thickening of the surrounding tissues, or any appearance of cancer. The opening into the trachea is about ⅓ in. in diameter.
From a woman, æt. forty-two, who reported that she had had "stricture of the œsophagus" for twenty-four years, and that it was owing to her having swallowed a chicken bone. For the first two or three years she could take only very small quantities of food, and her health was greatly reduced. She was then relieved by bougies; and from that time her disease gave her very little inconvenience until about three months before death, when the obstruction increased, with soreness and pain, and toward the last most distressing dyspnœa. Swallowing of food became almost impossible; and the paroxysms of dyspnœa resembled the spasmodic croup of infants. There had been cough from the first, but no expectoration until the last few days; there being, at last, occasional gushes of purulent matter, and in considerable quantities. (Med. Jour. Vol. LXIX. p. 275.) 1863.
2173. Encephaloid disease of the pharynx and œsophagus.
From a woman, forty-two years of age, who, for five or six years before death, had had dysphagia, and been disturbed in her sleep by a peculiar sonorous sound about the larynx. About ten months before death the dysphagia increased, so that she could not take her usual food; with a cough, to which she had been subject, and great irritation about the larynx. By the use of a probang the passage was enlarged, and deglutition became so much easier that she left the city on a journey; but, on her return, four or five weeks afterward, she was worse than ever, and there was a great deal of pain in the back of the neck, and through the ears. From this time she sank, with very little pain or cough; but suffering mostly, toward the last, from the accumulation of viscid mucus in the throat.
The disease was remarkably limited; extending as high as the top of the arytenoid cartilages, and as low as the lower edge of the thyroid. Posterior and lateral portions of the canal affected, but the anterior portion was throughout quite healthy. The diseased structure was from one-
