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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #68315 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68315)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of On chloroform and other anæsthetics:,
-by John Snow
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: On chloroform and other anæsthetics:
- their action and administration
-
-Author: John Snow
-
-Editor: Benjamin W. Richardson
-
-Release Date: June 14, 2022 [eBook #68315]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading
- Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
- images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON CHLOROFORM AND OTHER
-ANÆSTHETICS: ***
-
-
-
-
-
- ON
- CHLOROFORM
- AND
- OTHER ANÆSTHETICS:
- THEIR
- ACTION AND ADMINISTRATION.
-
-
- BY
-
- JOHN SNOW, M.D.
- LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.
-
- EDITED,
-
- WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR,
-
- BY
- BENJAMIN W. RICHARDSON, M.D.,
- LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.
-
-
- LONDON:
- JOHN CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
- MDCCCLVIII.
-
-
-
-
- PREFACE.
-
-
-The book here presented to the reader is the legacy to science of Dr.
-JOHN SNOW. The completion of the work was his last act and deed. In
-editing the book, therefore, all that remained to be done consisted in
-the construction of the index, and in this a plan suggested by the
-author himself has been followed.
-
-In contributing the memoir, I have performed a painful and unexpected
-duty: the fulfilment of a promise given at a moment when two friends who
-often enjoyed close companionship met at one of their happiest meetings.
-The promise was given with the idea of fulfilment far distant, or
-improbable altogether, and, as connected with a more extended
-biographical survey, reserved for the work of years long in the future;
-it is called for now hastily and in deep sorrow.
-
-Writing with the fact of my late friend’s death not as yet fully
-realized; with the sensation still on me at intervals (like one who has
-lost a part of his own body, and yet at times conceives the lost
-present), that he cannot possibly be so far away; I may, perchance be
-pardoned for any deficiencies in style or matter. I have done my best,
-and leave it so.
-
- B. W. RICHARDSON.
-
- _12, Hinde Street, Manchester Square.
- August 6th, 1858._
-
-
-
-
- CONTENTS.
-
-
- HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 1 to 24
- GENERAL REMARKS ON INHALATION 25–26
-
- CHLOROFORM 27–344
- History and composition of 27–8
- Mode of preparation 28–9
- Chemical and physical properties 29–30
- Adulterations 30–32
- Vapour of 32–34
- PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM 34–48
- Degrees of narcotism 35–43
- Effect of chloroform on the pulse 43–4
- Action of chloroform on the nervous system 44–8
- CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH INFLUENCE OR MODIFY THE EFFECTS OF
- CHLOROFORM 48–58
- Age 49–50
- Strength or debility 50
- Hysteria 50–2
- Epilepsy 52–3
- Pregnancy 53
- The menstrual period 53
- Diseases of lungs 53–4
- —— —— heart 54–6
- Cerebral disease 56–7
- Insanity 57
- Hard drinking 57–8
- AMOUNT OF VAPOUR OF CHLOROFORM ABSORBED TO CAUSE THE VARIOUS
- DEGREES OF NARCOTISM 58–74
- Experiments 60–73
- PREPARATIONS FOR INHALING CHLOROFORM 74–78
- MODE OF ADMINISTERING CHLOROFORM 78–97
- Signs of insensibility 87–97
- Repetition of chloroform during an operation 97
- RECOVERY FROM THE EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM 97–100
- OCCASIONAL SEQUELÆ OF THE INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM 100–107
- Sickness 100–3
- Faintness and depression 103–4
- Hysteria 104–7
- CAUSE AND PREVENTION OF DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM 107–120
- FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM 120–200
- ALLEGED FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM 201–212
- SYMPTOMS IN FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM 212–217
- MODE OF DEATH IN THE ACCIDENTS FROM CHLOROFORM 217–222
- THE TWO KINDS OF SYNCOPE 222–228
- SUPPOSED CAUSES OF DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM 228–245
- Idiosyncrasy 231–2
- Alleged impunity of chloroform 233
- Apparatus employed 233
- Alleged exclusion of air 233–4
- Alleged closure of glottis 234–8
- Alleged exhaustion from struggling 238–9
- Sitting posture 239–40
- Effect of surgeon’s knife 240–3
- Sudden death from other causes 243–5
- Falling back of the tongue 245
- STATE OF THE CHIEF ORGANS AFTER DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM 245–8
- FURTHER REMARKS ON THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS FROM CHLOROFORM 248–251
- TREATMENT OF SUSPENDED ANIMATION FROM CHLOROFORM 251–262
- EFFECT OF CHLOROFORM ON THE RESULTS OF OPERATIONS 263–270
- ADMINISTRATION OF CHLOROFORM IN THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF
- OPERATIONS 271–318
- Lithotomy 271–4
- Lithotrity 274–5
- Perinæal section 275–6
- Stricture 276
- Amputation of thigh 276–7
- —— —— leg 277
- —— —— arm 277–8
- —— —— ankle 278
- Other amputations 278
- Operations for necrosis 278–9
- Excision of head of femur 279
- Excision of elbow 279–80
- —— —— knee 280
- —— —— wrist 280
- Removal of tumours of upper jaw 280–5
- —— —— —— of lower jaw 285
- Tumours of female breast 285–7
- Other tumours 287–9
- Nævi 289
- Ligature of arteries 289–91
- Tumours of bone 291
- Hare-lip 291–3
- Cancer of the lip 294
- Division of nerves 294–6
- Operations on the eye 295–8
- —— —— —— ear 298
- —— —— —— nose 298–9
- —— —— —— mouth 299–300
- Plastic operations 300–1
- Raising depressed skull 301–2
- Operations for ununited fracture 302
- Reduction of dislocations 302–3
- Forcible movement of joints 303
- Tenotomy 303–4
- Operations for hernia 304–5
- —— —— —— hæmorrhoids and prolapsus 305–7
- Fissure of anus 307–8
- Fistula in ano 308
- Operations on ovarian tumours 308–10
- Operations for cancer of vagina 310
- —— —— —— rupture of perinæum 310
- Removal of testicle 310–1
- Operations for phymosis 311
- Removal of bursa 311
- Evulsion of nails 311
- Laryngotomy 312
- Extraction of teeth 313–18
- Secondary hæmorrhage after operations 318
- CHLOROFORM IN PARTURITION 318–329
- THE INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM IN MEDICAL CASES 329–344
- Neuralgia 329–31
- Spasmodic asthma 331
- Spasmodic croup 331–2
- Hooping-cough 332
- Infantile convulsions 332–3
- Delirium cum tremore 333–4
- Delirium in fever 334–5
- Hydrocephalus 335
- Tetanus 335–6
- Epilepsy 336–7
- Puerperal Convulsions 337–9
- Hysterical paralysis and contractions 339–41
- Mania 342
- Spasmodic pain 342–3
- Frequent and long continued use of chloroform 343–4
-
- SULPHURIC ETHER, OR ETHER 345–371
- History and composition 345
- Chemical and physical properties 345–9
- Physiological effects 349–55
- Administration of ether 356–61
- Great safety of 362–9
- The combination of chloroform and ether 369–71
-
- AMYLENE 372–410
- Preparation and properties 372–7
- Physiological effects 378–86
- Use in surgical operations 386–94
- Use in parturition 394–7
- Its effects 397–419
-
- THE MONOCHLORURRETTED CHLORIDE OF ETHYLE 420–23
-
-
- ILLUSTRATIONS.
- Chloroform inhaler 82
- Ether inhaler 349
-
-
-
-
- THE
- LIFE OF JOHN SNOW, M.D.
-
-
-There is not much credit in the mere acts of living and dying; in being
-driven by unavoidable fate through the common journey, with shoulders
-uncovered and the whip over them; in doing nothing save the drudgery of
-existence; in enjoying, in an approach to the recognition of enjoyment,
-the brief dreams of childhood; in struggling into manhood; in battling
-through the after-strife obedient to the castigator behind; and in dying
-at last, as though life had never been; dead to-day, wept for tomorrow,
-and forgotten by the morrow’s succeeding sun. There is not much credit
-in this surely, for credit must be earned by something done beyond that
-which all must perforce do. But, in the face of all the struggles
-incidental to the existence, so to have managed as to have stolen out of
-time hours which other men knew not in their calendar—so to have defied
-the inexorable taskmaster as to perform more than is included in his
-demands; so to have willed and acted as to live on when death has done
-his worst; to assist all coming wayfarers in their conflict wherever
-they may meet it; to prove that there is something more in life than
-labour lost, and nothing more in death than an idea—_Hoc opus hic labor
-est_—in this there is achieved the grand attainment; the perpetual life.
-
-He whom I, with poor biographer’s pencil, put forward now in brief
-sketch, is one amongst the few who have thus realized the ideality of
-death. It were but little matter, therefore, though no biography should
-appear at all; it is of but little count that such biography, as the
-recollections of friends and intimates shall call forth, be scanty in
-its details; it is of but little count that the life of him who is to be
-shadowed forth is destitute of incident fitted for the taste of
-wonder-loving, passion-courting, romance-devouring, readers. Biographies
-for these are common. Good men are scarce.
-
-JOHN SNOW, the subject of the present memoir, was born at York, on the
-fifteenth day of June, 1813. He was the eldest son of his parents. His
-father was a farmer. His mother, who is living, resides still at York.
-As a child, he showed his love of industry; and increasing years added
-only to the intensity with which he applied himself to any work that was
-before him. He occasionally assisted his father in agricultural
-pursuits, and often in later life spoke with great _naïveté_ of the
-recollections of those early winter mornings when his boy’s fingers were
-too intimately to be pleasantly acquainted with the effects of benumbing
-cold. He was first sent to a private school at York, where he learned
-all that he could learn there. He was fond of the study of mathematics,
-and in arithmetic became very proficient. At the age of fourteen, he
-went to Newcastle-on-Tyne, as an apprentice to Mr. William Hardcastle,
-surgeon, of that place. He had also the opportunities of studying at the
-Newcastle Infirmary. During the third year of his apprenticeship, viz.,
-when he was seventeen years old, he formed an idea that the vegetarian
-body-feeding faith was the true and the old; and with that consistency
-which throughout life attended him, tried the system rigidly for more
-than eight years. He was a noted swimmer at this time, and could make
-head against the tide longer than any of his omnivorous friends. I have
-heard him tell that so long as he continued to qualify his vegetables
-with milk and butter, the vegetarian plan supported him fairly. But on
-one unfortunate morning, when taking his milk breakfast, some quizzical
-friend, learned in botany, cross-examined him as to the vegetable on
-which he was then feeding. The joke went home; and the use of milk, as
-food for a pure vegetarian, became too absurd for consistency. The milk,
-therefore, must be put aside, and the butter and the eggs. The
-experiment did not answer; the health of our pure vegetarian gave way
-under the ordeal, and although in after life he maintained that an
-approach to the vegetarian practice was commendable, in that it kept the
-body in better tone for the exercise of the mind, he admitted that in
-his own case his health paid the forfeit of his extreme adherence to an
-hypothesis. Amongst his earlier scientific readings was a book in
-defence of the vegetable regimen by John Frank Newton. This book is
-annotated by himself, 1833. It is an useful book, full of curious
-arguments, facts and suggestions, many of which, as his own after
-writings indicate, he had carefully studied and applied.
-
-At or about the same time that he adopted his vegetarian views, he also
-took the extremity of view and of action, in reference to the temperance
-cause. He not only joined the ranks of the total abstinence reformers,
-but became a powerful advocate of their principles for many succeeding
-years. In the latter part of his life, he occasionally and by necessity
-took a little wine, but his views on the subject remained to the end
-unchanged; he had strong faith in the temperance cause, and a belief
-that it must ultimately become an universal system.
-
-In 1831–32, cholera visited Newcastle and its neighbourhood, and proved
-terribly fatal. In the emergency, Mr. Snow was sent by Mr. Hardcastle to
-the Killingworth Colliery, to attend the sufferers from the disease
-there. In this labour he was indefatigable, and his exertions were
-crowned with great success. He made also on this occasion many
-observations relating to this disease, which proved to him of immense
-account in after years.
-
-He left Newcastle in 1833, and engaged himself as assistant to Mr.
-Watson of Burnop Field, near Newcastle. Here he resided for twelve
-months, fulfilling the assistant duties; regarding which it can only be
-said, and that from analogy, that they were neither without their
-anxiety nor their reward. Leaving Burnop Field in 1834–5, he revisited
-his native place, York; made a short stay, and thence, to a certain
-half-inaccessible village called Pately Bridge, in Yorkshire, to
-assistant it with Mr. Warburton, surgeon there. Some few years ago a
-friend of mine went to the same village, by the recommendation of Dr.
-Snow, as assistant to the present Mr. Warburton of that place, a son of
-Dr. Snow’s “old master”. The circumstance of this recommendation often
-led Dr. Snow to refer to his life at Pately Bridge in our conversations.
-He invariably, on such occasions, spoke of Mr. Warburton, his “old
-master”, in terms of sincere respect, and depicted his own life there
-with great liveliness. He was a vegetarian then, and his habits puzzled
-the housewives, shocked the cooks, and astonished the children. His
-culinary peculiarities were, however, attended to with great kindliness.
-Eighteen months at Pately Bridge, with many rough rides, a fair share of
-night work, a good gleaning of experience, and this sojourn was over.
-Now back again went our student to York, to stay this time a few months,
-and—not to be idle—to take an active share in the formation of
-temperance societies. In leisure days during this period it was his
-grand amusement to make long walking explorations into the country. In
-these peregrinations he collected all kinds of information, geological,
-social, sanitary, and architectural.
-
-At last York must be again left; the London student life was in view. In
-the summer of the year at which we have arrived, 1836, he set off from
-York to Liverpool, and, trudging it afoot from Liverpool through the
-whole of North and South Wales, turned London-ward, calling at Bath by
-the way, on a visit to his uncle, Mr. Empson, to whom, to the end of his
-life, he was devotedly attached. October 1836—eventful October—brought
-him to the “great city”, and placed him on the benches of the Hunterian
-School of Medicine in Windmill-street: a school long since closed, and
-now almost a myth; like the mill which gave the name to the locality.
-
-I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Joshua Parsons of Beckington, near
-Bath, for an insight into the life and manners of my beloved friend
-during his student career. Mr. Parsons had the happiness to be the
-special fellow-student of Snow. Their friendship, cemented early in
-life, never declined, but had added to it, “on my part,” says Mr.
-Parsons, “respect and admiration for the solid talents and industry of
-my old colleague.” Speaking of their common labours, Mr. Parsons writes
-as follows:
-
-“Our acquaintance commenced in 1836, at the Hunterian School of Medicine
-in Windmill-street, where we were both dissecting at that time. It
-happened that we usually overstayed our fellows, and often worked far on
-into the evening. The acquaintance thus grew into intimacy, which ended
-by our lodging and reading together. We were constant companions from
-that time till I left town, in October 1837. During that period Dr. Snow
-was, as a student, characterized by the same mental qualities which have
-marked him ever since. Not particularly quick of apprehension, or ready
-in invention, he yet always kept in the foreground by his indomitable
-perseverance and determination in following up whatever line of
-investigation was open to him. The object of this steady pursuit with
-him was always _truth_: the naked truth, for its own sake, was what he
-sought and loved. No consideration of honour or profit seemed to have
-power to bias his opinions on any subject. At the period of our
-co-residence he was a strict vegetarian, and many and great were the
-controversies held between us on the subject. These led to trials of our
-comparative strength and endurance, in one of which, on Easter Monday
-1837, we walked to St. Alban’s, and back to town through Harrow,—a
-distance, I believe, of rather more than fifty miles. On reaching the
-Edgeware Road, my companion was fairly beaten, and obliged to reach home
-in an omnibus. But though this, you will say, shows a fair amount of
-strength, yet it was my impression that my friend’s constitutional
-powers were impaired by his mode of living, for I observed that he
-suffered from an amount of physical excitability not to be looked for in
-a man of his bodily powers and placid mental organization. I remember,
-on two or three occasions, so slight an injury as a cut of the finger
-with a dinner knife, or a graze of the skin, producing such an amount of
-fever, attended by so rapid a pulse, and so intense a flush upon the
-cheeks, that I once asked the opinion of an experienced medical friend
-about him, and was by that opinion alone restrained from summoning his
-uncle to his bedside. He also was subject to great drowsiness, so that
-he was obliged often to close his books, and retire to bed long before
-his inclination would have led him to do so.”
-
-In October 1837, Mr. Snow took out his hospital practice at the
-Westminster Hospital. On May 2nd, 1838, he passed his examination, and
-was entered duly as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of
-England. He lived at this time at 11, Bateman’s Buildings, Soho-square.
-
-In July 1838, Mr. Thurnham having resigned his post of apothecary to the
-Westminster Hospital, Mr. Snow, with much promise of support from the
-medical staff, competed for the vacant post. He presented excellent
-testimonials from Mr. Hardcastle, Mr. James Allen of York, Dr. Conquest,
-Mr. W. B. Lynn, Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital, Mr. Anthony White,
-Sir Anthony Carlisle, Mr. Warburton, and Dr. Hunter Lane. His canvass
-was very satisfactory; but he was compelled to resign his claims from a
-cause which he did not expect. By the laws of the hospital, the office
-of apothecary could only be held by a member of the Apothecaries’
-Company. In those days the worshipful Company were sometimes lenient in
-admitting students to examination. The leniency, however, clearly
-extended to those only who had friends at court. To render himself
-eligible, Mr. Snow addressed a very simple, earnest, and gentlemanly
-request to the Court of Examiners of the Apothecaries’ Company, begging
-to be allowed to go up to his examination at the second court in July
-instead of the first in October, at which he was legally admissible. The
-request, under the circumstances, was not very great; but for some
-reason it met with refusal. After the refusal he addressed a second note
-to the Court, equal in tone with the first. In this note he urged the
-simple character of the request; he reminded the sapient body that they
-had allowed a similar extension of privilege to that asked by himself to
-others, and even for less important reasons. He explained that he had
-attended the practice of the Newcastle Infirmary; and promised that if
-he could be admitted, he would fulfil the required term of hospital
-curriculum rigidly. Lastly, he stated the expenses into which the
-canvass had led him, and once more prayed for leniency of the examiners,
-from “confidence in their kindness”. The confidence was misplaced. The
-Blackfriars Shylocks demanded the pound of flesh; and our disappointed
-student, on the very eve of success, was compelled to relate his
-discomfiture in the following address:
-
- “_To the Governors of Westminster Hospital._
-
- “MY LORDS, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN,
-
- “I became a candidate for the vacant office of Apothecary to
- the Hospital a little before my term of study was completed, expecting
- that the Court of Examiners of the Apothecaries’ Company would admit
- me for examination in time for the election, knowing that they had
- granted a similar boon to my fellow-students on less important
- occasions. I have asked the favour of that Court with all due respect
- and ceremony, showing them that my course of study had already been
- twice as long as they require; and they have refused to examine me
- till my last item of study was completed according to their own
- peculiar curriculum, without stating any reason for their refusal. I
- must therefore necessarily resign, which I beg most respectfully to
- do, and to offer my sincere thanks to all those who have taken trouble
- in my behalf,”
-
-On the first Court of October 1838, held on October 4th of that year,
-Mr. Snow met the Blackfriars Shylocks by legal right. They had not
-forgotten him, and gave him good proof of their remembrances. He passed,
-however, safe and sound; and, having the double qualification, laid
-himself out for the duties of a general practitioner in medicine in the
-great city.
-
-At this time there existed in London a society (now sunken into the
-“Medical Society of London”) called the “Westminster Medical Society.”
-It was a society which had long given encouragement to those junior
-members of the medical profession who might wish for a hearing at its
-meetings and debates. Mr. Snow was not the man to lose an opportunity
-such as this. I have often heard him say, both privately and publicly,
-that, upon this early connexion with the “Westminster Medical,” his
-continuance in London depended, and all his succeeding scientific
-success. When he first attended the meetings of the “Westminster
-Medical,” he was very timid; and although he always spoke to the point,
-found it difficult to obtain a favourable notice. At first, as he told
-me, nobody ever replied to what he said. After a long time some grave
-counsellor condescended to refer to him as the “last speaker”. “In
-reference to an observation made by the last speaker, Mr. President, I
-could bring forward many practical objections; but I prefer to observe
-on the admirable, and, I have no hesitation in saying profound, remarks
-which Dr. Goldstick” (a very great gun, of course) “has done us the
-favour to lay before the society.” A little later and somebody ventured
-to name the “last speaker” even by his name. Then some one, bolder
-still, concurred with Mr. Snow; and ultimately Mr. Snow became
-recognized more and more, until, as we shall see in the sequel, the
-presidential honours were his own.
-
-Frith-street, Soho-square, No. 54, was the house at which Mr. Snow, to
-use his own words, first “nailed up his colours”. He removed from
-Bateman’s Buildings in the beginning of September 1838, and became, in
-Frith-street, the tenant of Mrs. Williamson, widow of Captain
-Williamson, known as the author of several works on India. He bought no
-practice, nor exhibited any pretence. Like mighty Columbus, his caravel
-was very insignificant when compared with the voyage on which he
-embarked, and through which he sailed so successfully. He did not find
-the voyage very smooth either at first. How could he? A man cast at
-large in the modern Babylon, with few introductions, no plethora of
-purse, and great purposes in hand, need never ignore the necessities
-from the idea of rising to the crest of the wave by three cheers and a
-long pull. Snow was too foreseeing to be ignorant of this, and he
-prepared accordingly. A more thoroughly girded man for the world’s
-encounter could hardly be conceived than he at this time. He took no
-wine nor strong drink; he lived simply of the simple, on anchorite’s
-fare, with more than anchorite resolution, with the temptations of the
-world always before him; he clothed plainly, and made the best of
-everything; he kept no company, and found every amusement in his science
-books, his experiments, in his business, and in simple exercise.
-
-To fill up time till the money patients should come, he became one of
-the visitors of the out-patients of Charing Cross Hospital; and to many
-a poor representative of the great half-starved, extended a skill which
-would have been a blessing to a duke. The Librarian of the College of
-Surgeons’ Library knew him as a quiet man, who read closely, and was not
-too proud to ask for a translation when an original bothered him. All
-who knew him said he was a quiet man, very reserved and peculiar—a
-clever man at bottom perchance, but not easy to be understood and very
-peculiar.
-
-The connection with the “Westminster Medical” led to Mr. Snow’s first
-attempts at authorship. On October the 16th, 1841, he read at the
-Society a paper on “Asphyxia and on the Resuscitation of new-born
-Children.” The paper in full will be found in the _London Medical
-Gazette_ for November the 5th of the same year. The paper is remarkable
-for the soundness of its reasonings, and the advanced knowledge which it
-displays. The object of the paper was to introduce to the Society a
-double air-pump, for supporting artificial respiration, invented by a
-Mr. Read, of Regent Circus. The instrument was so devised that by one
-action of the piston, the air in the lungs could be drawn into one of
-the cylinders, and by the reverse action, the said air could be driven
-away, and the lungs supplied with a stream of pure air from the second
-cylinder. There was also advanced, in the concluding part of the
-communication, a sentence or two on the cause of the first inspiration,
-which is well worthy of note. The cause of the first inspiration, he
-explained, is probably the same as the second or the last, viz., a
-sensation or impression arising from a want of oxygen in the system. So
-long as the placenta performs its functions, the fœtus is perfectly at
-ease, and feels no need of respiration; but whenever this communication
-between the child and its mother is interrupted, at least in the later
-months of pregnancy, the child makes convulsive efforts at respiration
-similar to those made by a drowning animal.
-
-On December the 18th, 1841, Mr. Snow was again before the “Westminster
-Medical” with a very ingenious instrument which he had invented for
-performing the operation of paracentesis of the thorax. The description
-of the instrument will be found in the _Medical Gazette_ of January
-28th, 1842.
-
-In the _Medical Gazette_ for November 11th, 1842, Mr. Snow published a
-note on a new mode for securing the removal of the placenta in cases of
-retention with hæmorrhage; and in the same journal for March 3rd, 1843,
-he communicated an essay on the circulation in the capillary vessels.
-The essay was selected and rearranged from papers read before the
-“Westminster Medical” on January 21 and February the 4th. We have in
-this essay an admirable sketch of the capillary circulation. He
-advanced, on this occasion, the idea that the force of the heart is not
-alone sufficient to carry on the circulation, but that there is a force
-generated in the capillary system which assists the motion. He explained
-also the great importance of the cutaneous exhalation, and reasoned that
-in febrile states, accompanied with hot skin, the transpiration from the
-skin is in reality greater than is normal, and that the good effect of
-poultices and similar applications to inflamed skin is due to their
-influence in checking the transpiration from the affected part.
-
-But what of practice during all this work at the purer science of
-medicine? The story to be told is an old one. Practice did not come, at
-least not from the wealthy. He had plenty of practice in so far as
-seeing patients was concerned certainly, for he was encumbered with four
-sick clubs; and his club practice, together with the out-patient work at
-the Charing Cross Hospital, kept the bell ringing all day, and not
-unfrequently enlivened the night with the clamorous music. But the
-patients with the fees in their hands kept at a respectful distance.
-Why? The answer gives another old story—because the practitioner at 54,
-Frith Street, Soho, was an earnest man, with not the least element of
-quackery in all his composition, with a retiring manner and a solid
-scepticism in relation to that routine malpractice which the people
-love. I have heard many reasons alleged for the want of success which
-attended Mr. Snow’s first labours as a claimant on the public
-confidence. These reasons have all had one reading, in that they refer
-to every cause but the true one. The true cause was, that a young man
-having no personal introduction to the bedsides of dowagers of the
-pillmania dynasty, sought to establish his fame on the basis of a sound
-and rational medicine—because impressed with the knowledge of the
-external origin of disease, he went in for the removal of external
-causes, and studied nature in preference to the Pharmacopœia.
-
-Pushing on in the higher branches of his profession, and aiming always
-at the best, the degree of the University of London became a temptation,
-and _Mr._ became _Dr._ Snow on the 23rd of November, 1843, by passing
-the M.B. examination. He was enrolled in the second division on this
-occasion. On the 20th of December in the following year, he passed the
-M.D. examination, and came out in the first division of candidates.
-
-The harass of London life by this time commenced to tell on Dr. Snow. He
-had suffered a few years previously from threatened symptoms of phthisis
-pulmonalis, but took plenty of fresh air, and recovered. He again became
-slowly unhinged for work, and in the summer of 1845, was attacked with
-acute and alarming symptoms of renal disorder. His friend and neighbour,
-Mr. Peter Marshall, then of Greek Street, now of Bedford Square, gave
-him his able assistance, and the advice of Dr. Prout, and, I believe, of
-Dr. Bright, was obtained. He was induced by their general opinion to
-change his mode of living, and even to take wine in small quantities. In
-the autumn of 1845, he paid a visit to his friend and old colleague, Mr.
-Joshua Parsons, at Beckington, with whom he stayed a fortnight, enjoying
-himself very much. The friends resumed their old controversies, and the
-Doctor admitted that he had been obliged to relinquish his vegetable
-diet in favour of a mixed regimen. He improved greatly, says Mr.
-Parsons, during his stay; but it was obvious that London life and hard
-study had hold of him. From Beckington he went to the Isle of Wight, but
-soon returned to London and to his work. A little after this, he was
-elected Lecturer on Forensic Medicine at the Aldersgate School of
-Medicine, and held the appointment till the establishment dissolved in
-1849. I have often heard from him, in his quiet droll way, many
-laughable stories in relation to his duties in the forensic chair. When
-he left off teaching, he found that, in addition to the labour implied
-and the cost of experiments, he had to pay, with the rest of his
-colleagues, a ransom for his release.
-
-
-There is no night without its morning. The eventful medical year of 1846
-proved the turn of tide season with our struggling Esculapian. In this
-year, the news came over from America that operations could be performed
-without pain under the influence of sulphuric ether.
-
-The fact was just such an one as would at once attract the earnest
-attention of Dr. Snow. It was a physiological, as well as a practical
-fact. It was rational in its meaning, and marvellously humane in its
-application. The question once before him, was in a scientific sense his
-own. His previous experimental studies on respiration and asphyxia had
-prepared him for this new inquiry. He lost no time, therefore, in
-investigating the new fact; he took it up for its own sake, however, not
-from any thought, at the time, of a harvest of gold.
-
-The first inhalations of ether in this country were not so successful as
-to astonish all the surgeons, or to recommend etherization as a common
-practice. The distrust arose from the manner in which the agent was
-administered. Dr. Snow at once detected this circumstance; and, as he
-explains in the pages of the work now in the hands of the reader,
-remedied the mistake by making an improved inhaler. He next carried out
-many experiments on animals and on himself, and brought the
-administration to great perfection. One day, on coming out of one of the
-hospitals (I am giving the narrative as he gave it to me), he met Mr. ——
-(a druggist whom he knew) bustling along with a large ether apparatus
-under his arm. “Good morning!” said Dr. Snow. “Good morning to you,
-doctor!” said the friend; “but, don’t detain me, I am giving ether here
-and there and everywhere, and am getting quite into an ether practice.
-Good morning, doctor!” “Good morning to you!” Rather peculiar! said the
-doctor to himself; rather peculiar, certainly! for the man has not the
-remotest chemical or physiological idea on the subject. An “ether
-practice! If he can get an ether practice, perchance some scraps of the
-same thing might fall to a scientific unfortunate.” Consequently, with
-his improved inhaler, Dr. Snow lost no time in asking to be allowed to
-give ether at St. George’s Hospital. He got permission to give it there
-to the out-patients, in cases of tooth-drawing. Dr. Fuller, of
-Manchester-square, standing by, was surprised to see with what happy
-effects ether was administered when administered properly. A day or two
-afterwards, an operation having to be performed, and the surgeon (I
-believe, Mr. Cutler) not approving of the ether in the way in which it
-had previously acted, Dr. Fuller remarked on the superiority of Dr.
-Snow’s mode of administering it; and the result was, that he was asked
-to give it on operating days. He did so with great success. He
-administered it at University College with the same success. Liston,
-then the leading operator, struck with the new man who came before him
-in such an able and unaffected way, took him by the hand; and from that
-time the ether practice in London came almost exclusively to him.
-Science for once put assumption in its right place.
-
-The new field once open, it were impossible but that he should cultivate
-it diligently. The Westminster Medical Society was often favoured with
-his communications and experiments on etherization; and in the September
-of 1847, he embodied, in his first work, the whole of his experience up
-to that time. The work was remarkable for the care with which it was
-written, the science which it displayed, and the complete mastery of the
-subject which it everywhere conveyed.
-
-What had been a mere accidental discovery, I had almost said a lucky
-adventure, was turned by the touch of the master into a veritable
-science. The book was readily appreciated by the profession, and was
-just beginning to sell, when the discovery of the application of
-chloroform threw ether into the shade and the book with it.
-
-Dr. Snow, though a man of great firmness when once his mind was made up,
-was always ready for new inquiry. Chloroform, therefore, was no sooner
-brought before the profession by Dr. Simpson, than he began to institute
-a series of independent researches, and having satisfied himself
-personally as to the effects and greater practicability of chloroform,
-he at once commenced its use, and forgot sooner almost than others all
-predilections for ether. In 1848, he commenced a series of experimental
-papers on narcotic vapours in the _Medical Gazette_, and continued them
-until 1851, when the _Medical Gazette_ virtually ceased to exist. The
-papers on narcotics, in accordance with his other and earlier
-productions, were stamped with the evidences of profound and careful
-research, and still more careful deduction. I infer that they have been
-more talked about than read, for few people seem to be aware of the
-enlarged and positive physiological arguments which they contain.
-Chloroform and ether are not alone discussed, but all narcotics.
-Narcotics are not alone considered, but various of the great functions
-of life. The records of a vast number and variety of experiments are
-here related, and an amount of information, original in kind, collected,
-which will always remain as a memorable record in the history of medical
-literature. But the great points in these papers are those in which the
-author enters on the physiological action of narcotics. Here appear the
-generalizations and insights into the relations of allied phenomena
-which mark the man of true power. His greatest deduction on these
-matters, and the proofs on which it is based, are to be found in his
-observations, where he explains that the action of the volatile
-narcotics is that of arresting or limiting those combinations between
-the oxygen of the arterial blood and the tissues of the body, which are
-essential to sensation, volition, and all the animal functions. He
-demonstrated that these substances modify and, in large quantities,
-arrest the animal functions in the same way, and by the same power as
-that by which they modify and arrest combustion, the slow oxidation of
-phosphorus and other kinds of oxidation unconnected with the living body
-when they (the narcotics) are mixed with the atmospheric air.
-
-In his modest way, he often spoke to me, with honest pride, on this
-observation. He himself thought it the best observation he had ever
-made, and believed that it would not be lost as an historical truth.
-Placing a taper, during one of our experiments, in a bottle through
-which chloroform vapour was diffused, and watching the declining flame,
-he once said, “There, now, is all that occurs in narcotism; but to
-submit the candle to the action of the narcotic without extinguishing it
-altogether, you must neither expose it to much vapour at once, nor
-subject it to the vapour too long; and this is all you can provide
-against in subjecting a man to the same influence. I could illustrate
-all the meaning of this great practical discovery of narcotism on a
-farthing candle, but I fear the experiment would be thought rather too
-commonplace.”
-
-The year of the world’s fair in London, 1851, may be considered a
-fortunate one for Dr. Snow. His affairs had taken a new turn, and the
-tide was fairly in his favour. He had a positive holiday, physical and
-mental. The harass of the professional struggle was over, the world was
-opening its eyes to his intrinsic merits; old friends flocked around
-him, brought to the grand show in town, and all was well. He did but
-little this year, except to write a characteristic letter to Lord
-Campbell, who was pushing on a bill in the House of Lords, called the
-“Prevention of Offences Bill,” in which a clause was introduced to
-prevent, by severe punishment, any attempt that might be made by any
-person to administer chloroform or other stupifying drug for unlawful
-purposes. Dr. Snow, believing that Lord Campbell was actuated in
-introducing this clause by the fact of certain trials having recently
-occurred for the offence of using chloroform unlawfully, and being
-himself convinced that, in two of the cases (the one the case of a
-robbery in Thrale-street; the other, of a robbery attempted on London
-Bridge), the evidence against the prisoners, of attempting to produce
-insensibility by chloroform, was without any reason or possibility, he
-opposed the afore named clause in the bill on the ground that if it
-became law numerous frivolous and false charges would be constantly
-brought up against innocent people, or against guilty persons, but
-persons not guilty of the special charge laid against them, that,
-namely, of administering a volatile narcotic by inhalation. Knowing that
-weakness of human nature which leads a man, in the presence of all
-evidence, never to admit intoxication as possible in his own proper
-person, Dr. Snow felt that, in any case where an intoxicated person had
-been robbed, such person might allege that he had been made insensible
-by narcotic vapour. The two cases specially noticed in his letter
-admitted readily of such interpretation, and were clearly not cases in
-which chloroform had been administered. Lord Campbell, on the receipt of
-Dr. Snow’s letter, referred to it in very complimentary terms in the
-Lords’, but intimated that the reasoning of the letter did not alter his
-determination. The editor of the _Medical Gazette_, Dr. Alfred Taylor,
-opened fire on Dr. Snow; and for two or three weeks a sharp contest
-occurred between the two doctors; but the matter soon rested, each
-author retaining his own opinions, and both agreeing to differ.
-
-Dr. Snow’s amiable but firm nature led him often to this ultimatum.
-Freedom of expression was a right he always claimed; but for this reason
-he extended the same privilege to others. He was never stirred into
-provocation by any difference of opinion. It was enough for him to form
-carefully his own opinions, and then to hold to what he had said, so
-long as he felt, from his internal convictions, that he was right.
-
-In the year 1848, Dr. Snow, in the midst of his other occupations,
-turned his thoughts to the questions of the cause and propagation of
-cholera. He argued in his own mind that the poison of cholera must be a
-poison acting on the alimentary canal by being brought into direct
-contact with the alimentary mucous surface, and not by the inhalation of
-any effluvium. In all known diseases, so he reasoned, in which the blood
-is poisoned in the first instance, there are developed certain general
-symptoms, such as rigors, headache, and quickened pulse; and these
-symptoms all precede any local demonstration of disease. But in cholera
-this rule is broken; the symptoms are primarily seated in the alimentary
-canal, and all the after symptoms of a general kind are the results of
-the flux from the canal. His inference from this was, that the poison of
-cholera is taken direct into the canal by the mouth. This view led him
-to consider the mediums through which the poison is conveyed, and the
-nature of the poison itself. Several circumstances lent their aid in
-referring him to water as the chief, though not the only, medium, and to
-the excreted matters from the patient already stricken with cholera, as
-the poison. He first broached these ideas to Drs. Garrod and Parkes,
-early in 1848; but feeling that his data were not sufficiently clear, he
-waited for several months, and having in 1849 obtained more reliable
-data, he published his views _in extenso_ in a pamphlet entitled “The
-Mode of Communication of Cholera”. During subsequent years, but
-specially during the great epidemic outbreak of the disease in London in
-1854, intent to follow out his grand idea, he went systematically to his
-work. He laboured personally with untiring zeal. No one but those who
-knew him intimately can conceive how he laboured, at what cost, and at
-what risk. Wherever cholera was visitant, there was he in the midst. For
-the time, he laid aside as much as possible the emoluments of practice;
-and when even, by early rising and late taking rest, he found that all
-that might be learned was not, from the physical labour implied, within
-the grasp of one man, he paid for qualified labour. The result of his
-endeavours, in so far as scientific satisfaction is a realization, was
-truly realized, in the discovery of the statistical fact, that of 286
-fatal attacks of cholera, in 1854, occurring in the south districts of
-the metropolis, where one water company, the Southwark and Vauxhall,
-supplied water charged with the London fæcal impurities, and another
-company, the Lambeth, supplied a pure water, the proportion of fatal
-cases to each 10,000 houses supplied by these waters, was to the
-Southwark and Vauxhall Company’s water 71, to the Lambeth 5.
