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.
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![given for this conclusion ? Does medical history furnish any proof of the truth of this statement ? Will the Academy stultify itself by adopting such a conclusion as this, without either proof or reason ? The second conclusion of the Majority Report is, the best evidences ^ of the passage of an instrument into the air-pasSages, are the rational signs. As an abstract proposition, this may be admitted ; but as de- fined by the Report, is it true ? The committee give the following as the rational signs : [Dr. Barker then read from the Report.] (Yid, p. 53, vol. iv., of this Journal.) Yet their Record shows, that in three cases, Wiley, Messmore, and Griffin, where the tube, as they admit, was passed into the trachea, these signs were absent. Dr. Stone asked if Dr. Barker did not regard breathing through the tube as one of the signs of the passage of the instrument. Dr. Barker replied : Yes, he accepted that. But the other signs were all abs'ent, as their Record proves, in three cases where the tube was passed. Kow, if it may be passed in three cases without producing these phenomena, why not in thirty or three hundred. Is there any ground for saying, experiment unsatisfactory, merely be- cause these signs are absent ? The truth is, what the committee call ''rational signs of the passage of an instrument into the trachea, ^re merely the signs of irritation of the entrance into these passages, or of obstruction to the admission and exit of air, neither of which conditions are absolutely necessary. As regards the third conclusion of the Report, it is sufficient to say, that it has already been proved, that the facility of the operation de- pends upon the state of the parts involved, and not upon the curva- ture of the instrument. The fourth conclusion is, there is no reliable evidence in the opin- ion of the committee, that the sponge probang has been passed through and beyond the vocal chords. The passage of the sponge probang did not legitimately pertain to the duties of the committee. But, said Dr, Barker, I am ready to discuss this point in the com- mittee of the whole, where a large latitude in debate is admissible^ Dr. Barker then mentioned five tests, which he considered reliable evidence of the passage of the sponge probang. 1st. The operation on the cadaver. This has been repeatedly ac- complished, both in this country and in England, and, said Dr. Barker, if I am not misinformed, the secretary of the committee has seen it done. 2d. The tests given in the original Paper of Dr. Green, viz : where the sponge is attached to a pervious handle, respiration through the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21482226_0011.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
