An inaugural dissertation on the suffocatio stridula, or croup : which, under the direction of the Reverend John Ewing, D.D. provost of the University of Pennsylvania ; by the authority of the Honourable Board of Trustees, and with the approbation of the respectable Faculty ; is submitted to their superior judgments, and to the candid examination of the learned, for a degree of Doctor of Medicine / by Robert G.W. Davidson, A.M. of Philadelphia, honorary member of the Philadelphia Medical Society ; 19th May, 1794.

  • Davidson, Robert Gamble Waiters, 1773-1804.
Date:
MDCCXCIV [1794]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural dissertation on the suffocatio stridula, or croup : which, under the direction of the Reverend John Ewing, D.D. provost of the University of Pennsylvania ; by the authority of the Honourable Board of Trustees, and with the approbation of the respectable Faculty ; is submitted to their superior judgments, and to the candid examination of the learned, for a degree of Doctor of Medicine / by Robert G.W. Davidson, A.M. of Philadelphia, honorary member of the Philadelphia Medical Society ; 19th May, 1794. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    When the membrane is found, there is always a quantity of iWBCtSs lying between it and the trachea, which prevents it from adhering to the inner membrane. Sometimes it has been found fixed to the lower part of the trachea, and in attempting to take it out ha;> been lacerated—Ghiii fays that in one inftance it refilled even the knife. Dr. Home has kept it macerating in water for many days without difiblving it. This membrane has been found fo long as to ftretch down from the top of the larynx into the fmall ramifications of the bronchia;; fometimes it extends no farther than the bron- chia?; and frequently only two or three inches from the upper part of the trachea. In fome cafes, it is not thicker than writing paper; in others, it is fo thick as nearly to Mop up the wind-pipe. The mucus is found in the trachea and bronchire and may be fqueezed out in great quantity from the lungs, by preffure. The inner furface of the trachea, in general, (hews no figns of in- flammation. In moft of the difiections made by the phyficians in this place, no marks of inflammation were difcovered*. Dr. Home frequently obferves that no figns of inflamation were to be feed. In addition to what has juft been faid, I beg leave to give the following quotation from Dr. Home. The feat of this difeafe appears to be the cavity of the wind-pipe. The place firll and moft particularly affefted is the upper part of the trachea about an inch below the glottis ; for, in that part, they complain of a dull pain ; the external fwelling has been obferved there; and the mor- bid membrane we have found ftretching from that place downwards. The back part of the trachea, where there are no cartilages, feems from the infpection of thofe that die of this difeafe, to be its firft and principal feat, as this morbid membrane is often found there, when it is in no other part. No wonder that the morbid appear- ances are chiefly found there ; for there are lodged the greateft num- ber of glands, defigned for the fecretion of mucus. DIAGNOSIS. IN the beginning of this differtation we took notice of the fre- quent miftakes committed by parents in fuppofing that the firft ap- pearance of this difeafe is a fimple Catarrh or Cold ; phyficians unfortunately fall into the fame error; and it will be found very difficult, in the beginning, to make a diftinction. However, in the Suffocatio Stridula, there is frequently no cough, and when it is prefent, it is fhort and ftined ; and not fo convulfive as the catarrhal. * Sec Dr. Kulm's le&ares. Dr. B. Duffieid, a practitioner of eminence in phyfick, and lecturer on mid- witcry, in Philadelphia, informs me, that he has made manv diiTedlions, all of which bear telHmony to the abfence of inflammation. See alio Sparman's tranf* !-tion of Rofea Von Rufenltinc, on the Difeafcs of Children,