Cracked pot tympany (bruit de pot fêlé of Laënnec) is so well known to clinicians that a special description is unnecessary. It was first called attention to by Laënnec about 1820, and in 1860 was so fully described by Walshe1 that nothing has been added since. It is found over the following conditions:
Pulmonary cavities. Osler2 says "only over tolerably large cavities with thin walls"; Fowler and Godlee,3 superficial cavity with slightly yielding walls and free bronchial communication, the mouth being open at the time; Cornet4 in Nothnagel's Practice, cavities, especially at the apex communicating by a narrow orifice with an open bronchus.
Pleural effusion (skodaic cracked pot, though ordinary tympany or hyperresonance is much more common).
Occasional cases of pneumonia when the consolidation is at its height.
Occasional cases of bronchitis, especially in children.
Normal lungs of crying children during expiration.
Cornet mentions relaxed or