-
-There was, however, another fact during this epidemic, which more than
-the rest drew attention to Dr. Snow’s labours and deductions. In the
-latter part of August 1854, a terrific outbreak of cholera commenced in
-and about the neighbourhood of Broad-street, Golden-square. Within two
-hundred and fifty yards of the spot where Cambridge-street joins
-Broad-street, there were upwards of five hundred fatal attacks of
-cholera in ten days. To investigate this fearful epidemic was at once
-the selfimposed task of Dr. Snow. On the evening of Thursday, the 7th of
-September, the vestrymen of St. James’s were sitting in solemn
-consultation on the causes of the visitation. They might well be solemn,
-for such a panic possibly never existed in London since the days of the
-great plague. People fled from their homes as from instant death,
-leaving behind them, in their haste, all the mere matter which before
-they valued most. While, then, the vestrymen were in solemn
-deliberation, they were called to consider a new suggestion. A stranger
-had asked, in modest speech, for a brief hearing. Dr. Snow, the stranger
-in question, was admitted, and in few words explained his view of the
-“head and front of the offending”. He had fixed his attention on the
-Broad-street pump as the source and centre of the calamity. He advised
-the removal of the pump-handle as the grand prescription. The vestry was
-incredulous, but had the good sense to carry out the advice. The
-pump-handle was removed, and the plague was stayed. There arose hereupon
-much discussion amongst the learned, much sneering and jeering even; for
-the pump-handle removal was a fact too great for the abstruse science
-men who wanted to discover the cause of a great natural phenomenon in
-some overwhelming scientific problem. But it matters little. Men with
-great thoughts in their heads, think of little things which little men
-cover with their wide-spread feet. It matters little, for the plague was
-stayed; and whoever will now read dispassionately the report of a
-committee, afterwards published by the vestry, and the demonstrative
-evidence of the Rev. Mr. Whitehead, will find that the labours and
-suggestion of Dr. Snow, in reference to the Broad-street epidemic of
-cholera, must become each day better and better appreciated, as time,
-which never yet told a lie, tells the tale and points the moral of the
-event which is here so imperfectly described. Some who, at first, were
-amongst those who held up the labours of our friend to ridicule, or
-passed them over in contemptuous silence, have, indeed, since modified
-their opinions, and have either tacitly accepted his facts, or have done
-far worse by attempting to put them forward as though they were the work
-of no single man, or of some one unknown, or as though their connection
-with a theory destroyed the originality of the facts themselves. It was
-my privilege, during the life of Dr. Snow, to stand on his side. It is
-now my duty, in his death, as a biographer who feels that his work will
-not be lost, to claim for him not only the entire originality of the
-theory of the communication of cholera by the direct introduction of the
-excreted cholera poison into the alimentary system; but, independently
-of that theory, the entire originality of the discovery of a connection
-between impure water supply and choleraic disease. The whole of his
-inquiries in regard to cholera were published in 1855, in the second
-edition of his work on the “Mode of Communication of Cholera”—a work in
-the preparation and publication of which he spent more than £200 in hard
-cash, and realized in return scarcely so many shillings.
-
-In 1856, he made a visit to Paris in company with his uncle, Mr. Empson,
-who having personally known the present Emperor many years, had on this
-occasion special imperial favours shown to him, in which the nephew
-participated. During the visit, Dr. Snow lodged a copy of his work on
-Cholera at the “Institute”, in competition for the prize of £1,200
-offered for the discovery of a means for preventing or curing the
-disease. The decision of the judges has since been published, but no
-note seems to have been made of Dr. Snow’s researches.
-
-The Medical Society of London, reformed under that name in 1849–50, by
-amalgamation with the Westminster Medical, was at this time the
-principal scene of Dr. Snow’s scientific exertions. In 1852, the Society
-elected him as Orator for the ensuing year; and at the eightieth
-anniversary of the Society, held on March the 8th, at the Thatched House
-Tavern, he delivered an admirable oration on “Continuous Molecular
-Changes, more particularly in their Relation to Epidemic Diseases.” He
-made no claim to the orator’s gown; but the address was too forcible and
-first class not to call forth the enthusiasm of the audience. It was
-admirably received; and few of us who were present on that interesting
-occasion will forget the simple and genuine earnestness of our beloved
-associate, as in the twinkling twilight he carried us along with the
-smooth current of his thoughts. He spent nearly twelve months in the
-preparation of this oration. It was intended to convey, in the most
-pleasing manner at his command, a broad view of his observations on the
-communication of certain spreading diseases. He advanced, on this
-occasion, the idea that intermittent fever, and perhaps yellow fever,
-are, like cholera, carried by their poisons direct into the alimentary
-system.
-
-Two years after this event, having, meantime, passed the office of
-vice-president, the Society elected him to the highest honour it can
-confer,—to the presidential chair. He took his place as President, in
-his unassuming manner, on March 10th, 1855, delivering a short but
-pleasing address. Throughout the year he carried out the duties of his
-office with great success. One of his presidential acts was peculiarly
-graceful. One evening, while presiding, Dr. Clutterbuck (then the
-father, or oldest member of the Society) came into the meeting. The
-venerable and distinguished old man, then long past his eightieth year,
-had lately been a stranger to the assembly, and was known but to few of
-the members. The President, as Dr. Clutterbuck entered the room, himself
-rose, and in a way that was irresistible in its simple courtesy resigned
-his chair to the veteran Esculapian. “It is near fifty years,” said Dr.
-Clutterbuck with emotion, as he took the proffered seat, “since I last
-occupied this honourable position.” At the next anniversary meeting,
-held on March the 8th, 1856, Dr. Clutterbuck came to his last meeting,
-and to see (so the fates willed it) his friend the President play also
-his last part in presidential duties. At the anniversary dinner on that
-same day, the President reviewed, in feeling terms, his own career in
-the professional strife, and expressed that his success in life had
-originated in his acquaintance with the Society over which he then
-governed by the general will.
-
-In addition to the fellowship of the Medical Society, Dr. Snow belonged
-to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical, Pathological, and Epidemiological
-societies. He was also a member of the British Medical Association. The
-Medical Society, from its old associations, was, however, that in which
-he took the most active part. Next to this, the Epidemiological Society
-claimed his regard. When Mr. Tucker first contemplated the formation of
-the Epidemiological Society, Dr. Snow was one of the first with whom he
-held consultation, and from whom he received that able support which
-enabled him to found that excellent institution. From the first of the
-Society, Dr. Snow was an active member. He was on many of its
-committees; he was a member of council, and a frequent contributor to
-its _Transactions_. He used often to meet with opponents to his peculiar
-opinions at the meetings of this Society, but he always retained
-friendships.
-
-The position which he took as an epidemiologist was original, and in
-opposition to the views of many eminent men who had in the matters
-relating to public health considerable influence, scientific and
-political. He could not consequently, and did not, expect to go on his
-way unopposed. But he did sometimes expect a more deliberate and
-considerate attention to his hard wrought labours than he received or
-deserved. He used constantly, though no great professor of Shakespearian
-lore, to deplore the long admitted fact, that nothing so inevitably
-tends to transform an earnest inquiring and enthusiastic man, into a
-supercilious, superficial, and cold-hearted egotist, as translation from
-the stool of self-reliance and independence, into the gilded chair of
-office and brief authority.
-
-It must be admitted that Dr. Snow’s views on the spread of epidemics
-were extreme in character; but from the slight which they too hastily
-received, they were not, I believe, properly understood. It has often
-been said that he encouraged by his arguments the perpetuation of
-certain offensive arts and occupations which are injurious to the public
-health; and in 1855, several journalists commented on him severely for
-this supposed error. But the fact is, he never presumed that any man
-could breathe with impunity other gaseous mixture than oxygen and
-nitrogen in atmospheric proportion. He knew too well the effect of
-inhaling chemical substances to allow of such supposition to enter his
-mind. But he contended, in regard to pure epidemic disorders,
-distinguished by specific symptoms, that these have a specific poison,
-which is propagated by certain fixed laws, which attains its progression
-and increase in and through animal bodies; which is communicated from
-one animal body to another, and which is the same in its essence from
-first to last. This was his position, and he adhered to it. No mere
-emanation arising from evolution of foul smelling gas can, per se,
-according to his views, originate a specific disease, such as small-pox
-or scarlet-fever; as well expect that the evolution of such gas should
-plant a plain with oaks or a garden with crocuses. True, small-pox may
-occur over a cesspool as an oak may spring up from a manure heap; but
-the small-pox would never appear over the cesspool in the absence of its
-specific poison; nor the oak rise from the manure heap in the absence of
-the acorn which seeded it.
-
-In 1855, Dr. Snow gave evidence before the select committee on the
-“Public Health and Nuisances Removal Bill,” in which evidence he strove
-to convey the impressions which are condensed above. Feeling that he had
-not been correctly understood, he afterwards wrote a letter to Sir
-Benjamin Hall, in which he set forth the whole of his argument very
-distinctly and sensibly. He indicated in this letter that he was no
-defender of nuisances, but that whereas a bad smell cannot simply
-because it is a bad smell give rise to specific disease, so an offensive
-business conducted in a place where it ought not be should be proceeded
-against by ordinary law as a nuisance, without using in regard to it the
-word pestiferous, or otherwise dragging in and distorting the science of
-medicine. As time rolls on, it will probably be elicited that the
-groundwork of Dr. Snow’s theory is sound. That if he committed error, it
-was in adhering too closely to the abstract fact, and in not allowing
-sufficient importance to the favouring influence of impure conditions in
-the propagation and distribution of the specific poisons of the specific
-diseases.
-
-At all events, the view he had maintained originally, he maintained to
-the end, and throughout conscientiously; and the aspersions that the
-object of his argument was to support his special theory regarding the
-communication of cholera, are utterly unfounded. In the present year,
-1858, he read at the Epidemiological Society, and published in the
-_Medical Times and Gazette_, a repetition of his previous opinions,
-strengthening them by a statistical record, showing that the mortality
-of persons working at so-called offensive occupations is at certain ages
-lower, and at certain ages slightly higher, than in the general
-population. When the paper was read at the Epidemiological Society, Mr.
-Edwin Chadwick made a long series of objections to the paper, and
-complained that the argument was illogical. It was so, doubtless, on Mr.
-Chadwick’s premises; but on the premises advanced by Dr. Snow, as to the
-specific propagation of specific diseases by specific poisons,
-physiological problems on which, from his experimental researches and
-knowledge, he was far the best authority, his arguments were perfectly
-logical, and perfectly consistent.
-
-In relation to public health, Dr. Snow contributed many other
-observations. In the first number of the _Sanitary Review_, he
-communicated a valuable paper, previously read at the Epidemiological
-Society, on the “Comparative Mortality of Town and Rural Districts”;
-and, previous to his decease, he was busily occupied in investigating
-the question of adulteration of bread with alum. He made several
-analyses of different specimens of bread, but his papers merely leave a
-brief record of the fact, without any comments or results.
-
-We return for a few moments to some further points connected with his
-researches on inhalation. In addition to his experiments with volatile
-narcotics, he carried out for a long time a series of inquiries with
-other medicinal substances, and administered many remedies by inhalation
-at the Brompton Hospital, during a period of twenty months. In 1851, he
-recorded the result of this experience at the Medical Society of London,
-and explained the modes of administering various agents. Some, as
-morphia and stramonium, were inhaled with the aid of heat; others, as
-hydrocyanic acid and conia, were inhaled at the ordinary temperature.
-The particulars of these experiments will be found in a short paper in
-the _London Journal of Medicine_ for January 1851.
-
-He continued steadily to investigate the effects of various volatile
-agents for the production of insensibility, and arrived by frequent
-experiment to such a degree of positive knowledge regarding agents of
-this class, that the composition and boiling point of any new chemical
-body having been supplied, he could predict whether or not its vapour
-would produce narcotism by inhalation. Other than the volatile narcotics
-referred to in his present essay, he performed a variety of experiments
-with carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, cyanogen, hydrocyanic acid, Dutch
-liquid, ammonia, nitrogen, amylovinic ether, puff-ball smoke, allyle,
-cyanide of ethyle, chloride of amyle, a carbo-hydrogen from Rangoon tar,
-a carbo-hydrogen coming over with amylene, and various combinations of
-these. His grand search was for a narcotic vapour which, having the
-physical properties and practicability of chloroform, should, in its
-physiological effects, resemble ether in not producing, by any accident
-of administration, paralysis of the heart. The fact that in almost every
-fatal case from chloroform the result had occurred from the action of
-the narcotic on the central organ of the circulation, was never absent
-from his thoughts. An agent having this effect, however intrinsically
-valuable, was not to be put in the hands of every person for
-administration. “There would be a great uproar,” he remarked on one
-occasion, “if a student were to undertake on the operating table to tie
-the femoral artery, and were to open the femoral vein. Yet at some of
-our hospitals, the administration of chloroform has been entrusted to
-the porter, who would only grin in ignorance, if informed that each time
-his services were required, he performed the grand act of suspending for
-a time the oxidation of the whole body, and of inducing a temporary
-death; and who would tell you, if you asked him the composition of
-chloroform, that it was smelling stuff.” He spoke this from no selfish
-feeling, but with that kind of regret which an educated engineer would
-feel, on referring to the fact of a railway porter who, knowing nothing
-of steam, how to put it on, when to take it off, or why it propelled,
-had mounted an engine and driven a host of confiding passengers to their
-destruction. This is the way in which he expressed himself, and it would
-be difficult to show that he was not correct.
-
-Intent on the discovery of some new anæsthetic, which might be more
-safely entrusted to general use, Dr. Snow began, in 1856, to experiment
-with amylene. As usual, he went to work cautiously and with precision.
-First he ascertained the boiling point of the specimen supplied to him;
-then the point of saturation of air with the vapour at different
-temperatures; then the effects of inhalation of the vapour by inferior
-animals, and the quantity required to be inspired, with the air
-breathed, to produce insensibility. These were the usual steps in all
-his inquiries of this kind. When he had obtained any substance which
-would produce insensibility favourably on animals, he pushed it, in one
-or two experiments, to its extreme in animals of different kinds; and
-having produced death by the inhalation, both by giving rapidly a large
-dose, and by giving a small dose for a long period, he observed the mode
-of death, whether it occurred by cessation of the heart, or by cessation
-of the respiration primarily. If the agent seemed to promise favourably
-from these inquiries, he commenced to try it on man; and the first man
-was invariably his own self. His friends, knowing his unflinching
-courage in the ardour of his inquiries, often expostulated with him in
-regard to the risks he ran. It was of no avail. He felt the personal
-trial a duty, and he did it. I do not believe, as some have supposed,
-that these personal experiments had any effect in producing his early
-death; but it is certain that he underwent many risks in the performance
-of his investigations, and that he held his own life of least
-consideration when the lives or well-being of others were under
-consideration.
-
-There is yet another trait in his character which I cannot but notice,
-and which I would respectfully commend to all physiological inquirers.
-While he held it as a necessity to use inferior animals for the purpose
-of experiment, he never touched living thing with the physiologist’s
-finger without having before him some definite object; and never
-performed experiment on any animal without providing with scrupulous
-care against the infliction of all unnecessary suffering. The interests
-of humanity were, according to his rule, best advanced by the practice
-of a humanity that was universal.
-
-He paid considerable attention to the subject of local anæsthesia, and
-tried numerous methods for attaining to a knowledge of a perfect local
-anæsthetic. He performed experiments with freezing mixtures, with
-chloroform; and for the production of rapid and efficient benumbing by
-cold, he tried, in 1854, the effects of applying solid carbonic acid to
-the skin. At one of the meetings of the Medical Society, he reported at
-length the results he had arrived at; but he was never satisfied with
-them, and soon relinquished the inquiry, in order to concentrate his
-energies on the discovery of what he felt sure must be discovered
-ultimately,—an anæsthetic which might be inhaled with absolute safety,
-and which would destroy common sensation without destroying
-consciousness.
-
-To some extent he succeeded in this latter direction, in his discovery
-of the physiological effects of amylene; and for some time he was
-sanguine as to the great safety of the new agent. But the deaths which
-he has so faithfully recorded as occurring in his own hands from
-amylene, removed his expectations, and he discontinued its use as soon
-as he learned the risks which might follow its administration.
-
-By his earnest labours Dr. Snow soon acquired a professional reputation,
-in relation to his knowledge of the action of anæsthetics, which spread
-far and wide; and the people, through the profession, looked up to him
-from all ranks, as the guide to whom to entrust themselves in “Lethe’s
-walk”. On April the 7th, 1853, he administered chloroform to Her Majesty
-at the birth of the Prince Leopold. A note in his diary records the
-event. The inhalation lasted fifty-three minutes. The chloroform was
-given on a handkerchief, in fifteen minim doses; and the Queen expressed
-herself as greatly relieved by the administration. He had previously
-been consulted on the occasion of the birth of Prince Arthur, in 1850,
-but had not been called in to render his services. Previous to the birth
-of Prince Leopold, he had been honoured with an interview with His Royal
-Highness the Prince Albert, and returned much overjoyed with the
-Prince’s kindness and great intelligence on the scientific points which
-had formed the subject of their conversation. On April 14th, 1857,
-another note in the diary records the fact of the second administration
-of chloroform to Her Majesty, at the birth of the Princess Beatrice. The
-chloroform again exerted its beneficent influence; and Her Majesty once
-more expressed herself as much satisfied with the result.
-
-Inquisitive folk often overburthened Snow, after these events, with a
-multitude of questions of an unmeaning kind. He answered them all with
-goodnatured reserve. “Her Majesty is a model patient,” was his usual
-reply: a reply which, he once told me, seemed to answer every purpose,
-and was very true. One lady of an inquiring mind, to whom he was
-administering chloroform, got very loquacious during the period of
-excitement, and declared she would inhale no more of the vapour unless
-she were told what the Queen said, word for word, when she was taking
-it. Her Majesty, replied the dry doctor, asked no questions until she
-had breathed very much longer than you have; and if you will only go on
-in loyal imitation, I will tell you everything. The patient could not
-but follow the example held out to her. In a few seconds she forget all
-about Queen, Lords, and Commons; and when the time came for a renewal of
-hostilities, found that her clever witness had gone home to his dinner,
-leaving her with the thirst for knowledge still on her tongue.
-
-
-From the literary and general history of Dr. Snow, let us turn for a few
-pages to his history personal. I will take the mean of the last eight
-years of his life,—the period in which I knew him,—as the period from
-which to draw particulars. He was of middle size, and, some years since,
-slender; but of late he had become of slightly fuller build. His long
-life in comparative student loneliness had made him reserved in manner
-to strangers; but with private friends he was always open, and of sweet
-companionship. With his increased popularity he became less reserved to
-strangers; and within the last few years he so far threw off restraint
-as to visit the opera occasionally. But he moderated every enjoyment,
-and let nothing personal stand in the way of his scientific pursuits. He
-was the impersonation of order. He had his time and place for
-everything; he kept a diary, in which he recorded the particulars of
-every case in which he administered chloroform or other anæsthetic, with
-comments on the results of the administration, and hints as to dangers
-avoided or chanced. He kept a record of all his experiments, and short
-notes of observations made by his friends. He rose early, and retired
-early to rest,—at eleven o’clock. He seemed, whenever he was waited on,
-as though he had nothing in hand, and were always open to an engagement.
-
-Anything and everything of scientific interest arrested his attention,
-and his kindliness of heart was at all times in the foreground. When I
-was living at Mortlake, he would run down, on request, after his day’s
-duties were over, to a _post-mortem_, to see a poor patient, or to take
-part in an experiment, returning as cheerily as though he had been to
-receive the heaviest fee. I name this as but one example of his kindly
-nature; there are many who could corroborate the example in like
-personal manner.
-
-He laid no claim to eloquence, nor had he that gift. A peculiar
-huskiness of voice, indeed, rendered first hearings from him painful;
-but this was soon felt less on acquaintance, and the ear once accustomed
-to the peculiarity, the mind was quickly interested in the matter of his
-discourse, for he always spoke earnestly, clearly, and to the point. In
-the societies he spoke very often, and gave expression to views, on
-which he had spent great thought, with a generous freedom which, in so
-far as the fame of his originality was concerned, had been better held
-in reserve. It had been better, that is to say, for him to have
-carefully elaborated some of his views in the closet, and published them
-fully, than to have sent them forth in the hurry of debate. Had he
-lived, he would possibly have collected many stray labours thus put
-forward, and have given to them the matured consideration which they
-deserved. One of his views, on which he would have bestowed great
-attention, refers to the origin of various morbid growths, as cancer. He
-believed that these morbid formations are all of local origin; that they
-arise in the parts of the body where they are found, from some
-perversion of nutrition; and that the constitutional effects are
-secondary to and dependent on the local disorder. He had made many
-observations on this important subject, notices of which are to be found
-scattered, here and there, in the proceedings of the Medical Society of
-London, but no connected record was ever completed.
-
-His private conversation was both instructive and amusing; he was full
-of humorous anecdotes, which he told in a quiet, and irresistibly droll
-style; and when he laughed, his goodnatured face laughed in every
-feature.[1] His anecdotes were never given in set form, but were
-elicited by some circumstance or other which might happen to suggest
-them. Once, when a friend of ours related at dinner some of the
-economical measures of an odd old doctor who was known to some of the
-company, he gave us an anecdote, showing how a man may work too hard for
-his money. “When I was a very young man,” he said, “I went for a brief
-period to assist a gentleman who had a large parochial practice. I found
-his surgery in a very disorderly state, and thinking on my first day
-with him that I would enhance myself in his opinion by my industry, I
-set to work, as soon as his back was turned, to cleanse the Augean
-stable. I took off my coat, cleared out every drawer, relieved the
-counter of its unnecessary covering, relabelled the bottles, and got
-everything as clean as a new pin. When the doctor returned, he was quite
-taken by storm with the change, and commenced to prescribe in his day
-book. There was a patient who required a blister, and the worthy doctor,
-to make dispensing short, put his hand into a drawer to produce one. To
-his horror, the drawer was cleansed. Goodness! cried he, why where are
-all the blisters? The blisters, I replied, the blisters in that drawer?
-I burnt them all; they were old ones. Nay, my good fellow, was the
-answer, that is, the most extravagant act I ever heard of; such
-proceedings would ruin a parish doctor. Why, I make all my parochial
-people return their blisters when they have done with them. One good
-blister is enough for at least half a dozen patients. You must never do
-such a thing again, indeed you must not. I did not, for he and I soon
-found a good many miles of ground between us, though we never had any
-more serious misunderstanding.”
-
-His replies, when under the fire of cross-question, were ready and
-commonsense. Once, he observed that in his opinion sulphuric ether was a
-safer narcotic than chloroform. Why, then, said a listener, do you not
-use ether? I use chloroform, he resumed, for the same reason that you
-use phosphorus matches instead of the tinder box. An occasional risk
-never stands in the way of ready applicability. On another occasion,
-after one of the meetings of the “Medical Society,” when the subject of
-a specific cholera cell had been under debate, some one asked him, as a
-poser and rather ironically, where he thought the first cholera cell
-came from? “Exactly,” he replied, with a droll face. “But to begin, do
-you tell me where the first tiger or the first upas tree came from; nay,
-tell me where you came from yourself, and I will then tell you the
-origin of the first cholera cell, and give you the full history of the
-first case; but I want a model before I venture on the description of
-ultimate facts.”
-
-As an author, his style was plain, clear, and smoothly elegant. His
-argument was always carefully studied and as carefully rendered. He sent
-manuscript to the printer which required scarcely a letter of
-correction. Both in writing and speaking, he made the expression of
-truth his first business. Neither provocation nor temptation could ever
-lead him aside from that principle. His readings were select. He chiefly
-read scientific works, old and new. He had great relish for some of the
-old medical writers—the masters in physic. He had read Bacon, but agreed
-with Harvey’s criticism that Bacon wrote science like a lord chancellor.
-He had a notion that there had been a history long previous to any we
-know of from existing records, in which the sciences generally had risen
-to a greater perfection than they are at this present. His conversance
-with Sprengel’s _History of Medicine_ had possibly led him to this
-opinion. He was fond of general history also, but studied it little. He
-never read novels, because the hours devoted to them were, he felt,
-hours thrown away. At the same time, he enjoyed as much as any man
-ridiculous life-pictures naturally cast. When he came to see me, and
-leisure was with us, I used often to read to him some of the more
-amusing passages from Dickens and Thackeray, or from one of the older
-writers, as Swift. It was a new world to him, and provoked great fun. He
-would ask to have passages read over again, that he might better realize
-the conception. He enjoyed vastly any anecdotes about the old men in
-physic, the Cullens and Meads and Arbuthnotts and Harveys. Any such
-anecdotes he took into his memory and never forgot them.
-
-On such occasions I would, in ridiculous mood, sing him absurd songs to
-any tune, two or three tunes, or to no tune at all, and without any
-pretence at voice. At first he would listen with his hands flat together
-and with a perfect melancholy on his face, as if he could hear it no
-longer. Bit by bit he would relax, and at last get into a continued
-laughter. Then I would stop, and he would begin to open out his list of
-anecdotes, professional and general, upon which the laughter came over
-to me with compound interest, for of men enriched with stores of droll
-stories, few could equal him. Nor was he inventive in these narrations;
-he had simply observed character shrewdly, and described it in its
-humorous phases. If he had written as he related, he would have ranked
-as one of the humorists of the age of no second order.
-
-He thought severely of the reviewer’s art, and would never of late
-review any book critically. If a book were good, it carried the review
-of its own merits. If it were bad, it were better left untouched. He, at
-all events, with so much original work before him, could not stop to
-criticize his compeers or their transactions. Let the dead bury their
-dead; he must march with the living while life gave power.
-
-Notwithstanding, he was fond of controversy and courted it. I expressed
-to him once some surprise that he with such an even temper should write
-so often in controversial style; and that surely it were better to
-follow Harvey’s and old Sam Johnson’s plan, to do the best oneself, and
-leave the controversy altogether to others less personally influenced.
-He agreed that this was by far the best system, but did not think it
-practicable generally, and feared that silence might often be
-misinterpreted.
-
-Men who have something in them take different courses in the way of
-accepting the world’s recognition of their labours. The beginning, in
-most cases, is after a given pattern; the end is modified and turned
-about variously, according to the stamp of the man. All start with an
-exaggerated appreciation of their own doings, and with exaggerated
-feelings respecting the critics who first notice them. The critic is
-Jove the all wise, or Pluto the all black. There was never middleman
-critic yet. Some men stop at the first, either too elated with the
-pleasure of the first reception to venture more, or too cast down from
-the pain of a sharp reception to tempt fortune further. Cowards these
-both, in one word. Others enter into violent controversies; in the heat
-of the same, drop one or two contradictions, and, wishing every month
-that Cadmus had been still born, go on always at controversy, boring
-everybody, and especially those who would believe if not bored. Others,
-again, soon find their own level, and not only their own, but the level
-of their critics. Surfeited with commendation, or hardened by attacks,
-these care little for either, and make no retorts save such as are by
-ambuscade and go right home. A fourth class, of immovable temper and
-self-reliant, fall into what seems, superficially, indifference, but
-which means, deeply, the soul of earnestness. These do always the best
-thing at the time, and, when it is done to their own satisfaction, put
-it forward, with no anxiety whatever as to what may be said of it, with
-no intention of entering into any defence of it, and with no intention
-of doing anything less than themselves correct all such errors in it as
-after knowledge may indicate, or commit it to the flames, if destruction
-be its best fate. Fatalists in letters, men of this class, if it be
-pleasure to call them so; but great fatalists too—honest reviewers of
-their own works, who fear their own criticisms, and none other; who
-offer immense labours, and die to them as they offer. Dr. Snow, as we
-have seen, was the representative rather of the controversial class of
-workers. But he had his own way of doing the controversy business, which
-saved friendships, and exhibited a firm principle and an exact
-knowledge. It is not to be denied, however, that, had he put his labours
-before the world, and trusted in them and on the world’s justice, never
-replying a syllable, he would have avoided an extremity of argument
-which was often not merely unnecessary in relation to his propositions,
-but injurious to them, as reasonings overstrained.
-
-He admired art, and felt real pleasure in advancing it. He enjoyed
-innocent recreations, and was ever at home in the family circle. He had
-his regrets that he had never married, the fates had been against him
-permanently on that score. He loved the prattle of children. When he
-went to court during last season, and had arrayed himself in his court
-suit, nothing connected with the event amused him so much as the saying
-of the child of a friend, who, on seeing him start, with his sword and
-flattened hat, held up her hands, and exclaimed: “Oh! isn’t Dr. Snow
-_pretty_, mamma.” The idea of being considered pretty roused in him
-quite a new and droll sensation, which he could not help telling about
-as a rare incident in a courtier’s career. The anecdote is simple, but
-it gives a good idea of the simple and genial nature of the man.
-
-It has been shown that the tendency of Dr. Snow’s mind for philosophical
-pursuits led him away in some measure from the practical drudgery of
-professional life. From this fact, it has been too hastily inferred that
-he was therefore, in the common parlance, “not a practitioner.” Those
-who knew him as a practitioner, who had had the advantage of his
-assistance in cases of doubt or difficulty, have a very different
-opinion. These speak of him, with one accord, as having been, without
-any ostentation, one of the soundest and most acute of our modern
-physicians. He had great tact in diagnosis; an observant eye, a ready
-ear, a sound judgment, a memory admirably stored with the recollection
-of cases bearing on the one in point, and a faculty of grouping together
-symptoms and foreshadowing results, which very few men possess. Mr.
-Peter Marshall, of Bedford Square, who often called in Dr. Snow in
-consultation, has remarked to me in nearly the same terms as I have
-expressed, his independent appreciation of Dr. Snow’s practical
-knowledge. For my part, I never had the good fortune to put many fees
-into his pocket; but as I had often the pleasure of meeting him on pure
-scientific grounds in cases of interest, I can bear truthful testimony
-to his eminent qualities as a practitioner, and to the fact that his
-philosophical labours only served to render him more intelligent and
-profound in matters relating to diseases and their treatment. He did not
-become the idol of the people in common practice, far from it: but the
-failure arose not from deficiency of knowledge, but from a more perfect
-knowledge with assumption whipped out of it. It is no discredit to his
-memory that he was not the idol of the people in common practice, though
-it cost him much suffering to feel himself kept down, by that wisdom
-which is the oil to the water of popular ignorance concerning life and
-its laws. For, to be the idol of the people in physic, is too often to
-be the Juggernaut of physic,—an idol of wood or of stone in showy gold
-and tinsel. This idol has neither sense nor force; if it had, it were
-not an idol; it would walk off, or tell the worshippers no longer to
-shake hands constantly with themselves in its presence.
-
-But, when the opportunity offered for obtaining remunerative practice by
-the exercise of his scientific skill, Snow showed himself, both in act
-and industry, competent for success. He soon overcame all difficulties,
-and managed by his frugality to lay in store for a rainy day for
-himself, and to help such friends as needed. Many rumours as to the
-extent of his gains abound which it is right to correct. His income of
-late years was near £1,000 a year, but it never exceeded that sum. For
-this, he exhibited chloroform or one or other anæsthetic about four
-hundred and fifty times annually, taking an average of the ten years
-preceding his death. In a large number of these cases, however, his
-services were gratuitously supplied.
-
-In his private relations, Dr. Snow was a man of the strictest integrity
-and purest honour. The experiences of life, instead of entwining about
-him the vices of the world, had weaned him from the world. Without any
-pretence, maintaining no connection with sect or party, living by the
-rules of the eternal laws which, according to the best of his abilities,
-he could read from the universe, he carried out a practical religion,
-independently of any hypothesis or abstruse profession, which few
-professors could approach. A child of nature, he knew no way of
-recognizing the Divine influences so purely as in silent and
-inexpressible admiration of those grand external phenomena which
-pharisees see not, but which each moment convey to men of his character,
-the direct impression of a Power all present and revealing itself for
-ever.
-
-We approach the end. In the midst of his success, when medicine most
-needed him and his hand was most powerful, he stood one day in his
-mental strength, and the next day fell. Death found him at his work, and
-the stern enemy came on him suddenly, though not without
-forewarnings.[2]
-
-His health had long been indifferent; he had suffered from hæmatemesis
-several times in the last few years, for which Dr. Budd had attended
-him, and he had his own forebodings that his life was not of the
-longest. In the month of December 1857 he was suddenly seized one
-evening with vertigo and sickness, which compelled him to keep the
-recumbent position for more than twenty-four hours. At the end of this
-time he felt better, and went about his usual avocations. He had no
-convulsions at this time, nor did he lose his consciousness. After this
-attack, he complained on many different occasions, both to his
-housekeeper and to several of his medical friends, of numbness in his
-extremities. Some of these to whom he mentioned this circumstance, do
-not recollect whether this symptom was greater on one side of the body
-than on the other; while others distinctly state that it was referred to
-the left side only. His housekeeper was certain that he never complained
-of this numbness before the attack in December; and even afterwards, it
-would appear to have been only an occasional symptom. For six weeks
-before his final seizure he had made no mention of it. About three weeks
-before his last attack, he had complained, for some days, of a severe
-pain in the back of his head, which he himself considered neuralgic, and
-for which he treated himself. This pain quite left him, and for about a
-fortnight he had been enjoying excellent health.
-
-On the evening of Tuesday, June the 8th, 1858, he attended a meeting of
-the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. On the following evening
-there was a meeting of a private society for the study of chest
-diseases, held at Dr. Quain’s. The subject discussed was the cause of
-the first sound of the heart. On this, the last occasion of the kind at
-which he was present, he was in unusual spirits, and looked exceedingly
-well. He entered into the debate with great earnestness, agreed to form
-one of a committee to inquire into the cause of the first sound by
-experiment, and left his friends with enthusiastic expression as to the
-success of the proposed undertaking. We exchanged our last farewells
-that night.
-
-He went to bed at half-past eleven o’clock on June 9th, and on the
-following morning he came down stairs at 8 A.M. When he came down, he
-complained to his housekeeper of slight giddiness, and she thought he
-did not walk very steadily. He reclined on the sofa, and said that he
-should be well again in a few minutes, but that he did not think he
-could eat any breakfast. Soon after, however, he got up, said he felt
-very hungry, and ate a very hearty breakfast. When this was done, he
-proceeded to write a portion of the manuscript of the work on
-anæsthetics now published. He had written to the last printed sentence,
-when his housekeeper, who had scarcely left him, heard a great noise, as
-if some one had fallen. She ran up again and found her master on the
-floor, making vain endeavours to regain his chair. He does not appear to
-have had any convulsions, and his consciousness was unimpaired, for he
-remarked when his housekeeper came into the room, that though he did not
-quite understand the nature of his complaint, he was very sure he never
-had had any such symptoms before. His housekeeper observed that he had
-quite lost all power over his left arm and leg, and that his mouth
-appeared drawn to the right side. She had him lifted on the sofa; and
-here he remained for twenty-four hours before any medical assistance was
-sent for. This was his own wish, as he said he should soon be better,
-and that he did not wish to trouble any one. During this period he
-complained much of pain over the lower end of the sternum, which he
-endeavoured to relieve by frequent inhalations of sulphuric ether, but
-he neither ate nor slept the whole time. At 6 A.M. on the morning of
-Friday, June 11th, retching came on, and he vomited a considerable
-quantity of blood. Upon this his housekeeper sent for Dr. Budd, who,
-along with Dr. Murchison, continued to attend him to the last. His
-symptoms, when seen by these gentlemen, were briefly as
-follows:—Complete paralysis of motion over the whole of the left side of
-the body, but without loss of sensibility; the left angle of the mouth
-falling down, and the apex of the tongue deviating to the left; memory
-and consciousness were unimpaired; there was pain and great tenderness
-in the epigastrium, with urgent hiccup and hæmatemesis; there were
-slight indications of albuminuria, but there were no dropsical symptoms.
-
-The hæmatemesis ceased after about twenty-four hours, but the vomiting
-and hiccup continued. By Monday, the 14th, these symptoms also had
-subsided, but others of a more alarming nature began to show themselves.
-The pulse and respiration became accelerated, the countenance and
-extremities became livid, and there was occasional wandering delirium.
-These symptoms gradually increased in severity; but he retained his
-consciousness until 11 A.M. of Wednesday, June 16th, when the breathing
-became stertorous, and deglutition impossible. Throughout his illness,
-he had been sanguine of recovery, and expressed his belief frequently
-that he should soon be at his professional work again. On this, the last
-morning of his life, the fact of the danger in which he was placed was
-explained. He met the intelligence with calmness, but felt a wish to see
-Dr. Todd. Soon he sank into a somnolent state approaching to
-dissolution, and at 3 P.M. death took him.[3]
-
-On the Monday following, Dr. Snow was buried at the Brompton Cemetery.
-It was the wish of many of his medical friends to follow him to his last
-home. But his relations, recalling his own unostentatious feelings, laid
-him in the grave in simple ceremony; and there, ingenuous friend, in the
-sleep that knows no waking, he sleeps on and takes his rest; the rest he
-has earned. The old changes of the world live after him, women mourning
-for their children; youths exulting on the marriage day; the inanimate
-returning to the elements; the animate returning to the infinite. But in
-the gaping time shall it chance rarely, for another science-man to come
-and go, who, taking him all in all, may call him “brother”!
-
-
-
-
- HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
-
-
-The most important discovery that has been made in the practice of
-medicine since the introduction of vaccination, is, undoubtedly, the
-power of making persons perfectly insensible to the most painful
-surgical operations, by the inhalation of the vapours of ether,
-chloroform, and other agents of the same kind.
-
-In giving a brief outline of this discovery, it is necessary to inquire
-into the attempts of every kind which had previously been made to
-prevent severe pain; and also to notice the history of medicinal
-inhalations, whether undertaken with the view of preventing pain, or of
-relieving or curing disease.
-
-The practice of taking opium and other vegetable narcotics, to relieve
-pain or procure sleep, was common in the most remote periods to which
-history extends; but the earliest notices which remain of any attempts
-to prevent the pain of surgical operations were written at the period of
-the Roman Empire. They were alluded to by Dr. Simpson at the
-Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh in November, 1847.[4]
-Dioscorides,[5] speaking of mandragora, says, “Some persons boil the
-root in wine down to a third part, and preserve the decoction, of which
-they administer a cyathus (rather more than an ounce and a half) in want
-of sleep and severe pains of any part, and also before operations with
-the knife or the actual cautery, that they may not be felt.” (Ante
-sectiones ustionesve, ut ne sentiantur.) Further on he says: “A wine is
-prepared from the bark of the root without boiling, and three pounds of
-it are put into a _cadus_ (about eighteen gallons) of sweet wine, and
-three cyathi of this are given to those who require to be cut or
-cauterized: when being thrown into a deep sleep they do not feel any
-pain.”
-
-The same author also adds,[6] in speaking of a kind of mandragora called
-morion, “They relate that a drachm of it being taken as a draught, or
-eaten in a cake or other food, causes infatuation, and takes away the
-use of the reason. The person sleeps without sense, in the attitude in
-which he ate it, for three or four hours afterwards. Medical men also
-use it when they have to resort to cutting or burning.”
-
-In treating of mandragora, Pliny[7] remarks that the juice of the leaves
-is more powerful than the preparations made from the root. He says,
-“Some persons even die from a considerable draught. It has the power of
-causing sleep in those who take it. The dose is half a cyathus (six
-drachms). It is taken against serpents, and before cuttings and
-puncturings, lest they be felt. For these purposes it is sufficient for
-some persons to have sought sleep from the smell (of the medicine).”
