APPENDIX 



DISEASES OF THE EESPIKATOEY OEGANS. 



DISEASES OF THE NASAL CAVITIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



BYPER^EMIA AND CATARRH OF THE NASAL MUCOUS MEMBRANE 

 CORTZA, GRAVEDO, COLD IN THE HEAD. 



ETIOLOGY. The nutritive and functional disorders characteristic 

 of catarrh are to be seen with extreme frequence in the nasal mucous 

 membrane, where they are called "cold in the head" (Schnupfen). 

 Far more rarely, and almost solely in the course of infectious maladies, 

 the nasal mucous membrane is attacked by croupous or by diphtheritic 

 inflammation. 



The same remarks apply, with regard to the etiology of nasal 

 catarrh, which we have already made in treating of catarrh of the 

 larynx and bronchi. Predisposition to cold in the head varies greatly 

 in different individuals. In general, it is greater in children and in 

 feeble, delicate, and, above all, in scrofulous persons, than in adults 

 and in individuals who are muscular and robust. Gradual " harden 

 ing " diminishes the predisposition, so that it is comparatively rare foi 

 inveterate snuff-takers, who are in the habit of irritating their nasal 

 membranes almost constantly, to suffer much from catarrh. Besides 

 these, however, there are sources of predisposition which are quite un- 

 known to us, or, in other words, we find a remarkable tendency to 

 coryza in persons in whom we are not able to detect any peculiarity 

 by which they may be distinguished from other less predisposed in- 

 dividuals. 



The causes which occasion catarrh of the nose are very numerous, 

 and the almost universal impression which prevails among the laity, 

 that " colds " always proceed from chilling of the skin, is erroneous ; 



