A handbook of diseases of the nose and nasopharynx / by James B. Ball.

  • Ball, James B. (James Barry), 1849-1926.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook of diseases of the nose and nasopharynx / by James B. Ball. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of tlie nose impaa-ts to air, inspired througli it, a considerable amount o£ water. In fact, the air is completely saturated in its passage through the nose, and it has been computed that water to the amount of some 7,700 grains is daily ab- stracted from the nasal mucous membrane in this manner (Aschenbrandt, Kayser). This amount agrees with that which physiologists have supposed to be abstracted fi-om the lungs in twenty-four hours. This moisture is presumably secreted by the numerous serous glands with which the mucous membrane is studded. Besides being saturated with moisture, the air, in its passage through the nose, is brought more nearly to the temperature of the body. Aschenbrandt and Kayser have- both shown by independent experiments that, with the external temperature at from 46° F. to 53° F., the tempera- ture of the air after it has passed through the nose is raised to 86° F. When the external air is at 32° F. it is raised to 81° F., and when at 66° F. to 90° F. (Kayser). Kayser also performed a series of experiments to find how much the air was warmed and moistened in oral breathing. He found that air was heated only half a degree less in passing through the mouth than in passing through both nostrils^ and further, that it is saturated vs^ith moisture in its passage through the mouth. It will, therefore, be seen that the inspired air receives the whole of its warmth and moisture before it reaches the lower air-passages. The patency of the inferior meatus is subject to alteration by temporary erection of the inferior turbinate body^ especially of its anterior end. The conditions under which this occurs are not thoroughly understood, and it is difficult to exactly draw the line between physiological and patho- logical swelling of that body. Direct irritants will cause it to sweU, and so will inhalation of very cold or overheated air. Erection of the anterior end of the inferior turbinate body has been noticed by Hack and others to occur, in a c 2