-
-Apuleius,[8] under the head mandragora, says, “If any one eat it he will
-immediately die, unless he be treated with butter and honey, and vomit
-quickly. Further, if any one is to have a limb mutilated, burnt, or
-sawn, he may drink half an ounce with wine, and whilst he sleeps the
-member may be cut off without any pain or sense.”
-
-After reading the above passages from such well-known authors, it may be
-asked how it was that the practice of preventing the pain of surgical
-operations was entirely unknown just prior to 1846.
-
-The reason, no doubt, was that the statement these passages contain was
-looked upon as a vulgar error of the period, which had imposed on the
-credulity of the authors. Dr. Woodville,[9] speaking of the use of
-mandragora by the ancients, says, “They employed it principally in
-continued watchings, and in those more painful and obstinate affections
-which were found to resist less powerful medicines.” He gives, in a foot
-note, a reference to the place in Dioscorides from which the passages
-above quoted are taken, and had he believed in the performance of
-operations without pain, we may conclude he would not have passed over
-so important a fact in silence.
-
-With the knowledge we at present possess, however, a different view must
-be taken of the subject; and it must at least be allowed that the
-statements of the ancients had some foundation in truth. This is
-rendered more certain by the circumstance that atropa mandragora belongs
-to the same genus as belladonna, which has a greater power in annulling
-the common sensibility than any plant in present use, unless it be
-aconite. The loss of reason, described by Dioscorides as caused by
-mandragora, is a striking symptom of poisoning by the class of plants
-(the solanaceæ) to which it belongs. It appears from some remarks of
-Aretæus[10] and Cælius Aurelianus[11] that people were in the habit of
-taking mandragora as an inebriating agent in the time of the ancients,
-as an allied plant, the datura, is used at present by the natives of
-India. This practice would lead to a correct knowledge of the quantity
-which might be taken with impunity.
-
-The mandrake is scarcely used in medicine at present, but its narcotic
-properties are well established. Hoffberg[12] administered the root in
-doses of three grains in some cases of gout, with the effect of
-relieving the pain.
-
-Cases of poisoning by belladonna end, with very few exceptions, in
-recovery, however large the dose, and however alarming the symptoms may
-be; and, taking all the above circumstances into account, it is
-probable, that after ascertaining the right quantity to be administered
-for the purpose, this medicine or mandragora might be used, with
-considerable success, and no great danger, to prevent the pain of
-operations, if chemistry had not supplied us with agents much more
-convenient.
-
-Not many ages after the Greek and Roman authors above quoted were
-describing the effects of mandrake in preventing the pain of operations,
-another plant, the Indian hemp, was employed for the same purpose in a
-more remote part of the world. M. Stanislas Julien, in an article on
-Chinese Medicine,[13] gives a notice of a work entitled “Koukin-i-tong,
-or a General Collection of Ancient and Modern Medicine,” in fifty
-volumes, 4to., and makes an extract from it respecting Hoa-tho, a
-practitioner, who flourished under the dynasty of Wei, between 220 and
-230 of our era. Respecting Hoa-tho, it is stated that—“When he found
-that it was necessary to employ acupuncture, he applied it in two or
-three places; he did the same with the moxa, if it was indicated by the
-nature of the affection which he had to treat. But if the malady was
-situated in parts on which the needle, the moxa, or liquid medicines
-could not act—for example, in the bones, in the medulla of the bones, in
-the stomach, or the intestines, he gave to the patient a preparation of
-hemp (Ma-yo), and, at the end of some instants, he became as insensible
-as if he had been drunk, or deprived of life. Then, according to the
-case, he made openings and incisions, performed amputations, and removed
-the cause of mischief; he then brought together the tissues with points
-of suture, and applied liniments. After a certain number of days (at the
-end of a month, according to the annals of the later Hân) the patient
-found himself reestablished, without having experienced the slightest
-pain during the operation.”
-
-We are not informed of the way in which the hemp was administered. If
-insensibility was caused so quickly, as is stated, it must have been by
-inhaling the fumes of the hemp when exposed to heat, and not by taking
-it into the stomach. This view of the matter is rendered more probable
-by the circumstance that the ancient Scythians were in the habit of
-inhaling the fumes of hemp,[14] several centuries before the time of
-Hoa-tho, and also by the practice of the Hindoos at present, who inhale
-the fumes of hemp from a pipe. The remark that the patient became
-reestablished at the end of a certain number of days, must refer to his
-recovery from the wound caused by the operation, and we are not informed
-how long the state of insensibility continued.
-
-The next notice of any attempt to prevent the pain of operations, that I
-am aware of, occurs in the work on Surgery of Theodoric, an author who
-lived in Italy in the latter half of the thirteenth century. He writes
-as follows:[15] “The making of a flavour for performing surgical
-operations according to Dominus Hugo. It is thus made:—take of opium, of
-the juice of the unripe mulberry, of hyoscyamus, of the juice of
-hemlock, of the juice of the leaves of mandragora, of the juice of the
-woody ivy, of the juice of the forest mulberry, of the seeds of lettuce,
-of the seeds of the dock, which has large round apples, and of the water
-hemlock [cicuta]—each an ounce; mix all these in a brazen vessel, and
-then place in it a new sponge; let the whole boil, as long as the sun
-lasts on the dog days, until the sponge consumes it all, and it is
-boiled away in it (the sponge). As oft as there shall be need of it,
-place this sponge in hot water for an hour, and let it be applied to the
-nostrils of him who is to be operated on, until he has fallen asleep;
-and so let the surgery be performed. This being finished, in order to
-awaken him, apply another sponge, dipped in vinegar, frequently to the
-nose, or throw the juice of the root of fenugrek into the nostrils;
-shortly he awakes.”
-
-I altogether disbelieve that a sponge, prepared as above, would, after
-being placed in hot water, give off any odour or vapour which would
-cause insensibility. The active ingredients, as they exist in the
-various plants, are not sufficiently volatile to be given off at a heat
-below that of boiling water. Hemlock, indeed, contains a volatile
-principle, which can be liberated by an alkali; but, even if it were set
-free by any chance during the preparation of the sponge, it would all be
-dissipated by the long boiling.
-
-If sleep were really caused in this way, it must have been by some of
-the moisture from the sponge reaching the mouth or throat, and being
-swallowed; and it may be remarked that the author speaks of the
-preparation of a taste or flavour (confectio saporis), rather than an
-odour, although the sponge is certainly directed to be applied to the
-nostrils. It must be remarked, also, that if the patient were made so
-insensible, as not to feel the surgeon’s knife, he would be little
-affected by vinegar, or the juice of fenugrek, in his nostrils.
-
-Immediately after the prescription quoted above, and in the same
-paragraph with it, Theodoric gives another recipe from Master Hugo,
-directing antimony, quicksilver, soap, quick lime, and a little arsenic,
-to be sublimed together. A portion of the resulting compound, the size
-of a nut, is directed to be placed over a hernia, or whatever else is to
-be operated on. Then follows a rather lengthy direction for subliming
-arsenic, also from Dominus Hugo. The arsenic so sublimed is described as
-rendering surgical operations extremely pleasant. The words are—“hæc
-acus fiat mitis et suavis: sicut sudor beatæ virginis quum peperit
-Christum.”
-
-I have applied arsenic to the skin for twenty-four hours, with no other
-effect than irritation, and an eruption of pimples, the sensibility of
-the part being increased; and in my opinion, arsenic would not cause
-insensibility, unless it were applied so long that the inflammation
-caused by it should end in gangrene. I consider that the statement of
-Theodoric, respecting arsenic, strengthens the doubts I have expressed
-concerning his spongia somnifera. There is another reason for disputing
-the efficiency of the above mentioned recipes. Theodoric directs the
-patients about to undergo operations to be tied, or held by strong men.
-In the operation for hernia, for instance, he directs the patient to be
-tied to the bench, or table, with three bands, one round the ankles,
-another round the thighs, and a third across the chest, holding the arms
-and hands. This circumstance is the more significant, since Theodoric
-had lived some time with Hugo, and seen his practice, as he states in
-the dedication to his work.
-
-It is reasonable also to conclude that if any successful plan of
-preventing the pain of surgical operations had been introduced after the
-revival of literature, it would not have fallen into disuse and been
-forgotten.
-
-In an interesting paper by Dr. Silvester,[16] an anecdote is quoted,
-with an intention to show that anæsthetics were commonly had recourse to
-in severe operations as late as the end of the seventeenth century. The
-quotation is from a German work by A. G. Meissner, called _Skizzen_, or
-Sketches, and published at Carlsruhe in 1782. It is as follows:—
-
-“Augustus, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, suffered from a wound
-in his foot, which threatened to mortify. The court medical men were
-opposed to the operation of amputation; but during sleep, induced by a
-certain potion surreptitiously administered, his favourite surgeon,
-Weiss, a pupil of Petit, of Paris, cut off the decaying parts. The royal
-patient was disturbed by the proceeding, and inquired what was being
-done, but on receiving a soothing answer he again fell asleep, and did
-not discover till the following morning, after his usual examination,
-that the operation of amputation had really been performed.”
-
-It is most probable that the potion surreptitiously administered in this
-case, was an ordinary sleeping draught, and that only the “decaying
-parts” were cut off, as in fact is stated. The decaying parts of course
-would be without feeling.
-
-The mind of surgeons seems now and then to have turned spontaneously
-towards preventing or alleviating the pain of operations, and certain
-attempts and suggestions were made with this object during the later
-part of the last century, in apparent ignorance of what had been done by
-the ancients in this direction.
-
-Ambroise Tranquille Sassard, principal surgeon of the Hospital la
-Charité at Paris, recommended the employment of a narcotic previous to
-serious and painful operations, the dose to be proportioned to the age
-and strength of the patient.[17] He does not state whether the plan was
-actually tried.
-
-Mr. James Moore, surgeon,[18] recommended compression of the large
-nerves, and tried it on a patient in St. George’s Hospital, whose leg
-Mr. John Hunter amputated below the knee. The crural and sciatic nerves
-were compressed for nearly an hour by an instrument contrived for the
-purpose, and Mr. Moore considered that the greater part of the pain was
-prevented. The patient complained more of the sawing of the bone than of
-the cutting part of the operation. I am not aware whether this plan was
-tried in other instances, but it is certain that it did not come into
-general use.
-
-M. le docteur Liégard (de Caen) has stated,[19] that the peasants in his
-part of France are in the habit of tying a band very tightly round the
-arm or leg before operations on the extremities. He had himself removed
-a toe-nail in two cases, without pain, after a handkerchief had been
-tied very tightly round the lower part of the leg. By this measure both
-the nerves and blood vessels are, of course, more or less compressed.
-
-The persons who believe in the existence of a force or power, which they
-call Mesmerism, or animal magnetism, made many and persevering efforts
-in recent times to cause insensibility to the surgeon’s knife. In some
-cases they were imposed on by dishonest and designing patients, who
-afterwards confessed they had suffered the pain to which they had
-pretended to be insensible, but in other cases I have no doubt of the
-operations having really been performed without pain. Absence of
-consciousness and sensation is a common symptom in many cases of
-hysteria and catalepsy, and in certain susceptible persons, hysteria and
-catalepsy, or conditions nearly resembling them, can be induced by
-acting on the imagination, or by exhausting the attention by means of
-the fixed stare and monotonous “passes” of the so-called Mesmerisers.
-
-Dr. Esdaile was more successful in putting Hindoos to sleep, and
-operating on them in the hypnotized[20] state, than any one has been
-with Europeans: yet it was only in a portion of the cases in which it
-was tried that the alleged agent took effect. In many instances, efforts
-continued for two or three months had no effect on the patient; and in
-many of the operations, which were reported as successful, “there was
-much convulsive movement of the limbs, corrugation of the brows, and
-even loud cries and sobs,” although the patients afterwards denied all
-knowledge of what had passed.[21]
-
-The discovery of the means of preventing pain, which will occupy the
-greater number of the following pages, did not arise out of any of the
-attempts either in ancient or modern times above enumerated. It sprung
-directly from the practice of inhaling chemical and medicinal
-substances.
-
-The custom of inhaling the fumes of narcotic plants existed at the very
-commencement of the historic period, as appears by the following
-passages from Herodotus. Speaking of the people who inhabited some small
-islands on the river Araxes, which flows into the Caspian Sea, he
-says,[22] “They add that they have discovered other trees that produce
-fruit of a peculiar kind, which the inhabitants, when they meet together
-in companies, and have lit a fire, throw on the fire as they sit round
-in a circle; and that by inhaling the fumes of the burning fruit that
-has been thrown on, they become intoxicated by the odour, just as the
-Greeks do by wine; and that the more fruit is thrown on, the more
-intoxicated they become, until they rise up to dance and betake
-themselves to singing.”
-
-Again, when treating of the funeral ceremonies of the Scythians, he
-says,[23] “When they have set up three pieces of wood, leaning against
-each other, they extend round them woollen cloths; and having joined
-them together as closely as possible, they throw red-hot stones into a
-vessel placed in the middle of the pieces of wood and the cloths. They
-have a sort of hemp growing in this country very like flax, except in
-thickness and height; in this respect the hemp is far superior: it grows
-both spontaneously and from cultivation; and from it the Thracians make
-garments very like linen, nor would any one who is not well skilled in
-such matters distinguish whether they are made of flax or hemp, but a
-person who has never seen this hemp would think the garment was made of
-flax. When, therefore, the Scythians have taken some seed of this hemp,
-they creep under the cloths, and then put the seed on the red-hot
-stones; but this, being put on, smokes, and produces such a steam, that
-no Grecian vapour-bath would surpass it. The Scythians, transported with
-the vapour, shout aloud; and this serves them instead of washing, for
-they never bathe the body in water.”
-
-Mental illusions of all kinds have frequently been looked on as divine
-revelations, not only by savages, but even by nations having a
-considerable amount of civilization. The priestess at Delphos became
-intoxicated with the fumes of narcotic plants before delivering her
-oracular responses, and it is a curious circumstance that when America
-was discovered by Columbus, it was the custom of the Indians to throw
-tobacco on the fire during their religious ceremonies, when the piaches,
-or priests, who officiated, were thrown into a state of ecstatic
-inebriation by the smoke they inhaled.
-
-I have already stated my belief that the Indian hemp administered,
-previous to surgical operations, in China, by Hoa-tho, in the beginning
-of the third century of our era, was exhibited by inhalation.
-
-The fumes of various narcotic plants are inhaled by eastern nations at
-present, for smoking in the east is an entirely different process from
-smoking in the west of Europe, where the fumes of tobacco are merely
-drawn into the mouth and then puffed out again. In Asia and some of the
-eastern parts of Europe, the fumes of opium, tobacco, datura, Indian
-hemp, or whatever else is smoked, are always inhaled into the lungs.
-
-John Baptista Porta of Naples makes the following statement in his work
-on Natural Magic,[24] published in 1597:—
-
-“At last shall be related a wonderful method by which any sleeping
-person may inhale a soporific medicine. From what we have said, any one
-will easily know that he is liable to suffer severely after sleep caused
-by medicine, and to have his suspicions aroused.
-
-“But the quintessence is extracted from a number of the above named
-medicines by somniferous menstrua. This is put into leaden vessels
-perfectly closed, lest the least aura should escape, for the medicine
-would vanish away. When it is used, the cover being removed, it is
-applied to the nostrils of the sleeping person, he draws in the most
-subtile power of the vapour by smellings, and so blocks up the fortress
-of the senses that he is plunged into the most profound sleep, and
-cannot be roused without the greatest effort. After the sleep, no
-heaviness of the head remains, nor any suspicion of trick or fraud.
-These things are plain to the skilful physician, but unintelligible to
-the wicked.”
-
-The author does not make known what the “somniferis menstruis” were,
-with which the “quinta essentia” were extracted. As sulphuric ether had
-been described more than fifty years before he published his work, it is
-not improbable that this was the evanescent substance which required to
-be so carefully closed up, and that the profound sleep was simply caused
-by this, as the narcotic principles dissolved in it would remain in the
-bottle in the form of extracts. The benefit of inhalation has been
-frequently attributed to medicines which were supposed to be inhaled,
-when it was really due to the menstruum in which the medicines were
-dissolved. This often happens at present when the menstruum is merely
-water. Baptista Porta does not say that operations were performed under
-the influence of the inhalation, or, in fact, that it was applied to any
-useful purpose whatever.
-
-The Persian Pharmacopœia[25] contains some recipes for fumigation,
-called bouc-houri, that were inhaled, for the medicines are directed to
-be made up into balls or cubes which are to be placed on the live coals,
-and the head is to be held over them. Some of the prescriptions contain
-myrrh, camphor, mace, and storax, and are for the cure of coryza and
-catarrh; one containing musk, camphor, guaiacum, etc., is said to
-comfort the brain and intellect, and to be useful in palpitation of the
-heart, faintness, and debility of the senses. This Pharmacopœia also
-contains[26] a “remedium odorativum somniferum”, which consists of opium
-and camphor, besides the seeds of roses and the root of mandragora. The
-ingredients are to be powdered and put in a box, for the purpose of
-being smelt at. There is also[27] a stupifying remedy prepared with five
-drachms of opium and ten drachms of black poppy, which are directed to
-be boiled to dryness in water with a pound of wheat, and then powdered.
-It is added that whoever shall take a drachm and a half of this wheat
-will be alienated from his senses. With regard to the last but one of
-the above prescriptions—that to be put in a box for smelling, it may be
-observed that, as heat was not applied, the only ingredient which would
-produce any effect is the camphor.
-
-The discoveries of Cavendish, Priestley, Lavoisier, and others
-respecting the nature of atmospheric air and the more important gases,
-gave an impetus to medicinal inhalations, at the latter part of the last
-century. Dr. Beddoes, in particular, distinguished himself by the
-administration of oxygen, hydrogen, carbonic acid, and other gases, in
-consumption and various diseases. Dr. Richard Pearson exhibited the
-vapour of ether in consumption with some advantage in the year 1795.[28]
-Three years afterwards, a medical pneumatic institution was established
-at Bristol, by the exertions of Dr. Beddoes and others. The celebrated
-Humphrey Davy was the superintendent. This establishment was not very
-successful in the immediate objects for which it was instituted, but
-Davy made at this place his masterly researches concerning nitrous oxide
-gas. In the course of his experiments, he found that severe pain arising
-from inflammation of his gums was relieved by breathing this gas, and he
-published the following opinion:—
-
-“As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation seems capable of destroying
-physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical
-operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.”[29]
-
-This suggestion of Sir Humphrey Davy was not acted on either by himself
-or any other person for nearly half a century, when the late Mr. Horace
-Wells, Surgeon Dentist of Hartford, Connecticut, having witnessed the
-exhibition of nitrous oxide gas by a public lecturer, named G. Q.
-Colston, was induced, in consequence of what he saw of its effects, to
-request Mr. Colston to accompany him to his office and exhibit the gas
-to him, whilst another dentist, named Dr. Riggs, extracted a tooth for
-him which was troublesome. The tooth was extracted without pain, and Mr.
-Wells, after the effect of the gas had subsided, exclaimed, “A new era
-in tooth pulling.” This took place on December 11th, 1844.[30] Mr. Wells
-administered the nitrous oxide in thirteen or fourteen cases of
-tooth-drawing in Hartford with a success more or less complete, and
-before the end of the year he repaired to Boston to introduce his
-discovery to the professors at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He
-called on Drs. Warren and Hayward, who invited him to exhibit the gas to
-one of the patients, who was expecting to have a limb amputated. He
-remained two or three days in Boston, but the patient decided not to
-have the operation performed at that time. The nitrous oxide was
-consequently tried on an individual who required to have a tooth
-extracted. This patient felt some pain, and the application was
-considered to be a failure. It is worthy of remark that Drs. Charles T.
-Jackson, and W. T. G. Morton, were present on this occasion. Mr. Wells
-returned to Hartford in disappointment. He expressed his opinion to his
-friends that the nitrous oxide gas was uncertain in its action, and not
-to be relied on; and he altogether abandoned the use of it until some
-time after Dr. Morton’s discovery of the effects of sulphuric ether in
-preventing pain.
-
-As long ago as 1818 an article, which is believed to have been written
-by Mr. Faraday, appeared in the _Quarterly Journal of Science and
-Arts_,[31] describing the great resemblance between the effects of the
-vapour of ether and nitrous oxide gas. This circumstance has since been
-published in all the standard works on chemistry; and it was the annual
-custom of the late Professor Turner, of University College, London, to
-pour a little ether into a bladder of air, and allow some of the
-students to inhale the vapour. The same practice prevailed, more or
-less, in other colleges, both in Europe and America, when the lecture on
-ether was delivered. The resemblance between the action of nitrous oxide
-and that of vapour of ether was therefore extensively known.
-
-Dr. Morton, surgeon dentist of Boston, in America, administered
-sulphuric ether, by inhalation, to a man in his office, on the 30th of
-September, 1846, and extracted a tooth without causing any pain. He
-applied the ether in several cases of a similar kind during the next few
-days. Having obtained the permission of Dr. J. C. Warren, he
-administered it to a patient in the Massachusetts General Hospital, on
-whom that surgeon performed an operation on the neck. On the following
-day, Dr. Morton exhibited ether to a woman in the same hospital, whilst
-Dr. Hayward removed a large fatty tumour from the arm, and after this
-date it was frequently administered.
-
-Dr. Morton was well acquainted with Mr. Horace Wells, before alluded to,
-and had been in partnership with him. Before administering the ether to
-his patient in September 30th, Dr. Morton had a conversation with Dr.
-Charles J. Jackson, Professor of Chemistry, respecting the safety and
-propriety of the application, and the names of these gentlemen were
-associated in a patent which they took out for the discovery. Dr.
-Jackson asserts that Dr. Morton knew nothing of the effects of the
-vapour of ether till he gave him the information; whilst the latter says
-it was his intention to use the ether before he went into Dr. Jackson’s
-laboratory. It seems impossible to arrive at the exact truth on this
-point, but it is admitted on all hands, that Morton was the first who
-administered ether to prevent the pain of an operation. Dr. Jackson[32]
-has indeed claimed the whole merit of the discovery, on the ground of
-the alleged information he gave to Dr. Morton; but, if every word Dr.
-Jackson says be admitted, it only appears that he suggested the use of
-ether to Dr. Morton, just as Sir Humphrey Davy had suggested the use of
-nitrous oxide to all the world in the year 1800. Dr. Jackson had inhaled
-ether as hundreds of others had done, and being aware of Davy’s
-suggestion of nitrous oxide for preventing the pain of operations, he
-concluded that ether might also have that effect.
-
-It will be shown further on that Mr. Waldie, of Liverpool, had a greater
-share in the introduction of chloroform than Dr. Jackson had in the
-introduction of ether—even supposing that Dr. Morton was previously
-quite ignorant of that medicine; for when he informed Dr. Simpson of the
-existence and nature of chloroform, he was able to give him, not merely
-an opinion, but an almost certain knowledge of its effects; yet Dr.
-Simpson is justly considered to be the person who discovered and
-introduced the use of undiluted chloroform as a substitute for ether.
-
-The practice of the ancients in giving mandragora and Indian hemp has no
-connection with the recent discovery for preventing the pain of
-operations, which may be briefly related as follows:—Sir Humphrey Davy
-made the suggestion that nitrous oxide gas might be employed for this
-purpose, and, at the end of forty-four years, Mr. Horace Wells carried
-this suggestion into practice, but failed to bring the nitrous oxide
-into general use, and gave the matter up. Two years later, Dr. Morton,
-who was well acquainted with the efforts of Mr. Wells, applied the
-vapour of ether, which was already known to resemble nitrous oxide in
-its action. He succeeded completely in preventing the pain of
-operations, and in bringing his discovery into general use throughout
-the civilized world. In a short time the inhalation of ether was found
-to be so safe and certain in its action, and to prevent the pain of
-operations so entirely, that the most ardent imagination could scarcely
-conceive that anything further could be desired in this direction.
-
-Dr. Morton withheld at first the name of the agent he was employing, but
-its strong and peculiar odour revealed it so plainly that concealment
-was impossible. Dr. Bigelow, of Boston, having tried sulphuric ether,
-and found it to produce all the effects of the so-called letheon, he
-made the subject known, not only to his own countrymen, but also by
-letter to Dr. Boot of London. The first operation under the influence of
-ether on this side of the Atlantic, was the extraction of a tooth, at
-the house of Dr. Boot, on Dec. 19th, 1846. Mr. Robinson, of Gower
-Street, administered the ether and performed the operation. The patient
-was a lady, named Miss Lonsdale. The ether was quite successful in
-preventing the pain in this case, as well as in two operations performed
-at University College two days afterwards, by the late Mr. Liston. These
-operations were amputation of the thigh, and evulsion on both sides of
-the great toe-nail. The ether was given by Mr. Squire, of Oxford Street,
-with an apparatus which he contrived for the occasion.
-
-Considerable opposition was made to the inhalation of ether in America,
-soon after its introduction, and it seemed likely to fall into disuse,
-when the news of its successful employment in the operations of Mr.
-Liston, and others in London, caused the practice of etherization to
-revive. Mr. Robinson, dentist, gave much time and attention to the
-exhibition of ether in London on its first introduction, and was on the
-whole very successful. This was not generally the case, however, with
-other operators during the first six weeks of the new practice. Owing to
-imperfections in the inhalers employed and in the method of using them,
-the ether often either failed altogether or only made the patient partly
-insensible; and Mr. Liston, and some other surgeons, were inclined to
-discountenance the use of it, in consequence of the struggles and cries
-of patients to whom it had been administered.
-
-It soon became apparent, however, that the vapour of ether was capable
-of inducing a state of perfect quietude, with entire absence of pain,
-during all kinds of surgical operations. From the 28th of January the
-ether produced the desired effect in every operation that was performed
-in St. George’s Hospital, until the time when chloroform was introduced
-as a substitute for this agent.[33]
-
-Ether was employed in Paris a few days after its first application in
-London, and in a short time it was in use nearly all over the world.
-
-On the 19th of January 1847, just a month after the first application of
-ether for the prevention of pain on this side of the Atlantic, Dr.
-Simpson of Edinburgh administered the vapour in a case of labour, and
-ascertained that it was capable of removing the sufferings of the
-patient without interfering with the process of parturition.
-Etherization was soon afterwards employed in the reduction of
-strangulated hernia and dislocations of the femur and humerus, some of
-them of long standing. It was also used with advantage in neuralgia,
-tetanus, and the convulsions of infants, and it became more and more
-general in surgical operations.
-
-No great improvement in the practice of medicine was probably ever
-established so readily as the inhalation of ether for the prevention of
-pain. Yet it met with stout opposition in certain quarters, and when a
-serious operation in which ether had been used terminated unfavourably,
-there were those who attributed the patient’s death to the new practice,
-although numerous other patients had sunk in exactly the same manner
-long before ether was used. In one of these cases a coroner’s inquest
-was held, and the jury returned a verdict that the death of the deceased
-was caused by the inhalation of ether, although the patient had not even
-been made insensible by it, had felt all the pain of the operation,
-which was retarded by her struggles, and did not die till the third day.
-Notwithstanding a certain amount of opposition and mistrust, the
-inhalation of ether was becoming more general in the course of the year
-1847, and there is every reason to conclude that it would very soon have
-obtained the complete confidence of the medical profession and the
-public, had it not been for circumstances which must next be considered.
-
-A medicine called chloric ether has been in use since 1831. It consists
-of a solution of chloroform in spirits of wine. It is somewhat variable
-in strength, but usually contains about twelve per cent. of its volume
-of chloroform. Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow of Boston tried this by
-inhalation, as well as other substances, when Dr. Morton first used
-sulphuric ether, but he did not succeed with it in causing insensibility
-to pain. Mr. Jacob Bell of London tried the chloric ether in the
-beginning of 1847, and succeeded in causing insensibility with it in
-some cases.[34] After this time the chloric ether was exhibited
-occasionally in St. Bartholomew’s and the Middlesex hospitals, and in
-the private practice of Mr. Lawrence, but it did not come into general
-use, owing to its expense, and its frequently failing to cause
-insensibility.
-
-The relation of chloroform to chloric ether is exactly the same as that
-of opium to laudanum, and no one acquainted with this circumstance could
-doubt for a moment that chloroform inhaled alone would produce the
-effects which it did when inhaled from its solution in spirit; the only
-uncertainty about the matter that could possibly exist would be whether
-it might not be too strong for use in its undiluted state.
-
-The true nature of the so-called chloric ether was, however, known to
-very few persons. It did not enter into the pharmacopœias, and it was
-mentioned in very few of the works on materia medica. I examined a
-specimen of it, and found that its properties when inhaled were due to a
-volatile body containing chlorine, which evaporated first, leaving a
-great quantity of spirits of wine behind. I concluded that the volatile
-body was hydrochloric ether, and as this article is so volatile that it
-exists in the form of gas except in comparatively cold weather, and
-consequently could not be conveniently used for inhalation, I did not
-consider the matter any further. M. Flourens had indeed experimented on
-animals with undiluted chloroform, but was so struck with its great and
-dangerous power, that he was far from recommending its use in surgical
-practice.
-
-It was left for Dr. Simpson of Edinburgh, who had already the merit of
-having discovered the use of inhalation in midwifery, to be the first to
-administer chloroform in an undiluted state, and to recommend it
-successfully for general use. Mr. Waldie, of the Apothecaries’ Hall of
-Liverpool, first mentioned chloroform to Dr. Simpson, as the latter
-states in a foot-note to his first pamphlet on the subject. Mr. Waldie
-has given the following account of the circumstance in a pamphlet on
-chloroform.[35]
-
-“When in Scotland, in October last, Dr. Simpson introduced the subject
-to me, inquiring if I knew anything likely to answer. Chloric ether was
-mentioned during the conversation; and, being well acquainted with its
-composition, and with the volatility, agreeable flavour, and medicinal
-properties of the chloroform, I recommended him to try _it_, promising
-to prepare some after my return to Liverpool, and to send it to him.
-Other engagements and various impediments prevented me from doing this
-so soon as I should have wished; and in the meantime Dr. Simpson, having
-procured some in Edinburgh, obtained the results which he communicated
-to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh on the 10th of November,
-and which he published in a pamphlet entitled—‘Notice of a New
-Anæsthetic Agent as a Substitute for Sulphuric Ether in Surgery and
-Midwifery.’”
-
-Dr. Simpson’s first experiments with chloroform were made in the early
-part of November 1847, and his pamphlet on the subject, which was
-published on the 15th of that month, had a wide circulation, and created
-great interest. Chloroform was immediately used everywhere to a greater
-extent than ether had been. An impression became very prevalent that
-chloroform was safer than ether. This impression arose rather from the
-general tenour of Dr. Simpson’s essay than from any direct statement,
-for he had not treated on this point.
-
-The great strength of chloroform as compared with ether, and the extreme
-care required in its use, were indeed soon pointed out;[36] these
-precautions, however, attracted but little attention till the first
-death from chloroform occurred near Newcastle on the 28th January, 1848.
-Ether was exhibited by inhalation during eleven months in Europe, and
-about sixteen months in America, before chloroform was introduced.
-During all this time no death was occasioned by its use, if we except
-one at Auxerre in France, which appeared to be occasioned by want of
-air, owing to an imperfect inhaler, and not to the effect of ether.
-Chloroform had only been employed between two and three months when the
-above mentioned death occurred, and this was soon followed by others in
-nearly all parts of the world. These accidents have prevented many
-persons from inhaling chloroform, and they have prevented a still
-greater number from enjoying that freedom from anxiety and apprehension
-before an operation, which ought to be one of the greatest advantages of
-any plan for preventing pain. As chloroform possesses advantages over
-ether, in being more convenient and less disagreeable, it continues to
-be used, to the exclusion of the latter agent, in most parts of the
-world. In the Massachusetts General Hospital, however, where sulphuric
-ether was first employed, it was resumed three or four years ago, and
-the use of chloroform was prohibited by the governors, on account of two
-accidents from it. Ether is also employed out of the hospital, both in
-surgical and obstetric practice, in Boston and the neighbourhood; and I
-have been informed that this is also the case in Philadelphia, whilst in
-the state of New York both chloroform and ether are employed. I learned
-last year that ether was the agent employed for causing insensibility at
-Naples and at Lyons.
-
-Several volatile substances have been tried in a few cases with the
-effect of causing insensibility, since the introduction of chloroform,
-but none of them came into use except amylene, which was first employed
-by me in King’s College Hospital in November 1856, after I had made
-several experiments on animals with it, and inhaled small quantities of
-it myself. I have administered it in a great number of operations
-already, and find it to possess certain advantages over chloroform in
-the greater number of cases. Although it has not yet been generally
-employed in this country, it has been used extensively in Paris,
-Strasbourg, Lyons, and other places on the continent, with very
-favourable results.
-
-It is not improbable that, amongst the multitudes of new bodies which
-chemistry makes known every year, some agent may be found superior to
-those hitherto used; and besides the great practical advantages which
-are directly derived from the discovery of inhalation for the prevention
-of pain, the method of breathing medicinal substances in the gaseous
-state offers great facilities for the investigation of their effects,
-and cannot fail to hasten the time when the mode of action of medicines
-will be a branch of exact knowledge.
-
-
-
-
- ON THE
- INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM, ETC.
-
-
- GENERAL REMARKS ON INHALATION.
-
-Inhalation is simply the act of breathing, or at least so much of it as
-consists of inspiring, or drawing the air into the lungs. The term is
-usually applied when any medicinal substance is added to the air which
-the patient breathes, and the process is altogether different from that
-called “smoking,” as practised by the nations of western Europe and of
-America, where the fumes of tobacco are merely drawn into the mouth and
-puffed out again. The eastern nations, however, always inhale when they
-smoke, as was stated before (page 12). This process of inhaling smoke,
-as I first witnessed it in a gentleman connected with one of the eastern
-embassies to this metropolis, is very instructive, as showing that the
-lungs become emptied of their contents by three rather full expirations
-and inspirations. When this gentleman took the cigar from his mouth to
-speak, the smoke could be seen issuing thickly with each word till there
-was a momentary pause as he took a fresh inspiration, then the smoke
-could be seen issuing with each word as before, only not so thick, and
-after another inspiration, the smoke could be still perceived in the
-expired air, but in a very diluted state; but after a third inspiration,
-it could no longer be seen till he had resumed the cigar.
-
-The following are the chief reasons for resorting to inhalation.
-
-1. Certain agents, as nitrous oxide and oxygen, being permanently in the
-gaseous form, cannot be administered in any other way.
-
-2. By taking advantage of the immense surface of the air-cells of the
-lungs for absorption, a more sudden and profound effect may be produced
-by medicine than it would be safe, or, in some cases, even possible to
-produce in any other way. It is to this circumstance, and to the
-rapidity with which certain volatile medicines exhale in the breath, and
-leave the patient free from their effects, that the power of preventing
-the pain of surgical operations is due.
-
-3. Many medicines which have a disagreeable taste—as turpentine,
-creasote, and camphor—are not unpleasant when inhaled in the form of
-vapour; and the process of digestion is less interfered with than by
-taking them into the stomach.
-
-4. Medicines, such as benzoic acid, and some of the gum-resins, which
-are believed to exert a local action on the mucous membrane of the
-air-passages, may be expected to have a greater effect when inhaled,
-than when they are taken into the stomach in the same doses, and reach
-the lungs only through the circulation.
-
-5. Some agents, as chlorine and ammonia, have a local action when
-inhaled, which they could not exert if exhibited in any other way.
-
-In every kind of inhalation, the breathing should be allowed to go on
-freely, and in the natural way.
-
-Medicines may be inhaled either at the ordinary temperature, or with the
-aid of artificial heat; and in the latter case they may be breathed with
-the addition of vapour of water, or with only so much of it as is
-naturally present in the atmosphere. The medicines in use for the
-prevention of severe pain, are always inhaled at the ordinary
-temperature.
-
-
- CHLOROFORM.
-
-_History and Composition._ Chloroform was first made in 1831 by two
-chemists who operated independently of each other. The liquid, which is
-formed by the union of equal volumes of chlorine and olefiant gas, and
-which is usually called Dutch liquid, was named chloric ether by Dr.
-Thos. Thomson (_System of Chemistry_, 6th ed., 1820). In consequence of
-a statement in Silliman’s _Elements of Chemistry_, that the alcoholic
-solution of this chloric ether was useful in medicine as a diffusible
-stimulant, Mr. Guthrie, an American chemist, attempted an easy method of
-obtaining it.[37] He distilled together chloride of lime and alcohol,
-and he considered that the product he had obtained was an alcoholic
-solution of the chloric ether of Dr. Thomson,[38] and it is still used
-in medicine under that name. About the same time, M. Soubeiran distilled
-together the above ingredients in France, and analysed the chloroform
-which he obtained. His analysis, which was incorrect, led him to name
-the liquid bichloric ether.[39] In 1832, Liebig examined the liquid
-which has been since named chloroform, but as he failed to detect the
-hydrogen which it contains, he called the liquid chloride of carbon,[40]
-a name which its alcoholic solution occasionally bore afterwards when
-used as a medicine. In 1831, Dumas examined this liquid. He proved that
-Soubeiran and Liebig had not obtained it pure, or had been incorrect in
-their analysis.[41] He showed that it consists of two atoms carbon, one
-atom hydrogen, and three atoms chlorine.
-
-Dumas gave the name of chloroform to the liquid, on account of the
-relation it bears in composition to formic acid, which consists of two
-atoms carbon, one hydrogen, and three oxygen.[42] Liebig, who, in common
-with other chemists, admits the accuracy of Dumas’ analysis, has
-proposed the name of perchloride of formyle.[43] He supposes that the
-carbon and hydrogen which enter, in the same definite proportion, into
-numerous compounds, form a base which he calls formyle; and although
-this base has never been obtained in a separate form, its existence is
-well supported by analogy, and the term formyle is useful in assisting
-the memory to retain the composition of a number of substances. For all
-practical purposes, however, the medicine we are considering is likely
-to go by the name of chloroform. In the last edition of the London
-Pharmacopœia, the article has received a name intermediate between the
-other two. It is called chloroformyl, a name which departs from the
-brevity of the word chloroform, without having the merit of expressing
-the chemical constitution of the substance. I believe that no one uses
-the word chloroformyl; not even the Fellows of the College of Physicians
-in their individual capacity.
-
-_Mode of Preparation._ Chloroform can be obtained in various ways, but
-the most convenient process, and the one which yields it in greatest
-purity, is that alluded to above, by which it was first procured. The
-following are the directions in the London Pharmacopœia for making it.
