Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/309

CH. XX.] have before alluded to an immediate and specific remedy for this excruciating complaint; which I applied successfully on the present occasion:—for the benefit of those so afflicted I will repeat more fully the manner of the application: the patient must lie down, with the head reclined on the side on which the pain is seated: the operator pours a little spirit, rum is the most approved, into the ear which lies uppermost: about a table-spoonful is sufficient, and it must be allowed to remain there till the pain is gone; which is generally the case in the course of three or four minutes: the sensation to the patient is by no means distressing: it resembles the whizzing experienced on the immersion of the head under water, but is much more astounding; and, I am not quite sure if, upon the only occasion on which I found it necessary to undergo the operation, it was not attended with a slight, though momentary, feeling of syncope: but, be this as it may, it is certainly not