Consumption of the throat. - chronic inflammation of the larynx. (chronic laryngitis, and c.)

-SMALL A. E.,
This disease in its most simple form is only a chronic hoarseness, and has been sufficiently enlarged upon under the article Hoarseness. In its higher grades, however, it becomes one of the most serious and obstinate of diseases. It frequently commences with a slight hoarseness, a little uneasiness in the throat, and perhaps a slight cough, rather a clearing up of the throat or a hawking than a cough. As it progresses, various unpleasant sensations are felt in the throat, such as burning, tickling, itching, dryness and constriction, and sometimes dull, smarting, or acute pain, though in many fatal cases there is little or no pain. The voice is sometimes hoarse, sometimes squeaking, sometimes whispering; the change being more perceptible when speaking loudly, or singing. Cough, if any, usually short and dry at first, and becoming gradually loose, with mucus or purulent expectoration.

If ulceration takes place, a pricking sensation is not uncommonly felt in the throat, as if from a sharp, pointed body, especially when speaking, and if the disease be in the upper part of the throat, especially in or near the epiglottis, it becomes exceedingly difficult to swallow, and at times whatever is swallowed returns by the nostrils; in other cases there is no difficulty in swallowing; the voice may become hollow, or quite lost, especially if the rim of the glottis is ulcerated, or the vocal ligaments are involved; the discharge becomes purulent or bloody and fetid; patches of lymph detached from the membrane are expectorated; portions of cartilage, ossified and calcareous matter, are sometimes discharged; the symptoms are more generally paroxysmal than continuous; the general health gives way; debility, night sweats, swelling of the limbs, emaciation, loss of appetite, and vomiting or diarrhoea, are premonitions often of a fatal termination.
In this disease there is usually more or less soreness of the windpipe upon pressure. The breathing of cold air, coughing, sneezing speaking, laughing and swallowing, frequently aggravate or bring on a paroxysm of severe sufferings.
The remedies which have been recommended in this disease, are Argentum, Arsenicum, Belladonna, Carbo veg., Calcarea carb., Hepar sulph., Lachesis, Nitric acid, Phosphorus, Sanguinaria, Spongia, Silicea, Sulphur. Belladonna, Lachesis, Sanguinaria and Sulphur will be found adapted generally in the earlier stages. Arsenicum, Carbo veg., Nitric acid, Phosphorus and Spongia to more advanced forms, and Argentum, Calcarea carb., Spongia, Silicea and Sulphur, to the latter stages. As this disease is comparatively of rare occurrence, we shall give but few symptomatic indications.

Argentum metallicum
is adapted to all cases in which there is a marked sensation of rawness in the throat, or in the throat, mouth and chest; or if there be an appearance of an eruption in the throat, with sense as if raw; sensation as if some foreign body were sticking to the front part of the larynx, at a small spot, with a feeling of coldness and pressure; frequent inclination to cough, but no relief obtained by coughing; aggravations in the evening; sore throat of public speakers.
DOSE. - Give one drop of the dilution, or six globules, in ten spoonfuls of water; a spoonful to be taken every four hours, until amelioration or change.
Arsenicum album
is indicated if the tongue be of a dark color, dry or cracked, with dryness or burning in the throat, windpipe and chest; frequent stifling sensations, with constrictions; constant desire for drink which affords little or no relief, perhaps aggravates the dryness in the throat; or, if there be ulcerations with burning pains, fetid, bloody and ichorous, or water-colored discharge; or of mucus having a saltish, pungent and bitterish taste; and if there be emaciation, weakness, periodical attacks, shiverings and heats, night-sweats, swelling of the limbs, especially for persons subject to eruptions, nettle-rash, or ulcers with burning pains.
DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, in half a tumbler of water; a spoonful to be given every four or six hours, until the symptoms become modified, or some other remedy is indicated.
Belladonna
if the voice be weak and squeaking, if the attacks are spasmodic and suffocating, worse at night and in bed; if the least pressure upon the windpipe and throat is attended with choking and suffocation, all the parts being very sensitive to the touch; face pale or flushed; a choking dryness in the mouth; redness of the mouth and tongue, and especially of the throat; or if there be swellings of the glands of the throat and mouth.

DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, in half a tumbler of water; a spoonful to be given every six hours for two or four days, then omit medicine four days, or give some other remedy according to the symptoms.
Calcarea carbonica
may be given after Belladonna to persons of scrofulous habits, with tendencies to ulceration, especially if ulceration in the throat be already established; if the discharge on coughing be thick and yellowish or pus-like, or if blood be mixed with the matter discharged from the throat; especially, adapted to persons of a weak, sickly constitution, of a light complexion, blond hair and eyes; or to persons of a lymphatic constitution, with tendencies to corpulency.
DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, to be dissolved in six spoonfuls of water; a spoonful to be given night and morning, until some change be observed, after which wait a few days without medicine.
Hepar sulphur
also after Belladonna, if there be sensation in the throat as of a plug or an internal tumor; stinging in the throat as if from splinters; painful sensibility of the larynx, with weak rough voice; emaciation; hectic fever and sleeplessness; abundant expectoration of mucus with the cough; or swellings, glandular enlargements, and c., and if ulceration be already established; also for persons of unhealthy skin, subject to tubercles, nettlerash, or to erysipelas.
DOSE. - Give one drop of the dilution, or six globules, dissolved in ten spoonfuls of water; a spoonful to be taken every four hours, until amelioration or change.
Lachesis mutus
if with a great degree of painful sensibility of the throat there be swellings, burnings and raw sore pains; stiffness and paralysis; soreness affecting only a small spot on the throat, or on the contrary extending over the whole throat even to the ears; sensation of a tumor in the throat, or of some foreign body which can not be detached; difficulty of swallowing, with dread of drinks; face pale, earthy or yellowish, with redness of the cheeks, and bloatedness, or wasted and wan; ulcerations even on the palate and throat, with fetid discharge; gangrenous ulcerations; pulse weak, frequent, intermittent, with cold sweats; after Belladonna, and before or after Arsenicum.

DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, in six spoonfuls of water; a spoonful to be given every four hours, until amelioration or change.
Mercurius solubilis
Or Nitricum acidum, if the disease be manifestly of syphilitic origin, if there be inflammatory swellings or ulcerations, involving also the glands of the mouth and throat; if there be stinging, stitching, excoriating, or cutting pains; discharge of foetid pus, or of bloody and corrosive serum; foetid or acid night-sweats, lassitude, emaciation, fever, especially at night; violent thirst, hoarseness, and c.
DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, in ten spoonfuls of water, a spoonful to be taken every four hours, and continued for two weeks, or longer; if there be an aggravation of the symptoms, stop all medicine, or give a much higher dilution of the same remedy; continue the selected remedy, alternately changing the dilution or omitting all medicine, until a cure is effected, which will usually take several months. Nitric acid frequently produces aggravations in syphilitic affections, preceding a cure.
Nitricum acidum
Or mercurius vivus, if the disease be manifestly of syphilitic origin, if there be inflammatory swellings or ulcerations, involving also the glands of the mouth and throat; if there be stinging, stitching, excoriating, or cutting pains; discharge of foetid pus, or of bloody and corrosive serum; foetid or acid night-sweats, lassitude, emaciation, fever, especially at night; violent thirst, hoarseness, and c.
DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, in ten spoonfuls of water, a spoonful to be taken every four hours, and continued for two weeks, or longer; if there be an aggravation of the symptoms, stop all medicine, or give a much higher dilution of the same remedy; continue the selected remedy, alternately changing the dilution or omitting all medicine, until a cure is effected, which will usually take several months. Nitric acid frequently produces aggravations in syphilitic affections, preceding a cure.
Phosphorus
is useful, if the disease be in consequence of frequent or long neglected catarrhs, or if it be in consequence of the suppression of some local disease, as small-pox, itch, measles, scarlatina, and c.; or especially, for persons of a weak, irritable constitution, the skin being thin and tender, with disposition to bleed easily from slight causes; cough, with stinging, and painful sensibility of the throat, loss of voice, hoarseness, and scraping sensations, as if the parts were raw; cough, dry or moist, or with expectoration of pus, greenish or saltish, or of bloody mucus.

DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, in twelve spoonfuls of water, a spoonful to be given every four hours until amelioration of the most acute symptoms; afterwards, every morning and evening, until a cure is effected.
Sanguinaria canadensis
has proved efficacious after Sulphur, in a case characterised by sensation of swelling, and pain as if the parts were raw, especially during the act of swallowing, the expectoration being whitish mucus, of a saltish taste, with hectic fever.
Silicea terra
will be found useful, if the cartilages of the throat are involved, and if there be expectoration of pus, or of pus mixed with blood; if the cough be aggravated by cold; pricking in the throat, as if from pins; ulceration of the palate; difficulty in swallowing; frequent sensation as of a hair on the tongue; tongue coated brown, or sore as from excoriation; easy bleeding of the mouth and gums; and especially for persons subject to unhealthy skin, lymphatic tumors and abscesses, obstruction of the glandular system, nervous debility, and c.
DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules, in six spoonfuls of water, a spoonful to be given every twenty-four hours, for six days; then wait, if possible, without medicine, one week; if improvement set in, give no medicine so long as it continue; afterwards, repeat the medicine, or give some other remedy, according to the symptoms.
Spongia tosta
is useful in a large number of cases, in scrofulous subjects with dispositions to swellings; with throbbings, and uneasy fulness and bloatedness of the superior parts, and sensations of torpidity or of paralysis of the inferior parts of the body; the voice is weak, husky, and hoarse, the throat is painful to the touch, with sensation of an obstruction; the pains are burning and pressive, or as if raw, the expectoration yellowish. It is useful after Lachesis.

DOSE. - One drop of the dilution, or six globules in ten spoonfuls of water, a spoonful to be given every four hours, until amelioration or change.
Sulphur
may be given in nearly all cases, a few doses at the commencement of the treatment, or it may be called for by peculiar symptoms during the progress of the disease, especially if the system fail to respond to the remedy used, if there be a morbid irritability indicative of some concealed psora. The sensations in the throat are tingling, crawling, tickling, itching, with dryness, or there may be hoarseness, roughness, with discharge of mucus or of pus, foetid or yellowish.
DOSE. - When given as a principal remedy, give one drop of the dilution, or six globules, in ten spoonfuls of water, a spoonful to be given every six hours, until amelioration or change.

Pharyngitis. (inflammation of the pharynx.)
That part of the throat which lies above and behind the larynx, behind the palate and roots of the tongue, and in immediate contiguity with the oesophagus, (of which the lower and back part of the pharynx seems to be only an expansion,) is called the pharynx, being itself a continuation of the same structures as the mouth, windpipe, and throat, and performing similar functions, it will, of course be liable to similar diseases, and to be affected by similar remedies; for it must never be forgotten by those who would prescribe intelligently for the sick, that the nature of a structure, and the function or office performed by any organ, and the kind and degree of exposure to which it may be subject, is of much more importance to the cure, than its locality, or the name of the disease with which it may be affected.
Whilst the larynx, trachea, and bronchia, serve only as a channel for the conveyance of air, and the oesophagus, for the conveyance of food and drink, the pharynx is in some sense a double organ, acting in a two-fold capacity, being itself a kind of expansion, both of the larynx and oesophagus.

In the classification of diseases, the pharynx has usually been considered as a digestive organ, to which class, perhaps, it no less properly belongs, but as its diseases usually connect themselves with the respiratory function, and as some of its diseases manifest themselves by symptoms peculiar to that function, I have concluded that I should make myself more intelligible, and this work more perfect, by treating the pharynx as a respiratory rather than as a digestive organ.
The pharynx as a respiratory organ, presents a large surface, capable of great expansion, proportionate to the rapidity and power with which we draw in and throw out the breath. As an organ of deglutition, it is a capacious reservoir, bag, or sack, the fibres of which, interlacing and intertwining each other, are capable of such an amount of contraction, as to draw the walls of the organ into the closest possible contiguity, forcing out of the pharynx, and down the oesophagus, whatever substance may have been conveyed thither by the action of the mouth and tongue. Diseases affecting its expanded surface, are made sensible in the act of breathing, those affecting its contractive power, in the act of swallowing.

Simple inflammation of the throat
Pharyngitis simplex is often controlled by a few doses of Aconite, or of Chamomilla. But in other cases, Belladonna, Mercurius viv., Nux vomica, or Sulphur, may be given, according to the directions which follow in the succeeding article, on quinsy sore throat.
"When a spasmodic, almost suffocating constriction of the gullet takes place," especially manifest in the act of swallowing, "and Belladonna, Mercurius, and Lachesis fail, Calcarea carb. Often affords rapid relief." - Laurie.