Though stenosis of the lungs is not a definite disease, it is a symptom that is encountered during various diseases, not only of the larynx, but of the whole organism.
Nevertheless, this grievous symptom which renders access to the lungs, the principal physiologic factor of life, so difficult brings about such intense suffering of the whole organism that in diagnosis it has acquired a place almost equal to that of an independent unity.
According to the time of development, stenosis may be divided into acute, subacute and chronic forms.
I shall not stop to discuss chronic and subacute stenoses, as they almost never require intubation; on the contrary, persons with acute stenoses are often cured by this method. Cases of acute stenoses often come under the observation of pediatricians and still oftener—especially in private practice—under that of physicians specializing in infectious diseases, as for instance, during diphtherial croup and somewhat