Asthma, Presenting an Exposition of the Nonpassive Expiration Theory (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. HISTORICAL OBSERVATIONS AND THEORIES. The historical data herein presented are as far as possible arranged chronologically. I offer no apology for presenting an extensive bibliography, even though the greater number of the findings and opinions are of comparatively little benefit in helping me to arrive at my conclusions. The names of physicians of rank of the past are all too infrequently seen in modern medical literature. If this historical sketch of asthma serves to quicken the interest of even a few in the subject of medical history, some good will have been accomplished. A survey of the literature reveals that asthma has been recognized for centuries, even from the time of Hippocrates. Probably, however, there has been, and not very remotely, much confusion of other conditions with asthma, but perhaps not more than is the case with other poorly understood subjects. The disease was first considered to be due to a spasm of the lungs. Then later it was suggested that there might be muscle in the bronchi and that these might undergo spastic contraction. This theory held sway from the seventeenth century even to the present. In the latter part of the nineteenth century the theory of vessel turgescence of the bronchial mucosa developed and divided honors with the muscle spasm theory. During the past decade the theory of anaphylaxis has become popular and has given further support to the muscle spasm theory. But a great proportion of physicians have not been satisfied with either of the two generally accepted theories. The multitude of theories, some ingenious and helpful and others far fetched and convincing evidence of a fruitless search, have failed to receive much attention. Incidentally many interesting but disconnected facts have been presented. Hip...