Of which he gives two Instances: One a Gentleman, who lost his Hearing by a Polypus in the Nose reaching to the Uvula; the other a Yeoman, labouring with an Ulcer above the left Side of the Uvula; which when he stopt with a Tent dipped in Medicine, he lost his Hearing in the left Ear, and recovered it, as soon as the Tent was out. Ibid. c. 5. §. 10.