On a new method of recording the motions of the soft palate / By Harrison Allen.

  • Allen, Harrison, 1841-1897.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a new method of recording the motions of the soft palate / By Harrison Allen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    A NEW METHOD OF RECORDING THE MOTIONS OF THE SOFT PALATE. In this paper I will describe a new method of recording the motions of the soft palate. When a straight rod is passed through the nose from before backward in the living subject as far as is possible, it will be found to impinge against the roof of the naso-pharynx. In this position the rod is not influenced by any motions of the soft palate; but if the end of the rod which remains without the nostril be raised so that the rod be brought in contact with the anterior border of the nostril, the pharyngeal end of the rod will lie in a position which will cause a decided motion to be transmitted to it when the soft palate is raised. I have for a long time been in the habit of relying upon this test to determine when an instrument thrust through the nose had reached the region of the naso-phaiynx. Having observed that the sensations upon the fingers when the rod was thus held in position varied according to the character of the sound of the voice, I instituted a series of careful comparisons, which led me to infer that the elevation of the soft palate was