Memoir on the last sickness of General Washington and its treatment by the attendant physicians.

  • Jackson, James, 1777-1867.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir on the last sickness of General Washington and its treatment by the attendant physicians. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    swelling would be much more in this last case than in the first. The greater swell- ing; in the second case would be attended with more general affection of the system than would occur in the first one. So far the difference between the common affec- tion of the larynx, in ordinary colds, and that in the severe disease under consider- ation, is illustrated by the supposed in- flammation in the skin in the two men. But there is one great difference. The swelling of the skin is not productive of any serious inconvenience; not so in the larynx. That is the tube through which the air passes to the lungs in respiration, and in one part the passage is very nar- row. In this part the swelling must oc- cupy the calibre of the tube; in fatal cases it fills up the air passage ; and the effect of this is the same as if a cord were tied very tightly around the neck. As the passage is filling up, the air passes