A probationary surgical essay on bronchotomy : submitted, ... to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, ... / by William Cullen ... July 1822.

  • Cullen, William, -1828 or 1829.
Date:
1822
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A probationary surgical essay on bronchotomy : submitted, ... to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, ... / by William Cullen ... July 1822. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the public to it, by publishing the result of three cases, drawn up with great talent and accuracy: since then, it has been the subject of many short memoirs in the Trans¬ actions of Medical Societies, both foreign and domestic, so that we may now be said to be in possession of a consider¬ able mass of information. This disease has, like most other inflammations, two forms, the acute and chronic, but the symptoms of both being generically the same, the descriptions of them may be blended together. It begins with the ordinary pheno¬ mena of Catarrh, viz; some uneasiness of the throat, with some difficulty of breathing: there is commonly no appear¬ ance of redness or swelling of the fauces, a remark as old as the days of Hippocrates, and set down by some as a proper diagnostic. Cough, to a certain extent, is always present; and we shall be assisted in our judgment of the case, if we observe, that it excites no pain of chest. The pulse is small, rapid, quick and oppressed, more so than is usual in simple quinzy. Still, however, nothing particular is noticed, and no alarm is excited in the mind of the prac¬ titioner. In a short time, however, these symptoms are lost in others far more dangerous and severe. The patient complains of constant acute pain low down in the throat, with sense of burning heat and stricture, commonly point¬ ing to the thyroid cartilage as its seat. Deglutition is almost impossible ; and, when we reflect that, during this act, the larynx must be moved along with the pharynx, while the posterior part must be pressed upon by the food, we shall be rather surprised that this symptom should be sometimes a2