INHALATION PNEUMONIA 
617 
Of great interest it appears to us, is the fact that on July 
17th, during our irrigation we flushed out a large sized piece of 
necrotic tissue which must have been lodged low down in the 
bronchi. In each case we apparently cleared the bronchi, at 
least the larger ones, of any foreign matter, and we certainly are 
warranted in believing that the irrigation of the lungs exerted 
a very favorable influence on the course of the disease. 
Our efforts suggest a much wider range of usefulness. In 
accidental inhalation of drugs during drenching, it seems that 
irrigation may in safety be depended upon to wash out oils, to 
dilute and wash out such irritants as alcohol, turpentine, 
whiskey, chloral, etc., while in case of foreign bodies of consid¬ 
erable size, it offers us a means for their removal, quite worthy 
of a trial. It seems quite possible that good results might be 
had by this plan in such affections as pulmonary tuberculosis 
where large softening areas communicate with, and discharge 
into bronchi, and in all forms of suppurative broncho-pneumonia, 
and possibly also in extensive diphtheritic invasion of the air 
passages. 
Perhaps one of its most direct uses will be found in the pre¬ 
vention of inhalation pneumonia after arytenectomy, as it affords 
us not only a safe plan for thorough irrigation of the field of 
operation, but the fluid passing down the trachea into the 
bronchi flush out and destroy any pathogenic organisms which 
have been inhaled. 
We do not say that our plan, formula or rate of administra¬ 
tion is the best, other antiseptics may be better and other rate or 
details of administration may be far superior. 
We do not know if it is better to have a tracheal or laryn¬ 
geal opening or not, though the absence of a counter-opening 
might, it seems to us, lead to dangerous spasmodic closure of 
the larynx. 
The rate of administration can evidently be varied. We did 
not know at the beginning of our experiment the rate of ad¬ 
ministration by the experimenters quoted, and departed widely 
from their plan by introducing the liquid at a very rapid rate, 
