On laryngitis from local causes / by J.A. Kingdon.

  • Kingdon, J.A.
Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On laryngitis from local causes / by J.A. Kingdon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    since Mr. Porter, in his work*, remarks: —“I scarcely recollect a case, even where bronchotomy afterwards became necessary, in which the application of leeches to the throat in the early stages was not followed by a marked, though it might be only a temporary relief; and many cases have occurred in which a perseverance in such a line of prac- tice has been attended with success as decided as it was unexpected.” In the third case related above, although the child was apparently dying when ad- mitted, I am inclined to think that the chance that leeches would afford should not have been tln-own away: they might have been applied while the in- struments were being arranged; and, if placed close under the angles of the jaw, would not have impeded the operation, should it then have become necessary. Again, with regard to the operation of tracheotomy, as has been already stated, we must not regard the laryngitis from accident in the same light as that from * Surgical Pathology, Larynx and Trachea, p. 184. disease: in the one the malady is purely local, only secondarily affecting the constitution ; while the other is an evidence, or I might say a conse- quence, of a previously disordered sys- tem. In the former, time will cure; and, as the vital powers remain strong to the last, operation need not be has- tily resorted to : in the latter, however, the prostration that accompanies the affection imperatively demands that operation should not be long delayed, if any benefit is to be expected from its employment. It would be needless to discuss the advantages of the various modes of treatment that have been proposed,— whether the calomel plan proposed by Mr. Wallace excels the emetic or sudo- rific systems of others ; suffice it to say that all are agreed as to the propriety of early leeching, and the advantage of counter-irritation over the sternum in the later stages; and, in the cases I have now related, these measures were highly effective, and seem to be of most importance.
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