WHICH IS THE PREFERABLE METHOD OF PERFORMING THE CALORIC TEST?

Abstract

THE CALORIC test is one of the most used clinical methods of investigating the vestibular organ. The utility is evident, as it enables one to get information on the localization of a deviation not only in one labyrinth but even, as has been made probable of late, in the central nervous system. However, to be able to compare the results of different workers, the execution of the test has to be identical, and this it seldom is. Bárány,¹though not the first to observe the reaction of the vestibular organ on caloric stimulation, an honor which belongs to Brown-Séquard²and Breuer,³was the first to see the clinical importance of this method and also the first to give a theory as to the origin of the reaction and a description of the phenomena which occur when an ear is syringed with cold or warm water—all this in