 In 1854 , a Spanish singing teacher named Manuel García ( 1805 – 1906 ) became the first man to view the functioning glottis in a living human . In 1858 , French pediatrician Eugène Bouchut ( 1818 – 1891 ) developed a new technique for non @-@ surgical orotracheal intubation to bypass laryngeal obstruction resulting from a diphtheria @-@ related <unk> . In 1880 , Scottish surgeon William <unk> ( 1848 – 1924 ) reported on his use of orotracheal intubation as an alternative to tracheotomy to allow a patient with <unk> edema to breathe , as well as in the setting of general anesthesia with chloroform . In 1895 , Alfred Kirstein ( 1863 – 1922 ) of Berlin first described direct visualization of the vocal cords , using an <unk> he had modified for this purpose ; he called this device an <unk> . 
