DISEASES OF THE EESPIEATOEY ORGANS. 



SECTION L 

 AFFECTIONS OF THE LARYNX. 





CHAPTER I. 



ITYPEE^EMIA AND CATARRH OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE OP THE 



LARYNX. 



ETIOLOGY. [Whenever there is hypersemia of a mucous mem- 

 brane, active or passive, the condition known as catarrh is also more 

 or less distinctly observable. The morbid processes characterizing 

 this condition are very manifold, now one, now another of them 

 predominating, thus imparting to catarrh a great diversity of form. 

 Here a flow of mucus may prevail, due to changes in the epithelial 

 and glandular cells ; there the main feature may be a liberation of 

 crude round cells, the so-called pus-corpuscles or mucus-corpuscles, 

 as in purulent catarrh or blenorrhcea. In cases even yet more 

 intense there may be an excessive serous exudation, which imparts 

 a watery character to the discharge, or else causes an infiltration 

 of serum within the mucous membrane itself oedema instead of 

 the usual more moderate succulence.] 



Now we find that liability to catarrh varies greatly among persons 

 exposed to the same exciting cause ; and that in one this mucous surface, 

 in another that, is always the favorite point of attack. Special predis- 

 position, in some cases, seems to coexist with a thin epidermis and a 

 strong tendency to perspire ; for those who sweat readily are the more 

 apt to be suddenly chilled by the rapid evaporation of their perspiration. 

 Badly-nourished, cachectic persons too, who are less capable of resist- 

 ing the action of hurtful agents, are, on the whole, more prone to ca- 

 tarrh than full-blooded and robust individuals. In other instances 

 there is no clew whatever to the cause of an intense predisposition to 

 this affection. Effeminate habits seem to aggravate it. At all events, 

 we see that country people, shepherds, and others, who live continu- 

 ally exposed to changes of temperature and to stress of weather, are 

 less frequently thus affected than persons of sedentary habits, and 

 those who are but rarely subjected to such exposure. 



