Discussion on the reports of the Committee of the New York Academy of Medicine, to whom was referred the paper of Dr. Horace Green "On the employment of injections into the bronchial tubes and tubercular cavities of the lungs".
- New York Academy of Medicine
- Date:
- 1855
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Discussion on the reports of the Committee of the New York Academy of Medicine, to whom was referred the paper of Dr. Horace Green "On the employment of injections into the bronchial tubes and tubercular cavities of the lungs". 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.
11/30 page 11
![.Dr. A. K Gardner tliongLt the gentleman had proved exactly the opposite of what he had attempted. He had not himself come to any definite opinion, but if these nerves were so sensitive, and the infor- mation they gave so instantaneous, it seemed plausible that the im- portance ascribed by the writer of the original Paper to previous mod ification of the parts, was all-important. The citadel might ])e taken by bribing the sentinels, by previously dulling the sensibility of these guardian nerves by the preparatory application of the nitrate of sil- ver to the glottis, epiglottis, &c. The watchmen would thus sleep upon their posts, and Sebastopol might be taken. Comparative anatomy might teach something ; at least, it would tend to show that if the trachea of lower species of creation would bear topical application, that of the man might. Chickens have a disease called pip. It is probably an inflammation of the air-pas- sages, accompanied with an effusion of coagulable lymph. From the stringy appearance, it is supposed by the ignorant to be worms in the windpipe. Blunt-pointed wires, shaped like a corkscrew, and pledgets of cotton dipped in spirits of turpentine, have both been used as remedies. Dr. Sayre said that he was amazed that any man should come be* fore that Academy with a drawing and attempt to prove that it was an anatomical irapossibihty to enter the larynx, when every surgeon had been called upon to remove foreign bodies from the air-passages; and if foreign bodies can get there by accident, why cannot the sur* geon pass instruments intentionally ? So frequently does the accident occur, that a whole volume is devoted to the subject of foreign bodies in the air-passages, by Dr. Gross. He was satisfi.ed that the tube could easily be passed. He had seen it done. He had witnessed a case of Dr. Green's where there was no doubt of this fact. The instrument was introduced without producing any of the alarming symptoms stated in the Majority Keport. Dr. Sayre then closed the mouth, and held the nostrils shut, so that no air could in any manner enter the lungs except through the tube. He was determined to test this case thoroughly. The patient breathed thus for some ten or fifteen minutes. He then showed signs of suffocation, and Dr. Sayre was on the point of opening his nose and mouth, but Dr. Green said that the trouble arose from the tube becoming stopped with mucus> He then blew forcibly into the tube,—the patient was instantly relieved, and remained a considerable time longer in this condition, breathing with- out trouble through the catheter. Dr. Sayre thought such evidence indisputable ; and if it could be](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21482226_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
