Jenny Lind and James Braid
In August 1847, the famous soprano Jenny Lind visited Manchester, and gave two performances as Amina. The outstanding difference between Lind and her contemporaries was that, "whilst the beauty of her voice was far greater than any other in living memory (thus, the Swedish Nightingale), what really set her apart was her outstanding ability to act"; and, moreover, in performing as Amina, rather than walking along a wide and well-protected walkway (as the others did), she routinely acrobatically balanced her way along narrow planks.While she was in Manchester—on the basis that, at the time, many characterized "hypnotism" as "artificial somnambulism", and that, from a rather different perspective, her stage performance could also be described as one of "artificial" (rather than spontaneous) somnambulism—her friends arranged for her to visit the local surgeon James Braid, who had discovered hypnotism in 1841:
"Mr. Braid, surgeon, whose discoveries in hypnotism are well known, having invited the fair impersonator of a somnambulist to witness some of the abnormal feats of a real somnambulist, artificially thrown into that state, it was arranged that a private séance should take place [on Friday, 3 September 1847]." Manchester Guardian, 8 September 1847. Drama
The sleepwalking scene (Act V Scene 1) from William Shakespeares tragic play Macbeth (1606) is one of the most famous scenes in all of literature. In Walley Chamberlain Oultons two act farce The Sleep-Walker; or, Which is the Lady (1812), "Somno", a histrionic failed-actor-turned-manservant relives his wished-for roles when sleepwalking.
Laryngomalacia (literally, "soft larynx") is the most common cause of chronic stridor in infancy, in which the soft, immature cartilage of the upper larynx collapses inward during inhalation, causing airway obstruction. It can also be seen in older patients, especially those with neuromuscular conditions resulting in weakness of the muscles of the throat. However, the infantile form is much more common. Laryngomalacia is one of the most common laryngeal congenital disease in infancy and public education about the signs and symptoms of the disease is lacking. Signs and symptoms
In infantile laryngomalacia, the supraglottic larynx (the part above the vocal cords) is tightly curled, with a short band holding the cartilage shield in the front (the epiglottis) tightly to the mobile cartilage in the back of the larynx (the arytenoids). These bands are known as the aryepiglottic folds. The shortened aryepiglottic folds cause the epiglottis to be curled on itself. This is the well known "omega shaped" epiglottis in laryngomalacia. Another common finding of laryngomalacia involves the posterior or back part of the larynx, where the arytenoid cartilages or the mucosa/tissue over the arytenoid cartilages can collapse into the airway and cause airway obstruction.Laryngomalacia results in partial airway obstruction, most commonly causing a characteristic high-pitched squeaking noise on inhalation (inspiratory stridor). Some infants have feeding difficulties related to this problem. Rarely, children will have significant life-threatening airway obstruction. The vast majority, however, will only have stridor without other more serious symptoms such as dyspnea (difficulty breathing).