Post-nasal catarrh and diseases of the nose causing deafness : being vol. 1 of the third edition of Deafness, giddiness, and noises in the head / by Edward Woakes.

  • Woakes, Edward, 1837-1912.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Post-nasal catarrh and diseases of the nose causing deafness : being vol. 1 of the third edition of Deafness, giddiness, and noises in the head / by Edward Woakes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    inspected. The presence or absence of paresis of the palate should also be ascertained, and whether this be sensory, or motor, or both combined.^- The tongue depressor may now be applied, taking care that the blade of the instru- ment be not introduced beyond two-thirds of the length of the dorsum of the tongue, as otherwise retching will ensue. No more pressure should be exerted with it than suffices to expose the pharyngeal wall. In this way the whole region will be much more satisfactorily exposed, than will be the case if the patient be allowed to show his throat by his own intuitive method, which implies strain on all the mus- cles of the part. A rapid survey must now be made of the condition ol the parts brought under observation, e.g., the length of the uvula; the relative positions of the arches of the palate; the state of the pillars of the fauces, as to hypertrophy; the condition of the tonsils as to size, and whether they be the subjects of follicular or general inflammation ; also of the covering mucous membrane as to injection, inflamma- tion, oedematous swelling, &c.; while a general estimate must be formed, as to the acuteness or chronicity, of the appearances observed. A fairly correct outline of the normal fauces is given in the adjoining figure, though considerable variation must be allowed for on the ground of bony configuration—a long deep upper-jaw permitting greater length to the pillars, which will be proportionately shorter, and the * The bearings of paresis of the palate as a factor in the causation, of deafness, is further discussed in the succeeding chapter.