CHAPTER Y. 



DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS. 



THE NASAL PASSAGES. 



Acute rhinitis, or coryza, inflammation of the mucous mem- 

 brane of the nose, occurs most frequently as a simple "cold in 

 the head " due to exposure ; it may also accompany influenza, 

 measles, typhoid fever, and other infectious diseases. Diph- 

 theria may primarily involve, or extend to, the nasal passages. 

 The inflammatory hypersemia gives rise to a feeling of stuffi- 

 ness in the nose, and the subsequent exudation to the muco- 

 purulent discharge. 



Chronic rhinitis supervenes as the result of repeated acute 

 attacks. The mucous membrane becomes thickened and the 

 nasal passages obstructed hypertrophic rhinitis. Later there 

 may be complete atrophy of the mucous membrane ; in such 

 cases there is usually an extremely foetid, purulent discharge 

 atrophic rhinitis or ozcena. 



Syphilis may affect the nose, in the tertiary stage, in the 

 form of gummata, beginning in the mucous membrane, 

 periosteum, or perichondrium. There may be extensive nice ra- 

 tion and destruction of tissue, resulting in serious deformities. 



THE LARYNX. 



Acute inflammation of the larynx laryngitis may be due 

 to exposure to cold or inhalation of irritating vapors; and 

 accompanies measles, whooping-cough, smallpox, typhoid fever, 

 and other infectious diseases. In some cases there is such an 

 oedematous infiltration of the loose submucous tissue over 

 the aryepiglottic folds and at the base of the epiglottis as 

 to give rise to serious, even fatal, obstruction. 



The severe inflammatory process excited by the diphtheria 

 bacillus is especially characterized by an exudate rich in 

 fibrin, which coagulates and adheres to the larynx as a grayish 



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