LARYNGOSCOPY AND RHINOSCOPY.
BY CARL SEILER, M.D.
The laryngoscope is a combination of instruments designed for the examination of the interior of the larynx and upper part of the trachea, while the rhinoscope is a similar combination of instruments designed to explore the posterior nasal cavity; and both are comparatively recent inventions.
HISTORY OF THE LARYNGOSCOPE.—In medical literature before the middle of the eighteenth century no mention is made of an instrument or apparatus resembling the laryngoscope, but recent excavations at Pompeii have brought to light small polished metal mirrors attached to slender handles which are supposed to have been used to inspect the cavities of the human body. The first authenticated attempt at laryngoscopy and rhinoscopy was made by the distinguished French accoucheur M. Levret in the year 1743, who invented, among other surgical instruments, an apparatus by means of which polypoid growths in the cavities of the nose, throat, ear, etc. could be seen, and a ligature be passed around them for their removal.1 This apparatus consisted mainly of a polished metal mirror which "reflected the luminous rays in the direction of the tumor," and on whose surface the image of the growth was seen to be reflected. The great value of this apparatus for the diagnosis and treatment of nasal and laryngeal diseases was, however, not recognized, and it shared the fate of many other valuable discoveries which were made before the world was ready to receive them: it was forgotten.
1 Mercure de France, 1743, p. 2434.
In 1807 a certain Dr. Bozzini, living in Frankfort-on-the-Main, published a work describing an apparatus which he had invented for the illumination and examination of the cavities of the human body.2 This apparatus consisted of a peculiarly-shaped lamp and of a number of metal tubes, polished on their inner surface, of various shapes and sizes adapted for the different cavities of the body. The one intended for the examination of the larynx was bent near its end at a right angle, and had a mirror placed at the bend, which served to throw the light downward toward the opening of the larynx when the tube was inserted into the mouth. When reflected light was to be used, the interior of the tube or speculum was divided into two portions by a longitudinal septum, and two mirrors were inserted at the bend—one for the reflection of the light downward, and the other for receiving the reflected image. This invention of Bozzini was treated, however, with derision by the medical profession, probably on account of the extravagant descriptions given of it in the papers, which were not verified by its performances.
2 "Der Lichtleiter," Philipp Bozzini, Med. und Chir. Dr., Weimar, 1807.
In 1825, Cagniard de Latour, an investigator of the physiology of the voice, made some unsuccessful attempts to examine the living larynx.3
3 Physiologie de la Voix, par Ed. Tournié, Paris, 1865.