Volume 2

An introduction to the use of the stethoscope; with its application to the diagnosis in diseases of the thoracic viscera. Including the pathology of these various affections / by William Stokes.

  • Stokes, William, 1804-1878
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the use of the stethoscope; with its application to the diagnosis in diseases of the thoracic viscera. Including the pathology of these various affections / by William Stokes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    48/248 (page 30)
    OF THE RALES. By the term rale, we understand any sound produced by the circulation of the air through the bronchial tubes, and pulmonary vesicles, -dif- fering from the natural respiratory murmur. These rales seldom occupy the whole of the lungs; they are most generally heard over a small part only, while in other parts respiration remains na- tural, or even becomes puerile; they indicate the narrowing of the bronchial tubes, or the existence of some liquid in the latter, or in the air cells of the lung; their difference of sound, their distance or vicinity, and the extent which they oécupy, teach us both the place where they occur, and some of the physical properties of the liquids giving rise to them. At a small distance from the place where any rale is heard, the respiratory murmur may be natural, although in the neighbourhood of a se- verely affected part. These sounds accompany the cough when it is present, but it is more convenient to examine them during respiration; they may occur alone