Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.11807

    Portrait of J.C.W

    Date
    1880
    Object type
    Library reference
    American Journal of Otology_Microtia_Figure 1
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 93mm
    width (print): 58mm
    Subject
    Content object
    human body
       > ear
    Description
    Head and shoulders portrait, in profile, of a twenty-eight year old man with microtia, an underdevelopment (from birth) of the pinna, or outer ear. The sitter faces to the left as viewed.

    One of three medical case studies from the paper ‘Microtia’, by David Hunt, The American Journal of Otology: a quarterly journal of physiological acoustics and aural surgery, edited by Clarence J. Blake, v.3 (1881), pp.3-11.

    The accompanying text describes the patient’s condition: ‘Case I. - J.C.W., aged twenty-eight. The auricle is represented by an irregular fold of skin; the parts corresponding to the helix, scaphoid fossa, and antihelix are folded forward; no trace of these divisions of the auricle are seen; about midway between the superior and inferior extremity of the malformed auricle a pronounced indentation extends into its base.’

    The photograph is uncredited, however the author states that ‘By the courtesy of Dr. Clarence J. Blake, I have been afforded the opportunity of inspecting photographs of three cases of malformation of the auricle.’

    Dr Clarence John Blake (1843-1919) American physician and ear specialist of Boston; inventor of the ear phonautograph, with Alexander Graham Bell.

    Dr David Hunt (1845-1907) American physician, studied at Harvard University and practised in Boston, Massachusetts.
    Associated place
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