Observations on the surgical pathology of the larynx and trachea, chiefly with a view to illustrate the affections of those organs which may require the operation of bronchotomy : including remarks on croup, cynanche laryngea, injuries by swallowing acids and boiling water, foreign bodies in the windpipe, asphyxia, wounds, etc. / William Henry Porter.

  • Porter, William Henry, 1790-1861.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the surgical pathology of the larynx and trachea, chiefly with a view to illustrate the affections of those organs which may require the operation of bronchotomy : including remarks on croup, cynanche laryngea, injuries by swallowing acids and boiling water, foreign bodies in the windpipe, asphyxia, wounds, etc. / William Henry Porter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    be familiar with the peculiar ringing of a croupy cough, or with other phenomena only to be learned by actual observation: but when he meets a case of laryngeal disease, how is he to know whether it is caused by an oedematous condition of the submu- cous tissue—by a chronic thickening of the mucous membrane itself—by laryngeal ulceration—by destruction of the cartilages —by the presence of abscess or tumour—or by any other of those numerous affections which dissection so frequently shews us to be the occasions of death] Perhaps, by reason of the dif- ficulty of the subject, it Avill be long before the same accuracy of information with reference to the affections of the windpipe can be attained that is possessed in other diseases; but if ever the subject will admit of clear and simple arrangement, it can only be looked for as the result of pathological investigation— a branch of professional study only recently begun to be cul- tivated with industry and success, and to which, perhaps, the rapid progress lately made in medical science is mainly to be attributed. In these preliminary remarks, which are only intended to illustrate the nature of the morbid affections observed in the larynx and trachea, it cannot be expected that I should enter at large into an explanation of all the phenomena resulting from inflammation of mucous membranes. The limits I have pre- scribed to myself would be insufficient for such a purpose, and it would distract the reader's attention to find a number of pa- thological facts piled together, without reference to any practical end. But I by no means wish to be confined to those organs alone; for the appearances of disease, even within them, may often be more easily and more familiarty explained by reference to a similar structure in a different situation: and as my sole object is to facilitate the student's progress in the investigation