The use of the laryngoscope in diseases of the throat : with an appendix on rhinoscopy / by Morell Mackenzie.

  • Mackenzie, Morell, 1837-1892.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The use of the laryngoscope in diseases of the throat : with an appendix on rhinoscopy / by Morell Mackenzie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library at Emory University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, Emory University.

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    claims of Babington, however, rest on something Chap. I. better than a technical basis'; for whilst Senn merely attempted to employ a laryngeal mirror, Babington invented a laryngoscope. With the mirror alone it was impossible to see the interior of the larynx ; but when a method of illumination was at the same time employed, the inspection became, if not easy, at any rate practicable. The only difference between Dr. Babington's laryngoscope and the one now in general use is, that whilst in the latter the light is thrown into the larynx (or rather on to the laryngeal mirror) by a circular mirror attached to the head of the operator, in the former the illumination was effected by a mirror held in the operator's hand. Dr. Babington, moreover, does not appear to have employed artificial light; and his mirrors were of more clumsy construction than those now used. Those who have learnt to use the laryngoscope, will readily appreciate the difficulties of illuminating the larynx with a hand mirror ; whilst in this country, where the sun very often does not shine brightly for weeks together, the art of laryngoscopy could never have flourished till artificial light had been substi- tuted for the uncertain solar rays. In the year 1832,* whilst Babington was still * Recherches sur le Mechanisme de la Voix Hnixiaine, p. 37, note. Bennati uses the expression au moyen d'un