The laryngoscope : directions for its use, and practical illustrations of its value in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the throat and nose : two lectures delivered at the Royal College of Physicians / by George Johnson.

Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The laryngoscope : directions for its use, and practical illustrations of its value in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the throat and nose : two lectures delivered at the Royal College of Physicians / by George Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    the man of experience lias now only to looJc. into the larynx, and he will see what is the form of disease with which he has to deal. In my next lecture I propose to give some illustra- tions of the valuable aid which the laryngoscope is capable of affording in both the diagnosis and the treatment of disease. During the few minutes that remain to-day, I propose to advert very briefly to the subject of rhinoscopy. Rhinoscopy.—Czermak, in his first publication on the laryngoscope, pointed out that the same method of examination was applicable to the inspection of the posterior surface of the soft palate, the posterior openings of the nasal fossae, and the superior parts of the pharynx. In the practice of rhinoscopy the patient should sit erect, without throwing the head back, while the light is thrown into the mouth by the frontal reflector. The tongue is to be kept down by means of a metallic depressor, which may be held either by the operator or by the patient. A small mirror is required, and it is better made of glass than of metal, on account of the rapidity with which a metallic min'or cools and condenses vapour on its surface. I have two circular mirrors, which I find very convenient for rhinoscopy, one the size of a threepenny piece, the other the size of a sixpence. When you are about to introduce the mirror, the patient should be directed to breathe quietly. A deep inspiration draws the uvula and soft palate upwards and backwards, and so interferes with the examina- tion. The mirror is to be introduced by the side of the uvula, beneath the palate, with its surface directed