Convulsion of the lung: an historical analysis of the cause of Dr Johnson's fatal emphysema.

Of Johnson's fatal emphysema, it appears probable, on available historical and anatomic evidence, that it resulted from bronchiectasis, a diagnosis favoured by the pattern of illness: a protracted and severe respiratory infection succeeded by annual episodes of severe winter bronchitis, remitting in summer, and culminating in respiratory insufficiency; and by the findings of pleural adhesion and cor pulmonale at necropsy. That is resulted from chronic bronchitis is a proposition both plausible and irrefutable without the specimen.