Never trust secondary references: examples from the early history of myringotomy and grommets.

The regular use of secondary references is associated with many inaccuracies. The aim of this study is to demonstrate this fact through examples extracted from recent papers mentioning the early history of myringotomy and grommets. These inaccuracies are in relation with the lack of control of the original references dealing with the subject. In conclusion, never believe and use secondary references as primary sources, without reading the original paper to confirm that it says what you think it does, but take them only for preparing and discussing the studied subject.