Galen thought that tinnitus was due to ‘exhalations from the stomach’, and in books written before 1861 you may often read descriptions of Stomach Deafness, an entity well recognized before Menière put his name to it.

I found a monograph by George Field published in 1875 on Tinnitus Aurium in which he puts together an account of the causes of tinnitus that is comprehensive even by the standards of today, from hairs tickling the tympanic membrane to Eustachian catarrh, vascular abnormalities and brain damage. When he comes to treatment: middle ear problems were treated by myringotomy or by patching perforations with damp paper and, for the rest, drugs of various kinds were used—with about as much effect as was described in some of the papers read earlier in this meeting. Belladonna (atropine) seems to have been particularly well thought of. Anti-emetics were used in Menière's disorder and one of Field's patients strongly recommended putting a piece of dead eel in the ear as a reliable cure for tinnitus.