Vocal Cords in Quiet Respiration in 3/an, Sfc. 407 



An attempt will be made in this paper to show that the actual con- 

 ditions correspond to the second of these two alternatives. The 

 question has occupied my attention for a very considerable length of 

 time, and as far back as 1884 I submitted the considerations of which 

 this paper is an outcome to the opinion of the Laryngological Section 

 of the International Medical Congress, at Copenhagen, in the discus- 

 sion on "An etiological classification of the motor impairments of 

 the larynx."* 



On the same occasion Professor Krause, of Berlin, communicated 

 his ideas on the reflex-tonus of the abductors of the vocal cords, ideas 

 which fully harmonise with my own, and which shortly after- 

 wards found full expression in his paper in Virchow's 'Archiv,' 

 above referred to. They are exclusively based upon theoretical con- 

 siderations. 



In order to show that the glottis is wider open during quiet 

 respiration (both inspiration and expiration) than after death, or 

 after division of the vagi or recurrent laryngeal nerves, proofs of a 

 threefold nature may be adduced, namely : 



First. Corroborating evidence from trustworthy observers. 

 Second. Direct comparative measurements of the width of the 



glottis during quiet respiration and after death. 

 Third. Results of experiments on animals. 



a. Corroborating Literary Evidence. 



In a previous paragraph, the names of those observers have been 

 given who maintain that the glottis during quiet respiration is in a 

 quiescent state. Of these observers, Rosenthal, Vierordt, Czermak, 

 Luschka, Von Bruns, Schech, Biegel, Frankel, Bosenbach, Krause, 

 Gottstein expressly state that the glottis during both phases of quiet 

 respiration is wider open than after death, whilst the opinion of 

 almost all the other authorities named appears to go to the same 

 effect, but is not so distinctly stated that they could be quoted as 

 partisans of this view. On the other hand, one laryngologist only, 

 namely, Mr. Lennox Brown e,f expresses decided views as to the identity 

 of the state of the glottis as seen during quiet respiration and after 

 death. 



He figures (Plate 10, fig. 92) the appearance of the normal larynx 

 after death, showing the cadaveric position of the vocal cords, and 

 adds (p. 334), " This is also their position during quiet respiration." 



* A short reference to these observations will be found in the Transactions of the 

 Congress (' Compte-rendu des travaux de la Section de Laryngologie,' Copen- 

 hagen, 1886. Reprint, p. 48), but tne work upon which they were based is now 

 for the first time published. 



t ' The Throat and its Diseases,' 1st edit., 1887. 



