Chuii. VI.] A r OS AND NASAL CAVITIES. 89 



Foreign bodies of various kind are often lodged in 

 the nose, and may remain there for some years. Thus 

 Tillaux reports the case of an old woman, aged 64, 

 from whose nose he removed a cherry stone that had 

 been there for twenty years. 



In washing out the nasal cavities with the " 11:1 sal 

 douctic" the fluid is introduced by means of a 

 syphon. The nozzle of the syphon tube is introduced 

 into one nostril, the mouth is kept open, and the 

 fluid runs through that nostril, passes over the soft 

 palate, and escapes from the other nostril. The latter 

 cavity is therefore washed out from behind forwards. 

 The course of the fluid depends upon the fact, that 

 when the mouth is kept open there is such a dis- 

 position to breathe through it alone, that the soft 

 palate is drawn up and the nares cut off from the 

 pharynx. 



The roof of each nasal fossa is very narrow, being 

 only about ^ of an inch in width. It is mainly formed 

 by the thin cribriform plate, but its width is such that 

 the danger of the roof being penetrated by so large 

 a substance as a pair of polyp forceps has been greatly 

 exaggerated. The cranial cavity has, however, been 

 opened up through the roof of the nose by penetrating 

 bodies introduced both by accident and with homicidal 

 intent. Meningitis has followed inflammation of the 

 nasal fossae, the inflammation extending through the 

 cribriform plate. Fracture of this part also has been 

 associated with very copious escape of cerebro-spinal 

 fluid through the nostrils. A meningocele may pro- 

 trude through the nasal roof. In a case reported by 

 Lichtenberg the mass hung from the mouth, having 

 passed through a congenital fissure in the palate. It 

 was mistaken for a polyp, was ligatured, and death 

 resulted from intracranial inflammation. 



The septum is seldom quite straight in adults ; 

 the deviation being more often towards the left. It is, 