-
-“Take of chlorinated lime, lb. iv; rectified spirit, Oss; water, Ox;
-chloride of calcium, broken in pieces, ʒj. Put the lime first mixed with
-the water into a retort, and add the spirit to them, so that the mixture
-may fill only the third part of the retort. Then heat them in a
-sand-bath, and as soon as ebullition begins, withdraw the heat as
-quickly as possible, lest the retort should be broken by the sudden
-increase of heat. Let the liquid distil into the receiver so long that
-there may be nothing which subsides, the heat being reapplied if
-necessary. To the distilled liquid add a quarter of the water, and shake
-them all well together. Carefully separate the heavier portion which
-subsides, and add the chloride to it, and frequently shake them for an
-hour. Lastly, let the liquid distil again from a glass retort into a
-glass receiver.”[44]
-
-Some manufacturers of chloroform prefer to rectify it from dry carbonate
-of potassa, since they consider that it is liable to get an acid
-reaction from decomposition of the chloride of calcium, when it is
-distilled from that substance. The truth is, however, that there is very
-little occasion to use either of these substances; for the small
-quantity of water which chloroform can hold in solution is of no
-consequence.
-
-_Chemical and Physical Properties._ Chloroform is a clear colourless
-liquid, having a hot and intensely sweet taste. It is not inflammable,
-but when paper moistened with it is introduced into the flame of a
-candle, it is destroyed with the evolution of smoke and chlorine gas. It
-is just half as heavy again as distilled water. Its specific gravity was
-formerly stated to be 1·483, but the liquid used for inhalation of late
-years has been heavier than this. I find that pure chloroform, when
-saturated with water, has a specific gravity of 1·500 at 60° Fah.; and
-after agitating it with sulphuric acid, to deprive it of the water, the
-specific gravity is 1·503. The amount of water that chloroform can hold
-in solution is only one part in from 200 to 300; and when this is
-separated by oil of vitriol, the chloroform is liable to undergo
-spontaneous decomposition.[45]
-
-Chloroform is soluble in alcohol and ether in all proportions, but it is
-very sparingly soluble in water. It has been said to require 2000 parts
-of water for its solution, but this is an error. As the solubility of
-this and similar medicines in watery fluids has a very important
-connexion with their physiological action, I took great pains to
-ascertain the solubility of chloroform correctly. By admitting small
-quantities of water into graduated jars containing chloroform vapour, I
-was able to ascertain that chloroform is soluble in about 288 times its
-volume of water. Chloroform is itself an active solvent of many bodies;
-dissolving camphor, caoutchouc, gutta percha, wax, resin, iodine, and
-some other substances very readily. It is a very mobile liquid, and when
-dropped from the lip of a small phial, the drops are very small. There
-are three drops to a grain of the liquid, and as a minim of it weighs a
-grain and a half, there are nine drops in two minims. Consequently
-persons should not speak indiscriminately of drops and minims, as they
-sometimes do, when talking of chloroform.
-
-_Adulterations._ The odour of chloroform is by no means disagreeable.
-The only liquids that resemble it in smell are Dutch liquid and the
-chlorinated products of hydrochloric ether, but as they are much more
-difficult to prepare than chloroform, they are not likely to be
-substituted for it, or used for its adulteration. The smell of
-chloroform is therefore a good criterion of its purity and identity.
-When dropped on the hand, it should quickly evaporate, leaving not the
-least moisture or smell behind. If a disagreeable odour remains on the
-hand after the evaporation of the chloroform, it has probably been made
-from impure spirit, or even from wood spirit or acetone, and is unfit
-for medicinal use.[46] When chloroform becomes decomposed from any
-cause, it acquires a greenish-yellow colour, and gives off chlorine and
-hydrochloric acid, so that the alteration is at once apparent. When
-chloroform is pure it has no reaction on test-paper, but is quite
-neutral. The best way to detect a small quantity of hydrochloric acid in
-it, is to moisten a slip of blue litmus paper with distilled water, and
-hold it just within the neck of the bottle exposed to the vapour. If
-sulphuric acid should be present, it may be discovered by agitating the
-chloroform with distilled water, and adding nitrate of baryta.
-
-The only article that can be mixed with chloroform without altering its
-appearance and smell is alcohol. This can be detected by the reduction
-it occasions in the specific gravity of the chloroform; or, if it be
-present in any considerable quantity, it may be discovered by adding
-water to a little of the chloroform in a graduated tube or measure, when
-a diminution of its volume takes place, owing to the water abstracting
-the alcohol. The chloroform also acquires a milky opacity under these
-circumstances. M. Miahle[47] speaks of the milky opacity of the
-chloroform on the addition of water as a very delicate test of the
-presence of alcohol; but I find that it requires upwards of two per
-cent. of alcohol to cause this appearance on the addition of water.
-
-It has been asserted, and often repeated, that the presence of alcohol
-in chloroform causes it to have caustic properties, and makes its vapour
-unusually irritating. I have never seen any evidence of this, although I
-have had hundreds of opportunities of witnessing the action of
-chloroform mixed with spirit. Under certain circumstances, it is
-advisable to dilute chloroform with alcohol previous to its
-administration, as will be explained hereafter.
-
-The chloroform I have met with in London has always been sufficiently
-pure for inhalation, except in a few cases where a small quantity had
-become decomposed, probably from having been left a long time exposed to
-strong daylight. In these instances, its altered appearance generally
-prevented its being used. I am not aware of serious consequences having
-arisen anywhere from the impurity or adulteration of chloroform. A case
-occurred in the London Hospital, where cough and a feeling of
-suffocation were caused by hydrochloric acid with which the chloroform
-was contaminated, but the inhalation was discontinued, and no ill
-consequences resulted.[48]
-
-Chloroform should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, and protected from
-the light. It boils at 140 Fah. under the ordinary pressure of the
-atmosphere. It is consequently one of the most volatile liquids employed
-in medicine, with the exception of sulphuric ether and amylene.
-
-_The Vapour of Chloroform_ is more than four times as heavy as
-atmospheric air. It has a specific gravity of 4·2 at 60° Fah. Under
-ordinary circumstances, the vapour of chloroform has of course no
-separate existence, but is always mixed with air. It can exist in a pure
-state only when the temperature is raised to 140° or upwards; or when
-the pressure of the atmosphere is in a great measure removed by the
-air-pump. The quantity of vapour of chloroform that the air will hold in
-solution at different temperatures, under the ordinary pressure of the
-atmosphere, depends on the elastic force of the vapour at these
-temperatures. It is governed by a law precisely analogous to that which
-determines the amount of watery vapour which air will hold in solution.
-
-The following table shows the result of experiments I made to determine
-the quantity of vapour of chloroform that 100 cubic inches of air will
-take up, and retain in solution, at various temperatures.
-
- Temp. Fah. Cubic inches.
- 40° 7
- 45 8
- 50 9
- 55 11
- 60 14
- 65 19
- 70 24
- 75 29
- 80 36
- 85 44
- 90 55
-
-In the above table, the air is a constant quantity of 100 cubic inches
-which becomes expanded to 107, and so on; but it may be convenient to be
-able to view at a glance the quantity of vapour in 100 cubic inches of
-the saturated mixture of vapour and air, at different temperatures, and
-in the table which follows the figures are so arranged as to show this.
-
- Temp. Fah. Air. Vapour.
- 40° 94 6
- 45 93 7
- 50 92 8
- 55 90 10
- 60 88 12
- 65 85 15
- 70 81 19
- 75 78 22
- 80 74 26
- 85 70 30
- 90 65 35
-
-As the effects of chloroform when inhaled depend entirely on the
-quantity of vapour present in the air which the patient breathes, the
-effect of temperature on its volatility is of great practical
-importance. The air, it is true, does not become fully saturated with
-vapour during the process of inhalation, but the effects of temperature
-are relatively as great. If, for instance, a person inhales chloroform
-from a handkerchief or an inhaler, in such a way that the air he
-breathes shall be half saturated with the vapour, then supposing the
-temperature of the apartment, the handkerchief, etc., to be 50°, the air
-he breathes will contain 4 per cent.; but if the temperature be 70°, the
-air will contain 9·5 per cent. of the vapour.
-
-A considerable amount of caloric becomes latent during the evaporation
-of chloroform, and the temperature of the vapour and air which the
-patient breathes are generally reduced a good deal, but not to the same
-extent as during the inhalation of ether. In giving chloroform from a
-small sponge which had been squeezed out of water, I have sometimes
-observed, after laying it down, that it became covered with a kind of
-hoar frost; the minute particles of frozen water having a slight taste
-of chloroform. The cold produced by the evaporation of a liquid like
-chloroform is often the means of checking the evaporation to a certain
-extent, and limiting the amount of vapour which is taken up by the air.
-
-
- PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM.
-
-Chloroform belongs to the large class of medicines known as
-narcotico-irritants. This and some other agents which have been inhaled
-for the prevention of pain are often called anæsthetics; a name to which
-there is no objection, so long as it does not lead to the idea that they
-have a different action from other narcotics, or more precisely
-speaking, narcotico-irritants; there being no such medicines as pure
-narcotics. The term anæsthesia has been frequently employed to designate
-the insensibility and suspension of consciousness caused by chloroform
-and ether; but, in describing the effects of these agents, I shall
-confine this term to its original meaning, privation of feeling, and I
-shall employ the term narcotism to designate the entire effects of these
-agents on the nervous system. This is the sense in which the term
-narcotism has always been employed. It has been the custom, however, to
-restrict the use of the word very much to cases in which stupor existed,
-but I shall apply it to designate the slighter, as well as the more
-profound effects of a narcotic, as I am entitled to do by strict
-etymology.
-
-In order to facilitate the description of the effects of chloroform, I
-have been in the habit of dividing them into degrees. I use the term
-degree in preference to stage, as, in administering chloroform, the
-slighter degrees of narcotism occur in the later stages of the process,
-during the recovery of the patient, as well as in the beginning. The
-division into degrees is made according to symptoms, which, I believe,
-depend entirely on the state of the nervous centres, and not according
-to the amount of anæsthesia, which there is good reason to conclude,
-depends, in a great measure, on the local action of the chloroform on
-the nerves. The different degrees of narcotism glide insensibly into
-each other.
-
-In the first degree, I include all the effects of chloroform that exist
-while the patient retains a perfect consciousness of where he is, and
-what is occurring around him. This degree constitutes all that a person
-remembers of the effects of the vapour, except when he happens to dream,
-and recollect it afterwards. The sensations caused by inhaling
-chloroform are usually agreeable, when it is taken merely for curiosity;
-and individuals who have inhaled nitrous oxide at some previous time of
-their lives, often describe their feelings as being very much the same
-from both agents. Patients who are about to undergo a surgical operation
-are, however, not always in a state for receiving agreeable impressions,
-and they sometimes complain of palpitation of the heart, and a feeling
-of fulness in the head. There is generally a sense of dizziness, with
-singing in the ears and tingling in the limbs. Many persons have a
-feeling like that of rapid travelling, and as an appearance of darkness
-sometimes comes on from the failure of the sight, whilst there is also a
-loud noise in the ears, it not unfrequently happens that a person feels
-as if he were entering a railway tunnel, just when he is becoming
-unconscious.
-
-Those persons whose mental faculties are most cultivated appear usually
-to retain their consciousness longest whilst inhaling chloroform; and,
-on the other hand, certain navigators and other labourers, whom one
-occasionally meets with in the hospital, having the smallest possible
-amount of intelligence, often lose their consciousness, and get into a
-riotous drunken condition, almost as soon as they have begun to inhale.
-There is a widely different class of persons who also yield up their
-consciousness very readily, and get very soon into a dreaming condition
-when inhaling chloroform. I allude to hysterical females.
-
-There is often a considerable diminution of the common sensibility
-during the first degree of narcotism by chloroform, more especially when
-it is inhaled very slowly, so that the patient is kept some minutes
-partially under its influence. In this way neuralgia can often be
-relieved, without removing the consciousness, when it is not extremely
-severe, and the suffering of labour may often be removed in the same
-manner, when the pains are not very sharp. In a few cases, the
-extraction of a tooth and other minor operations have been performed
-without pain, whilst consciousness has been retained; but as a general
-rule, it is better not to operate under these circumstances, for failure
-is more likely than success; and this plan does not succeed in any case
-without inhaling longer, and consuming more chloroform, than would be
-necessary in the usual way. The complete recovery of the patient from
-the effects of the vapour, after a protracted inhalation of this kind,
-is also more tardy.
-
-The first degree of narcotism recurs when consciousness returns as the
-effect of the chloroform is subsiding. At this time, there is generally
-a greater amount of anæsthesia than at the commencement of inhalation,
-just before consciousness is removed. I have many times known the
-introduction of sutures, and such like measures, performed at the
-concluding part of an operation, after the patient had recovered his
-consciousness, without his feeling what was being done. As a general
-rule also, the smarting of the wound does not commence till some time
-after consciousness has returned.
-
-In the second degree of narcotism, there is no longer correct
-consciousness. The mental functions are impaired, but not necessarily
-suspended. When a patient inhales chloroform quietly for a medical or
-surgical purpose, he usually appears as if asleep in this degree; but if
-his eyelid be raised, he will move his eyes in a voluntary manner. There
-are occasionally voluntary movements of the limbs; and although the
-patient is generally silent, he may nevertheless laugh, talk, or sing.
-Persons sometimes remember what occurs whilst they are in this state,
-but generally they do not. Any dreams that the patient has, occur whilst
-he is in this degree, or just going into, or emerging from it, as I have
-satisfied myself by comparing the expressions of patients with what they
-have related afterwards. There is sometimes a little trouble with the
-patient in this degree of narcotism. He feels the inconvenience of the
-vapour he is breathing, and having become unconscious of the object for
-which it is inhaled, he endeavours to push away the inhaler. As a person
-in this condition can generally hear and partly understand what is said,
-a few kind words will often render him tractable. This is generally true
-of all those who have been brought up with care and kindness, more
-especially patients of the female sex; but the man who has been roughly
-treated from the time of his birth, can often be made insensible only by
-means of a little restraint.
-
-There is generally a considerable amount of anæsthesia connected with
-this degree of narcotism, and I believe that it is scarcely ever
-necessary to proceed beyond it in obstetric practice, not even in
-artificial delivery, unless for the purpose of arresting powerful
-uterine action, in order to facilitate turning the fœtus. The loss of
-sensation is indeed sometimes so complete in this degree, especially in
-children, that the surgeon’s knife may be used without pain; I have
-indeed seen a child unconsciously handling its toys all the time that
-the operation of lithotomy was performed on it. Commonly, however, the
-use of the knife, when the narcotism has not proceeded further than this
-degree, occasions expressions indicative of pain, which are either not
-remembered, or are recollected as having occurred in a dream. The
-patient is generally in this degree during the greater part of the time
-occupied in protracted operations; for although, in most cases, it is
-necessary to induce a further amount of narcotism before the operation
-is commenced, it is not usually necessary to maintain it at a point
-beyond this.
-
-In the third degree of narcotism, there are no longer any voluntary
-motions. The eyes, for instance, are not directed towards any object;
-and although the limbs may move, they are not directed to any purpose.
-The pupils are generally inclined upwards in this degree, and are at the
-same time usually somewhat contracted. The bloodvessels of the
-conjunctiva are generally somewhat enlarged in this degree in all
-persons who are well nourished and not deficient in blood. It is in this
-degree of narcotism that rigidity and spasms of the muscles occur in
-certain cases. These phenomena occur most frequently in cases where the
-muscles have been much exercised, and are consequently well nourished.
-They are never met with in infancy, and rarely before puberty. They are
-much more common in the male than the female sex. The rigidity and spasm
-are greatest and most constant in labourers and persons accustomed to
-athletic exercises, and they are usually absent in patients who have
-been long confined to the room, or are much reduced in strength from any
-cause. They are less marked in old age than in the middle period of
-life, and they are not by any means so frequent or strong in fat, as in
-thin, muscular persons. I have seen the spasms take an epileptiform
-character in a few cases; but by gently continuing the chloroform, they
-have always been subdued. In a great number of cases, the patient
-mutters in an almost inarticulate and a perfectly unintelligible manner,
-just as the muscular rigidity and spasm are subdued. Under these
-circumstances, I have never heard a single word pronounced so that it
-could be understood. If articulate language is uttered just after the
-muscular rigidity, it is evidence that the effects of the chloroform are
-being allowed to diminish, and that the patient is going back into the
-second degree of narcotism.
-
-In the third degree of narcotism, a person is quite incapable of having
-any perception or consciousness of pain, but anæsthesia is not a
-necessary part of this amount of narcotism when it is first induced, and
-in some cases a patient may flinch, and put on an expression of
-countenance which seems indicative of pain. He may also cry out, but not
-in an articulate manner. By continuing the chloroform gently for a
-minute or so, a state of complete anæsthesia can be induced in nearly
-every case, without carrying the narcotism of the nervous centres
-further than this degree. The loss of sensibility of the conjunctiva, as
-shown by the absence of winking when the edges of the eyelids are gently
-touched, is the best criterion that the patient will bear the knife
-without flinching or crying.
-
-The circumstance of the anæsthesia, or loss of common sensibility, not
-keeping pace with the degree of narcotism of the brain, as shown by the
-presence or absence of consciousness and volition, appears to depend on
-the chloroform acting on the peripheral distribution of the nerves, as
-well as on the nervous centres.[49] The following considerations support
-this view. 1. Chloroform has the effect of diminishing the sensibility
-of a part to which it is applied locally, even to the sound cuticle.
-When the cuticle is removed, the local anæsthesia of the surface is
-complete; and in frogs, which have a thin permeable skin, and a languid
-circulation, one limb can be rendered insensible, by the local
-application of this agent, before the remainder of the animal is much
-affected. 2. Chloroform when inhaled immediately circulates throughout
-the body, in all parts of which it can be detected by chemical means. 3.
-Chloroform and other narcotics suspend the function of the nerves, when
-locally applied to them. 4. When inhaled, the local effect of chloroform
-must be greatest when it has had time to exude through the coats of the
-vessels, into the extra vascular liquor sanguinis, and come into
-immediate contact with the nervous fibrillæ; and it must take some
-little time after the chief part of the chloroform has escaped from the
-blood during its passage through the lungs, before that which is in the
-lymph external to the vessels can pass back again into them, by
-endosmosis. The brain, on the other hand, is without lymph and
-lymphatics. The blood in this organ is all contained within the vessels,
-in which, moreover, it circulates with more velocity than in the
-external parts of the body. It can be easily understood, therefore, how
-the brain may escape from the effects of the vapour whilst the nerves of
-sensation throughout the body still remain partially under its
-influence. 5. It is in young subjects, in whom, connected with the more
-active process of nutrition, the quantity of lymph external to the
-vessels is greatest, that the general insensibility most frequently
-remains, whilst the cerebral hemispheres are resuming their functions;
-whilst in persons of spare habit, approaching the middle or later
-periods of life, there is little anæsthesia except in the unconscious
-state.
-
-The co-operation of the brain with the nerves is, of course, necessary
-to sensation; and it is possible by a large dose of chloroform to
-produce complete anæsthesia very suddenly, before there is time for the
-nerves to be acted on locally to any extent; and if the chloroform is
-not continued, the anæsthesia may subside as quickly as it was induced.
-The large ganglia of sensation, the optic thalami, seem to require a
-greater quantity of chloroform to suspend their function than is
-necessary to suspend that of the cerebral hemispheres, but, by occupying
-three or four minutes in giving chloroform, one is enabled to add its
-local action on the nerves to its influence on the brain, and thus to
-induce anæsthesia with less narcotism of the nervous centres than would
-otherwise be required.
-
-It must not be supposed that the difference of the action of chloroform
-on the cerebral hemispheres, and on the optic thalami, will of itself
-explain the want of uniformity between the loss of consciousness and
-loss of feeling. If it were a mere difference of degree, it might be so
-explained; but the absence of all regular relation between these
-phenomena can only be satisfactorily accounted for when the
-circumstances connected with the circulation and the liquor sanguinis,
-that I have endeavoured to explain above, are taken into account.
-
-In the fourth degree of narcotism, the breathing is stertorous, the
-pupils are dilated, and the muscles completely relaxed. The patient is
-always perfectly insensible. It is very seldom necessary to carry the
-effects of chloroform as far as this degree. It is, however, sometimes
-requisite to do so, in attempting to reduce dislocations of long
-standing in muscular persons, and whilst the surgeon is dissecting in
-the neighbourhood of important vessels and nerves, in certain robust
-subjects and others who seem to have acquired an excess of sensibility
-by hard drinking, and who can hardly be kept quiet under the knife,
-except when the breathing is stertorous.
-
-There are some further effects of chloroform with which one becomes
-acquainted in experiments on the lower animals. If the inhalation is
-continued after the symptoms just described are produced, the breathing
-is rendered difficult, feeble, or irregular, and is sometimes performed
-only by the diaphragm, whilst the intercostal muscles are paralysed. If
-the dose of chloroform is gradually increased after these effects are
-produced, the breathing entirely ceases, but the heart continues to
-pulsate very distinctly, till its action becomes arrested by the absence
-of respiration, as in asphyxia. This interval, including the
-embarrassment and cessation of the breathing, I call the fifth degree of
-narcotism.
-
-Although the respiration may be suspended by an amount of chloroform
-that has very little direct effect in the motion of the heart, it is
-quite possible to stop the heart’s action by the immediate effect of
-this agent. When frogs are exposed to the action of the vapour, they go
-on absorbing it by the skin, after the respiratory movements have
-ceased; and in this way the pulsations of the heart are arrested, when a
-certain amount of chloroform has been absorbed into the blood. And when
-animals of warm blood are made to breathe air containing as much as
-eight or ten per cent. of the vapour of chloroform, the blood which is
-passing through the lungs becomes so charged with it as to stop the
-action of the heart, when it reaches that organ through the coronary
-arteries. It is in this way that accidents from chloroform have
-happened. The power of this agent to arrest the pulsations of the heart
-can also be shewn, by blowing a stream of the vapour on its surface,
-when the chest is opened immediately after the breathing has ceased, and
-whilst it is still beating.
-
-The ultimate and greatest effect that chloroform is capable of producing
-on the animal body is to destroy the irritability of the muscles, and
-produce the post-mortem rigidity. Either the whole body or a single limb
-can be rendered instantly rigid by injecting the arteries with a little
-chloroform shaken up with water. The rigidity remains for weeks in the
-dead body, and would probably be permanent if the chloroform were
-prevented from evaporating. Whilst it lasts, putrefaction is of course
-prevented.
-
-_Effect of Chloroform on the Pulse._ I have not mentioned the state of
-the pulse in the above description of the effects of chloroform, for it
-affords no criterion of the amount of narcotism, and it was better
-therefore to reserve it for a separate notice. It is nearly always
-increased both in force and frequency, more especially at the early part
-of the inhalation. After the patient has become quite insensible, the
-pulse indeed generally settles down nearly to the natural standard, and
-in the middle of the most formidable operations, it is often beating
-with natural volume and force, not more than sixty or seventy times a
-minute. The pulse rarely becomes weaker or slower than natural under the
-influence of chloroform, except from considerable loss of blood, or
-where the patient is about to be sick. I have twice found the pulse as
-slow as 44 in the minute at the conclusion of an operation attended with
-great loss of blood. One of the cases was the removal of a large tumour
-of the labium pudendi, in a woman, aged forty-five, on the 28th of
-April, 1849, at King’s College Hospital, by Mr. Fergusson. The pulse
-was, however, not small or weak, and there was no faintness. In a few
-minutes, the patient vomited, and the pulse immediately resumed its
-natural frequency.[50]
-
-There is occasionally a feeble state of pulse with a feeling of
-faintness as the effects of the chloroform subside, and in two or three
-cases in which the patient was in a sitting posture, positive syncope
-occurred, which, however, was promptly removed by the horizontal
-position. The persons most liable to a feeling of faintness after
-chloroform, are those who are subject to syncope from slight causes.
-
-_Action of Chloroform on the Nervous System._ Chloroform, when inhaled,
-immediately reaches every part of the nervous system through the
-circulation, and it acts on every part of that system from the first, as
-a careful observation of the symptoms proves. It does not, however, act
-equally on all parts of the nervous system, according to the quantity
-which is absorbed; some parts of that system have their functions
-entirely, or almost, suspended, whilst others are but little under the
-influence of the vapour, and it is owing to this fact that the most
-severe pain may be prevented without danger. M. Flourens made the
-following remarks respecting the action of sulphuric ether, and they
-apply equally well to the effects of chloroform, when it is inhaled
-gradually: “Under the action of ether, the nervous centres lose their
-powers in regular succession—first, the cerebral lobes lose theirs,
-viz., the intellect; next, the cerebellum loses its, viz., the power of
-regulating locomotion; thirdly, the spinal marrow loses the principle of
-sensitiveness and of motion; the medulla oblongata still retains its
-functions, and the animal continues to live: with loss of power in the
-medulla oblongata, life is lost.”[51] I may add, that after the
-breathing has ceased, from the loss of power of the medulla oblongata,
-the ganglionic nerves still perform their functions, and the heart and
-intestines continue to move for a time, often with vigour.
-
-Owing to the unequal effects of a given quantity of chloroform on
-different parts of the nervous centres, and owing to its acting also on
-the nerves, a variety of states may be met with during a surgical
-operation, some of which have often been thought curious, or anomalous.
-The most usual state of the patient during an operation, when chloroform
-is successfully administered, is one of perfect quietude, without any
-sign of consciousness or sensation. The patient under chloroform may,
-however, moan, or cry, or flinch, or show other symptoms which are
-usually thought indicative of pain, but without using any articulate
-language, or remembering anything of the operation afterwards. If his
-flinching or crying out has neither interfered with the surgeon, nor
-distressed the friends who may be present, a case of this kind may be
-considered satisfactory. A third condition of the patient under the
-influence of chloroform is that in which he talks, or laughs, or sings
-during the operation, his words having no reference to what is being
-done. If he is sufficiently quiet for the proceedings of the surgeon,
-the application of the chloroform must be considered successful, and
-this condition proves the absence of pain even more completely than that
-in which there is neither sign nor sound, except the breathing and
-pulsation of the heart and blood vessels. A fourth condition of the
-patient is that in which he is conscious, and can look on whilst the
-surgeon is performing some small operation, or the minor part of a large
-one, without feeling it, or whilst feeling it in a manner which is not
-painful. This condition, when it occurs, is the most satisfactory proof
-of the power of chloroform to prevent pain. It happens but rarely,
-however, and cannot be induced at will, and it is usually at the
-concluding part of an operation, during which the patient has been
-unconscious, that this condition is met with. He wakes whilst there is
-still a vessel to tie, or a suture to be introduced, and does not feel
-it, owing, as was stated before, to some of the chloroform being
-detained in the extra vascular liquor sanguinis, whilst the brain has
-become almost free from the medicine. When the knife, or the needle, is
-felt without being painful, it is because the common sensibility,
-without being entirely abolished, is so much reduced, that what would
-otherwise cause acute pain only occasions an ordinary sensation.
-
-A fifth state of the patient is met with when an insufficient quantity
-of chloroform has been administered, or when its effects have been
-allowed to subside too soon. The patient may call out or complain in
-articulate words, such as “Oh, you are hurting me,” and yet may assert
-afterwards that he had no pain, and knew nothing whatever of the
-operation. His own language at the time must, however, be held to decide
-that there was some pain, which made so slight an impression on the
-disordered mind as not to remain in the memory. Pain which is not
-remembered is of very little consequence, and probably is but slight in
-degree. It should not be judged of by the expressions of the patient
-when he is but partially conscious, and using no self-control.
-Chloroform may, lastly, be administered so badly, that the patient
-simply falls asleep under the soothing influence of a very gentle dose,
-as he might sleep from an ordinary dose of opium, without being
-insensible, and, when the operation is commenced he wakes to full
-consciousness, and both feels pain and remembers it.
-
-Patients, when insensible, sometimes moan or groan from the effects of
-the chloroform, and quite independently of the operation. The groaning
-or moaning comes on sometimes and even leaves off again, before the
-operation is commenced. When symptoms like those of pain are present
-during an operation, one may generally know whether they are the
-consequences of it, by observing whether or not they are connected with
-each cut of the knife. But even when a flinch or a groan follows each
-manipulation of the surgeon, it does not necessarily follow, provided
-the patient does not speak, that he is suffering pain. Some amount of
-consciousness is essential to the presence of pain, but many of the
-lower animals execute movements like those caused by pain, after the
-head is cut off, and when, of course, there can be no consciousness.
-Although the mind, under ordinary circumstances, is conscious of the
-attitude, gestures, and cries, which accompany pain, neither the
-intellect nor the will have any share in their production. On the
-contrary, they usually take place in spite of the efforts of the will to
-prevent them, and one may understand that, when consciousness and
-volition are suspended, the actions usually indicative of pain may, for
-want of control, be excited by slighter causes, and to a greater degree,
-than in the waking state.
-
-It is certain that chloroform may prevent pain in two ways, either by
-rendering the mind unconscious of external impressions, or by removing
-the sensibility to these impressions, that is, by a true anæsthetic
-action, but usually, and always when breathed in a full dose, it acts in
-both ways at once.
-
-The patient sometimes supposes that he remembers all the particulars of
-the operation, although he did not feel the pain, but on questioning him
-it is usually found that it is a dream which he remembers, and not the
-actual facts. It is extremely rare for a patient to assert that he has
-felt pain from the operation, when he has not felt it, but I have known
-this to happen once or twice, and a circumstance which was related to me
-by Mr. Robinson proves the possibility of it. He administered
-chloroform, or ether, to a lady, with the intention of extracting some
-teeth, but could not succeed in getting the mouth open, and the lady
-woke before anything had been done, and asserted that she had felt the
-operation. She inhaled again, and awoke, and repeated the same statement
-once or twice before the teeth were actually extracted.
-
-I have heard it stated that patients have felt the pain of the
-operation, but have been unable to make any sign of feeling it. Such an
-occurrence may possibly take place when the chloroform is inhaled too
-slowly, or not in sufficient quantity; but I have not witnessed it, and
-it evidently cannot happen with a sufficient dose.
-
-
- CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH INFLUENCE OR MODIFY THE EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM.
-
-I arrived at the conclusion, after much careful observation, that
-chloroform might be given with safety and advantage in every case in
-which the patient requires, and is in a condition to undergo, a surgical
-operation; and having acted on this conclusion for several years, I have
-found no reason to change it. It is desirable, however, to pay attention
-to every circumstance connected with the health and constitution of the
-patient before exhibiting chloroform, as many of these circumstances
-influence its effects.
-
-_Age._ The age of the patient has considerable influence in modifying
-the effects of chloroform. It acts very favourably on children: they
-sometimes oppose the inhalation of it as long as they are conscious, but
-it does not occasion the rigidity and struggling after loss of
-consciousness, which are sometimes met with in the adult. Anæsthesia is
-generally induced with a less amount of narcotism of the nervous centres
-in children than in grown up persons. The effects of chloroform are more
-quickly produced and also subside more quickly in children than in
-adults, owing no doubt to the quicker breathing and circulation. It
-often happens, however, that when the insensibility has been kept up for
-some time, say twenty minutes or half an hour, in a child, it is
-followed by a natural sleep of a few hours duration, provided there is
-no painful wound, or other cause, to prevent the sleep. I have given
-chloroform in a few cases as early as the ages of eight and ten days,
-and in a considerable number before the age of two months; and I have at
-this time, June 30th, 1857, memoranda of the cases of 186 infants under
-a year old to whom I have administered this agent. There have been no
-ill effects from it either in these cases, or in those of children more
-advanced in life; and it is worthy of remark that none of the accidents
-from chloroform which have been recorded, have occurred to young
-children.
-
-There is nothing peculiar in the effects of chloroform on people
-advanced in years, except that its influence subsides rather slowly, on
-account of the slower breathing and circulation. I have given chloroform
-to many patients over seventy-five years of age, and to one as old as
-ninety years.
-
-_Strength or Debility._ The comparative strength or debility of the
-patient has considerable influence on the way in which chloroform acts.
-Usually the more feeble the patient is, whether from illness, or any
-other cause, the more quietly does he become insensible; whilst if he is
-strong and robust, there is very likely to be mental excitement in the
-second degree, and rigidity of the muscles, and probably struggling in
-the third degree of narcotism. Patients in a state of debility resemble
-children, not only in coming quietly and easily under the influence of
-chloroform, but also in the circumstance, that the common sensibility is
-suspended with less narcotism of the nervous centres than is generally
-required in robust persons. Children and persons in a state of debility
-have usually an acute sensibility which causes them to suffer pain from
-very slight injuries, but this sensibility is more easily suspended by
-chloroform than the less acute sensibility of robust persons. It is in
-strong men, accustomed to hard work or athletic sports, that the
-rigidity and struggling previously alluded to in describing the effects
-of chloroform, most frequently occur after the loss of consciousness.
-Some of the patients in whom the struggling and rigidity have been
-greatest were gentlemen belonging to boating clubs; but I think the
-patient, in whom these symptoms were most violent, was a celebrated
-harlequin of one of the London theatres, on whom Mr. Fergusson operated
-a few years ago.
-
-The persons in whom the rigidity and struggling are well marked are
-often lean and wiry, and these symptoms rarely occur in fat people. The
-rigidity and struggling are less marked when the chloroform is given
-slowly than when quickly given.
-
-_Hysteria._ Patients who are subject to hysteria sometimes have symptoms
-of the complaint, such as sobbing, crying, or laughing, as soon as
-consciousness is suspended, or even impaired, by the chloroform; but
-these symptoms can always be subdued by proceeding with the inhalation.
-In a very few instances the hysterical state returns, and becomes
-troublesome as the effect of the vapour subsides. In two or three cases
-that I have met with, it continued for three or four hours, but it
-usually subsides in a much shorter time. The inhalation should not be
-suspended on account of the hysteria, but should be continued till it is
-subdued before an operation is performed.
-
-I have rarely seen a decided fit of hysteria from the effects of
-chloroform, but in the case of a young married lady, to whom I gave this
-agent to prevent the pain of an operation on the rectum, a somewhat
-violent paroxysm of hysteria came on directly after the inhalation was
-commenced. The surgeon would not permit me to continue the chloroform,
-and expressed his intention of operating without it. After waiting for
-about half an hour, however, for the hysteria to subside, and finding
-that it continued the same as at first, the inhalation was resumed. The
-patient was soon rendered insensible, and lay perfectly still whilst the
-operation was performed. There was a little hysteria as the effects of
-the chloroform subsided, but not so severe as before.
-
-I have several times seen hysterical symptoms in the male, either during
-the administration of chloroform, or whilst the patient was recovering
-from its effects. But in all these cases, the patients informed me
-afterwards that they were subject to hysterics when under the influence
-of mental emotion.
-
-In some persons who are subject to hysteria, the breathing becomes
-excessively deep and rapid whilst inhaling chloroform. This usually
-occurs just as the patient is becoming unconscious, but in a few cases
-even earlier, and the patient is aware of the impulse to breathe in this
-manner. After this kind of hysterical breathing has lasted a minute, the
-patient generally rests nearly a minute without breathing at all, after
-which the respiration generally becomes nearly natural. I give the
-chloroform very sparingly during this violent breathing, or else
-withdraw it altogether for a minute or two.
-
-I do not consider that the hysterical diathesis forms any objection to
-the use of chloroform in operations, as the patients would be generally
-quite as liable to suffer an attack of hysteria from the pain, if
-chloroform were not used.
-
-_Epilepsy._ Chloroform occasionally brings on a fit of epilepsy in
-persons who are subject to this disease. It was stated in one of the
-foreign medical journals, in 1848, that this agent was so certain to
-cause a fit in epileptic persons, that it might be used to detect
-impostors pretending to be subject to this disease; but if this
-assertion has been acted on, it must have led to great injustice, for I
-have many times administered chloroform to the extent of causing
-complete insensibility in epileptic patients who required to undergo
-operations, without its inducing the least approach to a fit.
-
-In the few cases in which epileptic convulsions are occasioned by
-chloroform, they do not appear till the third degree of narcotism is
-induced, in this respect differing from hysteria, which comes on in the
-second degree, or even earlier, as was stated above. The course to
-pursue, when epileptic convulsions appear, is to continue the chloroform
-steadily and gently, till they subside. I have never seen the chloroform
-fail to subdue the convulsions in a very few minutes, and I have never
-seen them recur after the operation, as the effects of the vapour
-subsided. In medical and obstetric practice, and for slight operations,
-it is not requisite to carry the effects of chloroform so far as that
-stage in which an epileptic fit would occur, so that under these
-circumstances the fact of a patient being subject to epilepsy hardly
-requires to be taken into account.
-
-_Pregnancy._ I have repeatedly given chloroform at all periods of
-pregnancy, both for tooth-drawing and more important operations, and I
-have not met with any ill effects from it in any of the cases.
-
-_The Menstrual Period._ It is customary to avoid the menstrual period in
-fixing the time for a surgical operation, when it can be so arranged.
-There are, however, often reasons for not waiting over this period, and
-under such circumstances, I do not know any objection to the inhalation
-of chloroform. I have administered it frequently during the menstrual
-period, and have seen no ill effects from it. I have observed that there
-is a little more tendency to slight hysterical symptoms, during its
-inhalation at this period, than when the same patients inhale it at
-other times, which is what we might expect.
-
-_Diseases of the Lungs._ Affections of the lungs sometimes cause a
-little difficulty and delay in the administration of chloroform, as the
-vapour is liable to excite coughing when the mucous membrane of the
-air-passages is irritable. The inconvenience is, however, confined to
-the time of inhalation, for the cough is generally relieved afterwards.
-
-I have given chloroform for surgical operations in many cases where
-phthisis was present, and in several patients who had suffered from
-hæmoptysis, and have not seen any ill effects from its use in these
-cases. Chloroform has indeed often been inhaled with advantage to
-relieve the cough in consumption. The cases of chronic bronchitis in
-which chloroform is administered for surgical operations are still more
-numerous. The effects I have observed have been coughing at the time of
-inhalation, and very often a relief of the cough afterwards. Some of the
-patients had emphysema of the lungs. It is scarcely necessary to allude,
-in this place, to acute diseases of the lungs, as surgical operations
-are not performed during their continuance, but from the fact of
-chloroform being inhaled occasionally in the treatment of these
-affections, it is evident that they would cause no obstacle to its
-employment.
-
-_Disease of the Heart._ There is a very general impression that the use
-of chloroform is unsafe when disease of the heart exists, more
-particularly, fatty degeneration of that organ. This belief has been
-encouraged by the circumstance that this affection has been present in a
-few of both the real and alleged deaths from chloroform; and also by the
-fact that, in the accidents that have been really due to chloroform, the
-heart has been the organ on which it has exerted its fatal influence.
