Excerpt from Inhalation of Atomized Fluids; On the Treatment of Chronic Diseases of the Lungs, by the Inhalation of Atomized Fluids; A New Mode of Treating Diseases of the Cavity of the Nose

For description of apparatus as made by us, see pages 21 - 22.cylindrical perforated muzzle of gutta-percha or of prepared india-rubber. If now the glass-vessel is filled with fluid, and the little stop-cock immediately underneath the nozzle is opened, the fluid will escape at the fine Openings of the nozzle; and if the nozzle accurately fits the nostril, and the fluid is allowed to flow, the fluid will enter and fill the cavity of the nose, as will be more especially described hereafter. Great care must be taken to ensure an adequate fitting of the nozzle to the nostril of the person who is to be operated upon, as, if fluid escape by the side of the nozzle, it makes the operation difficult and troublesome. It is therefore necessary to have several sizes of nozzles, to be fixed upon the stop-cock at will. In order to avoid all possible chances of infection, and ensure cleanliness, I lay it down as a desideratum, that every person using the apparatus should have his or her own nozzle, to be used exclusively by that person. In dispensaries and hospitals, where this cannot be so easily effected as in private practice, the utmost care should be exercised to clean the nozzles from any semi-solid matter which easily becomes firmly adherent to them. As the current is always directed outwards through the openings, there is hardly any chance Of the interior of the nozzle becoming unclean or infectious. Yet it will be well to give to each patient, particularly if he be the subject of specific disease, his own apparatus. Even the suspicion that a patient might, by accident, blow into the tube and endanger his successor, will thus be avoided.

Of the fluids to be employed for rinsing the nose - Pure warm water, when introduced into the nose by means of the apparatus, causes, in most per sons, a very disagreeable sensation, ending in lachrymation and sternutation (or tears and sneezing, ) with subsequent copious discharge of watery mucus from the nose. If the quantity of water run through the nose be large, the cold produced thereby, including the change in the sound of the voice, may last for some hours. To avoid this objectionable symptom, it is best to employ solutions of common salt, or other salts, of sugar or milk for rinsing the nose. In the course of practice, cases will arise in which all these solutions offer advantages. For general use, a solution containing one ounce of common salt in a pint of water, is satisfactory. Some persons will bear less salt; others will tolerate more. Of this solution, having a temperature rather lower than that Of the blood, from one to four, or if desired, any number of pints, may be allowed to flow through the cavities of the nose. It does not easily produce sneezing, rarely lachrymation, and hardly ever any subsequent symptom of cold in the head. The saline solutions, which, next to common salt, offer the greatest advantages, are those Of the common phosphate of soda, and phosphate of ammonia and soda. They can be used by themselves, or mixed with the com mon salt. Their alkalinity has abeneficial effect upon the irritated Schneiderian membrane, and dissolves, or loosens any deposits of mucus or pus, which so frequently dry and harden upon the surfaces of the nasal cavity.

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