Copy 1, Volume 1

The study of medicine. Improved from the author's manuscripts, and by reference to the latest advances in physiology, pathology, and practice / [John Mason Good].

  • John Mason Good
Date:
1834
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The study of medicine. Improved from the author's manuscripts, and by reference to the latest advances in physiology, pathology, and practice / [John Mason Good]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    144/784 page 90
    SPECIES IV. DYSPHAGIA UVULOSA. UVULAR DYSPHAGY. SWALLOWING OBSTRUCTED OR TROUBLESOME FROM RELAXATION AND ENLARGEMENT, OR FROM DESTITUTION, OF THE UVULA. Gen. III. Tux uvula is sometimes enlarged from inflammation; but, in such ag das case, the disease, for reasons already stated, belongs to another class. tinguished 40 the inflammatory state, the uvula is hot, acutely painful, of a from in- __ red or livid colour, and deviates, as it enlarges, from its proper form. famma- ‘In the species before us, its natural form and colour are scarcely tion. interfered with, excepting that, as it grows larger and longer, it also grows paler. It is soft, relaxed, and cedematous.* [The affection is a chronic elongation and thickening of the part; an occasional consequence of syphilis, protracted fevers, and the use of mercury. It also sometimes proceeds in professional singers from immoderate exertion of the vocal organs. The patient has a sensation, as if the throat were blocked up by some largish body ; the annoyance is. considerable ; and he is compelled to be continually coughing and swallowing his spittle. Some cases depend upon relaxation of the azygos, or levator muscle of the uvula. ] D. Uvu- The complaint, therefore, in this variety, requires to be treated losa. with spirituous and astringent stimulants. Gargles of alum, Medical —_ Cayenne pepper or-port wine are the local applications commonly ‘reatment. used, and they should be combined with cathartics and general tonics. [The remedy on which Dr. Granville chiefly relies is a gargle containing lunar caustic; the strength of which should be varied, according to the state of the uvula itself, and the nervous irritation in the system. Another useful application, mentioned by the same physician, is a powder composed of equal parts of muriate — of ammonia and nitrate of potash, with a quarter of Cayenne pepper. This produces great immediate irritation, followed by copious salivation, and expectoration of thick mucus. The powder should be rubbed on with a camel-hair brush twice or thrice a day. Sulphuret Gargles, made with a proportion of sulphuret of potash, are in — of potash common use amongst professional singers, for improving the defect. gargles. of their voices, connected with relaxation of the uvula; and Dr. | Granville thinks the practice justified by analogy; sulphuret of potash being known to have in croup. the power of converting the stridulous voice into a deep full tone, and being in fact the remedy for which Buonaparte awarded a prize of 1000 Napoleons, during the epidemic croup which raged in Paris in 1812.¢ If the disease * In syphilitic ulceration of the soft palate, the uvula is often considerably enlarged, and so distended with serum, that it exhibits quite a transparent appearance. One gentleman, whom the editor lately attended, was in the habit of making a forcible expiration to throw the uvula in this state forward, for the purpose of its being inspected. Andral states, that oedema of the uvula may be idiopathic, connected with certain kinds of angina, or accompanying induration of the tonsils. (Anat. Pathol., t. ii. p. 236.) — Ep. ¢ Lancet, No. 377. pp. 280, 281. According to Dr. Granville, who was for several years physician to the opera company, the uyula, in deep bass singers, is i
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