Notes on asthma : its nature, forms and treatment / by John C. Thorowgood.
- Date:
- 1870
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Notes on asthma : its nature, forms and treatment / by John C. Thorowgood. 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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![The precise function of the bronchial muscles in the mechanism of respiration a]ppears to be a matter of dispute with various observers, and this uncertainty has led to more tban one theory in explanation of the asthmatic paroxysm. In ordinary expiration the bronchial muscles contract rhythmically by virtue of the resihence imparted to them by their own natural elasticity; by this action they quicken the expulsion of foul air from the lung cells, and accommodate the size of the tubes to the lessening bulk of the lung. It seems probable that under abnormal circum- stances the bronchial muscles can act during either inspiration or expiration. They act with irregular vehemence in cough; with clonic spasm in whoop- ing-cough ; with tonic spasm in asthma. These views accord in the main with those of HaUer, Eeisseissen, Eadclyffe Hall, Elliotson, Wil- liams, and Brown Sequard; and I believe wUl, with perhaps some modifications, become estab- lished under increasing observation and experience. Dr. Von Bamberger * lays much stress on spasm of the diaphragm as the most frequent and the * Syd. Soc. Year-book, 1865-6, p. 140.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21943710_0019.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
