On an improved apparatus for spray inhalations / [James Adams].

  • Adams, James Maxwell, 1818-1899.
Date:
[1868]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On an improved apparatus for spray inhalations / [James Adams]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    profits of the coveted monopoly of manufacture till the present time, when the Patent rights have expired. o cpired. 1 ask your forbearance for the time occupied in this dim' es- sive episode, but it is part of my argument in illustrating the ungenerous and mischievous bearing upon therapeutic progress, ot a medical man, patenting and monopolizing for his personal' advantage, a therapeutic agent. Before leaving Dr. Siegle and his assignees I must refer for a moment^ to the mechanical notions, or rather to the want of such, manifested throughout every modification of apparatus that they have adopted or appropriated. It is said of Gold- smith, that he touched nothing he did not adorn, but of Siegle's assignees it might be said, that they touch nothing they do not spoil. After sticking closely to my pattern for a consider- able period, they have endeavoured to improve upon its shape, and they have altered the conical top of the boiler for a rounded dome. This lessens in a trifling degree the manufacturer's cost, and, consequently, increases his profit, the retail price remaining unchanged. But it misses the objects I had in view in devising the conical top—viz., the drying, and thereby increasing the elastic force of the steam at the instant of its escape, and also of preventing the risk of priming of the boiler, or of lodgment of wet steam in the escape pipe. And now, after the fashion of a lady's letter, the pith of which is in the postscript, I come to the more novel and prac- tical portion of my communication. A very annoying incident has hitherto attached to the use of the spray inhaler. The spray scatters over the face, eyes, and dress of the patient, and of his bed clothes when in bed. A separate apparatus, consisting of a screen with a hole in the centre, mounted on a support, and having a vessel to contain the condensed spray as it trickles down, has been recommended, and is occasionally employed; and a funnel shaped screen of card board, or of stout paper, or other material, held in the hand, is frequently employed. But in prac- tice the use of even the best of these make-shift contrivances, setting aside the extra cost, is insufficient to prevent annoyance. There is difficulty in adjusting the stand-mounted screen so as to save the patient from a strained position, particularly while in bed. The vapour, moreover, does not always get through the hole in the screen, but is caught at an angle and deflected with every movement of the hand or face. There is a further annoy- ance caused by the vapour that is intercepted by a hand screen becoming condensed on the screen, and from thence trickling down upon the bedding, or upon the table, if the patient is out of bed. I have found these inconveniences to be substantial