Asthma and chronic bronchitis / by John C. Thorowgood.

  • Thorowgood, John C. (John Charles), 1833-1913.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Asthma and chronic bronchitis / by John C. Thorowgood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Hay Asthma the feathers of fowls, and in the fur of such creatures as cats, hares, and rabbits. In one case of a young man [ have known the smell of a roasted hare always bring on very bad asthma. In experimenting with actual pollen, Blackley found some kinds more active than others in bringing on the symptoms of catarrh; but the pollen of all the grasses save more or less unmistakable evidence of its power to excite catarrh when applied to the nose or inhaled into the bronchi. One patient of mine observes that it is only when the first crop of hay is being gathered in that she suffers from asthma. During the gathering of the second crop in September, when there are no grasses in flower, she has no distress whatever in her breathing. The pollen of rye, Secale cereale, was especially active, and caused violent sneezings, with profuse flow from the nostrils. I do not find whether Blackley has proved or disproved the statements of some hay asth- matics, that it is only European grasses that cause them to suffer; in India they are free. The congestion of the mucous membrane of the nostrils in summer catarrh soon increased so much that no air could be drawn through the passage; and it was observed that after both passages had been equally closed for a time, if the patient reclined on one side, the uppermost nasal passage after awhile became quite open and free, evidently from gravi- tation downwards of exuded fluid. In many cases of ordinary asthma we find the patients complaining of tightness, pressure, and obstruction across the bridge of the nose, and we may accept this as a sign of the congestive character of the asthma. True hay asthma is eminently a congestive form of dyspnoea, and if the mucous oedema affect much the tissue of the larynx and trachea, the disorder may assume a serious aspect. That, however, a neurotic