The uvula is so inconspicuous and innocent looking that its importance as a trouble maker is too often overlooked.
Case 1.—
One night about 11:30 o'clock a man, aged 50, came into my office complaining that a large piece of hot potato, which he had tried to swallow without sufficient mastication at supper time, had lodged in his throat. An examination revealed no potato, but did reveal an elongated uvula, which hung down on his epiglottis, causing, I judged, the disagreeable sensation. One snip of a tonsillotome removed the uvula, and with it the hot potato sensation, immediately and forever.
Case 2.—
Another patient, a clergyman, aged 40, came, complaining that he would have intermittent dyspnea, which sometimes got so bad that he feared he would die any moment. These severe attacks came and went rather suddenly. He would have them sometimes in the middle of a sermon, to his great embarrassment.