On infantile laryngismus : with observations on artificial feeding, as a frequent cause of this complaint, and of other convulsive diseases of infants / by James Reid.

Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On infantile laryngismus : with observations on artificial feeding, as a frequent cause of this complaint, and of other convulsive diseases of infants / by James Reid. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    they immediately attract the attention of parents and of nurses, from their peculiarity; but, in nume- rous cases, they imperceptibly increase in strength, and their advent is of such an insidious character that the disease has gained a strong hold upon the infant's constitution before its true nature is detected. The affection depends essentially on a constriction of the entrance to the windpipe or glottis, which impedes the free admission of air into the lungs, in the milder forms ; whilst, in tlie most serious cases, it altogether prevents it. First Form of the Disease.—Slight constriction of the edges of the rima glottidis occurs suddenly and in a transitory manner, causing, for the instant, an exertion on the part of the infant to recover its breath, and producing a feeling of oppression and alarm, indicated by a short cry, and the anxiety depicted on its features. The effect produced resembles that which may be observed when an infant is impru- dently tossed up and down in the arms of a nurse or attendant, and is sometimes accompanied by a pe- culiar noise during inspiration, called a catching in the breath. This slight and temporary spasm of the glottis is not associated with convulsive action of any other.part of the body; the attacks come on at
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