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
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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.

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    they cannot enter the larynx with the tube and the sponge probang ? And those who admit that they are conscious of having done so (and there are many such), are they to be considered as self-deluded, like Dr. Taylor of the Report ? Moreover, if there still remains any echo of that original hue and cry, surely the declarations contained in the Report of the committee will suffice to annihilate it, for it is admitted that they succeeded in entering the larynx—this Crimean Sebastopol, so to speak, of the whole field of controversy, which, when taken by surprise, or when entered by the necessary skill and tact, all the other problems con- nected with the subject, require but a little time and experience to effect their satisfactory solution. I am, therefore, not at all sur- prised that the English and French allies, Professors Erichsen and Trousseau, are still before the walls of Troy. So far, then, the Mi- nority of the committee may congratulate itself on no inconsiderable advance, towards the general adoption of the truth of the remarks contained in its Report. But, it is said, that the rational signs con- sequent upon the introduction of the instrument into the larynx, were so alarming and imminent 'of suffocation, as to have led them (the committee) to the conclusion—how premature !—-that the ac- complishment of the introduction was by no means so frequent as it was generally supposed, and that in those cases by others, where it was asserted that the instrument entered the larynx ; if these rational signs were absent, the instrument, instead of having entered the larynx, passed down into the oesophagus only. I hope the committee will excuse me, if I decline the acceptance of this oracular conclusion. I remember, many years ago, listening to a lecture delivered to his class, by the distinguished and learned chairman of the committee on this Report. He was speaking of the introduction of the male cathe- ter into the bladder, and, in the course of his remarks took occasion to eulogize the practice of a Parisian Surgeon, for the skill, rapidity, and address with which he performed this simple operation; and to say that it was alone worth atrip to Paris, to witness his execution of it. I must conclude, then, that that estimable gentleman, the chairman of the committee, has faith in the possibility of acquiring an eminent de- gree of skill and address in the use of catheters. Why, then, I would respectfully enquire, was there no allusion made to the possibility of the possession of this accomplishment by many of his contemporaries at home, in the catheterization of the air-passages,—a far more nice and intricate an operation; and presenting a field equally as interest- ing ,and less explored, for the exercise of American genius and talent;