On the subject of priority in the medication of the larynx and trachea / by Horace Green.

  • Horace Green
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the subject of priority in the medication of the larynx and trachea / by Horace Green. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of tlie introduction of medication into the cavity of the larynx, and has made these statements, as I have learned from other sources, to many of my pro¬ fessional friends in Europe, with the manifest intention of injuring me in their estimation, that I feel compelled to adduce certain facts, which can be fully substantiated, and which will disprove most emphatically the asser¬ tion of Dr. Adams. In the first place, Dr. A. declares, that the priority of invention of the instrument for cauterizing the larynx, as well as that of its introduction into the laryngeal cavity, has been a matter of dispute. 2d. That after “conscientious investigations,” he can affirm that the instrument was invented by Dr. David Green, with the design of applying a solution of nitrate of silver to the larynx. 3d. That “ Mr. Horace Green, of New York, declares, in the introduc¬ tion of his work on Bronchitis, that in 1841, two years before the publica¬ tion of the English translation of MM. Trousseau and Belloc’s work, he was in the habit of applying cauterizations to the larynx.” That “ the labors of Trousseau and Belloc,” Dr. A. will say, were known in America, where Professor J. M. Smith had spoken of them, as early as 1828,* in his lectures at the University of New York. Now, each and all of these assertions, as Dr. A. “ conscientiously ” knows, are without any foundation in truth. The facts, in relation to the history of the instrument for medication of the air-passages, and of the diseases for which this practice was particularly instituted, are briefly these. In 1832, as I have stated in my work on “ Diseases of the Air-Passages ” (p. 45), a case of well-marked follicular disease came under my notice. It occurred in a clergyman in New Eng¬ land, and was the first case to which my attention had ever been called. The disease had extended into the larynx, producing constant irritation in those parts, and an entire loss of voice; and this in a robust individual, otherwise in good health. All the ordinary means of treatment then known for laryngeal diseases, such as local depletion, counter-irritation externally, with alteratives and antimonials internally, were perseveringly employed, without in any degree relieving my patient. During the treatment of this case, another of equal interest and importance came under my observation. This patient was the Rev. Dr. Lindsly, then the officiating clergyman of Park Street Church, in Boston, who, from the severity of the disease, was * The worts of Trousseau and Belloc were not published in Paris until 1837, yet Dr. A. affirms that they were known in America, “ where Professor J. M. Smith had spoken of them in his lectures at the University of New York, as early as 1828 ”! This is a remarkable anachronism to be made by one who claims to be so “ conscien¬ tious ” in his researches.
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