V Secretory Otitis Media

Catarrhal otitis media was recognized clinically long before the electric otoscope was invented-in those days when sunlight rays were converged by a concave mirror into a speculum for inspection of the ear drum. Up to 1940 the disease had never been considered very common. However, in the past four years the disease has taken on a new significance, and this significance is due to the frequency with which it prevails. One could state that there has been a mild epidemic of "secretory otitis media," the term which we shall use for the disease henceforth in this paper.