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OT time prfv^nis purgfs, and avoid taking colJ. If tlicfe 

 nieani be ufcd for about a month or fix weeks, without any 

 citernil application, Mr. ProfTcr bus no doubt of fuccefs. 

 However, tlie patient fliould be under twenty-five years of 

 age. At tbi. ape tlie cure is uncertain ; but at a n-ore ad- 

 >ar.ced period of life it is much more improbable, and Icldom 

 or ever fucceeds. Mr. Gooch, in his " Medical Obferva- 

 uons" mentions an nqu.-ouj bkonciiocele ; and fo docs Mr. 

 Davies in the Med. and Phyf. Joisrnal, N^ 71, Jan. 1S05. 



BRONCHORST, Pi:ti:r, in Bk<;rap!'y, a painter of 

 pcifpec^iveandhillory, was boni in 1 ^8S at Delft, where he 

 Uarr.cd the art of paintinjr. His fiibjcds were v;cws of an- 

 cient and modem churches which he executed with Rreat 

 fuccefs. In the council chamber at Delft aic his " Judjr- 

 merit of Solomon," and " Clirilt driving the moncy-cliarigrrs 

 out of the temple ;" dcfcribed a; pcrfonnances in which the 

 architednre is eltpant, and the figures carefully finiflied. 

 Hedicdin iCfii. Pilkington. 



Bronchop.st, John-Van, a painter of hillot7 ard land- 

 Rape, was born at Utrecht in i6oT,\ and as he dilcovtr- 

 ei an extraordinary genius before he was 11 years of age, 

 he was placed under the direftion of John Vtrburg. He 

 wa-. aftci wards fur fome time afilJlant to Peter Mattys, a 

 p;iii.t<r on glafs, at Brabant. After his return to his own 

 country, he entered ihefchool of Cornelius Poelemburg, and 

 btiiig charmed with liis tafte of defign, pencilling, and co- 

 lour, imitated his ftyle with great fuccefs. Till his jCth year 

 h- painted on glafs ; but after that time in oil, after the 

 K.anner of Poelemburg, and obtained a lading reputation. 

 In the choir of the iie^- church at Amllerdam, there arc 

 three of his paintings on glafs, which are exhibited as 

 curiofities ; and in the fame church, on the folding doors of 

 t!ie or!;an, are three hillorcal paintings in oil, " the triumpb 

 of David over Gohali ;" " the anointing of Saul ;" and 

 <• the attempt of Saul to kill David while he was playing on 

 the harp," which are CNcellent performances. He alfo 

 amnfcd himfelf with the point ; and fome landfcapes from 

 Prclemburg, and other fnbjeds from his own compofition, 

 are attnbuted to him. Pilkington and Strutt. 



Bronchorst, Peter, was born at Leyden in 164S, and, 

 from an obfcure original, arrived, by the power of his own 

 genius and incclTant application, without any mailer, at 

 diitinguifhed excellence as a painter in water-colours. His 

 fubjefts were birds and animals of all kinds, which he copied 

 after nature with uncommon life, cxac^nels, and exprefllon. 

 H- died in 1 7:: 3. Pilkington. 



Bronchorst, or Bronhorst, in Geography', a town of 

 the United Dutch States, in the county of Zutphen ; 5 

 miles N. of Doeihurg. 



3R0XCH0T0MY, in Surgery, is the operation of 

 cutting into the trachea or wind-pipe ; from ^f.yyji; and t.jj.- 

 vi'. It has been alio named Larysgotomv, and Trachp- 

 otomy ; although there can be no rtafon whatever for 

 employing the latter terms in preference to tlie ulual appella- 

 tion. Mr. Benjamin Bell, however, has faid, that as bron- 

 chotomy "confills in an opening made into the trachea, and 

 not into the bronchis, it ought more properly to be named 

 tracheotomy .■" but to fuch hypercriticifms, we can only re- 

 ply, in the language of M. Petit- K adel : " Qiielques 

 nomenclateurs, pen inftruits dans la langue Grecque, et 

 ignorant que les ancients dcfignoicnt le trachce fou le nom 

 de /S(»yx'Ci qu'ds ont confondu avec /Sfoy^i*, qui font les an- 

 neaux des fubdivifions de cc canal, ont mienx aime defigner 

 cette operation fous le nom de tracheotomie ou laryngotomie ; 

 mais ces denominations n'ont pu gencralement prevaloir." 

