On excision of the enlarged tonsil, and its consequences in cases of deafness with remarks on diseases of the throat / [William Harvey].

  • Harvey, William, 1806-1876.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On excision of the enlarged tonsil, and its consequences in cases of deafness with remarks on diseases of the throat / [William Harvey]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    under the jaw, or by cupping behind the ears, or on the back of the neck. Scarifying the tonsils has also been found serviceable.* After the abstrac- tion of blood, purgation by the common cathartics must be resorted to. We should administer the common saline remedies. With respect to local treatment, I should recommend the external appli- cation of colchicum, either with soap liniment, or singly, as most likely to offer relief. Should these measures fail in' producing resolution, it may be found necessary to promote suppuration; this is to be effected by the application of hot poultices, and the vapour of warm water. In angina tonsillaris, Velpeau has used alum as a local application during the first stages of the disease. He found it, indeed, beneficial at any period before suppuration has been established. The alum is to be applied in the form of powder, * When any of the exanthemata, or any other disease, induces sore throat in persons of a strumous habit, we may depend on having enlargement of the tonsils. This is of more frequent occurrence in children than in adults; I would by all means recommend early attention to the circumstance, as in the event of these glands becoming much enlarged, considerable inconve- nience and sometimes danger may be occasioned to the patient, in case cold, inducing sore throat, should come on. In such cases, the tonsils on a sudden take on a great increase of size, so much so as to cause considerable alarm.—Andr. Whether Andral is correct in considering the chronically- enlarged tonsil as the irritating cause of the sore throat in the first instance, as he states in a passage presently to be cited, I shall leave to others to determine.