Did you notice that the front of this card is titled “How to extract a foreign body from the ear” but the reverse just says “Foreign Body in Ear”? It is not unusual for the front and back title of a card to differ, though for the most part it is a simple case that a long title would fit quite well on the plain part of the front of a horizontal card, but take up too much room on the reverse.
Getting objects inside of the ear is one of the big causes of deafness, but for the most part the trouble is not because of it going in; for the worst damage happens when trying to get it out by poking something else in that has no business being there at all. And, as you can see on this card, the ear is one of the most complex organs in the body, with a very delicately stretched drum and all manner of coils and springs behind it.
Apparently, according to a recent survey, the most usual things to be “lost” inside an ear are pebbles, beans/peas (like on the card), cotton swabs or parts thereof (this is more common than you might imagine), or coins (which I seriously cannot believe this !). But the largest problem of all are insects, which either fall in, or creep in whilst we are sleeping, or fly in whilst we are working in the garden.
There are two versions of this card, which is noted in our original reference book to the issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills. And both appear in our gallery, so click the bold link below to compare them. The text in that book reads :
61. FIRST AID. Fronts lithographed in colour; backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issues :-
A. Without Album Clause. Issued, 1913.
B. With Album Clause. Issued, 1915.
The Album Clause in this case means the wording which appears down both sides of the reverse text.
We also know the months of issue, April 1913 for "without" and January 1915 for the "with". That seems to be at odds with our World Tobacco Issues Indexes though, as both the original and the updated version gives the "A" suffix to the cards with the album clause and the “B” to the cards without.