-When we come to investigate these cases, however, we shall find reason
-to conclude that the heart has probably been diseased in quite as great
-a proportion of the patients who have taken chloroform without ill
-effects, as in those who have succumbed under its influence. As regards
-my own practice, indeed, the only case in which death could in any
-degree be attributed to the chloroform, was one in which there was
-extreme fatty degeneration of the heart; but, on the other hand, I have
-given chloroform in numerous cases without ill effects where the
-symptoms of this, as well as other affections of the heart, were present
-in a very marked degree. Indeed, I have never declined to give
-chloroform to a patient requiring a surgical operation, whatever might
-be his condition, as I early arrived at the conclusion that this agent,
-when carefully administered, causes less disturbance of the heart and
-circulation than does severe pain. Whenever I have had an opportunity of
-seeing an operation performed without chloroform, I have carefully
-observed the pulse, and although none of these operations have been of a
-very severe nature, I have found the circulation to be much more
-disturbed than it would have been by chloroform carefully administered.
-The pulse in most of these cases has been excessively frequent during
-the operation, and in some instances it has intermitted to an unusual
-extent.
-
-In one instance, I had an opportunity of witnessing a similar operation
-on the same patient, first without chloroform, and afterwards under the
-influence of this agent. On January the 6th, 1855, Mr. Fergusson
-performed lithotrity, in King’s College Hospital, on a man, aged
-fifty-one. He generally directs chloroform to be administered in
-lithotrity, but in this instance he omitted to do so, as he thought that
-the bladder was not very irritable, and that the patient would not
-suffer much. I began to feel the pulse just when the patient saw the
-lithotrite about to be introduced. It was 120 in the minute. As soon as
-the instrument was introduced, the pulse increased to 144, and
-immediately afterwards it became uneven, irregular, and intermitting. I
-could not count more than three or four beats at a time; and,
-occasionally, when the pain seemed greatest, and the man was straining
-and holding his breath, the pulse was altogether absent for four or five
-seconds. In order to ascertain whether the absence of pulse at the wrist
-might not depend on the pressure of the muscles of the arms, caused by
-grasping the table, I applied my ear to the chest, and found that there
-was no sound whatever to be heard during the intervals when the pulse
-was imperceptible. It was evident that the patient held his breath till
-the right cavities of the heart became so distended as to stop the
-action of that organ till the respiration returned. The man did not
-complain or cry out during the operation. A week afterwards the
-lithotrity was repeated, but on this occasion I administered chloroform.
-The pulse was about 120 in the minute when the patient began to inhale
-the chloroform, but it became slower as he was made unconscious, and it
-was regular and natural during the operation. It was only towards the
-end of the operation, when the effect of the chloroform was allowed to
-diminish, and when the man began to strain a little, though not yet
-conscious, that the pulse intermitted slightly, passing over a single
-beat occasionally. There were none of the long intermissions of the
-pulse observed on the former occasion.
-
-It is very evident that if the above mentioned patient had been the
-subject of any affection of the heart which weakened or embarrassed its
-action, he would have run a much greater risk from the pain of the first
-operation, than from the inhalation of chloroform in the second one.
-
-In a few of the patients having the arcus senilis of the cornea, a weak,
-intermitting, or irregular pulse, and other signs of fatty degeneration
-of the heart, there have been a feeling of faintness and a tendency to
-syncope, as the effects of the chloroform were subsiding, especially
-when the operation had been performed in the sitting posture; but these
-symptoms have soon subsided, in all the cases I have met with, on
-placing the patient horizontally, with or without the help of a little
-ammonia to the nostrils.
-
-_Cerebral Disease._ Affections of the head offer no obstacle to the
-administration of chloroform. I have given it to several patients who
-had suffered previously from an attack of apoplexy. Some of them still
-retained the paralysis resulting from their attack, but the chloroform
-has not been attended or followed by ill effects in any of these cases.
-The following case, in which alarming head symptoms had existed a few
-hours before the inhalation of chloroform, cannot fail to be
-interesting.
-
-The 31st of October, 1854, was appointed by Mr. Fergusson to perform
-lithotrity on a gentleman, seventy-eight years of age, who had a
-phosphatic calculus in his bladder. He was a patient of Mr. Propert, and
-Mr. Fergusson had removed a similar calculus by lithotrity, and I had
-given him chloroform at each of the operations, and it was arranged that
-he should have chloroform on the present occasion. Mr. Propert informed
-Mr. Fergusson and me, on our arrival, that his patient had had an attack
-the night before resembling apoplexy; he had been insensible, the
-breathing had been stertorous, the pupils dilated, and the face very red
-and congested. Mr. Propert had caused him to be cupped to fourteen
-ounces, and had given him twenty grains of calomel in the course of the
-night, and in the morning he was as well as usual, and remained so at
-the time of our visit. We considered the case with Mr. Propert, and as
-there were reasons for not postponing the operation, it was determined
-that he should inhale the chloroform rather than be subjected to the
-pain. The vapour acted very favourably; he recovered his consciousness a
-few minutes after the operation, and expressed himself as feeling quite
-well.
-
-Mr. Fergusson crushed another calculus in this patient in March 1855,
-when I again administered chloroform, and in 1856 I understood that he
-was free from the complaint.
-
-_Insanity._ Chloroform acts on insane patients just as it does on
-others, that is to say, they are made insensible by it, and, when its
-effects completely subside, it leaves them in the same state of mind as
-before. Insane people are, however, often so suspicious that they cannot
-be persuaded to inhale chloroform, and it can only be given to them by
-force. When once under its influence, however, I have seen teeth
-extracted, and other operations performed, which it would have been
-impossible to accomplish in the same individuals without resorting to
-inhalation. The use of chloroform in the treatment of mania will be
-alluded to in another part of this work.
-
-_Hard Drinkers._ It was at one time alleged that hard drinkers of
-spirituous liquors were not susceptible of the influence of ether or
-chloroform, and for a long time there remained an impression that these
-persons were difficult to render insensible. I have always found that
-hard drinkers were rendered unconscious, and even comatose, by the same
-amount of ether or chloroform as other persons; but they sometimes have
-a morbid excess of sensibility in the nerves of common sensation, and do
-not lie still under the surgeon’s knife except when the nervous centres
-are deeply narcotised, and the breathing almost stertorous. On this
-account, they sometimes inhale much more chloroform during a protracted
-operation than other persons.
-
-
-AMOUNT OF VAPOUR OF CHLOROFORM ABSORBED TO CAUSE THE VARIOUS DEGREES OF
- NARCOTISM.
-
-Before proceeding to describe the mode of administering chloroform, it
-is desirable to treat of the quantity of it which produces its different
-effects. Without alluding to the facts and experiments which prove that
-all narcotics produce their effects by being absorbed into the
-circulating fluid, and so reaching the nervous system on which they act,
-it is only necessary to mention the following circumstances to show that
-this is the case as regards chloroform. In some experiments in which I
-assisted Dr. Sibson, we found that the vapour of chloroform produced its
-effects after both the pneumogastric nerves had been divided, exactly
-the same as before. Chloroform can be detected by means of chemical
-tests exhaling in the breath of those who have just previously inhaled
-it. It can also be detected in the urine after inhalation, and very
-readily in all the tissues of animals that have been killed by it, for
-several days after death.
-
-The quantity of chloroform in the blood in the different degrees of
-narcotism might be estimated approximatively from the amount used in
-inhalation, but I devised some experiments in 1848 for ascertaining the
-quantity with accuracy.[52] The experiments were based on the following
-circumstances.
-
-When air containing vapour is brought in contact with a liquid, as water
-or serum of blood, absorption of the vapour takes place, and continues
-till an equilibrium is established; when the quantity of vapour in both
-the liquid and air, bears the same relative proportion to the quantity
-which would be required to saturate them at the temperature and pressure
-to which they are exposed.
-
-This is only what would be expected to occur; but I verified it by
-numerous experiments in graduated jars over mercury. The intervention of
-a thin animal membrane may alter the rapidity of absorption, but cannot
-cause more vapour to be transmitted than the liquid with which it is
-imbued can dissolve. The temperature of the air in the cells of the
-lungs and that of the blood circulating over their parietes is the same;
-and, therefore, when the vapour is too dilute to cause death, and is
-breathed till no increased effect is produced, the following formula
-will express the quantity of any substance absorbed:—As the proportion
-of vapour in the air breathed is to the proportion that the air, or the
-space occupied by it, would contain if saturated at the temperature of
-the blood, so is the proportion of vapour absorbed into the blood to the
-proportion the blood would dissolve.
-
-The manner in which the experiments were performed, was to place a small
-animal in a glass jar, so large that it formed a capacious apartment for
-it, and held much more air than it could require in the course of the
-experiment. The jar was covered with a closely fitting lid, and a
-carefully weighed portion of chloroform was allowed to diffuse itself
-through the air of the jar. The experiments were continued till the
-chloroform produced no further effect. I shall pass over a number of
-tentative experiments, and adduce only a few of those which were made
-after I had ascertained the quantities requisite to produce the desired
-effect. The results obtained in these experiments were entirely due to
-the degree of dilution of the vapour; for the quantity of chloroform
-employed was, in every instance, more than would have killed the animal
-in a much shorter time than the experiment lasted, if it had been
-conducted in a smaller jar. It is assumed that the proportions of vapour
-and air remain unaltered during the experiment; for the quantity
-absorbed must be limited to what the animal can breathe in the time,
-which is so small a part of the whole that it may be disregarded.
-
-_Experiment 1._ A guineapig and a white mouse were placed in a jar
-holding 3,000 cubic inches, and fifteen grains of chloroform were
-introduced by a tube in the lid of the jar, which was closed immediately
-by a screw. The chloroform fell on some blotting paper suspended in the
-jar, and in a minute or two was converted into vapour and diffused
-through the air in the jar. The animals were allowed to remain half an
-hour, and were unaffected by the chloroform, except that they appeared
-to be a little less brisk than usual, during the first two or three
-minutes after their removal.
-
-_Experiment 2._ A guineapig was placed in the same jar, and twenty-two
-and a half grains of chloroform were introduced in the same manner as
-before, being three-quarters of a grain to each hundred cubic inches of
-air. In two or three minutes the chloroform was converted into vapour
-and diffused through the air in the jar. Six minutes afterwards the
-guineapig began to stagger, and soon afterwards was unable to keep on
-its legs. It was kept for half an hour in the jar, but did not become
-further affected. It was occasionally quiet, but always tried to walk
-when disturbed by moving the jar. When taken out, it flinched on being
-pricked, and it tried to walk, although unable to support itself on its
-legs. It recovered from the effects of the chloroform in three or four
-minutes.
-
-_Experiment 3._ Another guineapig was placed in the same jar, and thirty
-grains of chloroform were introduced. In three or four minutes the
-chloroform had evaporated and diffused itself through the air in the
-jar. In two minutes afterwards the guineapig lay down, but stirred when
-the jar was moved. It was allowed to remain in the jar for half an hour,
-being asleep except when disturbed. When taken out it awoke and
-endeavoured to walk, but was unable to support itself at first. It
-flinched on being pricked. Recovered in three or four minutes.
-
-_Experiment 4._ A cat was placed in the same jar, and the same quantity
-of chloroform was introduced. In three minutes it had evaporated, and,
-when ten minutes had elapsed, the cat began to stagger. Soon afterwards
-it was unable to support itself on its legs; and, when a quarter of an
-hour had elapsed, it seemed asleep, but raised its head when the jar was
-inclined. It remained apparently sleeping till the end of an hour, when
-it was taken out. It was unable to stand, but was sensible to the
-slightest pinch. It recovered gradually in the course of twenty minutes.
-
-_Experiment 5._ Sixteen grains of chloroform were put into a jar holding
-1,600 cubic inches, being one grain to each 100 cubic inches of air, as
-in the two last experiments. When it was converted into vapour, a white
-mouse was introduced, by moving the lid a little to one side for a
-moment. After running about for a minute and a half, it began to stagger
-and to lose power, but it continued to run with little intermission till
-three minutes had expired. After this it lay still, except when the jar
-was inclined, when it always endeavoured to maintain its balance and to
-walk. It also moved its limbs now and then, when not disturbed. It was
-removed at the end of ten minutes, when it tried to walk, but was
-unable. It did not flinch when its tail was pinched, but flinched, half
-a minute after its removal, on one of its toes being pinched. It
-recovered in two or three minutes.
-
-_Experiment 6._ A guineapig was placed in the jar holding 3,000 cubic
-inches, and 37·5 grains of chloroform were introduced in the same manner
-as in the former experiments, being a grain and a quarter to each 100
-cubic inches of air. The chloroform took three or four minutes to
-evaporate and diffuse itself in the jar; and by the end of this time the
-guineapig, which had been excited and running about, began to stagger,
-and in two minutes longer it was unable to walk, but endeavoured to keep
-its balance when the jar was inclined. At the end of a quarter of an
-hour it was lying still, but moved its limbs when it was rolled over by
-inclining the jar; but it made no voluntary effort. It was taken out
-when thirty-three minutes had elapsed. It moved its limbs as it was
-removed, though apparently not in a voluntary manner. Its limbs were not
-relaxed. It was quite insensible to pricking. It recovered in about ten
-minutes. The temperature in the axilla before it was put into the jar
-was 100° Fah., and immediately after its removal 96°.
-
-_Experiment 7._ A guineapig was placed in the same jar, and forty-five
-grains of chloroform were introduced, being a grain and a half to each
-100 cubic inches of air. In four minutes after the chloroform had
-evaporated, the guineapig was unable to walk. In half a minute more it
-seemed asleep, but there was a tremulous motion of the hind legs, which
-continued till ten minutes had elapsed. Afterwards it lay still, but
-winked now and then spontaneously. When rolled over by moving the jar,
-it made no voluntary effort. It was taken out twenty minutes after the
-chloroform had evaporated. It winked spontaneously, and also when the
-eyes were touched. It did not flinch when the ear was pricked, but
-flinched when the paw was pricked. The temperature in the axilla before
-the experiment was 100°, and immediately afterwards it was 96°. The
-guineapig recovered from the effects of the chloroform in ten minutes.
-
-_Experiment 8._ A guineapig was put into the same jar, and 52·5 grains
-of chloroform were introduced, being a grain and three-quarters to each
-100 cubic inches of air. The chloroform evaporated in the course of four
-minutes, at the end of which time the guineapig was altered in its
-manner, as if partially inebriated. In two minutes more it was becoming
-drowsy. A little while afterwards it was lying down. Six minutes after
-the evaporation of the chloroform was complete, the guineapig made no
-effort when turned over by inclining the jar, but only moved its feet,
-as it were automatically. At the end of nine minutes, it was lying
-quietly and breathing naturally. When fifteen minutes had elapsed it was
-in the same condition, and was removed from the jar. It cried and
-flinched on the foot being pricked. The temperature in the axilla was
-97°. In five minutes after its removal it was fast recovering, and in
-ten minutes was quite recovered.
-
-_Experiment 9._ A guineapig was placed in the jar used in the last three
-experiments, and sixty grains of chloroform were introduced in the same
-manner, being two grains to each 100 cubic inches of air. In four
-minutes it was all converted into vapour, and the guineapig was
-beginning to be affected by it. In two minutes more it was unable to
-stand or walk. In five minutes from the time when the evaporation was
-complete, the guineapig showed no sign of sensibility when turned over
-by inclining the jar; the breathing was natural. At the end of ten
-minutes it was lying still, breathing gently forty times in the minute.
-At the end of fifteen minutes it was in the same condition. From
-seventeen to twenty minutes, it stretched out one of its hind legs
-several times, and was doing so when taken out, at the end of twenty
-minutes. It showed no sign of sensibility when pricked. The temperature
-in the axilla was 96°. It began to recover gradually in a minute or two,
-and recovered completely in from ten to fifteen minutes.
-
-_Experiment 10._ A cat was placed in the same jar, and the same quantity
-of chloroform was introduced in the same manner. It became quite
-insensible in a few minutes after the chloroform was introduced; and it
-was allowed to remain for twenty-five minutes, when it was taken out. It
-was perfectly insensible to pricking, and its muscles were quite
-relaxed; it was breathing gently, and the pulsations of the heart were
-between sixty and seventy in the minute. It was immediately made the
-subject of another experiment of drowning whilst insensible, which need
-not be related in this place.
-
-_Experiment 11._ Four grains of chloroform were put into a glass jar
-holding 200 cubic inches, and when it had evaporated and was diffused
-through the air in the jar, a white mouse was introduced, by momentarily
-removing the cover a little to one side. A minute after its introduction
-the mouse was lying, but it moved its legs for a quarter of a minute
-longer. When four minutes had elapsed, the breathing became slow, and it
-was taken out. It was totally insensible for the first three minutes
-after its removal, and recovered during the two following minutes.
-
-_Experiment 12._ Thirty-two grains of chloroform were diffused through
-the air of a jar holding 1,600 cubic inches, being two grains to each
-100 cubic inches, as in the last three experiments. A white mouse was
-introduced by moving the cover a little to one side for a moment. In one
-minute it was insensible, and did not make any effort on being rolled
-about by inclining the jar, but it moved its paws for half a minute
-longer. It remained insensible, breathing 160 times in the minute, till
-it was taken out at the end of five minutes. It was quite insensible to
-pinching. It began to walk in a minute or two. Its temperature before
-the experiment was 98°, and immediately afterwards was 92°. The
-temperature of the room was 68°.
-
-_Experiment 13._ A guineapig was put into a jar holding 3,000 cubic
-inches, and 67·5 grains of chloroform were introduced on blotting paper
-suspended within the jar, being 2¼ grains to each 100 cubic inches. In
-four minutes, the chloroform had all evaporated, and the guineapig was
-becoming affected. In two minutes more, it was quite insensible. Eight
-minutes after the chloroform had evaporated, it was lying still,
-breathing forty times in the minute. During the next three or four
-minutes, it moved one or other of its legs occasionally. At the end of
-seventeen minutes, it was lying still, and the breathing was twenty-six
-in the minute. It was taken out at the end of twenty minutes quite
-insensible; in three or four minutes it began to try to walk, and in ten
-minutes, was quite recovered.
-
-_Experiment 14._ Two white mice, one being full grown, and the other
-about three-quarters grown, were placed in the jar holding 1,600 cubic
-inches, and forty grains of chloroform were introduced on blotting
-paper, being two grains and a half to each hundred cubic inches. In two
-minutes, the chloroform had evaporated, and the mice were much excited.
-In another minute, they were unsteady in walking; and in a minute more,
-the old mouse was lying insensible, and breathing deeply and
-laboriously. In four minutes more, _i. e._, six minutes after the
-chloroform had evaporated, the young mouse was insensible also, but was
-moving one of its hind legs. In other four minutes, the young mouse was
-breathing by slow gasps, whilst the old one continued to breathe deeply
-as before. Three minutes later, i. e., thirteen minutes after the
-chloroform had evaporated, the old mouse had begun to gasp, and the
-young one was gasping only at intervals. They were removed, and
-recovered completely in ten minutes. The young one recovered most
-quickly. Their temperature, on being removed, was about 90°.
-
-_Experiment 15._ A cat was put into the jar holding 3,000 cubic inches,
-and 82·5 grains of chloroform were introduced, being two grains and
-three-quarters to each hundred cubic inches. In five minutes, it had
-evaporated, and the cat began to stagger in its walk. In two minutes
-more, it was unable to stand. Five minutes after the chloroform had
-evaporated, the cat was breathing deeply, seventy-five times in the
-minute. At eight minutes, it was breathing less deeply, one hundred and
-seventeen times in the minute. Ten minutes after the chloroform had
-evaporated, the cat was quite insensible, and breathing one hundred and
-twenty-six times in the minute. It was now taken out. The temperature in
-the axilla was 98°. In half an hour after its removal from the jar, it
-had recovered its consciousness, but was still drowsy.
-
-It was now put into the jar again, and the same quantity of chloroform
-was introduced in the same manner as before. In five minutes, it had
-evaporated, and the cat was again insensible. In other five minutes, it
-was breathing rather deeply, forty-eight times in the minute. Twelve
-minutes after the chloroform had evaporated, the cat was breathing in
-the same manner, but sixty-eight times in the minute. The breathing
-afterwards became shallow and feeble, and half an hour after the
-chloroform had evaporated, it was eighty-eight in the minute. In five
-minutes more, the breathing ceased. The cat was taken out of the jar,
-and the stethoscope was applied to the chest. The heart could not be
-heard to beat at first, but in a short time, the cat gave a gasp, and
-the heart’s action returned, and the breathing became reestablished.
-
-_Experiment 16._ Forty-eight grains of chloroform were put into a jar
-holding 1,600 cubic inches, being three grains to each hundred cubic
-inches, and when it was converted into vapour and diffused through the
-air in the jar, a white mouse was introduced. It ran about for a minute
-and a half, and then it was unable to move any longer. In nine minutes
-and a half, the breathing was getting very slow, and the mouse was
-immediately removed. Before it could be got out, it appeared to have
-entirely ceased to breathe, but it immediately began to gasp at
-intervals. In a minute, the breathing improved, and soon became natural.
-Three minutes after its removal, the mouse began to walk in a ring, and
-in seven minutes, it had quite recovered.
-
-_Experiment 17._ A guineapig was placed in a jar holding 1,600 cubic
-inches, and fifty-four grains of chloroform were introduced on blotting
-paper, in the manner previously explained; being three grains and
-three-eighths to each hundred cubic inches of air. In four minutes, the
-chloroform had evaporated, and become diffused through the air in the
-jar, and the guineapig was drowsy. In three minutes more, it was lying
-apparently insensible, and breathing feebly, thirty times in the minute.
-After this, it kicked occasionally for a few minutes. When six minutes
-had elapsed from the time when the chloroform had evaporated, the
-breathing was very feeble, and apparently performed only by the
-diaphragm. From fifteen to eighteen minutes, I could hardly see whether
-the animal was breathing or not, and it was taken out of the glass at
-eighteen minutes, when the breathing appeared to have ceased. The
-stethoscope was applied to the chest, and the sounds of the heart could
-scarcely be heard at first, but the breathing returned in a few seconds,
-and the action of the heart improved. The guineapig gradually recovered,
-but it was not able to walk for twenty-five minutes.
-
-_Experiment 18._ Sixty grains of chloroform were introduced into the jar
-employed in the last experiment, being three grains and three-quarters
-to each hundred cubic inches of air contained in the jar. When it had
-evaporated, and was diffused through the air, a white mouse was
-introduced, whilst the lid of the jar was moved a little to one side for
-a moment. It ran about at first, but suddenly ceased to run, and became
-insensible, at the end of three-quarters of a minute. It lay breathing
-deeply and rapidly till two minutes had elapsed, when the respiration
-became slow, and it ceased at two minutes and three-quarters after the
-mouse was introduced. It was removed at this time, and it gasped a few
-seconds afterwards; this gasp was soon followed by another; the gaspings
-became more frequent, and in a short time, the natural breathing was
-resumed. In five minutes, the mouse was able to walk.
-
-The third, fourth, and fifth of the above experiments show that one
-grain of chloroform to each hundred cubic inches of air suffices to
-induce the second degree of narcotism, or that state in which
-consciousness and voluntary motion are disturbed, but not entirely
-abolished. Now one grain of chloroform produces 0·767 of a cubic inch of
-vapour at 60°, when its specific gravity is 4·2; and, when the vapour is
-inhaled, it expands somewhat, as it is warmed to the temperature of the
-lungs; but it expands only to the same extent as the air with which it
-is mixed, and therefore the proportions remain unaltered. But air, when
-saturated with vapour of chloroform at 100°, contains 43·3 cubic inches
-in 100; and
-
- As 0·767 : 43·3 :: 0·0177 : 1.
-
-So that if the point of complete saturation be considered as unity,
-0·0177 or 1–56th, will express the degree of saturation of the air from
-which the vapour is immediately absorbed into the blood; and,
-consequently, also the degree of saturation of the blood itself.
-
-I find that serum of blood at 100°, and at the ordinary pressure of the
-atmosphere, will dissolve about its own volume of vapour of chloroform;
-and since chloroform of specific gravity 1·483 is 288 times as heavy as
-its own vapour, 0·0177 ÷ 288 gives 0·0000614, or one part in 16,285, as
-the average proportion of chloroform by measure in the blood, in the
-second degree of narcotism.
-
-It is evident, from the experiments numbered 9 to 12 inclusive, that two
-grains of chloroform to each hundred cubic inches of the inspired air
-cause a state of very complete insensibility, corresponding with what I
-have designated the fourth degree of narcotism; and by the method of
-calculation employed above we get 0·0354, or 1–28th, as representing the
-degree of saturation of the blood, and 0·0001228 the proportion by
-measure in the blood.
-
-In experiments 6, 7, and 8, in which quantities of chloroform were
-employed intermediate between one and two grains to each hundred cubic
-inches of air, a moderate amount of insensibility was induced,
-corresponding very much with the state of patients during operations
-under chloroform.
-
-The experiments from 13 to 18 show that quantities of chloroform,
-exceeding two grains to 100 cubic inches of air, have a tendency to
-embarrass and arrest the function of respiration, if the inhalation is
-continued. I have not yet been able to determine satisfactorily the
-exact proportion of chloroform which requires to be absorbed to arrest
-the respiration of animals of warm blood. I believe there is a definite
-proportion which has this effect, but there are two reasons why it is
-not so easy to ascertain it, as to ascertain the proportion which causes
-the minor degrees of narcotism. In the first place, the breathing often
-becomes very feeble before it ceases, so that the animal inhales and
-absorbs but very little chloroform, and remains on the brink of dying
-for some time. In the next place, the temperature of the body falls in a
-deep state of narcotism, especially in small animals; and, as the
-temperature falls, the amount of chloroform which the blood can dissolve
-from any given mixture of air and vapour increases.
-
-Judging from the experiments numbered 14 to 18, three grains of
-chloroform to each hundred cubic inches of air must be very nearly the
-quantity which has the power of arresting the breathing when the
-temperature of the body is 100°; and as three grains of chloroform
-produce 2·3 cubic inches of vapour, and air at 100° is capable of taking
-up 43·3 per cent. of its volume, it follows that the blood must contain
-between 1–18th and 1–19th as much chloroform as it is capable of
-dissolving, at the time when the respiration is arrested. In the 14th
-experiment, the breathing of the two mice was on the point of being
-stopped by two and a half grains of chloroform in each hundred cubic
-inches of air, but during the thirteen minutes which the mice breathed
-the vapour, their temperature fell to about 90°. Air, when saturated
-with the vapour of chloroform at this temperature, contains 35 per
-cent., and two grains and a half of chloroform yield 1·917 cubic inches
-of vapour; so by a calculation similar to that made at page 68, the mice
-at the time when the breathing was about to cease must have absorbed
-1–18th part as much chloroform as their circulating fluids were capable
-of dissolving.
-
-The reader will have observed that, in the experiments related above,
-the mice became much more quickly affected than the guineapigs and cats.
-The reason of this is their quicker respiration and circulation, and
-much more diminutive size. Little birds, such as linnets and sparrows,
-are also very quickly affected by chloroform. Frogs are more slowly
-affected, owing to their languid respiration, unless the vapour to which
-they are exposed is very strong.
-
-They can, however, owing to their low temperature, be rendered
-insensible by proportions of vapour too small to affect animals of warm
-blood; and as they have no proper temperature of their own, the amount
-of vapour (in proportion to the air in which they are placed) that will
-affect them, depends entirely on the temperature of that air.
-
-The following experiment was several times performed on frogs with the
-same result, the temperature of the room being about 55°, as it was in
-winter.
-
-_Experiment 19._ 4·6 grains of chloroform were diffused through the air
-of a jar of the capacity of 920 cubic inches, and a frog was introduced.
-In a few minutes, it became affected, and at the end of ten minutes, was
-quite motionless and flaccid; but the respiration was still going on.
-Being now taken out, it was found to be insensible to pricking: it
-recovered in a quarter of an hour.
-
-In a repetition of this experiment, in which the frog continued a few
-minutes longer in the vapour, the respiration ceased, and the recovery
-was more tardy. On one occasion, the frog was left in the jar for an
-hour, but when taken out, and turned on its back, the pulsations of the
-heart could be seen. In an hour after its removal, it was found to be
-completely recovered.
-
-The first of the experiments related above (page 60), showed that an
-atmosphere containing half a grain of chloroform to each hundred cubic
-inches, produced scarcely any appreciable effect on animals of warm
-blood; but the following calculation explains why this quantity acts so
-energetically on the frog, and proves that this creature is affected by
-chloroform according to the same law as animals of warm blood. The
-vapour is absorbed into the blood and lymph of the frog at the
-temperature of the external air, whose point of relative saturation
-therefore remains unaltered, both in the lungs and in contact with the
-skin of the animal; and as half a grain of chloroform produces 0·383
-cubic inches of vapour, and air at 55° contains, when saturated, 10 per
-cent. of vapour; 0·0383, or 1–26th, expresses the degree of saturation
-of the air, and also of the blood of the frog. And this is a very little
-more than the quantity (0·0354 or 1–28th) which was calculated above to
-be the greatest amount which could be absorbed with safety into the
-blood of the mammalia. It must be observed, however, that the pulmonary
-respiration of the frog was arrested by this proportion of 1–26th as
-much chloroform as the blood would dissolve, whilst we calculated that
-it required about as much as 1–18th to arrest the breathing of animals
-of warm blood. It must be remembered, however, that the pulmonary
-respiration of frogs is a process of swallowing air, which only goes on
-when the creature is comparatively active. In the torpid state, the
-respiration takes place only by the skin, and the frog never breathes
-with the aid of the same muscles and nerves as mammalia and birds.
-
-By warming a frog, together with the air in which it is placed, it is,
-in accordance with the law explained above, rendered comparatively proof
-against an amount of chloroform which would otherwise render it
-insensible.
-
-_Experiment 20._ A frog, which had been a few days previously subjected
-to the experiment just narrated, was put into the same jar, which was
-placed near the fire, till a thermometer inside marked 75° Fah.; 4·6
-grains of chloroform were then introduced, and diffused through the air
-in the jar. The jar was kept for twenty minutes, with the thermometer
-indicating the same temperature within one degree. For the first
-seventeen minutes, the frog was unaffected; and only was dull and
-sluggish, but not insensible, when taken out. Air at 75°, when saturated
-with vapour of chloroform, contains 22 per cent., and therefore the
-0·383 per cent. of vapour, which at 55° was capable of saturating the
-fluids of the frog to the extent of 1–26th of what they would dissolve,
-was, at 75°, capable of saturating them only to the extent of 1–57th.
-
-At one of Dr. Wilson’s Lumleian Lectures, at the College of Physicians,
-on March 29th, 1848, I had the honour of performing some experiments,
-and making some remarks, on chloroform, and I combined together two
-experiments on frogs and small birds, in a way which shows how entirely
-the effects of a narcotic vapour depend on the quantity of air with
-which it is mixed, and on other physical conditions.
-
-_Experiment 21._ I introduced a chaffinch, in a very small cage, into a
-glass jar holding nearly 1,000 cubic inches, and put a frog into the
-same jar, covered it with a plate of glass, and dropped five grains of
-chloroform on a piece of blotting paper suspended within. In less than
-ten minutes, the frog was insensible, but the bird was not affected.
-
-_Experiment 22._ I then placed another frog and another small bird in a
-jar containing but 200 cubic inches, with exactly the same quantity of
-chloroform. In about a minute and a half, they were both taken out,—the
-bird totally insensible, but the frog not appreciably affected, as from
-its less active respiration it had not had time to absorb much of the
-vapour.
-
-The blood in the human adult is estimated by M. Valentin to average
-about thirty pounds. M. Valentin’s experiments were so conducted that
-this quantity must include the extra vascular liquor sanguinis, as well
-as the blood actually contained within the vessels. On this account, his
-estimate is all the better fitted for calculating the amount of
-chloroform absorbed, since this medicine, when inhaled gradually, passes
-by exosmosis through the coats of the bloodvessels into the fluid in
-which the tissues are immediately bathed. The above quantity of blood
-would contain 26 pounds 5 ounces of serum, which, allowing for its
-specific gravity, would measure 410 fluid ounces. This being reduced to
-minims, and multiplied by 0·0000614, the proportion of chloroform in the
-blood required to produce narcotism to the second degree (see page 68),
-gives 12 minims as the whole quantity in the blood. More than this is
-used in practice, because a considerable portion is not absorbed, being
-thrown out again when it has proceeded no further than the trachea, the
-mouth and nostrils, or even the face-piece. But I find that if I put
-twelve minims into a bladder containing a little air, and breathe it
-over and over again, in the manner of taking nitrous oxide, it suffices
-to remove consciousness, producing the second degree of its effects.
-
-To induce the third degree of narcotism, or the condition in which
-surgical operations are usually commenced, would require that about 18
-minims should be absorbed by an adult of average size and health,
-according to the above method of calculation; and to induce the deep
-state of insensibility, which I have termed the fourth degree of
-narcotism, would require 24 minims; whilst to arrest the function of
-respiration would require that about 36 minims should be absorbed.
-
-
- PREPARATIONS FOR INHALING CHLOROFORM.
-
-The only direction which it is usually requisite to give beforehand, to
-the patient who is to inhale chloroform, is to avoid taking a meal
-previous to the inhalation; for chloroform is very apt to cause
-vomiting, if inhaled whilst there is a quantity of food in the stomach.
-The sickness is not attended with any danger, but it constitutes an
-unpleasantness and inconvenience which it is desirable to avoid. The
-best time of all for an operation under chloroform is before breakfast,
-but the customs and arrangements of this country do not often admit of
-that time being chosen, and it is unadvisable to make the patient fast
-beyond his usual hour. It answers very well to perform an operation
-about the time when the patient would be ready for another meal, or, if
-the time of operation fall two or three hours after the usual time of
-eating, to request the patient to make only a slender repast at that
-time, so as just to prevent the feeling of hunger. It is impossible to
-prevent vomiting in some cases with the best precautions, for the
-stomach occasionally will not digest when the patient is expecting a
-surgical operation, and the breakfast may be rejected in an unaltered
-state hours after it has been taken. In other cases the patient does not
-vomit, even when he inhales chloroform shortly after a full meal.
-
-The most convenient position in which the patient can be placed whilst
-taking chloroform is lying on the back, or side, as he is then duly
-supported in the state of insensibility, and can be more easily
-restrained if he struggle whilst becoming insensible. The semi-recumbent
-posture on a sofa does very well, and there is no objection to the
-sitting posture, when that is most convenient to the operator. In that
-case, however, the patient should be placed in a large easy chair with a
-high back, so that the head as well as the trunk may be supported
-without any effort, otherwise he would have a tendency to slide or fall
-when insensible. It has been said that it is unsafe to give chloroform
-in the sitting posture, on the supposition that it would in some cases
-so weaken the power of the heart, as to render it unable to send the
-blood to the brain. Observation has proved, however, that chloroform
-usually increases the force of the circulation; and although the
-horizontal position is certainly the best for the patient under an
-operation in all circumstances, I consider that the sitting posture is
-by no means a source of danger, when chloroform is given, if the
-ordinary precaution be used, which would be used without chloroform—that
-of placing the patient horizontally if symptoms of faintness come on. I
-have preserved notes of nine hundred and forty-nine cases in which I
-have given chloroform to patients in the sitting posture, and no ill
-effects have arisen in any of these cases.
-
-The person who is about to inhale chloroform is occasionally in a state
-of alarm, either about that agent itself or the operation which calls
-for its use. It is desirable to allay the patient’s fears, if possible,
-before he begins to inhale, as he will then be able to breathe in a more
-regular and tranquil manner. In a few cases, however, the apprehensions
-of the patient cannot be removed, and they subside only as he becomes
-unconscious from the inhalation. It has been said that chloroform ought
-not to be administered if the patient is very much afraid, on the
-supposition that fear makes the chloroform dangerous. This is, however,
-a mistake; the danger, if any, lies in the fear itself. Two cases will
-be related hereafter in which the patients died suddenly from fear,
-whilst they were beginning to inhale chloroform, and before they were
-affected by it; but the probability is that, if they had lived till the
-chloroform took effect, they would have been as safe as other patients
-who inhaled it. If chloroform were denied to the patients who are much
-afraid, the nervous and feeble, who most require it, would often be
-deprived of its benefits. Moreover, the patients would either be
-prevented altogether from having the advantage of surgery, or they would
-be subjected to the still greater fear of the pain, as well as the pain
-itself; for whatever undefined and unreasoning fears a patient may have
-when the moment comes for inhaling chloroform, he has only chosen to
-inhale it on account of a still greater fear of pain.
-
-Fear and chloroform are each of them capable of causing death, just as
-infancy and old age both predispose to bronchitis, but it seems
-impossible that fear should combine with the effects of chloroform to
-cause danger, when that agent is administered with the usual
-precautions. Fear is an affection of the mind, and can no longer exist
-when the patient is unconscious; but the action of that amount of
-chloroform which is consistent even with disordered consciousness is
-stimulating, and increases the force and frequency of the pulse, in the
-same way as alcohol. I believe that no one would assert that a person
-would die the sooner of fright for having taken a few glasses of wine,
-or a small amount of distilled spirits, whatever might be the state of
-his health. When chloroform has been absorbed in sufficient quantity to
-cause unconsciousness, fear subsides, and with the fear its effects on
-the circulation. It is a subject of almost daily observation with me
-that the pulse, which is extremely rapid from some ill defined
-apprehension, when certain patients begin to inhale chloroform, settles
-down to its natural frequency after they become unconscious.
-
-The practice I have always followed has been to try to calm the patient,
-by the assurance that there was nothing to apprehend from the
-chloroform, and that it would be sure to prevent all pain; but where it
-has been impossible to remove the fears of the patient in this way, I
-have always proceeded to remove them by causing a state of
-unconsciousness. It would of course be wrong to choose a moment for
-beginning the inhalation, when fear was producing a very marked
-depression of the circulation. On feeling the pulse of a gentleman,
-about twenty-one years of age, in March 1855, who had just seated
-himself in the chair to take chloroform, previous to having some teeth
-extracted, by Mr. Thos. A. Rogers, I found it to be small, weak, and
-intermitting, and it became more feeble as I was feeling it. I told the
-patient that he would feel no pain, and that he had nothing whatever to
-apprehend. His pulse immediately improved. He inhaled the chloroform,
-had his teeth extracted, woke up, and recovered without any feeling of
-depression. Now if the inhalation had been commenced in this case,
-without inquiry or explanation, the syncope which seemed approaching
-would probably have taken place, and it would have had the appearance of
-being caused by the chloroform, although not so in reality.
-
-
- MODE OF ADMINISTERING CHLOROFORM.
-
-The experiments previously related show that air containing rather less
-than two grains of chloroform, in one hundred cubic inches, is capable
-of causing a state of insensibility, sufficiently deep for surgical
-operations; but in a creature the size of the human being, an
-inconvenient length of time would be occupied in causing insensibility
-with vapour so much diluted. About four cubic inches of vapour, or
-rather more than five grains of chloroform to each hundred cubic inches
-of air, is the proportion which I have found most suitable in practice
-for causing insensibility to surgical operations. In medical and
-obstetric cases, it should be inhaled in a more diluted form.
