A treatise on the diseases and surgical operations of the mouth, and parts adjacent; with notes of interesting cases, ancient and modern / Translated from the French of M. Jourdain.

  • Jourdain, M. (Anselme Louis Bernard Bréchillet), 1734-1816.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diseases and surgical operations of the mouth, and parts adjacent; with notes of interesting cases, ancient and modern / Translated from the French of M. Jourdain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/418 (page 44)
    It would appear from what has been said, that the acts of sneezing and of blowing the nose are, from the sudden jar which they communicate, the true means by which the antra are at all times of the day emptied—this explanation is simple, natural, and not unreasonable. [The secretion upon the entire Schneiderian membrane, in the frontal, ethmoidal, nasal and maxillary sinuses is, under the natural and healthy action of these parts, scant in quantity, sufficient to preserve the softness and pliancy of the membrane, and protect its delicate structure. It is removed, in the same ratio that it is secreted, partly by the evaporating action of the air passing through the nostrils, and partly by reabsorption. It is only when, by increased or diseased action in the membrane, this ratio is disturbed, that the parts become, in some cases dry, hot and parched, or in others, too abundantly supplied with a morbid secretion, which must then find vent in one or the other of the ways above mentioned.] Special Remarks. I have found, in some subjects, who have died from putrid and malignant fevers, the pituitary secretion of the sinuses thick- ened, fetid, yellowish, and occasionally streaked and greenish. In others it would be very viscid, but inodorous; the membrane spongy and swollen, I have also found it in the form of hyda- tids, of varying consistence, either transparent or clouded. In others these cavities are filled with an ichorous fluid, resembling weak soup, and sometimes fetid. It is this fluid which is emitted from the nostrils of some persons in articulo mortis. Those who die of serous apoplexy, are apt to have the frontal, ethmoidal and maxillary cavities filled with it; but it is most abundant in the chest, in consequence of its larger size. It is found also between the dura mater and pia mater, and between the lobes of the brain. In cases of death from sanguineous apoplexy, (vulgô, coup de sang,) the antra are injected, the membrane swollen, and the vessels varicose. Persons dying of this disease discharge much blood from the nose after death.