The seat of the disease, and the cause of death, being, I hope, thus ascertained, the means of preventing death come next under our consideration. Tonic remedies, in all their forms, have been administered to no purpose. The theory of the disease would lead us to expect a remedy for it in blood-letting. But this, though now and then used with success, is not its cure, owing, as we now see, to the mortal seat of the disease being so far removed from the circulation, as not to be affected by the loss of blood in the most liberal quantity. As well might we expect the inflammation and pain of a paronychia, or what is called a felon on the finger, to be removed by the same remedy. Purging and sweating, though occasionally successful, have failed in many instances; and even a salivation, when excited (which is rarely the case), has not cured it. An artificial aperture into the windpipe alone bids fair to arrest its tendency to death, by removing the symptom which generally induces it, and thereby giving time for other remedies, which have hitherto been unsuccessful, to produce their usual salutary effects in similar diseases[87]. In removing faintness, in drawing off the water in ischuria, in composing convulsions, and in stopping hæmorrhages in malignant fever, we do not cure the disease, but we prevent death, and thereby gain time for the use of the remedies which are proper to cure it. Laryngotomy, according to Fourcroy's advice, in diseases of the throat which obstruct respiration, should be preferred to tracheotomy, and the incision should be made in the triangular space between the thyroid and cricoid cartilages. Should this operation be adopted, in order to save life, it will not offer near so much violence to humanity as many other operations. We cut through a large mass of flesh into the bladder in extracting a stone. We cut into the cavity of the thorax in the operation for the empyema. We perforate the bones of the head in trepanning; and we cut through the uterus, in performing the Cæsarian operation, in order to save life. The operation of laryngotomy is much less painful and dangerous than any of them; and besides permitting the patient to breathe and to swallow, it is calculated to serve the inferior purpose of lessening the disease of the glottis by means of local depletion. After an aperture has been thus made through the larynx, the remedies should be such as are indicated by the state of the system, particularly by the state of the pulse. In hot climates it is, I believe, generally a disease of feeble re-action, and requires tonic remedies; but in the middle and northern states of America it is more commonly attended with so much activity and excitement of the blood-vessels, as to require copious blood-letting and other depleting remedies.