-
-Dr. Simpson recommended chloroform to be administered on a
-handkerchief—the method in which sulphuric ether was administered by Dr.
-Morton, in the first case in which he exhibited that medicine. The
-objection to giving chloroform on a handkerchief, especially in surgical
-operations, where it is necessary to cause insensibility, is that the
-proportions of vapour and of air which the patient breathes cannot be
-properly regulated. Indeed, the advocates of this plan proceed on the
-supposition that there is no occasion to regulate these proportions, and
-that it is only requisite that the patient should have sufficient air
-for the purposes of respiration, and sufficient chloroform to induce
-insensibility, and all will be right.[53] The truth is, however, that if
-there be too much vapour of chloroform in the air the patient breathes,
-it may cause sudden death, even without previous insensibility, and
-whilst the blood in the lungs is of a florid colour. Chloroform may
-indeed be inhaled freely from a handkerchief without danger, when it is
-diluted with one or two parts by measure of spirits of wine, but the
-chloroform evaporates in largest quantity at first, and less afterwards,
-until a portion of the spirit is left behind by itself. The process,
-however, of inhaling chloroform from a handkerchief is always uncertain
-and irregular, and is apt to confirm the belief in peculiarities of
-constitution, idiosyncrasies and predispositions, which have no
-existence in the patient.[54]
-
-The most exact way in which it is practicable to exhibit chloroform to a
-patient about to undergo an operation, is to introduce a measured
-quantity into a bag or balloon of known size, then to fill it up by
-means of the bellows, and allow the patient to inhale from it; the
-expired air being prevented from returning into the balloon, by one of
-the valves of the face-piece to which it is attached. I tried this plan
-in a few cases, in 1849, with so much chloroform in the balloon as
-produced four per cent. of vapour in proportion to the air. The effects
-were extremely uniform, the patients becoming insensible in three or
-four minutes, according to the greater or less freedom of respiration;
-and the vapour was easily breathed, owing to its being so equally mixed
-with the air. I did not try, however, to introduce this plan into
-general use, as the balloon would sometimes have been in the way of the
-surgeon, and filling it with the bellows would have occasioned a little
-trouble. It seemed necessary to sacrifice a little of absolute
-perfection to convenience, and I therefore continued the plan which I
-had already followed.
-
-The great point to be observed in causing insensibility by any narcotic
-vapour, is to present to the patient such a mixture of vapour and air as
-will produce its effects gradually, and enable the medical man to stop
-at the right moment. Insensibility is not caused so much by giving a
-dose as by performing a process. Nature supplies but one mixture of
-diluted oxygen, from which each creature draws as much as it requires,
-and so, in causing narcotism by inhalation, if a proper mixture of air
-and vapour is supplied, each patient will gradually inhale the requisite
-quantity of the latter to cause insensibility, according to his size and
-strength. It is indeed desirable to vary the proportions of vapour and
-air, but rather according to the purpose one has in view, whether
-medicinal, obstetric, or surgical, than on account of the age or
-strength of the patient; for the respiratory process bears such a
-relation to the latter circumstances, as to cause each person to draw
-his own proper dose from a similar atmosphere in a suitable time.
-
-The inhaler represented in the adjoining engraving is, with some slight
-alterations, the same that I have employed since the latter part of
-1847. It is made of metal, and consists of a double cylinder, the outer
-space of which contains cold water, and the inner serves for the
-evaporation of the chloroform which the patient is to breathe. Into the
-inner part of the cylinder there is screwed a frame, having numerous
-openings for the admission of air, and four stout wires which descend
-nearly to the bottom of the space, and are intended to support two coils
-of stout bibulous paper, which are tied round them, and reach to the
-bottom of the inhaler. In the lower part of this paper four notches are
-cut, to allow the air to pass in the direction indicated by the arrows.
-As the quantity of chloroform which is put in should never fill the
-apertures or notches, the air which passes through the inhaler meets
-with no obstruction whatever. There is a glass tube communicating with
-the interior of the inhaler, and passing to the outside, to enable the
-operator to see when the chloroform requires to be renewed. The elastic
-tube which connects the inhaler to the face-piece is three-quarters of
-an inch in internal diameter, to allow of the passage of as much air as
-the patient can possibly breathe. On the introduction of the practice of
-inhaling sulphuric ether there was no tubing in this country fit to be
-breathed through; that in ordinary use was only about one-third, or
-three-eighths of an inch in diameter,—not more than a quarter of the
-proper calibre.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-The face-piece, to include both the mouth and nostrils, of which that
-shown in the engraving is one of the modifications, is one of the
-greatest mechanical aids to the process of inhalation which has been
-contrived in modern times. Dr. Francis Sibson is its inventor. Dr.
-Hawkesley did indeed contrive a very similar one about the same time as
-Dr. Sibson,—early in 1847,—but he did not make it known. Dr. Ingen Housz
-made patients inhale oxygen through the nostrils by means of a bottle of
-India rubber with the bottom cut off; and Mr. Waugh, of Regent Street,
-had more recently contrived a mouth-piece to be adapted outside the
-lips, but the usual practice of inhalation previous to 1847, was for the
-patient to draw in the medicated air by means of a tube placed in the
-mouth. This led generally to great awkwardness at first, as the patient
-usually began to puff as if he were smoking a pipe; and it had the
-further inconvenience, in the administration of ether, that the tube
-dropped from the mouth, and the patient began to breathe by the
-nostrils, just as he was getting unconscious. The sides of the
-face-piece delineated in the engraving are made of thin sheet lead,
-which is pliable, and enables it to be adapted exactly to the
-inequalities of the face, and the patient can breathe either by the
-nostrils or mouth, just as his will, or instinct, or other nervous
-functions, determine.
-
-I have introduced two valves into this face-piece, one which rises on
-inspiration, to admit the air and vapour from the inhaler, and closes
-again on expiration, and the other which rises to allow the expired air
-to escape. I contrived the latter valve to turn more or less to one
-side, as indicated by the additional line in the engraving, and thus
-admit more or less of the external air to dilute still further that
-which has passed through the inhaler, and become charged with vapour. By
-this means the patient can begin by breathing air containing very little
-vapour, and more and more of the air which has passed over the moistened
-bibulous paper can be admitted, as the air-passages become blunted to
-the pungency of the vapour.
-
-The object of the water-bath is to supply the caloric which is rendered
-latent, and carried off, as the chloroform is converted into vapour, and
-thus to render the process of inhalation steady and uniform. Without the
-water-bath, the evaporation of the chloroform would soon reduce the
-temperature of the inhaler below the freezing point of water, and limit
-very much the amount of vapour the patient would inhale; and if the
-apparatus were warmed by the hand, the temperature would be too high,
-and the amount of vapour too great. A medical author of great reputation
-in Paris sent to inquire at what temperature I used the water-bath, and
-being informed, at the ordinary temperature, published his opinion that
-it had no effect, and might as well be left off. He appeared not to have
-considered the relations of heat, either to liquids or vapours.
-
-In arranging the bibulous paper in the inhaler, it is my object to
-contrive that the air passing through, in the ordinary process of
-inhalation, and at the ordinary temperature of about 60°, shall take up
-about five per cent. of vapour. This quantity can be diminished, as much
-as is desired, by turning the expiratory valve of the face-piece a
-little to one side; and in winter I usually place a short coil of
-bibulous paper against the outer circumference of the inside of the
-inhaler, in addition to the central coils which are delineated.
-
-I commonly put two, or two and a half, fluid drachms of chloroform into
-the inhaler at first. About a drachm of this is absorbed by the
-filtering paper, and the rest remains at the bottom of the inhaler; and
-in a protracted operation, when it is seen, by means of the glass tube,
-that the latter part of the chloroform has disappeared, more is added,
-by a drachm or so at a time, to prevent the paper ever becoming dry. Mr.
-Matthews, 8, Portugal Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, makes the inhaler.
-There are smaller face-pieces for children. The patient never inhales in
-so upright a posture as the artist has represented.
-
-There are several other kinds of apparatus in use for the inhalation of
-chloroform. The most usual consist of Dr. Sibson’s face-piece more or
-less altered, and with a small piece of sponge placed inside. The
-apparatus which is in most reputation on the continent is that of M.
-Charrière; it consists of a glass vase with suitable valves, and a
-fabric for exposing a surface wetted with chloroform to the air which
-passes through it.
-
-M. Duroy, of Paris, has contrived an ingenious, but very complicated,
-apparatus, which he calls an anæsthesimeter. The object of it is to
-regulate the amount of chloroform which is inhaled in a given time, and
-this can be varied from four to sixty drops in the minute; but the
-experiments which I have related show that the quantity of chloroform
-employed is not so important as the proportion of it in the inspired
-air; and although each of these circumstances has considerable influence
-over the other, in many cases there are conditions in which no regular
-relation exists between them. For instance, if the inhaler were supplied
-with sixty drops of chloroform per minute, these sixty drops weigh
-twenty grains, and produce 15·3 cubic inches of vapour; and if an adult
-patient were breathing the average quantity of four hundred cubic inches
-per minute, the air he would breathe would contain nearly four per cent.
-of vapour, which would answer extremely well; but if the breathing were
-slow or feeble, or if he should hold his breath for an interval and
-commence again, he might breathe air much more highly charged with
-vapour. Indeed it would depend on the amount of surface moistened with
-chloroform, the temperature of the air, and other physical conditions,
-whether or not the air he inhaled might not be charged with chloroform
-to a dangerous degree; whilst, on the other hand, if the breathing were
-deep and rapid, as often happens whilst the patient is getting slightly
-under the influence of the chloroform;—if, for instance, the patient
-were to breathe at the rate of 1,600 cubic inches, instead of 400, the
-air he would inhale would contain less than one per cent. of vapour, and
-he would not become insensible with the utmost supply of the
-anæsthesimeter, till his breathing should be moderated. M. Duroy also
-follows the rude and objectionable plan of using a nose clasp, and thus
-compelling the patient to breathe by the mouth alone.
-
-It is advisable to request the patient to breathe gently and quietly,
-when he commences to inhale chloroform; in other words, to do nothing
-but conduct himself as if he were about to fall asleep naturally; for,
-if he breathes deeply, the vapour feels much more pungent than it
-otherwise would do, and is apt to excite coughing, or a feeling of
-suffocation.
-
-In using the inhaler described above, the patient should commence to
-inhale with the expiratory valve of the face-piece turned on one side,
-and it should be gradually advanced to the required extent, over the
-opening it is intended to cover, as the sensibility of the lungs becomes
-diminished. Not only patients with phthisis or bronchitis, but many
-sensitive and irritable persons with sound lungs, have a great
-intolerance of the vapour of chloroform at first, on account of its
-pungency; and it is necessary to occupy two or three minutes in
-gradually commencing the inhalation, before the patient makes any
-appreciable progress towards insensibility. In administering chloroform
-to children also, it is desirable to begin very gently; by this means,
-and with a little persuasion, one generally succeeds in getting them to
-inhale voluntarily; although, occasionally, it is necessary to use a
-little force to accomplish one’s purpose.
-
-In certain cases of the medicinal application of chloroform, and also in
-obstetric cases, where the pains are not severe, it is unnecessary to
-render the patient unconscious, but for surgical operations this is
-nearly always requisite. No force should ever be employed so long as the
-patient is conscious, unless it be to children or lunatics; but some
-patients become excited as soon as they are unconscious, and attempt to
-leave the couch, or push away the chloroform; under such circumstances,
-if they cannot be calmed by what is said to them, they should be held,
-and the vapour should be steadily and gently continued, for a minute or
-two, till a state of quietude is produced. By far the greater number of
-patients remain quiet as they become unconscious, but there is no
-difficulty in ascertaining whether a patient is unconscious or not. If
-the eyelids remain open, the countenance shows whether the patient is
-conscious or not; and, if they are closed, it is only necessary to touch
-them gently, to ascertain this circumstance. If he is still conscious,
-he will look at his medical man, and probably speak, or, at all events,
-show intelligence in his countenance.
-
-_Signs of Insensibility._ The absence of consciousness, and a state of
-quietude, are both requisite before the commencement of a surgical
-operation, and they go a good way towards the preparation of a patient
-for it, but these symptoms may be present and the patient not be ready
-for an operation. The surgeon wishes to know whether he will lie still
-under the knife, or whether he will make a resistance and outcry which
-he would probably not make in his waking state. Some surgeons have
-recommended that the patient should be pricked with the point of a knife
-or some other instrument. This is not a good or satisfactory plan,
-however, for a person will often show no sign of feeling a slight prick,
-when a severe incision would rouse him to resistance. A more elegant and
-successful plan is to raise the eyelid gently, by placing one finger
-just below the eyebrow, and then to touch its ciliary border very
-lightly with another finger. This should not be done roughly nor too
-frequently, for fear of exhausting the sensibility when it is slight.
-Just after unconsciousness is induced, the eyelids are often closed very
-strongly when their margins are touched, especially in females, and
-there seems to be a positive hyperæsthesia; this, however, is only
-apparent, and arises from the control of the will being removed, whilst
-sensibility remains. By continuing the chloroform, the sensibility of
-the edges of the eyelids diminishes until, at last, they may be touched
-without causing winking. Under these circumstances, the most severe
-operation may, in almost every case, be commenced without sign of pain.
-I have employed this test of the sensibility or insensibility of the
-patient ever since chloroform has been in use, and also in the
-employment of ether in 1847, and I am satisfied that it affords more
-reliable information on this point than any other single symptom. It
-even indicates the amount of sensibility where a little remains; when,
-for instance, touching the margin of the eyelids causes very slight and
-languid winking, the patient will commonly flinch a little if the knife
-is used, but only in a manner that can be easily restrained, and will
-not interfere with the majority of operations. The cases, in which the
-indication afforded by the eyelids is not always to be depended on, are
-those of hysterical patients, in whom there is sometimes no winking on
-touching the eyelids, even when unconsciousness is scarcely induced. In
-such cases, one must judge by the other symptoms, and also by the length
-of time the patient has inhaled, the strength of the vapour, and depth
-and activity of the breathing. Indeed, these conditions should be
-observed and taken into account in every case; and all the symptoms
-exhibited by the patient should be watched, such as the expression of
-the face, the state of the breathing, and the condition of the limbs
-with regard to their tension or relaxation. The last is indeed sometimes
-relied on as the chief or sole sign whether the operation may be
-commenced, but it is of itself very insufficient, and even fallacious.
-The patient may allow his limbs to lie relaxed when he is scarcely
-unconscious, and not at all insensible, merely because he is not
-exerting his will upon them; if the arm is lifted, it may fall
-listlessly down again, at a time when the knife of the surgeon would
-rouse the patient to active resistance. Indeed, the limbs, which have
-been lying relaxed, may become tense as the effect of the chloroform
-increases, and may remain so during a short operation, in which there is
-no sign of pain.
-
-Although the pulse of itself gives no indication as to how far a patient
-is under the influence of chloroform, it is proper to pay attention to
-it, not only during the first administration of the chloroform, but also
-throughout the operation, especially if it be attended with much
-bleeding. The pulse sometimes becomes intermittent or irregular during
-the administration of chloroform, more especially in elderly persons.
-This more commonly happens in the first exhibition of it, than when it
-is repeated during the course of an operation. I have not seen any harm
-from either of these conditions, but it is well to intermit the
-chloroform for ten or fifteen seconds, and let the patient have a few
-inspirations without it, if the pulse is not in a satisfactory
-condition. If the precaution be taken to ensure that the air the patient
-breathes shall never contain more than five per cent. of vapour, the
-pulse can never be seriously affected by the direct action of the
-chloroform, and the state of the breathing affords the best warning
-against continuing the inhalation too long at a time.
-
-The breathing is fortunately also a sign that cannot be overlooked. It
-is by the breath that the chloroform enters, and it is extremely
-improbable that any one would go on giving the vapour after the
-breathing became stertorous and laboured.
-
-The patient sometimes holds his breath after he is unconscious, and
-before he is insensible; this occurs under two conditions: first, after
-deep and rapid breathing, during which the patient seems to absorb more
-oxygen than is immediately required, under the circumstances; and in
-this condition, I have known him hold his breath for a whole minute,
-whilst the pulse was unaffected. The other condition in which the
-breathing is suspended, is when there is rigidity in the third degree of
-narcotism, and the respiratory muscles seem to partake of the general
-rigidity; the holding of the breath in these cases seldom continues so
-long as under the former circumstances. I do not consider that there is
-any danger from either of these kinds of suspension of breathing. I
-believe it always returns as soon as there is a want of oxygen in the
-system. Of course the inhaler need not be applied to the face when the
-patient is not breathing, and he may as well have an inspiration or two
-without chloroform when the breathing is renewed. It is seldom requisite
-to carry the effects of chloroform so far that the breathing becomes
-stertorous, and whenever stertor is observed, the inhalation should be
-suspended; under these circumstances, the patient is always insensible.
-In some cases, in which a little more chloroform has been inhaled than
-is necessary, the patient breathes for half a minute or so by the
-diaphragm only, and breathes in fact hardly at all. The abdomen rises
-and falls freely, but, from the muscles of the chest not fixing the
-ribs, hardly any air enters the lungs, and the face becomes rather
-livid; meanwhile the pulse goes on very well, and at last the patient
-draws a deep, sonorous inspiration, the face resumes its proper colour,
-and all is right again. I have not heard of any accident from chloroform
-commencing in this manner. This state of breathing, when it does occur,
-usually takes place a few seconds after the inhalation has been left
-off, and arises from the accumulation of the effects of the chloroform,
-owing to the absorption into the system of the vapour which was
-contained in the lungs at the time when the inhalation was
-discontinued.[55] This accumulation or increase of the effects of
-chloroform lasts for about twenty seconds; it is not dangerous unless
-the vapour is inhaled of too great strength, but it should be borne in
-mind in all cases. It may be prevented altogether, by reducing the
-strength of the vapour, just as the patient is getting insensible, or by
-giving it with intermissions of a few seconds, at this time.
-
-The rigidity and struggling previously mentioned (pages 39 and 50) as
-occurring occasionally in the third degree of narcotism, more
-particularly in robust persons, often form a very prominent feature in
-the effects of chloroform; and have sometimes caused the medical man to
-discontinue the exhibition of chloroform, under the belief that it did
-not agree with the constitution of the patient, and that its further
-exhibition would be unsafe. The proper course to pursue is to continue
-the inhalation gently, till the struggling and rigidity are subdued. The
-patient is often insensible before these symptoms are subdued, but it is
-necessary to have him quiet, in order to enable the surgeon to operate
-with convenience and safety. I have always succeeded in subduing the
-involuntary struggling and rigidity, but have occasionally occupied five
-or six minutes in doing so. It is desirable to proceed slowly and
-cautiously, because, when these symptoms occur, the patient has already
-absorbed nearly the usual quantity of chloroform, and he often holds his
-breath, and then takes a sudden and deep inspiration, when he might
-inhale an overdose of vapour, unless it were presented to him in a well
-diluted state.
-
-When the rigidity and struggling are subdued, the breathing, in some
-cases, becomes stertorous, and relaxation of the muscles takes place,
-the limbs appearing quite flaccid; but by proceeding gently, these
-effects may generally be avoided, and the patient becomes quiet, whilst
-the breathing is natural, and the muscles are in a moderate state of
-tension. If the operator should be afraid to proceed with the exhibition
-of chloroform, on account of the violence of the muscular spasm and
-rigidity, it will be satisfactory to him to know that, if the inhalation
-is resumed in a few minutes, these symptoms will be less violent than at
-first.
-
-Struggling and rigidity are less likely to occur, when chloroform is
-administered slowly, than under opposite circumstances; but it is
-impossible to prevent these phenomena altogether in certain patients.
-After they are once subdued, they but very rarely recur during the
-operation; the patient, in most cases, seems to take on, when he is
-subdued by the chloroform, the same relation to it that women, children,
-and persons in a state of debility have from the first. M. Chassaignac
-has called this condition one of tolerance of the chloroform. It is a
-condition in which the patient bears both the chloroform and the
-operation very comfortably; but tolerance of a medicine is generally
-meant to imply that the patient can take it in larger quantity than
-before. But this is the reverse of what occurs when the patient is in a
-tranquil state from chloroform; he has already absorbed a considerable
-quantity, which has most likely penetrated deeply into the tissues, and
-he certainly does not require, and could not bear, so much as in the
-earlier stage of inhalation, where he is restless and breathing more
-quickly, and thus exhaling and getting rid of the chloroform at a
-greater rate.
-
-It might be a question whether the absence of muscular excitement, in a
-number of cases, does not arise from the circumstance that anæsthesia,
-or absence of common sensibility, is obtained, and the operation
-performed, at a stage of narcotism anterior to that in which the
-muscular rigidity and spasm occur. This is true in a few cases, but I am
-satisfied by careful observation that, in the greater number of
-instances in which muscular excitement is absent, it would not occur at
-all, though the inhalation should be pushed to the most extreme degree.
-Many animals also are killed by chloroform without the least excitement
-of the muscular system occurring at any part of the process.
-
-The pupils of the eyes are dilated in the deep state of insensibility
-which I have called the fourth degree of narcotism, but it is desirable
-to avoid carrying the effects of chloroform to this extent. They are
-occasionally dilated, however, under the slighter effects of chloroform,
-and even as the patient is recovering from its effects. In the third
-degree of narcotism, when the eyes are turned upwards, the pupils are
-usually, if not always, contracted; there seems to be a consentaneous
-action in the iris and the muscles which turn up the eye. The pupils
-seem also to be less sensitive to light, when the patient is insensible
-from chloroform, than at other times. This is all the information I am
-able to give about the pupils. Some writers have entered into a good
-deal of detail about the pupils, but their statements are very
-conflicting. The pupils are acted on by other causes, both external and
-internal, as well as the chloroform. The amount of light has great
-effect on them; and I have seen them remain dilated for some time after
-the chloroform was discontinued, and then suddenly contract, as the
-patient began to use his eyes. Even if definite laws could be
-ascertained with regard to the action of chloroform on the pupils, in
-different doses, and under different conditions, there would be some
-difficulty in applying them during the administration of the vapour, as
-the patient cannot be made to direct his eyes to or from the light.
-There is also some difficulty in making correct observations on the
-pupils. Very often, when I am exhibiting chloroform, one of the
-bystanders lifts the patient’s eyelid and makes a remark on the state of
-the pupil, and, on my looking in the face of the speaker, I often have
-occasion to tell him that his own pupils are quite as much dilated, or
-contracted, as the case may be.
-
-With regard to the position of the eyes, they are usually turned upwards
-in the third degree of narcotism, as I have already said, but in a
-considerable number of instances they retain their usual position all
-through the inhalation. In a few cases, they are turned downwards, the
-pupils being almost hid under the lower eyelids, and causing a curious
-expression. I have noticed this most frequently in children of ten to
-fourteen years of age. I have scarcely ever seen temporary strabismus
-under the influence of chloroform.
-
-The length of time which it is most desirable to occupy in the
-administration of chloroform, before the commencement of an operation,
-is about two minutes in infants, three minutes in children, and four or
-five minutes in adults. Circumstances occasionally occur, however, to
-lengthen these periods. The time during which the adult patient usually
-remains conscious whilst inhaling, is about two and a half minutes, but
-this period is sometimes prolonged from the nervousness of the patient,
-or his intolerance of the pungency of the vapour. Again, when
-unconsciousness is induced, there is, in many cases, an increased flow
-of saliva; and although this usually causes no impediment, the patient
-sometimes keeps making efforts of deglutition which very much retard the
-inhalation; and, at other times, he holds his breath, with his mouth
-full of saliva, as if he had some obscure idea of disposing of it in a
-suitable manner.[56] The delay which often arises from the struggling
-and rigidity has been already mentioned; but notwithstanding all these
-circumstances, it hardly ever takes more than seven or eight minutes to
-make a patient sufficiently insensible.
-
-I have indeed met with a few cases in which a longer time has been
-occupied, but there has always been a physical reason for it. I have
-never had occasion to attribute the delay to any idiosyncracy, or great
-peculiarity in the patient, but only to the circumstance that the vapour
-did not enter the lungs in sufficient quantity within a given time. I
-have had under my care several patients who, it was supposed, were not
-susceptible of the effects of chloroform, or were, at least, very
-difficult to bring under its influence, as previous attempts had failed.
-It so happens, however, that I have had no difficulty whatever with any
-of these cases.
-
-Two or three female patients who were about to undergo some trifling
-operation, preferred to leave off before they were unconscious, on
-account of unpleasant sensations in the head or chest, and to have the
-operation performed without the full effects of the chloroform; but
-there is no doubt the agent would have acted well enough if it had been
-continued.
-
-The following case will show that chloroform may be inhaled with
-advantage in cases which at first seem very unfavourable. I received a
-note in 1849 from a medical man in the country, in which he says:—“I
-have now a young lady under my charge, from whom I am about to remove a
-tumour attached to the ear. She is anxious to take chloroform, and by
-the desire of herself and mother, I yesterday administered it by way of
-trial, but only to what would be termed the second, and perhaps you
-would say, the first degree. She lost some sensation, but was quite
-conscious, and spoke. She felt giddy; there was tumultuous beating of
-the heart, and a much accelerated pulse, with a dilated pupil; a perfect
-coldness over the whole skin, with an equally cold perspiration; and,
-during recovery from this slight effect, severe tremors of the whole
-body, so much so as to shake the couch on which she was lying. From this
-state she did not recover for nearly an hour. She complained of great
-giddiness and oppression at her chest. She is a healthy-looking, florid
-girl, but not strong, and has had, from time to time, severe spasm
-affecting her chest, so much so as to take away her breath. I have thus
-endeavoured to give you an outline of the constitution of my patient,
-how she had suffered, and what were the effects of the small dose of
-chloroform given by an inhaler. I never witnessed such extreme cold,
-tremor, or such tumultuous action of the heart; and am therefore anxious
-for the opinion of one who has administered chloroform under a greater
-variety of circumstances than myself, and to learn whether the symptoms
-I have described are sufficient to deter one from giving a sufficient
-dose to cause entire suspension of consciousness. My own impression is
-that they are sufficient to deter, but the patient and her friends being
-both anxious it should be inhaled if possible, I shall only be too glad
-to hear that you have witnessed like symptoms, and that you do not
-consider them sufficient indications of danger to deter me from its
-careful administration in the case.”
-
-I advised that the chloroform should be administered again, and
-continued steadily till the patient should become insensible; expressing
-my belief that the unpleasant symptoms would subside as unconsciousness
-was induced. I received a reply to the effect that the operation had
-been performed very successfully under the influence of chloroform,
-although the vapour had an exciting effect for some time.
-
-_Repetition of Chloroform during an Operation._ The first application of
-chloroform often suffices for an operation, if it be of short duration,
-without repeating the inhalation. In a few cases the patient remains
-insensible to the knife for three minutes after the inhalation is left
-off, but this is an exception; and one cannot, at all events, make sure
-of this prolonged effect of chloroform, without producing a deeper state
-of narcotism than is desirable. More usually, if the operation lasts
-more than a minute or two, it is necessary to repeat the inhalation; it
-is, indeed, generally desirable to let the patient have a few
-inspirations of air charged with chloroform vapour every half minute or
-so, whilst the operation continues, in order to keep up the
-insensibility. When the surgeon is cutting in the neighbourhood of
-important parts, it is desirable to prevent any sign of sensibility, and
-to keep repeating the chloroform so as to keep up the coma, without,
-however, causing embarrassment of the breathing, or wide dilatation of
-the pupil. In the greater number of operations, however, it is better to
-wait till there is some sign of sensibility, such as a slight cry or
-tendency to flinch, before the inhalation is resumed; and then a few
-inspirations of well diluted vapour make the patient quiet again.
-
-
- RECOVERY FROM THE EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM.
-
-As soon as a patient has ceased to inhale, the chloroform begins to
-exhale in the form of vapour from the blood as it passes through the
-lungs. It cannot be detected by the sense of smell, after the lungs have
-been emptied, by two or three expirations, of the vapour they contained
-at the moment when the inhalation was discontinued; but I have detected
-it by chemical means, after consciousness had returned. The chloroform
-exhales in greatest quantity at first, and the patient usually recovers
-his sensibility and consciousness in the time which it ought to take for
-the chief part of the chloroform to be exhaled, according to mechanical
-principles; as will be explained in treating of the _modus operandi_ of
-this agent. The last traces of the chloroform of course exhale more
-slowly, and a very minute and insignificant quantity may remain for a
-considerable period in the system, not only of the patient, but of
-anyone who was standing by whilst he inhaled.
-
-It is probable that a small portion of chloroform passes out by other
-channels than that of the expired air: the latter, however, offers such
-a ready and expeditious outlet, that the quantity excreted in any other
-way is, most likely, very minute. I have on four occasions examined
-urine passed after the inhalation of chloroform, by boiling it in a
-flask, and passing the vapour, first through a red-hot tube, and
-afterwards through a tube moistened inside with solution of nitrate of
-silver, and I only on one occasion obtained a very slight precipitate of
-chloride of silver.
-
-The patient usually becomes conscious within five minutes after the
-inhalation has been discontinued. After a short inhalation, for a very
-brief operation, consciousness sometimes returns immediately, and after
-a prolonged inhalation the recovery of consciousness is sometimes
-retarded till ten minutes have elapsed. Old people are often longer than
-others in awaking from the effects of chloroform, owing, no doubt, to
-their slower breathing and circulation. Children, on the other hand,
-usually recover very quickly from its direct effects; but they often
-lapse into a natural sleep which lasts a considerable time—even for
-hours if they are not disturbed, and if the operation has left no
-painful wound or other cause of uneasiness.
-
-It is desirable not to talk to the patient as he is recovering from the
-effects of chloroform, but to leave him to collect his ideas, and not
-speak to him till he is quite conscious, or makes some remark or inquiry
-himself. If not prevented by the medical attendant, the friends of the
-patient often address him the moment he opens his eyes; and the words
-they generally use are of a very equivocal meaning to one who cannot
-understand their application. They usually say “It’s all over”, which
-very often has the effect of raising an indefinite feeling of alarm in
-the patient; for, until he has had time to recover his memory, the
-operation he was to undergo is generally the farthest thing from his
-mind. When left to himself the patient usually recovers from the
-insensibility in a very tranquil manner. If he has not been moved whilst
-insensible, and awakes in the position in which he fell asleep, he
-supposes, very commonly, that he has not been asleep at all; and in a
-great number of instances will contend this point very stoutly, even
-after a protracted operation, and assert that the chloroform has not
-taken effect. It is as well to let him remain in this conceit for a
-while, or even till he finds out the mistake himself; for, if reminded
-of the pain they have been spared, just on waking after an operation,
-persons are liable to be excited by emotions of pleasure and gratitude;
-but a few minutes later, when the effects of the chloroform have more
-completely subsided, they are better able to control their emotions. A
-few persons wake with a full recollection of the preceding
-circumstances, and inquire if the operation is done; whilst others, on
-first awaking, are still entirely occupied with the subject of their
-dreams.
-
-The greater number of patients who inhale chloroform have to remain in
-bed on account of the operation which has been performed, but after
-minor operations, the patient is sometimes able to walk away within five
-minutes; although more frequently there is a little languor or feeling
-of fatigue for half an hour or so; and it is desirable in all cases for
-the patient to sit or lie quietly for this space of time, if not longer,
-before he makes any mental or bodily exertion, even if he feels quite
-well.
-
-
- OCCASIONAL SEQUELÆ OF THE INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.
-
-_Sickness._ The chief drawback to the benefits conferred by chloroform
-is the sickness which in many cases follows its use. It is most frequent
-when the inhalation takes place soon after a meal, and some of the
-precautions which are requisite in order to avoid this symptom, or
-render it as rare as possible, have already been described (p. 74); but
-it occurs in certain cases, notwithstanding the best measures which may
-be used for its prevention. Moving the patient as the effects of the
-chloroform are subsiding is very apt to excite vomiting when it might
-not otherwise occur; it is therefore desirable, when convenient, to
-allow the patient to lie for half an hour or so, without moving his head
-from the pillow. By this means, even when a feeling of nausea is
-present, it often subsides without the occurrence of vomiting. It is
-advisable also not to give the patient anything to eat or drink till
-about an hour after the inhalation, and, as a general rule, not even
-then, unless there is some inclination for it; for if anything is taken
-into the stomach before the effects of the chloroform have entirely
-subsided, it is apt to excite vomiting. Even medicine, such as an
-opiate, is better delayed for an hour or upwards, unless there is an
-urgent necessity for giving it sooner. Severe faintness from loss of
-blood during an operation of course forms an exception to this rule; in
-such a case brandy and water should be given, and repeated if it should
-be vomited.
-
-These rules respecting food are, moreover, meant to apply only to the
-use of chloroform in surgical operations, and not to its employment
-during labour. Under the latter circumstances, one allows the patient
-all the nourishment that is desirable, intermitting the inhalation now
-and then for the purpose. And chloroform, given in the moderate way in
-which it is employed in labour, hardly ever causes sickness, but often
-alleviates it when present from physiological causes.
-
-The sickness induced by chloroform usually subsides of itself in the
-course of an hour, or even less; I, therefore, think it advisable not to
-do anything for it during this space of time. When it has continued
-beyond this period, I have found a little cold brandy and water to
-remove it in most cases; and when the tendency to vomit still remained
-after a few hours, I have seen it removed by a dose of opium.
-Effervescing draughts have not appeared to be of service in the sickness
-from chloroform, and sal volatile and draughts of warm water seem
-injurious. It is desirable for the patient to make no effort, but only
-to vomit if obliged to do so.
-
-Several cases have come within my knowledge, in which the sickness has
-continued for two or three days after every thing that was taken into
-the stomach. These cases have not been under my care, but under that of
-the surgeon. I have been informed, however, that all the usual remedies
-for sickness were applied for the time mentioned above without success.
-The cases in which the sickness lasts so long form but a very small
-portion of the whole number in which chloroform is administered, and
-they chiefly occur in persons who are subject to attacks of vomiting
-from slight causes, or, as they say, to bilious attacks.
-
-The most usual time for the vomiting to commence is when the inhalation
-has been discontinued, and the effects of the chloroform are passing of.
-In many cases, it occurs before the patient has become quite conscious,
-and he does not know that it has occurred unless he is told. In a few
-cases, especially where there is a good deal of food in the stomach, the
-vomiting comes on before the operation is finished, or even before it is
-commenced. When vomiting comes on during an operation, it is apt to
-interfere with the inhalation, and it is sometimes difficult to prevent
-the patient from waking; but this can be accomplished by wiping the
-patient’s mouth, and reapplying the chloroform, the moment the act of
-vomiting ceases. In many cases, however, the sickness does not come on
-till the patient is quite awake, and perhaps, even then, not until he
-moves. I believe that the sickness which is due to chloroform always
-commences within an hour or two, or at the farthest, just after the
-first food which is taken. I have known vomiting attributed to the
-chloroform which did not occur till the following day, but I ascertained
-that a dose of opium had been taken at night, and it was to this that
-the sickness was probably owing. In those cases where the chloroform
-does cause sickness in the first instance, it is not always the cause of
-all the vomiting which the patient may suffer. If the patient becomes
-infected or is inoculated with the poison of erysipelas or hospital
-gangrene at the time of the operation, he will probably be attacked with
-vomiting a day or two afterwards; and if sickness has already been
-caused by the chloroform, that which is due to disease may appear to be
-a continuation of it.
-
-Soon after the introduction of chloroform, I administered it to a
-gentleman, aged about 55, whilst a fatty tumour was removed from the
-nape of the neck. It did not turn out as fatty tumours usually do, but
-required to be dissected out. The patient had taken a meal before the
-operation, and vomited freely afterwards. On his visit the next morning,
-the surgeon thought his patient going on well. Vomiting returned,
-however, and the patient became affected with partial stupor and
-delirium, which his friends attributed to the chloroform. He became
-covered with an eruption of erysipelas over a great part of the body,
-had a very rapid pulse with great depression, and died on the fifth day.
-An examination after death showed that there had been diffuse cellular
-inflammation around the seat of the operation. A surgeon who assisted at
-the operation on the above patient, and also at the post-mortem
-examination, removed an encysted tumour from the scalp of an old lady
-the day following the latter event. This operation was performed without
-chloroform, but the patient was attacked with erysipelas and diffuse
-cellular information, and died in three or four days.
-
-_Faintness and Depression._ Although chloroform acts as a stimulant to
-the circulation, increasing the force and frequency of the pulse whilst
-it is being inhaled, it is occasionally followed by a feeling of
-faintness, especially if the patient remains in the sitting posture. At
-one period in the history of medical opinion, it would have been said
-that the depression was a consequence of the previous excitement. The
-facts, however, would not agree with such a doctrine. The subjects who
-are most stimulated by chloroform are the strong and robust, and they do
-not suffer from depression afterwards; whilst the feeble and
-debilitated, who are most liable to subsequent depression, are but
-little stimulated by it at the time of inhaling. Some amount of
-faintness and depression usually accompanies the sickness caused by
-chloroform, and is in fact a consequence of it, being, like the
-sickness, most frequent after a full meal. This depression is usually
-relieved by vomiting. I have met with a few cases in which there has
-been more decided faintness, and once or twice absolute syncope after
-chloroform, which was not attributable to loss of blood. In these cases,
-however, the patients were in the sitting posture, and they recovered
-from the syncope immediately, on being placed horizontally. The patients
-most subject to faintness after chloroform are those who are subject to
-this affection at other times, being often persons in a state of anæmia,
-or having the symptoms of fatty degeneration of the heart. Faintness is,
-however, very much more rare after operations with chloroform than
-without it. The only cases in which I have seen it follow the use of
-chloroform in the horizontal position, and where there was no
-considerable loss of blood, have been two or three of operations on the
-rectum, performed before breakfast, and after a brisk purgative had been
-taken the previous night. It might be advisable, where persons in a
-state of debility have taken a purgative, to make an exception to the
-usual rule of prohibiting the breakfast, and to risk the inconvenience
-of vomiting rather than the more formidable symptoms of faintness from
-inanition.
-
-The faintness which now and then follows an operation under chloroform
-should be treated on ordinary principles, as the horizontal posture, the
-application of the vapour of ammonia to the nostrils, and the exhibition
-of brandy or wine, if the other measures do not suffice. I never give
-ammonia internally where a patient is sick or faint, but the spirit of
-sal volatile, when at hand, serves very well to pour on the corner of a
-towel and apply to the nostrils.
