Hoarseness, loss of voice, and stridulous breathing : in relation to nervo-muscular affections of the larynx / By Morell Mackenzie.

  • Mackenzie, Morell, 1837-1892.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hoarseness, loss of voice, and stridulous breathing : in relation to nervo-muscular affections of the larynx / By Morell Mackenzie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    More often it is the simply anaemic who suffer from it. Most commonly, however, this form of aphonia originates in catarrhal congestion. The hoarseness and cough disappear, and the voice is entirely lost. Women are far more subject to this form of aphonia than men, and young women more so than old. Still I have treated several cases in which men were the patients. I well recollect a very obstinate case of an engineer, aged about 50, sent to me some years ago at the Throat Hospital by Dr. Drysdale, and I recently treated an old gentleman, recommended to me by Dr. Smyly, of Dublin, for the same affection. I have also had women of advanced years, with this form of aphonia, under my care. On the other hand, I have successfully treated two children—both girls, under ten years of age. Silent people, whether their silence is voluntary or forced, are more subject to functional aphonia than those who are accustomed to use their tongues freely. At a nunnery at the West-end, held by one of the strictest of the contemplative orders, I lately saw, in con- sultation with Mr. Tegart, two cases, in which prolonged silence, together with the other depressing circumstances of conventual life, had given rise to obstinate paralysis of the adductors. Emotional influences, especially that of sudden terror, very frequently give rise to it. The popular ex- pression struck dumb with fright, probably refers more to vocalization than articulation ; and the embarrassment of those unaccustomed to public speaking seems to be occasioned by loss of power of both these functions. Very frequently it occurs as one of the protean forms of hysteria, and these cases are not unfrequently associated with loss of power of articulation, the lips and tongue remaining perfectly immobile when the patient is directed to make an effort to speak. Pressure on the recurrent nerves* sometimes gives rise to it, but more often the nerve on one side only is affected. I have met with one case, however,—a patient under the care of my colleague, Mr. Hutchinson, about three years ago, in which paralysis of the adductors of the vocal cords was * Deittsches Archiv fib- klin. Mediz. Feb. 22, 1867. Ueber Stimmband- lahmungen, von Dr. Baumler.