168 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of sunlight, and enabling an examination to be made at any time of 

 the day or night. 



For the clearer comprehension of the reader, I here introduce cut 

 No. 1, which depicts the laryngoscope, or laryngeal mirror. At the 

 left end we see the mirror, which is set in a silver frame and back ; 

 this in turn is attached to a metal stem, and the stem itself is set in a 

 wooden handle, which latter is merely a matter of convenience by 

 which the physician is enabled to handle it with more ease and facil- 



Stem. nandle. 



.TIEMANN &CQ.NY. 



Mirror. 



Fig. 1. 



ity. The mirror is made of various sizes, from that of a cent to 

 that of a silver half-dollar, and is so attached to the stem as to 

 describe an angle of 120 to 125. 



Prior to the discovery of the laryngoscope, the great obstacle to 

 the diagnosis and comprehension of disease of the larynx lay in the 

 fact that this organ was so placed as to be at an almost direct angle 

 to the line of vision. If we look into the mouth of another person, 

 we see the back of the mouth ; but if we wish to see the larynx, or 

 organ of tone and voice, we are unable to do it, even though its posi- 

 tion is just back of and below the root of the tongue. And, even 

 though we press down the tongue, we derive no aid. Nor are we 

 enlightened by symptoms of pain or discomfort in the throat, for 

 these are not only insufficient, but may be absolutely deceptive. A 

 patient may complain of aches and pains, and may imagine them in 

 the larynx, and all the while the organ be in a perfectly sound state ; 

 and, on the other hand again, grave forms of throat-disease may exist, 

 and with so little of actual pain as to cause the victim hardly any 

 uneasiness. The revolution in this department of the medical art may 

 perhaps be best illustrated when I refer to the fact that ere the intro- 

 duction of the laryngeal mirror, barely twenty years ago, there were 

 but two or three forms of laryngeal disease recognized or treated of 

 in the text-books on the practice of medicine. At the present time, 

 the study of the numerous and varied diseases of this wonderful little 

 organ, the larynx, has made such strides that laryngology has, like 

 ophthalmology, otology, and gynaecology, demanded and received 

 recognition as a separate and distinct department of medical prac- 

 tice, and has its special practitioners in almost every city of size 

 and population. "Whereas, formerly, the two or three recognized 

 forms of throat-disease were dismissed in a scant dozen of pages in 

 the medical text-works, we now have exhaustive and elaborate trea- 

 tises in all of the great languages of the civilized world. Twenty 