-
-_Hysteria._ I have already stated (p. 51) that chloroform occasionally
-excites hysteria in those who are subject to that complaint; and that,
-in a few cases, the hysteria, which has been subdued by the chloroform,
-reappears as the effects of the vapour subside. It is nearly always in
-the female sex that one meets with these phenomena, although I have two
-or three times seen hysterical symptoms in the male for half an hour or
-so after the inhalation. The hysteria commonly takes the form of
-laughing or crying, but the patient sometimes remains quiet, and simply
-in an unconscious state. The hysterical symptoms usually pass off
-spontaneously, in half an hour or less, without any remedies; if they
-last longer, the ordinary remedies for hysteria may be applied. I am not
-aware that the hysteria has lasted longer than three or four hours in
-any of the cases in which I have administered chloroform, but it may
-have done so without my being informed of the circumstance. I was
-informed of the case of a young woman in King’s College Hospital, who
-remained unconscious, or at least apparently so, for three days after
-chloroform had been administered for an operation, the nature of which I
-have forgotten. She recovered without ill effects. When the patient does
-not wake spontaneously, and cannot be roused to the waking state, within
-twenty minutes or half an hour after the inhalation of chloroform has
-been left off, we may rest assured that the patient is affected with
-hysteria—at least this has been the case in every instance with which I
-have become acquainted. The physical properties of this agent do not
-permit it to remain long in the system, if the circulation and
-respiration are going on properly, and this circumstance ought to
-prevent unnecessary alarm, in the absence of other symptoms except the
-state of unconsciousness. I have, however, known great alarm to exist
-where the properties of chloroform were not well understood. Soon after
-its introduction, a medical man administered it to a young woman in
-domestic service, for the extraction of a tooth. He became alarmed, in
-the first instance, from the impression that he had given an overdose.
-In a few minutes, however, the patient burst out in a loud fit of
-laughter, but again became unconscious, and various measures were used
-to restore her, including even artificial respiration, in the idea that
-she was still under the influence of chloroform. I was sent for
-thirty-six hours after the inhalation, and found the patient apparently
-in a profound state of insensibility, and breathing very feebly. Guided
-by the considerations mentioned above, I concluded that she was only
-labouring under hysteria, and that the anxiety of those about her tended
-very much to keep up the complaint. The anxious attendance on her was
-discontinued, she took some medicine containing valerian, and became
-quite conscious in few hours. I was told, however, that she did not seem
-quite well for some time.
-
-I am not aware of any permanent ill effects having been produced by
-chloroform, although, amongst the multitudes of persons who have inhaled
-it, some have not failed to blame it for symptoms that have occurred
-afterwards.
-
-A clergyman from the country called on me, in 1852, and the following
-are some notes I made when he left my room. He is 63 years of age. He
-said that he had inhaled chloroform about a year ago to have four teeth
-extracted. He felt very well for about a week afterwards, but on his
-pupils returning, and his beginning to apply himself to teaching, he
-became affected with flushings of the face and a rushing noise in his
-head, which lasted occasionally for a day or two, and have troubled him
-ever since. An eminent physician, whom he named, prescribed quinine,
-under the use of which he became worse. An eminent surgeon prescribed
-infusion of hops, etc., and he has tried other medicines without good
-effect. He had been recommended to travel, and had been to Switzerland;
-but the complaint troubled him when at leisure, as well as when applying
-himself mentally. He could not sleep at night, when affected with the
-attacks. He is rather deaf, and has been so for three or four years; he
-was also occasionally troubled with a rushing sound behind the ears
-before he inhaled the chloroform. He is rather short and rather stout,
-and has a florid complexion. The pulse was rather feeble. The second
-sound of the heart was rather louder than the first. In other respects
-its sounds were natural, but its impulse was not strong. In every
-respect, except the symptoms above named, the health of the patient was
-good, and he felt quite well between the attacks.
-
-It was my opinion that the complaint of this gentleman was coming on
-long before he inhaled the chloroform, and that it depended on a much
-less transient cause. I have not heard from him since.
-
-
- CAUSE AND PREVENTION OF DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.
-
-All narcotics are capable of causing death, and the discovery of
-preventing pain by inhalation consists essentially in carrying the
-effects of a narcotic much further than had previously been the custom;
-there was, therefore, every reason to apprehend that accidents might
-occur in the new practice, unless the effects of the medicines employed
-could be very effectually controlled. There are certain circumstances
-connected with the physiological properties of chloroform, as
-ascertained in the experiments previously related, which indicate how
-accidents may very easily happen with this agent, if not carefully and
-systematically managed. It was calculated (p. 74) that 18 minims of
-chloroform is the average quantity in the system of an adult, when
-sufficiently insensible for a surgical operation, and that this amount
-might be absorbed by the use of 36 minims, allowing one-half of the
-quantity breathed to be exhaled again, without being absorbed; but 36
-minims of chloroform make only 37·5 cubic inches of vapour, which, at
-the temperature of 60° Fah., may exist in combination with 257 cubic
-inches of air, making it expand to not quite 300 cubic inches; the whole
-of which might be breathed in twelve ordinary inspirations of 25 cubic
-inches each. If the inhalation of vapour of this strength were continued
-till insensibility was induced, the lungs would still contain a great
-quantity of unabsorbed vapour. The amount of air usually present in the
-lungs is about 250 cubic inches, and if saturated with chloroform at the
-temperature of 60° it would contain the vapour of 30 minims. About half
-of this might be absorbed, the remaining half passing off in the expired
-air; but the addition of 15 minims to the 18 minims already absorbed
-would almost double the quantity of chloroform in the system, and bring
-the patient necessarily to the brink of death. It is true that, in the
-ordinary methods of inhalation, the air seldom becomes quite saturated
-with vapour, and usually is not more than half saturated, or accidents
-might be of much more frequent occurrence; but the above considerations
-are sufficient to show that the amount of vapour contained in the air
-breathed by the patient should not be left to mere accident, such as the
-varying temperature of the handkerchief from which the chloroform is
-breathed, or the greater or less extent of wetted surface over which the
-air passes. It should be recollected also that the patient sometimes
-draws a deep and sudden inspiration by which he may inspire 100 cubic
-inches of air, which would contain, if strongly charged with vapour, ten
-or twelve minims of chloroform—a large quantity to be suddenly added to
-that already in the circulation, when the patient is insensible, or
-nearly so.
-
-It is, however, only by a knowledge of the different modes in which
-chloroform is capable of causing death, that the exact nature of the
-accidents from this agent can be understood, together with the means of
-preventing them, and the reason why they are usually irremediable when
-they happen. If animals are kept for a very long time under the deep
-influence of chloroform, they become ultimately exhausted, the
-circulation and respiration are gradually weakened, and cease nearly
-together. Such a mode of death from this agent is never likely to occur
-to the human subject, and therefore need not engage our further
-attention. The following experiments illustrate the different modes of
-dying, when death is caused more suddenly by this agent.[57]
-
-_Experiment 23._ A young but full grown cat was placed in a glass jar,
-of the capacity of 1,600 cubic inches, and a fluid drachm of chloroform
-was introduced, by a portion at a time, through a tube in the cover of
-the jar. As twenty-five minims of chloroform produce twenty-six cubic
-inches of vapour, the atmosphere which the cat had to breathe contained
-nearly four per cent. of vapour, and the jar was moved about, to ensure
-the uniform mixture of the vapour with the air. In five minutes, the cat
-became insensible, and lay breathing naturally. In about ten minutes
-more, the breathing became very feeble, and it ceased altogether in
-about another minute, or sixteen minutes after the cat commenced to
-breathe the chloroform. It was immediately taken out and laid on a
-table, and the stethoscope was applied to the chest. The heart could be
-heard beating distinctly at first, but the pulsations became slower and
-feebler, and in about a minute they could be no longer heard. Just at
-this time, however, the cat took a gasping inspiration, and immediately
-the heart was heard to beat in a most rapid manner. The gasps were
-repeated, and the action of the heart became less rapid, but stronger.
-In a little time, both the breathing and the action of the heart became
-natural, the cat remaining, however, insensible for some minutes.
-
-_Experiment 24._ A cat, about the same size as the last, was put into
-the same jar, and the same quantity of chloroform was introduced. It was
-removed at the end of four minutes, when it was so far insensible as to
-offer no resistance. Being laid on the table, it was made to breathe air
-charged with ten per cent. of vapour of chloroform from a bladder.
-Twenty-five minims of chloroform were put into the bladder, which held
-250 cubic inches, and it was filled up with the bellows. A portion of
-another bladder which was attached to the stop-cock, was made to
-surround the head of the cat, which consequently breathed to and from
-the bladder. In half a minute it was quite insensible: in about half a
-minute more the breathing became difficult, and the sounds of the heart
-less distinct. The breathing became gradually slower, and ceased
-altogether between three and four minutes after the respiration from the
-bladder commenced. The sounds of the heart were rather frequent, and
-scarcely audible, just before the breathing ceased, and they could not
-be heard afterwards. The chest was opened three-quarters of an hour
-after death. The lungs were of a pale red colour, everywhere permeated
-with air; and a small quantity of fluid blood flowed from them on making
-an incision. The right cavities of the heart were quite full of blood,
-and the left cavities contained a small quantity.
-
-_Experiment 25._ A cat was made insensible in the same manner as the two
-previous ones. As it made strong efforts to get out of the jar, and
-consequently breathed more deeply, the chloroform took effect sooner;
-and it was removed and laid on the table, in a passive state, at the end
-of two minutes and a half. The respiration and sounds of the heart were
-quite natural. The nose of the animal was placed in the mouth of a metal
-vessel, lined with bibulous paper, and used as a chloroform inhaler. The
-inhaler contained chloroform, and was surrounded with water of the
-temperature of 110° Fahr. The stethoscope was kept applied to the chest
-whilst the chloroform was exhibited. After four or five inspirations
-from the inhaler, the heart suddenly ceased to beat, the breathing still
-going on. The inhaler was removed as soon as I was satisfied that the
-action of the heart had ceased, and there were two or three rather
-convulsive respirations afterwards, and then the breathing stopped; but,
-between one and two minutes later, there were two or three feeble
-inspirations, accompanied with motion of the nostrils, but no returning
-action of the heart could be heard. The chest was opened ten minutes
-after death. The lungs were quite pale throughout. There was a little
-clear serum in the pericardium. The heart appeared quite motionless when
-first observed; but, after exposure to the air for a short time, there
-were some slight contractions of a few fibres of the right ventricle.
-The right auricle and ventricle were filled with blood.
-
-The air which this cat breathed must have contained much more than ten
-per cent. of vapour.
-
-In experiment 23 the breathing was arrested by the influence of the
-chloroform on the nervous centres, but the action of the heart
-continued, until it was stopped, or very nearly so, for want of
-respiration, as in asphyxia from privation of air. In experiments 24 and
-25 the action of the heart was arrested by the direct effect of the
-chloroform; in one instance at the same moment as the respiration, and
-in the other instance, even before it.
-
-The paralysing effect on the heart of large doses of chloroform was
-shown in the first experiments which were made with this substance,
-viz., those by Dr. R. M. Glover in 1842.[58] In animals which were
-killed by injecting it into the jugular vein, the irritability of the
-heart was found to be destroyed, whilst this organ retained its
-irritability in those that were killed by the injection of chloroform
-into the arteries, stomach, or peritoneum. I have frequently arrested
-the action of the heart remaining in animals which were opened
-immediately after death, by blowing the vapour of chloroform on it; and
-I ascertained by some experiments on frogs, that the motion of the heart
-can be arrested by an amount of chloroform somewhat greater than
-suffices to suspend the respiration. As absorption of chloroform vapour
-is continued by the skin of these animals after the respiratory
-movements have ceased, they can be exposed to the vapour till the action
-of the heart is suspended by its direct influence.
-
-_Experiment 26._ Four and a half grains of chloroform were introduced
-into a jar containing 600 cubic inches, being three-quarters of a grain
-to each 100 cubic inches, and, the vapour having been equally diffused,
-two frogs were put in. They tried to climb up the side of the jar, as if
-wishing to make their escape, and one or the other occasionally ceased
-to breathe for a minute or two, probably from disliking the vapour, but
-commenced to breathe again. In about five minutes the efforts to escape
-ceased, and they only moved to adjust their equilibrium when the jar was
-disturbed. They were now breathing regularly, and continued to do so
-till about ten minutes after their introduction, when all voluntary
-power ceased, and the breathing began to be performed only at intervals.
-They were allowed to remain till half an hour had elapsed, during the
-last ten minutes of which time no respiratory movement was observed in
-either of them. On taking them out, and laying them on their backs, the
-pulsations of the heart were observed on each side of the sternum. These
-pulsations were the more distinct, from the lungs being apparently
-empty. I continued the experiment on these frogs, placing one of them
-back again, in the course of two or three minutes, in the same jar, with
-three grains of chloroform, and the other in a jar of 400 cubic inches
-capacity, with five grains. They were laid on their backs, and the heart
-of the former one, in air containing half a grain of chloroform to each
-100 cubic inches, continued to beat distinctly and regularly, 45 times
-in the minute, for four hours that it remained in the jar, and it was
-not observed to breathe during the whole time, although it was watched
-almost constantly. The respiration commenced again within half an hour
-after its removal. In about an hour, it recovered its power of voluntary
-motion, and it was not injured by the long narcotism.
-
-The pulsations of the heart of the other frog, in air containing a grain
-and a quarter of chloroform to each 100 cubic inches of air, became
-slower and more feeble, and in a quarter of an hour could not be
-observed. The frog was left in the jar a quarter of an hour longer, and
-removed when it had been in half an hour. The under part of the thorax
-was immediately opened sufficiently to expose the heart. It was
-moderately full of blood, but not contracting at all, and it did not
-evince the least irritability on being pricked, either at first or after
-exposure to the air for some time. It is evident that the heart of this
-last frog became paralysed by the absorption into the blood of more
-vapour, in addition to the quantity that was sufficient to arrest the
-respiration. The temperature of the room during this experiment was 65°
-Fah.
-
-The effect of chloroform on the heart of the frog is further shewn by
-the next experiment.
-
-_Experiment 27._ A frog was placed in the jar containing 600 cubic
-inches, with six grains of chloroform. In twenty minutes the respiration
-had ceased, but the heart continued to pulsate strongly. At the end of
-three-quarters of an hour, the pulsations were more feeble, and had
-diminished from 40 to 30 in the minute. An hour and five minutes from
-the commencement of the experiment, no movement of the heart could be
-observed. The frog was taken out of the vapour, and a portion of the
-sternum and integuments removed, so as partly to expose the heart, when
-it was found to be still contracting, with a very feeble undulatory
-motion. This motion increased in force, and, in a quarter of an hour
-after its removal, the heart was pulsating regularly and strongly, the
-ventricle apparently emptying itself perfectly. When the frog had been
-out twenty minutes, it was placed again in the same jar, with the same
-quantity of chloroform. In about ten minutes, the heart’s action began
-to fail again; and in about twenty minutes, the slightest movement could
-no longer be perceived in it. The frog was immediately taken out, and
-the ventricle of the heart was pricked with a needle. In a few seconds,
-a slight quivering was observed,—whether the result of the prick is not
-certain,—and the action of the heart became gradually reestablished as
-before. It was arrested a third time by exposure to the vapour; and
-although, in its third removal, the anterior extremities of the frog had
-become rigid, the heart resumed its action partially, and continued to
-contract feebly for three or four hours after the rigidity of death had
-invaded the body and limbs of the animal. The temperature of the room
-was 62° during this experiment.[59]
-
-In the human being and all other creatures of warm blood, any vapour
-which is inhaled and absorbed in the lungs passes at once to the left
-side of the heart, and as the coronary arteries are the first branches
-given off from the aorta, the heart must, during the process of
-inhalation, be always a very little in advance of the rest of the body,
-as regards the amount of vapour to which it is subjected. This, however,
-is no source of danger, as regards chloroform, if the inhalation takes
-place in a gradual and uniform manner; for the heart being able, as
-shown by the above experiments on frogs, to bear a greater amount of
-this narcotic than the brain, its action continues even after
-respiration has ceased, if the vapour is added only by a little at once
-to the blood, as it passes through the lungs. But if the air which the
-patient breathes be too highly charged with vapour, it is easy to
-understand how the sensibility of the nerves of the heart may be
-paralysed, notwithstanding their power to bear somewhat more of this
-agent than the brain and nerves of respiration. I calculated (p. 74) the
-quantity of chloroform which would suffice to arrest respiration in the
-adult of average size to be thirty-six minims, provided it were equally
-diffused through the circulation; but supposing a patient breathes, at
-any time, air containing ten per cent. of vapour of chloroform, a
-considerable part of this might enter the lungs at a very few
-inspirations, for thirty-six minims of chloroform occupy only 37·5 cubic
-inches, and would be contained in 375 cubic inches of air, and might be
-breathed in less than a minute; but for the whole of the blood to pass
-through the lungs occupies a considerable time—I believe about four
-minutes in the adult—and therefore the portion of blood which is passing
-through the lungs, at the time when vapour of the above strength is
-inhaled, must become much overcharged with chloroform, making every
-allowance for the portion of vapour which is expired again, without
-being absorbed.
-
-I have observed the manner in which the breathing and circulation ceased
-in a great number of instances, with the stethoscope applied to the
-chest of the animal, when the quantity of chloroform contained in the
-air it breathed was known, and have notes of the result. The animals
-were chiefly cats, which would otherwise have been killed by prussic
-acid, or in some other way. In every instance in which the quantity of
-vapour in the air breathed by the animals was from three to six per
-cent., the respiration ceased whilst the sounds of the heart were still
-very distinct, as in Experiment 23, related above; in many instances the
-heart continued to beat from two to three minutes after the breathing
-had ceased, and, in a great number of instances, there were one or more
-gasping inspirations just at the moment when the sounds of the heart
-ceased. In many cases these gasping inspirations caused the action of
-the heart to return, as in Experiment 23, if the animal had been
-withdrawn from the chloroform; but this was not always the case; and if
-the chloroform was still breathed during these gasping efforts, all
-signs of life immediately ceased in every instance.
-
-When, on the other hand, the air breathed by the animals contained eight
-or ten per cent., or upwards, of vapour of chloroform, the action of the
-heart was always seriously affected and rendered extremely feeble, if it
-did not actually cease, at the time the breathing was arrested. In
-several instances, indeed, the sounds of the heart entirely ceased
-before the breathing, as in Experiment 25; and although the chloroform
-was withdrawn, in this and many other experiments, the moment the heart
-ceased to beat, and fresh air was drawn in by inspiratory efforts, it
-very rarely had the effect of restoring the heart’s action, although
-this happened so frequently when that organ had gradually ceased to act
-on account of suspension of the breathing, by the effect of more diluted
-vapour.
-
-In order to see more precisely the action of the vapour of chloroform on
-the heart, when not sufficiently diluted, the chest and pericardium were
-opened on four occasions, in cats and a rabbit, and chloroform was
-exhibited by artificial respiration. I was assisted by Mr. Peter
-Marshall in these experiments, and the following is the account of one
-of them.[60]
-
-_Experiment 28._ A young rabbit, rather more than half-grown, was made
-insensible by breathing air charged with four per cent. of vapour of
-chloroform in a large jar. The trachea was then opened, and a tube was
-introduced and tied. The lungs and heart were then exposed, by making an
-incision and removing the lower half of the sternum, with the adjoining
-part of the cartilages of the ribs on each side. The front of the
-pericardium was also cut away, to expose the heart. Whilst these
-operations were performed, artificial respiration was kept up by means
-of a bladder of air attached to the tube in the trachea. The heart
-contracted vigorously and quickly, and the lungs were of a light red
-colour. The rabbit was beginning to show signs of returning sensibility,
-when the bladder of air was changed for one containing ten per cent. of
-vapour of chloroform. The bladder contained 125 cubic inches, and twelve
-minims of chloroform were put in before it was filled with the bellows.
-Three or four inflations of the lungs only were made, when I perceived
-that the heart was beginning to be affected, and I changed the
-chloroform for a bladder containing only air. These three or four
-inflations of the lungs with chloroform, had the effect of causing the
-right cavities of the heart to become distended with blood, and its
-pulsations to become much slower. In two or three minutes, however, the
-action of the heart was quite reestablished by the artificial
-respiration, the pulsations being vigorous and frequent, and the
-ventricles being apparently emptied at each contraction. The bladder
-charged with ten per cent. of chloroform was again attached, and
-artificial respiration was made with it. The right ventricle began
-almost immediately to become distended; and, by the time that eight or
-ten inflations of the lungs had been made, the contractions of the heart
-were very slow and feeble. Artificial respiration with air was resumed,
-but without the effect of restoring the action of the heart. The lungs
-were observed at the time when the right ventricle was becoming
-distended, and it was noticed that their colour was unchanged. They
-afterwards became paler, as the artificial respiration was continued
-after the ventricle had ceased to empty itself. No contractions of the
-diaphragm were observed after the first inflation of the lungs with
-chloroform, and the rabbit did not gasp at any time; whilst the cats
-were observed to make a few gasping efforts at the time when the heart’s
-action was ceasing.
-
-The circumstance of the lungs not changing in colour at the moment when
-the right ventricle was becoming distended, which was observed in the
-cats as well as in the rabbit, shows that the distension arose from the
-failure of the contractile power of the heart, and not from impediment
-to the pulmonary circulation; for, in the latter case, the lungs would
-have become congested, and of a deeper colour. In one of the cats, it
-appeared to me that the left, as well as the right ventricle, was
-distended with blood; but this distension of the left ventricle did not
-continue.
-
-In the Experiments 24 and 25, related above, the animals were first made
-insensible by vapour of moderate strength, in order to keep them quiet
-for the application of the stethoscope whilst the stronger vapour was
-inhaled, but when animals are made to breathe air containing ten per
-cent. or so of vapour of chloroform from the first, death takes place in
-the same manner, _i. e._ by the direct action of the chloroform on the
-heart. Under these circumstances the creatures die suddenly, after a
-brief interval of agitation and excitement, without previous
-insensibility. This is what has happened in some of the accidents from
-chloroform, to be related further on; whilst in many cases death has
-happened after a longer or shorter period of insensibility.
-
-In many of the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform the alarming
-symptoms commenced whilst the patient was still inhaling, but in a
-considerable number there was no sign of danger until after the
-inhalation had been left off; and this is a result which may be imitated
-on animals. The two following experiments, which were made at Dr.
-Sibson’s on December 27th, 1849, illustrate this point.
-
-_Experiment 29._ The subject of this experiment was a young guineapig,
-about half-grown. Ten or twelve drops of chloroform were put into a
-short bent metal tube, lined with bibulous paper, which formed part of
-an inhaler, and one end of the tube was applied to the animal’s nose,
-which closed it. The guineapig consequently breathed backwards and
-forwards through the tube, which was, moreover, warm from being held in
-the hand. It struggled at first, endeavouring to get away from Dr.
-Sibson, who held it; but in twenty or thirty seconds it became quiet;
-and observing that the conjunctiva was insensible, I withdrew the
-chloroform, and the guineapig was laid on the table. We remarked that
-the breathing was very slow; and scarcely had this remark been made,
-when it ceased altogether, three or four inspirations only having been
-made since the inhalation was left off. Dr. Sibson proceeded immediately
-to open the body; but as soon as he had divided the integuments of the
-chest the animal began to make some convulsive gasping inspirations,
-during which the mouth was widely opened, and we observed that the
-diaphragm acted alone, the ribs being pressed inwards by the atmosphere.
-The heart was not contracting at all when the pericardium was first
-opened; but in a few moments the auricles began to contract
-rhythmically. The lungs were of a light red colour.
-
-_Experiment 30._ Another guineapig of the same age was treated in the
-same manner, except that I removed the tube from the nose for a short
-time between every two or three inspirations, in order to see if I could
-not make it insensible in this way without a fatal result. In half a
-minute or so the animal no longer required to be held, but lay on the
-table without making any resistance, the conjunctiva being still
-sensible, and some motion of the limbs, apparently voluntary, remaining.
-It only inhaled once after Dr. Sibson ceased to hold it, and whilst in
-the state just described, and then only for two or three inspirations.
-After this it appeared quite insensible, and no more chloroform was
-given. It breathed at first naturally, except more slowly and gently
-than before the inhalation; but the breathing became slower, and ceased
-altogether about a quarter of a minute after the inhalation had been
-left off. The body was opened immediately. When the pericardium was
-opened, the auricles were observed to contract slightly, and the
-contractions increased after their exposure to the air.
-
-The amount of vapour in the air breathed by these two guineapigs is not
-known, but there is no doubt that it was upwards of eight per cent.
-
-
- FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.
-
-If it were possible for a medical man to mistake or disregard the
-symptoms of approaching danger, and to go on exhibiting vapour of
-chloroform, diluted to a proper strength, till the death of the patient,
-this event would take place slowly and gradually, as in Experiment 23,
-related above, and every other experiment in which the air did not
-contain more than five per cent. of vapour. The action of the heart
-would survive the respiration; there would be a great tendency to
-spontaneous recovery, and the patient would be easily restored by
-artificial respiration, if it were performed whilst the heart was still
-acting; as I have always found it to be successful in animals under
-these circumstances.
-
-In examining the recorded cases of fatal inhalation of chloroform, we
-shall find, however, that they have none of them taken place in this
-gradual manner; but that in all cases the fatal symptoms, if not the
-actual death, have come on very suddenly. Dr. Sibson was, I believe, the
-first to point out that, in the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform,
-death was caused by its paralysing the heart; but he was not at that
-time aware of the physical conditions under which this agent may act
-directly on the heart. In commenting on the first four deaths from
-chloroform, he says:[61] “In all the four cases it is manifest that the
-immediate cause of the instantaneous death lay in the heart. The heart,
-influenced by the poison, ceased to contract, not from the cessation of
-respiration, for the heart in asphyxia will beat from one to three
-minutes after respiration has ceased, but from immediate death of the
-heart. There is no doubt a combination of causes operating to destroy
-the heart’s contractile power: the mental influence, the congestion in
-the systemic, and that in the pulmonary capillaries, will all have a
-material influence.” And further on he says: “We are obliged, then, from
-the experience of these cases, to conclude, that in man the death is
-usually instantaneous, and due, as every instantaneous death is, to
-paralysis of the heart. In animals the death is usually due to paralysis
-of the muscles of respiration. It is chiefly owing to the superior
-control of the mind over the body in man, that in him the poison acts on
-the heart more than in dogs.”
-
-I had been long aware that chloroform was capable of paralysing the
-heart in animals; and, indeed, that sulphuric ether would do so when it
-could reach the heart in sufficient quantity;[62] and soon after Dr.
-Sibson’s remarks I was able to ascertain and point out the strength of
-the vapour which will produce this effect, and how one may avoid the
-risk of it, by having the vapour sufficiently diluted.[63] The greater
-number of experimenters who have killed animals with chloroform have
-found that the action of the heart continued after the breathing ceased;
-but they did not either control or ascertain the proportion which the
-vapours of chloroform bore to the inspired air. In Mr. Thomas Wakley’s
-experiments the action of the heart continued after the breathing had
-ceased; and this was the case in a great number of experiments performed
-by a Commission which reported to the Society of Emulation of Paris, in
-1855.[64]
-
-This Commission came to the conclusion that, in all instances in which
-animals are killed by chloroform, the action of the heart survives the
-respiration; but they might have administered chloroform to an equal
-number of human patients without any one of them being cut off by sudden
-paralysis of the heart. If animals were usually to die suddenly of
-paralysis of the heart, when the chloroform is given in a manner similar
-to what may be called its ordinary administration to patients, we should
-be at a loss to know how this agent could be used at all. It is only
-reasonable to suppose that, in experiments so conducted, that mode of
-death should usually be met with which would occur to the human subject,
-if the chloroform were continued, in the disregard of dangerous
-symptoms, till death should ensue. I have, indeed, been informed of
-several instances in which animals died in a sudden, and what was
-thought an unaccountable manner, whilst chloroform was given to prevent
-the pain and struggles which would be occasioned by physiological
-experiments. In these cases there is no doubt the heart was paralysed;
-but the experimenters were often too intent on other matters to observe
-the circumstance. By a proper arrangement of circumstances, however, one
-may produce at will the event in animals which occurs, in fact, so very
-rarely to a patient, although it may at any time happen if great
-caution, guided also by right principle, is not used.
-
-Air, when saturated only at 60° Fah., contains 12 per cent. of vapour of
-chloroform, and at 70° 19 per cent. (p. 33); and 8 or 10 per cent. in
-the inspired air is capable, as we have seen, of causing sudden death by
-paralysing the heart; but in practice the air is usually far from being
-saturated, in passing over a handkerchief or similar material, even at
-the temperature at which it is inhaled; and this is generally lowered
-considerably by the absorption of caloric by the chloroform, as it
-changes its condition from a liquid to a vapour. Moreover, air strongly
-charged with vapour of chloroform is not easy to breathe, owing to its
-pungency; and the physiological knowledge and close attention of every
-medical man who administers this medicine causes him to withdraw it
-immediately on the least appearance of danger.
-
-
-_Case 1._ The first death from chloroform was that of Hannah Greener,
-which occurred at Winlaton, near Newcastle, on the 28th of January,
-1848. The patient was a girl of 15, who required to have the nail of the
-great toe removed. A similar operation had been performed on the other
-foot, in the previous November, in the Newcastle Infirmary, when ether
-was administered with a satisfactory result. The following is the
-account of the accident by Dr. Meggison, who administered the
-chloroform: “She appeared to dread the operation, and fretted a good
-deal: in fact, she commenced sobbing on our entering the house, and
-continued so until seated in the operating chair, and commencing the
-inhalation, which was done from a handkerchief on which a teaspoonful of
-chloroform had been poured. After drawing her breath twice, she pulled
-my hand from her mouth. I told her to put her hands on her knees, and
-breathe quietly, which she did. In about half a minute, seeing no change
-in breathing, or alteration of pulse, I lifted her arm, which I found
-rigid. I looked at the pupil and pinched her cheek, and, finding her
-insensible, requested Mr. Lloyd to begin the operation. At the
-termination of the semilunar incision she gave a kick or twitch, which
-caused me to think the chloroform had not sufficient effect. I was
-proceeding to apply more to the handkerchief, when her lips, which had
-been previously of a good colour, became suddenly blanched, and she
-spluttered at the mouth, as if in epilepsy. I threw down the
-handkerchief, dashed cold water in her face, and gave her some
-internally, followed by brandy, without, however, the least effect, not
-the slightest attempt at a rally being made. We laid her on the floor,
-opened a vein in her arm, and the jugular vein, but no blood flowed. The
-whole process of inhalation, operation, venesection, and death, could
-not, I should say, have occupied more than two minutes.”[65]
-
-An examination of the body was made the day after death by Sir John Fife
-and Dr. Glover, who reported as follows:—“The body was that of a
-well-grown female of about fifteen years of age.... On opening the
-chest, the lungs were not collapsed. One or two very slight adhesions
-were encountered on separating them from the walls of the chest. The
-external appearance of both lungs, over the whole surface, but
-especially in the inferior portions, was that of organs in a very high
-state of congestion. They were mottled with patches of a deep purple,
-blueish, or scarlet hue. They were everywhere crepitant. Along the outer
-and interior border of both lungs, particularly of the upper lobe of the
-left lung, were several emphysematous bubbles of small size.... The
-pulmonary tissue was filled with bloody froth, which was also found in
-the interior of the bronchi, mixed with mucus. There was no appearance
-of hepatization. On examining the larynx and trachea, the epiglottis was
-found reddened at the summit, of a vermilion hue. The mucous membrane of
-the larynx was redder than natural—mottled with vascular patches. The
-sinuses of the larynx contained a good deal of dark mucus. The œsophagus
-was healthy. The stomach was distended with food. Some of the veins were
-more distinct than usual. The heart contained dark fluid blood in both
-its cavities: very little in the left. Its structure, and that of the
-great vessels near it, quite healthy. The brain, externally and
-internally, was more congested than usual; and the ventricles contained
-rather more than the usual quantity of serum.”[66]
-
-Sir John Fife and Dr. Glover expressed the opinion that chloroform
-caused death by producing congestion of the lungs. After the further
-experience which has been gained respecting chloroform, this opinion of
-the mode in which it caused death, in the above case, would probably not
-now be offered. Indeed, in similar cases which have since occurred, the
-same opinion has not been advanced; and as the lungs were crepitant
-throughout, in the above case, it is probable that the congestion was
-not greater than is commonly met with in cases of sudden death without
-hæmorrhage. Dr. Simpson published his opinion, immediately after this
-case occurred, that it was not caused by the chloroform, but by the
-brandy which was given when the alarming symptoms came on; but Dr.
-Meggison replied that only a teaspoonful of brandy was given; that it
-was swallowed, though with difficulty; that there were no symptoms of
-choking from it; and that the girl was without pulse when it was
-given.[67]
-
-From the lips becoming suddenly blanched in the above case, there is
-every reason to conclude that the heart was suddenly paralysed. The
-patient breathed for a little time after this, and was able to swallow,
-though with difficulty. The process of inhalation occupied only a little
-more than half a minute in Dr. Meggison’s estimation; yet he appeared to
-think that the fluid drachm of chloroform which he had put on the
-handkerchief had evaporated; for he was about to apply more when the
-alarming symptoms appeared. But supposing only one-third of the drachm
-was actually inhaled into the lungs in the half minute, the vapour would
-necessarily be in a highly concentrated state—probably twenty cubic
-inches of vapour in 200 cubic inches of air, which would be adequate to
-occasion the result which happened. In the short space of about half a
-minute, the blood could not be uniformly impregnated with the vapour;
-only a portion of it could pass through the lungs in the time; yet, as
-the patient was rendered insensible, this portion must necessarily have
-been highly charged with vapour.
-
-It was often the practice to render the patient insensible in as short a
-time as half a minute, when chloroform was first introduced, but I
-believe never without danger; and I had expressed the opinion before any
-accident happened, that, for reasons such as I have stated above, a
-patient should on no account be rendered insensible in less than two
-minutes.[68]
-
-
-_Case 2._ The next recorded case in which the inhalation of chloroform
-was fatal, occurred at Cincinnati, on the 23rd of February, 1848. The
-subject of it, Mrs. Martha G. Simmons, was thirty-five years of age, and
-enjoyed good general health; she was the mother of six children, and her
-last confinement occurred eight weeks before her death. The patient
-exhibited no alarm on account of inhaling the chloroform, which was
-administered by two dentists, who were not members of the medical
-profession. It was breathed from an inhaler which Dr. Morton of Boston
-contrived for sulphuric ether. This inhaler consisted of a glass globe
-four inches and a half in diameter, and contained a sponge about
-one-third filling the globe, and saturated with chloroform.
-
-Two female friends of the patient reported the following as the events
-which occurred. “The respiratory movements appeared to be free; chest
-heaving. While inhaling, the face became pale. At the expiration of
-about one minute, the instruments were applied, and four roots of teeth
-extracted. The patient groaned and manifested what they regarded as
-evidences of pain, while the teeth were being extracted, although she
-did not speak or exhibit any other sign of consciousness. As the last
-root came out, which was about two minutes from the beginning of the
-inhalation, the patient’s head turned to one side, the arms became
-slightly rigid, and the body drawn somewhat backwards, with a tendency
-to slide out of the operating chair. At this instant, Mrs. Pearson
-states that she placed her finger upon the patients pulse; observed that
-it was feeble, and immediately ceased to beat; respiration also ceased
-about the same time. The face, which was previously pale, now became
-livid, as did also the finger nails; and the lower jaw dropped, and the
-tongue projected a little at one corner of the mouth, and the arms were
-perfectly relaxed. The females regarded her as being then quite
-dead.”[69]
-
-The dentists gave nearly the same account, saying that the breathing was
-at first slow, and that the patient inhaled twelve or fifteen times,
-occupying from a minute to seventy-five seconds. They committed the
-great error of not placing the patient at once in the horizontal
-position, when the alarming symptoms came on, but kept her sitting in
-the chair, from five to ten minutes, whilst they sent out for
-restoratives. They thought the patient was living during this time, but
-her female friends thought not. The patient was placed on a sofa, and
-sometime afterwards artificial respiration and galvanism were applied
-without effect.
-
-An examination of the body was made twenty-six hours after death by Drs.
-Mussey, Lawson, Baker and Mulford. The following are the chief
-particulars of the appearances met with. A larger quantity of blood than
-usual flowed from the sinuses of the dura mater. General aspect, colour,
-and consistence of the brain, normal. Lungs considerably but not
-intensely congested; crepitated freely at all points; no extravasation.
-Lining membrane of bronchia slightly congested, apparently the result of
-recent catarrh; deeply stained by the blood. Pleura at all points highly
-injected; six drachms of bloody serum in the right, and two ounces in
-the left chest. Pericardium contained six drachms of bloody serum. Heart
-flaccid, and all its cavities entirely empty; inner surface of both
-ventricles and auricles deeply stained. Abdomen—one ounce and a half of
-bloody serum in the right hypochondrium. Stomach and intestines
-distended with gas. Partially digested aliment, amounting to about three
-gills in the stomach. Blood fluid as water in every part of the body;
-not a coagulum was seen in any vessel. Lining membrane of all the
-bloodvessels deeply stained. The colour in every part of the system was
-that of dark venous blood.
-
-It was estimated, in the inquiry which took place respecting this case,
-that one-fourth part by measure of what the patient inhaled might be
-vapour of chloroform; but this is evidently an over-calculation, for
-there could not be this quantity unless the interior of the glass globe
-were maintained at the temperature of 80° Fah. and the air were quite
-saturated with vapour in passing through it; however, less than half the
-amount of vapour here assumed would have the effect of causing sudden
-death, in the way it happened. The period of the inhalation, a minute or
-seventy-five seconds, during which the patient took twelve or fifteen
-inspirations, did not admit of the blood in the body being regularly and
-uniformly charged with the chloroform; and the increase of its effects,
-owing, no doubt, to the absorption and circulation of the vapour
-contained in the lungs at the moment when the inhalation was
-discontinued, was well marked. The patient became pale during the
-inhalation, but the alarming symptoms suddenly came on during the
-extraction of the fourth stump, probably within half a minute after the
-inhalation ceased. The patient seemed, in fact, to die with the slight
-struggle that took place at this moment. In the case of Hannah Greener,
-related above, the spasm at the moment of dying was even more marked.
-This is a symptom I have often seen during the death of animals killed
-suddenly with vapour of chloroform in a concentrated state, before they
-were made thoroughly insensible. Although the heart was empty, the
-stained condition of its cavities showed that they had contained blood
-at the time of death and afterwards. Owing to its fluid state, it
-probably escaped from the heart during the moving of the body;
-especially during the examination of the head, which was made first.
-
-
-_Case 3._ The next recorded case of death from chloroform is reported by
-Dr. John C. Warren, of Boston, U.S., in the _London Medical
-Gazette_.[70] His report, apparently extracted from some other report,
-is as follows.
