Section Iii. of the Pharynx and œsophagus.

These parts are liable to inflammation, ulceration, stricture, dilatation and new growths.

=Inflammation= of these passages, rarely occurs, except as the result of mechanical injury, as from the lodgment of a foreign body, or from swallowing some caustic or highly irritating substance. Catarrhal or croupous inflammation of the mouth and tonsils, may, however, involve a portion of the walls of the pharynx.

=Ulceration= may result from the same causes, and hence may be confined to a small portion or may involve the greater part of the tube.

=Stricture= of the œsophagus may be either spasmodic or organic. The former usually occurs in hysterical women, and may result from the irritation following the removal of some foreign body lodged in the canal. Never proving fatal of itself, we seldom have the opportunity of examining a case of this kind.

Organic stricture is found usually at the commencement of the canal, sometimes at its lower end. It may result from contractions attending the healing of an ulcer, but is more frequently induced by a cancerous affection of the walls, or by the projection of some morbid growth into its interior, as from aneurism of the aorta, or tumors, abscesses, &c., in the lungs or left lobe of the liver.

=Dilatation= of the œsophagus may result from the presence of stricture. When the latter is near the cardiac orifice of the stomach, the entire length of the tube may be involved. The walls in these cases may be either thickened or thinned. From the accumulation of food above the point of stricture, the walls gradually yield to the distending force, until a degree of dilatation is attained that is quite remarkable.

=Tumors= of various kinds are occasionally found within the walls of the pharynx or œsophagus including cystic, fatty and fibrinous tumors of a polypoid form.

Malignant or cancerous growths may appear in any part of the tube, the epithelial form being more common. Beginning in the submucous tissue, the disease will soon involve the whole circumference of the tube, to the extent of from one to three or four inches, producing a hardness of the tissues with more or less contraction. Ulceration ultimately taking place, a dilated cavity may take the place of the original stricture.