 Encyclop. Method. Art. Bronchotomie. 



The operation of bronchotmiy may be pradlifed, with 



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greater or Icfs probability of fuccefs, in cafes where a patjcnt 

 is in danger of fufiocation, from an obllacle in the trachea, 

 or a conilriftion of the glottis. There may be llkewife a 

 ncctlTity for our riforting to this operation, where the trachea 

 is compreffed by a tumour externally, or where the tonfiU 

 and parts adjacent become fo enlarged as to impede refpira- 

 tion confiderably. In (liort, (hould any mechanical caufe 

 be fuppofed to exirt, of threattning fuffocation and impend, 

 ing death, the furgeon's duty will be too plain and imperious 

 to admit of helitation : an incifion mull be made into the 

 trachea without a moment's delay, unlets fome other obvious 

 remedy can be fuggefled for the patient's reiloiation. The 

 cafes to which we here allude are fo various, that they can- 

 not be all enumerated ; but no well inftrufted piaftitioner 

 will fuffer any perfon to lofe his life, for want of an opera- 

 tion fo eafily performed, fo little attended with bad confe- 

 quences in itfelf, and fo certainly efficacious in a multitude 

 of examples which frequently occur. 



Perhaps few, if any, chiru'-gical means can be propofed 

 for the relief of a patient in extreme danger, fo revolting to 

 mankind, as this of bronchotcmy. A general and long 

 eftablirtied prejudice prevails againll it, arifing from an erro- 

 neous opinion, that " wounds of the wind-pipe are always 

 mortal." Although this opinion is refuted by almoft daily 

 obfervation, and numbers of people have recovered after 

 cutting their own throats (i. e. dividing their trachea) in 

 the raoft horrid manner ; yet Hill, the popular notion exiils, 

 and mtift be encountered. It is therefore advifeable, prior 

 to the performance of this operation, that all the rcafons 

 which influence the furgeon's decifion, fhould be ftatcd 

 fairly, and the probable or certain confcquences of a dif- 

 ferent procedure be judicioufly reprefented to the patient or 

 the bye-ftanders, to prevent any groundlefs blame in the 

 event of ill fuccefs. 



As the caufe of interrupted refpiration may be different, 

 on drffcrent occalions, fo muft there be a variety in the man- 

 ner of performing this operation, according to the exifting 

 circumilances : in fome cales, a iimple incifion into the wind- 

 pipe, about half an inch below the crycoid cartilage, will 

 effect the relief we wifli for ; but, in other cafes, the wound 

 mult either be kept open by a canula ; or a portion of one 

 or two of the cartilaginous rings muft be cut out, in order 

 that the patient may continue to breathe with facility 

 through the artificial orifice. Sometimes, again, it may be 

 rcqiiilite to make a fecond opening, with a view to aflift us 

 in the extratiion of a foreign fubftance ; and when that ob- 

 jcft fhall have been attained, probably there will be no fur- 

 ther necelfity for an artificial air-hole remaining open in the 

 trachea, fo that the external as well as the internal wound 

 may be healed with all convenient fpecd. 



When it is required that the patient fhould breathe for 

 fome time through the wound, it would, we think, be ge- 

 nerally preferable to cut out a portion of the cartilage, (which 

 has been often done with fafety), rather than to harafs the 

 patient by keeping a metallic canula in the wound, between 

 the divided cartilages. An incefTaiit coughing and feufe of 

 uneafmefs will be likely to enfue from the pretence of a ca- 

 nula, which might, therefore, be a fource of greater mifchief 

 than could pofLbly arife from the removal of a fmall piece 

 of cartilage. Every perfon knows what diilreffing confe- 

 quences immediately follow on the adm.iflion of only a crumb 

 of bread into the glottis ; and how aggravated mull the fen- 

 fations of a man be, who has a filver lube remaining in his 

 larynx or trachea for feveral days, efpecially if it happen to 

 touch the oppofite parietes ! Should an extraneous body be 

 lodged in the trachea, it is not always capable of being remov- 

 ed without making an inciiion acrofs three or four of the carti- 

 laginous 



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