Deafness practically illustrated / [James Yearsley].

  • James Yearsley
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Deafness practically illustrated / [James Yearsley]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the performance of various other functions, which will presently be adverted to. Owing to the great differ- ence in the calibre of the nasal passages in different persons, it happens that in some the slightest tumefac- tion will cause obstruction, while in others their calibre is so large that it may exist to a great extent without producing inconvenience. This kind of diffused enlargement of the mucous membrane, throughout all the convolutions and cavities of the nose, obstructs the passage quite as much as the presence of polypi. Persons thus troubled are obliged at all times to keep their lips apart, or their mouth open, to enable them to breathe, and in time the features acquire a contracted and vacuitous expression, even in the most intelligent. As the mouth often closes involuntarily in sleep, the impediment to breathing becomes a fre- quent cause of broken and disturbed sleep, in the same manner as I have described when adverting to the effects of enlarged tonsils in this particular. This is especially the case in children. Cases are frequent in which they have a thickening of the nasal membrane to such an extent, that although it does not produce entire stoppage, yet the impediment is increased so as to render it complete, on the slightest accession of cold. Here the trouble to the breathing, especially in attempts to sleep, becomes quite as distressing as when the ton- sils are seriously enlarged. The voice also becomes much affected, the back part . of the nasal passage being converted into a shut cham- ber, consequently the sounds produced in the throat and mouth acquire a nasal resonance and timbre, which distort the voice even more than enlarged tonsils.
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