-
-“Name—Patrick Coyle. [Age—not stated.] Date—March 1848. Disease—fistula.
-Previous use of chloroform—once. Time of inhalation—about one minute.
-Quantity consumed—about thirty drops. [Query minims.] Posture—upon the
-side. Lapse of time till death—about one minute. Symptoms—showed signs
-of pain, by putting his hand to the part; in a moment his pulse, which
-was full and natural, sank: death. Morbid appearances—brain, with
-membranes, natural and healthy. Heart enlarged, pale, and soft; two or
-three ounces of serum in pericardium; bloodvessels with dark fluid
-blood. Lungs, studded with tubercles; abscess in each; lower parts
-congested; pleura extensively adherent; stomach—mucous membrane
-softened, its veins turgid.”
-
-Nothing is said about the apparatus used in this case, but from the
-summing-up of Dr. Warren’s paper, it must have been either a towel or a
-handkerchief. The quantity of chloroform employed appears to have been
-much less than in the two previous cases. In speaking of drops, the
-writer probably means minims, or what is the same, a quantity equal to
-as many drops of water. Thirty drops of chloroform from a small phial
-are only equal to between six and seven minims, and if they were dropped
-on a handkerchief, so that they might be counted, they would evaporate
-entirely during the process. Supposing the quantity used to have been
-what is probably meant—half a fluid drachm—it would be quite adequate,
-according to calculations previously made in these pages, to cause the
-accident which happened. The period of inhalation was again very
-short—one minute; and the evidence of paralysis of the heart is
-distinct:—“In a moment his pulse, which was full and natural, sank:
-death.”
-
-
-_Case 4_ was that of Madlle. Stock, aged thirty, and occurred at
-Boulogne, in May 1848. The operation was that of opening a sinus in the
-thigh, between two and three inches in length, at the bottom of which a
-small splinter of wood was found. M. Gorré, the surgeon who attended the
-patient, says: “I placed over the nostrils of the patient a handkerchief
-moistened with fifteen to twenty drops of chloroform at most.” It is
-necessary to remark, however, that a judicial examination of the bottle
-from which it had been taken, proved that from five to eight grammes had
-been used, a quantity equal to from 77 to 123 grains, and there are
-three drops of chloroform to a grain. M. Gorré proceeds to say:
-“Scarcely had she taken several inspirations, when she put her hand on
-the handkerchief to withdraw it, and cried with a plaintive voice, ‘I
-choke.’ Immediately the face became pale; the countenance changed; the
-breathing embarrassed; and she foamed at the mouth. At the same instant
-(and certainly less than a minute after the beginning of the
-inhalation), the handkerchief moistened with chloroform was withdrawn.”
-M. Gorré performed the operation, but he expressed the opinion
-afterwards that death had already taken place when he made the incision.
-Amongst the means used, with a view to resuscitate the patient, was
-inflation of the lungs, which was performed with such force as to
-produce permanent dilatation of the air-cells. The lungs, besides being
-distended from this cause, were found after death to be visibly engorged
-in their lower lobes. When cut into, a large quantity of black blood
-escaped. The cavities of the heart were empty, but the internal
-membrane, especially of the right cavities, was red. The tissue of the
-heart was pale, and was easily torn. Air was found in the pulmonary
-veins, and in most of the systemic veins throughout the body. The blood
-was very dark-coloured and fluid.[71]
-
-M. Gorré reported the above case to the Academy of Medicine of Paris,
-and a commission was appointed to inquire and report on it, who came to
-the following conclusions.
-
-“1. In the medico-legal fact submitted to our notice, we found no
-indication of the poisonous action of chloroform; and consequently we
-reply to the minister, that the patient of M. Gorré did not die from the
-effect of inhalation of that agent.
-
-“2. There have occurred a great number of analogous cases of sudden and
-unforeseen death, during operations, without any administration of
-chloroform, in which the most minute examinations have failed in
-detecting any assignable cause of death.
-
-“3. In the case in question, the most probable cause, under all
-circumstances, seems to have been the mixture of a considerable quantity
-of gas with the blood.”[72]
-
-The report on this case gave rise to frequent discussions in the
-Academy, extending over several months, and the Academy ultimately
-confirmed the above conclusions, but not without considerable opposition
-from M. Blandin, M. Jules Guérin, and other members.
-
-M. Malgaigne, the reporter to the commission, and others, who strongly
-supported the first of the above propositions, founded their argument
-chiefly on the assertion that chloroform always produces intoxication
-and insensibility before death; but this is incorrect, as I have
-explained above; and I took occasion to make the following remarks on
-this point about the time when the discussion in the Academy of Medicine
-took place. I said: “I have several times made animals—small birds, mice
-and rabbits—breathe air saturated with vapour of chloroform at the
-temperature of the atmosphere, and the consequence has always been that,
-after attempting for a few seconds to escape from the capacious jar in
-which they were enclosed, they suddenly exhibited signs of distress, and
-died without any interval of intoxication or insensibility, in periods
-varying from less than half a minute to a minute after their first
-exposure to the vapour.”[73]
-
-The power of chloroform to cause sudden death without previous
-insensibility is now, I believe, generally admitted. The French call
-this kind of fatal action _sideration_.
-
-With regard to the second conclusion of the commission, if it had been
-really true that the surgeon put only fifteen to twenty _drops_ at the
-most of chloroform on the handkerchief, one would have been inclined to
-admit it; but with the quantity actually employed, and the strong
-sensation of choking it occasioned just before death, one must, in
-connection with other cases, and with what is known of the action of
-chloroform, attribute the fatal event to this agent, rather than to the
-surgical operation, which was not of a serious nature.
-
-With regard to the third of the above conclusions, it is not a little
-remarkable that most even of those speakers who opposed the conclusions
-of the commission, agreed that death was caused by a sudden development
-of air in the veins; and differed from them only in this, that they
-considered the chloroform as the cause of the evolution of air or gas,
-and that it proved fatal in this way. That the air was not caused by
-putrefaction, and that it did not enter by the wound in the thigh, may
-be readily admitted, but there remains the artificial respiration, which
-was performed with such force as to produce permanent dilatation of the
-air-cells. It was argued in the Academy that, as the air was in the
-systemic, as well as in the pulmonary veins, it could not have been
-introduced by the artificial respiration, since the left ventricle had
-previously ceased to act; but the action of the left ventricle is not
-necessary for the passage of the contents of the arteries through the
-capillaries into the veins, since this commonly goes on after death, the
-arteries being usually found entirely empty of the blood they must have
-contained at the moment of death. With regard to the passage of the air
-out of the heart into the arteries, supposing that the pulmonary veins
-were ruptured during the inflation of the lungs, there is an observation
-of Dr. Sibson’s which will explain both this circumstance and the fact
-of the heart itself being found empty of blood. He found that the heart
-was often emptied of blood by distending the lungs with air after death
-in preparing the body for his diagrams of the position of the
-viscera.[74]
-
-With the conclusions above quoted, some additional ones were adopted
-from the second part of the report of the commissioners; in these it was
-admitted that chloroform is capable of causing death, if administered
-too long, or in too large doses. One of these additional conclusions,
-however, is as erroneous as the previous ones. It is, “there is risk of
-asphyxia when the anæsthetic vapour is not sufficiently diluted with
-air.” When the vapour is not sufficiently diluted with air, the risk is
-one of sudden death, by paralysis of the heart. Chloroform does not
-yield enough vapour, at the natural temperature and pressure of the
-atmosphere, to exclude the air to the extent which would cause asphyxia.
-When chloroform vapour largely diluted with air is long continued, it
-may cause, not real asphyxia, but a mode of death resembling it, owing
-to the medulla oblongata and nerves of respiration becoming over
-narcotised.
-
-
-_Case 5_ is that of a young woman at Hyderabad, who inhaled chloroform
-to undergo amputation of the middle finger. A drachm was sprinkled on a
-handkerchief and inhaled. The operator described what occurred as
-follows: “She coughed a little, and then gave a few convulsive
-movements. When these subsided, I performed the necessary incisions,
-which of course did not occupy more than a few seconds. Scarcely a drop
-of blood escaped.” The absence of bleeding seemed to be the circumstance
-which called the attention of the operator to the state of his patient;
-and after describing the means which were used without avail to bring
-about recovery, he continues, “I am inclined to think that death was
-almost instantaneous; for, after the convulsive movements above
-described, she never moved or exhibited the smallest sign of life.”[75]
-
-In this case, it is probable that the breathing and the action of the
-heart were both arrested at the same time, by the action of the
-chloroform.
-
-
-_Case 6._ Charles Desnoyers, aged twenty-two, a patient in the
-Hôtel-Dieu at Lyons, affected with scrofulous disease of the left wrist,
-having to undergo transcurrent cauterisation of the joint, inhaled
-chloroform from an apparatus for five minutes, and died at the beginning
-of the operation.[76] Further particulars are not given.
-
-
-_Case 7._ A young gentleman, who had returned from Australia to visit
-his relatives in the neighbourhood of Govan, inhaled chloroform for an
-intended operation on the great toe, in December 1848. It is stated that
-the patient, after inhaling it, almost instantly expired. This account
-appeared in the _Glasgow Herald_, and was copied into the medical
-journals.[77] I believe that no further account of the case was ever
-published.
-
-
-_Case 8_ occurred on January 19th, 1849. It is related by Dr. John C.
-Warren.[78] John Griffith, an Irishman, aged thirty-one, a seaman in the
-American navy, was admitted into the New York Hospital early in December
-1848, on his return from Mexico. He was suffering with diarrhœa,
-chancres, and hæmorrhoids. The following is the account of this
-accident.
-
-“Gurdon Buck, jun., attending surgeon to the New York Hospital, being
-sworn, says, that ‘on or about the 26th of December, I advised that
-chloroform should be administered to the deceased, for the purpose of
-examining the condition of the rectum, the parts being in such a state
-of excessive irritation as scarcely to admit of a separation of the
-nates. The patient recovered from the effects of the chloroform, and
-remained in all respects in the same condition, except the local
-ailments spoken of; and he having never complained of either his head or
-his chest, and not having suffered from the first administration of
-chloroform, I directed it to be administered to him for the purpose of
-performing an operation upon the rectum, and the operation of
-circumcision to remove a phymosis caused by the chancres: the patient
-soon became excited by the chloroform, as is usually the case, but not
-beyond a degree that I have often observed. Shortly after, he became
-more tranquil: the deceased was placed upon his side, and the operation
-performed, which consisted in the removal of two external tumours, and
-the tying of one internal tumour.
-
-“‘At this moment my attention was arrested by my assistant’s calling for
-a wet cloth: on examining the patient, I found his face and neck of a
-livid leaden hue or colour, the eyes turned upward, the pulse
-imperceptible at the wrist, and the whole body relaxed; after two or
-three gasps, he ceased to breathe. Every means was promptly used to
-restore the deceased, but without effect. The chloroform was obtained
-from Kent’s, 91, John Street, and not exceeding three drachms was
-administered on a napkin. A portion of chloroform from the same phial
-had been administered the day before to a patient without any
-unfavourable effects. About ten minutes elapsed from the commencement of
-its administration before death took place. On making a post-mortem
-examination, twenty-four hours after death, I found the face less livid
-than before death; on examining the head, the brain and its membranes
-presented no other appearances than are seen in persons dying when in
-full health; the lungs were a good deal congested, and discharged, when
-cut, a large quantity of bloody serum; the heart was large, its
-ventricles and auricles were empty, its condition flabby, the substance
-of the left ventricle rather softer than natural; about half an ounce of
-watery fluid was found in the pericardium; the viscera of the abdomen
-were healthy.’”
-
-This case differs from those previously related in respect to the time
-at which the fatal occurrence took place. It was not till ten minutes
-from the commencement of inhalation, and when an operation which
-probably occupied two or three minutes had been performed, that the
-patient suddenly expired. The evidence of paralysis of the heart is,
-however, distinct enough in the absence of pulse at the wrist, and the
-livid hue of the countenance. In several of the previous cases, there
-was sudden pallor at the moment when the heart ceased to inject blood
-into the capillaries, but in a patient well supplied with blood, the
-sudden arrest of the action of the heart would cause turgescence of the
-veins and venous capillaries, which would be evident in the face in a
-few seconds. The syncope occasioned by paralysis of the heart differs
-from that kind of syncope which is caused by loss of blood, inasmuch as
-the right cavities of the heart are full in the former instance, and
-empty in the latter.
-
-The circumstance of the patient having inhaled chloroform to
-insensibility three weeks previously, without accident or ill effects,
-is worthy of notice, as showing that the fatal event did not depend on
-any peculiarity of constitution.
-
-Although the heart was found to be empty, its flabby condition and the
-watery fluid in the pericardium indicate that it must have contained
-blood at the time of death.
-
-
-_Case 9_ occurred on January 24th, 1849, at the Hôtel-Dieu, Lyons, where
-case 6 previously happened. The patient was a youth, aged seventeen,
-named J. Verrier, who had been employed as a miner. He was of good
-constitution, and was about to undergo amputation of the middle finger
-for necrosis of the first phalanx. The following is the account of the
-accident.
-
-“As the patient’s health was good, he was at once, and by his free
-consent, placed under the influence of chloroform. As usual, a piece of
-fine gauze was employed; it was spread over the face, leaving a free
-passage for atmospheric air; the chloroform was dropped from time to
-time upon that portion of the gauze which was over the nostrils. It was
-administered by two assistants who were accustomed to its use, and who
-at the time attended to the pulse. The operator superintended the
-assistants. At the end of four or five minutes, the patient still felt
-and spoke; and at the end of another minute, he still spoke and was
-somewhat restless. Up to this time, from a drachm to a drachm and a half
-of chloroform had been employed. The pulse was regular, and of the
-normal strength. All at once the patient raised his body, and struggled
-so that the limbs escaped from the hold of the assistants, who however
-seized them quickly, and replaced the patient in his position. Within a
-quarter of a minute, one of the assistants stated that the pulse at the
-wrist had ceased to beat. The handkerchief was removed. The countenance
-was completely altered. The action of the heart had altogether ceased;
-the pulse could not be felt anywhere; and the sounds over the region of
-the heart could no longer be heard. Respiration still continued, but it
-became irregular, weak, and slow; and at length ceased completely in the
-space of about half a minute.
-
-“The extreme danger of the patient was manifest, and immediate and
-energetic means were employed to rouse him. Ammonia was held to the
-nostrils, and rubbed in large quantity over the surface of the chest and
-abdomen. It was also applied to the most delicate parts of the skin, _e.
-g._, the lips and the extremity of the penis, with a view to excite
-irritation. Mustard was used; the head was inclined over the bed; and,
-finally, an attempt was made to restore respiration by means of
-alternate pressure on the abdomen and chest. After two or three minutes,
-respiration reappeared, and even acquired a certain fulness, but the
-pulse nowhere returned. Frictions were continued. Respiration became
-again slower, and at length ceased. Artificial inflation was practised,
-at first through the mouth, and afterwards through the larynx, by
-passing a tube through the glottis, as it was perceived that air had
-passed from the mouth into the stomach. The precordial, epigastric, and
-laryngeal regions were energetically cauterised with a hot iron. The
-pulse did not return. For the space of half an hour every effort was
-made to resuscitate the patient; but in vain.
-
-“The autopsy could not be made until seventy-two hours after death. The
-temperature being low, the body showed no signs of decomposition; there
-was still rigidity of the limbs. The features were not altered. The
-examination of all the organs was made with care.
-
-“The stomach contained about one ounce and a half of a thick fluid, of
-the colour of the lees of wine, in no respect resembling an alimentary
-fluid. The organ was distended with gas, as was also the rest of the
-alimentary canal, which was otherwise sound. The liver and spleen were
-somewhat congested.
-
-“The heart, which was normal in volume, was flaccid and empty, contained
-neither blood nor air. The ventricular parietes were moistened by a
-fine, very red foam, as if from the presence of a little blood, which
-had been, as it were, whipped by the fleshy columns of the heart. The
-venæ cavæ and the portal veins were distended by black fluid blood in
-great quantity. On the Eustachian valve there was a fibrinous clot,
-moderately firm, and weighing from sixty to seventy grains. It was the
-only clot met with in the cavities of the heart and great vessels. These
-cavities, which were carefully opened, did not contain any appreciable
-quantity of air.
-
-“The lungs retracted on opening the chest. They presented both in their
-surface and in their substance a very black colour; otherwise their
-tissue was healthy. The larynx and trachea presented no lesion. The
-brain was normal. The sinuses of the dura mater contained a considerable
-quantity of black uncoagulated blood.”[79]
-
-In this case every precaution appears to have been taken, except that
-which is the most essential, of regulating the amount of vapour in the
-respired air. Arrangement was made that there should be amply sufficient
-air for the purpose of respiration; the patient was carefully watched by
-three persons at least, one of whom was constantly attending to the
-pulse, but with no other result than to be able to announce the exact
-moment when it suddenly stopped. The arrest of the action of the heart
-in this case took place at a time when the patient was not yet rendered
-insensible by the chloroform, although he had been inhaling it for five
-minutes. We must conclude that during these five minutes the vapour he
-inhaled was largely diluted with air, and that he then inhaled vapour in
-a much less diluted form. It is not improbable that he took a deep
-inspiration of strong vapour, just at the moment when he struggled
-violently, and within a quarter of a minute of the time when his pulse
-suddenly ceased.
-
-The breathing continued a little time after the heart ceased to beat,
-and it is therefore very probable that, if this organ had not been
-irrecoverably paralysed, the natural breathing would have restored its
-action after a short pause, that would have attracted but a momentary
-attention. As the spontaneous breathing of the patient did not restore
-the heart’s action, there is no ground for surprise that the measures
-adopted did not succeed.
-
-
-_Case 10_ was that of a labourer, named Samuel Bennett. It occurred on
-February 20th, 1849, at a dispensary in Westminster. The patient inhaled
-chloroform for amputation of one of the toes. Half an ounce of
-chloroform was “sprinkled on a handkerchief, and held over the mouth and
-nose.... This quantity of the agent failed, however, to produce
-anæsthesia, having caused only the ordinary excitement and struggling.”
-After a delay of two hours, more chloroform was procured, and half an
-ounce was again applied on a handkerchief, “care being taken to allow
-the entrance of air at short intervals.” Insensibility was induced, and
-the toe was amputated; the chloroform being applied, as I was told,
-during part of the time of the operation. At the close of the operation,
-no blood escaped when the pressure was removed from the arteries; the
-patient was in fact dying, and in a short time expired. “A few
-inspiations were noticed after the pulse had ceased at the wrist.”[80]
-
-The lungs were of a dark venous hue throughout, a large quantity of
-blood escaping from them when cut into. Mucous membrane of trachea and
-bronchi congested. Heart rather large but flabby; auricles empty; each
-ventricle contained about an ounce of semi-fluid blood (the lungs had
-been inflated). Head: sinuses and veins contained blood, but not to any
-remarkable amount. But few bloody points occurred in cutting into the
-cerebral mass. Kidneys congested.
-
-The failure of the first attempt to cause insensibility in this case,
-when so large a quantity of chloroform was used, illustrates very
-forcibly the uncertainty and irregularity of the way in which it was
-administered. On the first occasion only excitement and struggling were
-produced, and on the next the patient died suddenly.
-
-
-_Case 11_ occurred on August 23rd, 1849, at Langres, France. The subject
-of it, Madame Labrune, was reported to be a healthy married woman. She
-inhaled chloroform with the intention of having a tooth extracted.
-“Complete insensibility was not produced at the first trial: more
-chloroform was placed on the handkerchief, and she drew a full
-inspiration. Her countenance immediately became pallid; her features
-were visibly altered; there was dilatation of the pupils, with a
-convulsive rolling of the eyes; and no pulse could be felt. Every
-attempt was made to restore life, but without success. She died as if
-struck by lightning.”[81] The instantaneous arrest of the circulation,
-on a full inspiration being taken, immediately after more chloroform had
-been placed on the handkerchief, is particularly worthy of notice. The
-heart was paralysed, in this instance, as quickly as in experiment No.
-25, above related.
-
-No inspection of the body is reported in this case.
-
-
-_Case 12_ is the first which occurred in any of the hospitals in this
-metropolis. The following is the account of it.
-
-“John Shorter, aged forty-eight, a porter, known to Mr. Solly for some
-time as a very active messenger, habits intemperate, but apparently in
-perfect health, was admitted into George’s ward, under Mr. Solly, on the
-9th October, 1849, suffering from onychia of the left great toe, which
-had existed some time. It was determined to remove the nail, the man
-having decided before entering the hospital on taking chloroform.
-
-“On Wednesday, October 10th, at a quarter to two P.M., he began to
-inhale the chloroform with one drachm in the inhaler. It had no visible
-effect for about two minutes; it then excited him, and the instrument
-was removed from the mouth, and about ten drops more were added; he then
-almost immediately became insensible; the chloroform was taken away, and
-the nail removed. He continued insensible; and, his face becoming dark,
-the pulse small, quick, but regular, respiration laborious, his
-neckerchief was removed, and the chest exposed to fresh air from a
-window near to the bed; cold water was dashed in his face, the chest
-rubbed, and ammonia applied to the nose. After struggling for about a
-minute, he became still, the skin cold, pulse scarcely perceptible, and
-soon ceased to be felt at the wrist; respiration became slow and at
-intervals, but continued a few seconds after the cessation of the pulse.
-Immediately on the appearance of these symptoms, artificial respiration
-was commenced by depressing the ribs with the hands and then allowing
-them to rise again until the proper apparatus was brought, when
-respiration was kept up by means of the trachea tube and bellows, and
-oxygen gas introduced into the lungs by the same means. Galvanism was
-also applied through the heart and diaphragm, but all signs of life
-ceased about six or seven minutes after the commencement of inhalation.
-These means were persisted in until a quarter past three, but to no
-purpose. On removing the inhaler, the sponge, which only contains one
-drachm, fell upon the floor, and the chloroform splashed about,—thus
-showing that a considerable part of the chloroform remained unused; so
-that the patient could not have inhaled more than a drachm. Every
-endeavour was made to procure a post-mortem examination, but in
-vain.”[82]
-
-The above account is published in the _Medical Gazette_ as communicated
-by Mr. Solly, but it is clearly not written by him, and it presents a
-very confused narrative of what occurred. If we are to understand the
-events in the sequence in which they are related, we must conclude that
-the patient became insensible and had the operation performed, that he
-then exhibited alarming symptoms for which cold water was dashed in his
-face and other measures were employed, and yet that after this he
-struggled for about a minute. This would be a state of things
-inconsistent, in my opinion, with death from chloroform; but possibly
-the proper sequence is not observed in detailing what occurred. There is
-some obscurity also about the amount of chloroform used in connection
-with what remained on removing the inhaler. If the sponge was adapted to
-hold a drachm in the proper manner, the chloroform could not splash
-about on its falling, unless there was a good deal more than a drachm in
-it. But whatever was the quantity of chloroform remaining in the sponge,
-as it was in a condition to splash about, it is difficult to perceive
-what prevented the liquid chloroform from dropping into the patient’s
-throat, as he lay on his back in bed. Chloroform is as pungent as the
-essential oils. I have been informed of a case in which a patient was
-nearly suffocated by one drop falling into the throat; and the narrative
-of what occurred to Mr. Solly’s patient is not at all inconsistent with
-death from spasm of the glottis arising from this cause. If, however,
-the patient died from the vapour of chloroform, we must conclude that he
-inhaled it at one moment not sufficiently diluted with air.
-
-The chloroform in this case was administered by a non-medical person—a
-sort of surgery-man. After this accident, however, the chloroform in St.
-Thomas’s Hospital was always entrusted to some one belonging to the
-profession.
-
-
-_Case 13_ occurred at Shrewsbury, to a Mrs. Jones, a patient of Mr.
-Clement, surgeon, who had partly performed the operation of excision of
-the eyeball, when his patient suddenly died. Mr. Clement has, I believe,
-not published any account of the case, but the evidence which he gave at
-the inquest was reported in various local newspapers, and copied into
-the medical journals. The death was very characteristic of the effects
-of chloroform vapour not sufficiently diluted. Mr. Clement is reported
-to have said: “He gave her but a small dose to commence with, imbibed
-from a sponge, and then commenced the operation. Finding that did not
-make her insensible, about a drachm more was poured on the sponge, which
-she inhaled again for a few seconds. He then went on with the operation,
-and shortly afterwards heard a peculiar sound, which he could not
-describe, and she died in a moment; all the attempts to rouse her proved
-ineffectual. She spoke in Welsh before she died, but so quickly that he
-did not know what she said; he had no doubt that she died from the
-effects of the chloroform.”[83]
-
-
-_Case 14_ occurred at Berlin. The subject of it was a young lady twenty
-years of age, of good health, well made, and of a good constitution. The
-chloroform was inhaled for the extraction of a tooth. It was
-administered on a sponge, covered with a napkin. The dentist who
-administered it was not a medical man. He made five unsuccessful
-attempts to extract the tooth under chloroform. Three of these attempts
-were at nine in the morning, and two about noon, just before the
-accident. His patient suddenly died almost at the commencement of the
-last attempt to administer chloroform, stretching herself out, and
-frothing at the mouth at the moment of death; the countenance at the
-same time becoming livid.
-
-An examination of the body took place fifty hours after death, when
-putrefaction had set in.
-
-“The lungs presented nothing morbid; the bronchi contained a little
-bloody froth. The blood was of the colour and consistence of cherry
-juice. The heart was soft, flabby and collapsed. Its coronary vessels
-and cavities were empty, and presented the bluish-red discoloration of
-decomposition.”[84] The other organs were healthy.
-
-
-_Case 15_ occurred in the public hospital of Kingston, Jamaica, on
-January 29, 1850. The name of the patient was William Bryan, his age is
-not stated, nor the nature of the operation he was about to undergo. He
-had previously, however, undergone the operation of amputation of the
-penis, on account of cancer of that organ, but it was performed without
-chloroform. Mr. Maygarth, the surgeon who administered the chloroform,
-stated as follows: “I had about a drachm poured on the sponge, and
-applied it over his mouth and nostrils, but at first not in close
-contact—at no period was the atmospheric air totally excluded. He bore
-it badly, and I was frequently obliged to withdraw it, to facilitate his
-breathing. The stage of excitement which is usual came on, and he
-struggled and kept away the sponge for some seconds; it was again
-reapplied, when, after a few more seconds, observing that he made one
-stertorous inspiration, I removed it altogether. He ceased to breathe;
-but after some seconds had elapsed, made another inspiration, and this
-occurred several times, until at length respiration ceased entirely.”
-The measures which were employed were of the usual kind, but were of no
-avail.
-
-The brain and its membranes were found to be congested. The lungs were
-congested, especially posteriorly. The right side of the heart contained
-dark fluid blood, and the inner surface of its left cavities, and of the
-aorta, were stained with blood. There was some disease of the aortic
-valves, and the heart had undergone some amount of fatty
-degeneration.[85]
-
-
-_Case 16._ In February 1850, a death from chloroform occurred on board
-ship at the Mauritius. A report of the case was sent to the Board of
-Ordnance, and also to the Admiralty. The secretary of Sir William
-Burnett first informed me of the case, and a day or two afterwards I had
-an opportunity, through the kindness of the late Marquis of Anglesey, of
-reading the report which was sent to him as Master of the Ordnance, and
-I made a note of the chief particulars as soon as I got home. As the
-report was a very able one, it is to be regretted it has not been
-published. The accident occurred to an artilleryman, aged 24, who
-required to have the last phalanx of the middle finger removed. In other
-respects, he was considered to be in good health. Two scruples of
-chloroform were first poured on the handkerchief with which it was
-administered, and then one scruple more. It was observed that the face
-turned pale, and the pulse and breathing ceased, soon after the
-chloroform was discontinued. The measures which were employed to restore
-him were of no service. The lungs after death were found to be
-emphysematous; and, upon inquiry, it was ascertained that he had been
-short of breath on exertion. The right cavities of the heart were filled
-with fluid blood. The sinuses of the dura mater contained less blood
-than usual, and the brain was pale. The medical man reporting the case
-considered that the emphysema was the cause of death, by interfering
-with expiration, and thus detaining the vapour; and it must be admitted
-that, if the vapour were not sufficiently diluted with air, the
-emphysema might increase the danger. I have, however, administered
-chloroform in several cases in which emphysema existed to an extreme
-degree, without any ill effects; consequently, when the vapour is
-properly diluted with air, this affection appears to be no source of
-danger.
-
-
-_Case 17_ was that of a patient of Professor Carl Santesson, in the
-Seraphim Hospital at Stockholm. I was indebted to Mr. Paget for my first
-information about this case, and to Dr. W. D. Moore, of Dublin, for some
-further particulars respecting it.
-
-The patient, a man thirty years of age, was affected with hydrocele, and
-there was some suspicion of disease of the testicle. It was consequently
-intended to operate on the hydrocele by incision, in order that the
-testicle, if diseased, might be removed. The chloroform was administered
-in the same way that Professor Santesson had seen it exhibited by Dr.
-Simpson, except that it was poured on a little cotton, which was placed
-at the small end of the cone, into which the folded towel he made use of
-was rolled. About a drachm and a half was first poured on the cotton,
-and the patient was told to inhale in long and deep inspirations. This
-quantity being nearly evaporated in two or three minutes, a drachm more
-was added. After a few inspirations rigidity and struggling came on:
-these subsided, but in a little time returned more strongly than before,
-and the towel was removed from the face until the struggling ceased. The
-patient, however, not being sufficiently insensible to undergo the
-operation with the necessary quietness, the towel was reapplied, when,
-after a few inspirations, the pulse suddenly ceased. The face and the
-whole surface of the body turned pale, the eyes rolled upwards and
-inwards, and the breathing became very slow, but full and deep, the
-intervals between the inspirations becoming longer, until the
-respiration ceased altogether. The patient died before the operation was
-begun, and within five minutes from the commencement of inhalation.
-During the application of various means of resuscitation, including the
-dropping of cold water _guttatim_ on the epigastrium, the breathing
-returned, and continued for the space of three or four minutes; but the
-pulse and sounds of the heart did not return.
-
-At the examination, thirty-two hours after death, the dura mater was
-found to be congested, and there was considerable serous effusion
-between the membranes of the brain. There were also some bony deposits
-under the dura mater, and some adhesions of the arachnoid, indicating
-long standing disease of the membranes.
-
-The heart was of normal size, and flaccid; the vessels on its surface
-strongly distended with blood. The left ventricle was empty; the left
-auricle, on the contrary, and the entire of the right side of the heart,
-with the great veins, were filled with thin uncoagulated blood. In the
-right ventricle only was a little loose coagulum found. The lungs,
-posteriorly, were highly congested, exhibiting here and there
-infiltrations of blood from the size of a pea to that of a small
-hazel-nut. The pulmonary tissue was otherwise sound; giving, however,
-when cut into, the odour of chloroform, but more feebly than the brain
-did. The mucous membrane of the larynx and bronchial tubes were slightly
-reddened from sanguineous congestion. The blood was everywhere of the
-same thin juice-like nature.[86]
-
-
-_Case 18._ I am indebted for my information respecting this case to Dr.
-James Adams, of Glasgow, who was good enough to send me a copy of the
-notes respecting it, from the case book of his colleague, Mr. Lyon, in
-whose practice, in the Glasgow Infirmary, the case occurred, in March
-1850. The patient was a boy seven or eight years old, from the
-Highlands, whose health was considerably impaired by years of suffering
-from calculus. Mr. Lyon says, “being laid in bed, I placed a piece of
-lint, moistened with chloroform, near to his face, when, in a few
-minutes, he ceased crying. I now told my clerk to take charge of the
-chloroform, and introduced the sound. I thought I detected a calculus,
-but could not hear the click distinctly, in consequence of the patient
-moaning. One of the bystanders held his hand between my ears and the
-patient’s face, when the click was at once heard. I withdrew the
-instrument, and was horror-struck with the livid countenance and vacant
-eye of the patient; the cardiac and radial pulses were gone, and, making
-one deep gasp, he was to all appearance dead.” Artificial respiration
-and other measures were employed without effect. “The external jugulars
-being remarkably turgid, and the face still very livid, the right
-jugular was opened, when several ounces of dark blood flowed rapidly.”
-This measure, and galvanism, which was applied afterwards, were of no
-avail.
-
-
-_Case 19._ The subject of this case was Alexander Scott, aged
-thirty-four, a police constable, who died in Guy’s Hospital in June
-1850, whilst undergoing an operation for the removal of a portion of the
-right hand. Mr. Cock, the operator, said that he was certain there was
-no disease about the patient. He described the accident as follows:—“The
-ordinary machine was used, and, as it had not the effect, witness
-directed that a napkin should be folded into the shape of a cone, which
-was applied with chloroform. The occupation of removing a portion of the
-bone occupied one minute and a half, but before it was completed, the
-blood which was gushing out, suddenly stopped, when witness directed Mr.
-Lacy to feel the pulse of deceased, and they found that deceased had
-expired.”[87]
-
-The sudden stopping of the hæmorrhage shews that, in this case, as in
-the others, the action of the heart was suddenly arrested. The first
-attempt to cause insensibility failed in this as in some other cases.
-
-Mr. Cock tried to dissuade his patient from having chloroform, severe as
-the operation would have been without it. In Guy’s Hospital and St.
-Thomas’s the medical officers had a strong objection to narcotism by
-inhalation for the first two or three years after the practice was
-introduced, and chloroform was used much less generally in these
-institutions than in any other of the hospitals of London; yet it was
-precisely in these two hospitals that two deaths from chloroform
-occurred, before any such accident had happened in any other hospital in
-this metropolis. This circumstance is worthy of the consideration of
-those who propose to limit the accidents from chloroform by restricting
-its use to a few great operations.
-
-In this case the lungs were reported to be extremely congested. Heart
-flabby, not particularly distended; about two ounces of fluid blood on
-the right side; not more than half an ounce on the left. Head.—Much
-congestion of the dura mater; the grey matter of the brain was dark and
-congested; fluid was found in the subarachnoid space; and a considerable
-quantity of it in both ventricles. Kidneys congested.[88]
-
-
-_Case 20_ occurred on September 20th, 1850, at the Cavan Infirmary,
-Ireland. The case occurred in the practice of Dr. Roe, and I am indebted
-to Dr. Robert Adams, of Dublin, for a manuscript account of it. The name
-of the patient was James Jones, and his age twenty-four years.
-Chloroform was exhibited with the intention of performing amputation
-below the knee, on account of scrofulous disease of the ankle, with
-ulceration of the cartilages. The patient was reduced to a state of
-great debility by the disease, and was suffering from hectic fever, but
-had no cough. The following is Dr. Roe’s account of the accident:—
-
-“When placed on the operating table the heart’s action was very quick
-and weak, but he did not appear more faint or pale than usual. I then
-saw Mr. Nalty, the apothecary, measure one drachm of the chloroform in
-the small minim glass measure, and pour it upon a little folded lint,
-which was placed in an oval hollow sponge, held in the hand with a small
-towel. Recollecting I had used this chloroform in another case, and
-finding some delay in producing the anæsthetic effects, I directed Mr.
-Nalty to add thirty drops more to that already put on the lint. I then
-applied the sponge to the patient’s nose, directing him to keep his
-mouth shut, and gave the towel into the care of Dr. Halpin, who was on
-the opposite side of the table, while I went to prepare myself for the
-operation. Mr. Bird had scarcely screwed up the tourniquette, which had
-been previously placed on the thigh, while I was examining the state of
-the circulation in the tibial arteries, and which could not have
-occupied one minute,—certainly the patient could not have taken fifteen
-inspirations,—when Dr. Halpin told me the anæsthetic effects were
-produced. This struck me as being unusually quick and sudden, and on
-removing the towel from the face, we saw a slight convulsive action of
-the left eyelid (the eyelids were partially open), and a small quantity
-of frothy saliva at the mouth. I felt rather uneasy, but not much
-alarmed, as Dr. Halpin said he had often seen such symptoms from the
-effects of chloroform, although I had not met with them. On a more
-minute examination of the heart, the eyes, muscles of the limbs, &c. we
-found him dead.”
-
-Energetic means were used with a view to restore the patient, but
-without effect. No inspection of the body took place.
-
-
-_Case 21._ The next case of recorded death from chloroform occurred in
-the Stepney Workhouse. The patient, named John Holden, age not stated,
-was about to undergo an operation on the penis. It was stated at the
-inquest that half a drachm of chloroform was administered without
-effect, and then half a drachm more was applied, when the patient
-suddenly expired. This death occurred in April 1851.
-
-
-_Case 22_ is important, as having given rise to a prosecution. The
-medical man, an officier de santé, named Kobelt, was accused of
-homicide, by imprudence, want of precautions, &c. The chloroform was
-administered on a handkerchief, and the accident occurred as suddenly as
-any of the others. The husband of the patient stated that the whole
-process did not last a minute. “I observed attentively,” he said,
-“during this time, and the character that her countenance took all at
-once made me apprehensive. I spoke of it to the operator, who
-tranquillized me, and continued to extract the teeth. After the third
-tooth, however, he partook of my apprehension, suspended the operation,
-and proceeded to adopt measures indicated by the circumstances.”
-Professor Sédillot, who had to pronounce an opinion on the case, after
-hearing all the evidence, said, “I do not think that M. Kobelt is guilty
-of imprudence or of rashness, because that officier de santé has
-followed a practice very habitually employed, and even recommended, by
-eminent practitioners, whose example and authority were sufficient to
-inspire him with security, and shade him from reproach.” The accused
-practitioner was acquitted. The above remark of Sédillot applied to the
-plan of causing insensibility very rapidly, as first recommended by Dr.
-Simpson; and he added some observations, to the effect that, when used
-in a different manner, chloroform is free from danger.
-
-The above case occurred at Strasbourg, on June 10th, 1851. The name of
-the patient was Madame Simon, and her age thirty-six. After death the
-lungs were found to be somewhat congested, and emphysematous. Heart
-flaccid, of middle size; right cavities filled with liquid dark-coloured
-blood, mixed with some fibrinous clots. The left cavities contained
-similar blood in much smaller quantity.[89]
-
-
-_Case 23_ occurred on July 8th, 1851, at the Seaman’s Hospital,
-Greenwich. The patient was a light-coloured mulatto, aged forty-five,
-native of New York. He died during the operation of removing the left
-testicle, which was disorganized by suppuration. “The chest had been
-carefully examined a few days previously, both by percussion and
-auscultation. No physical signs of disease were detected. His pulse was
-regular and feeble, about seventy. He was rather nervous, and fearful of
-the operation. No arcus senilis. After taking a glass of wine he
-commenced the inhalation, twenty minims of chloroform having been poured
-on a linen cloth. At the expiration of a few minutes, this had been
-dissipated, producing only very trifling excitement; a second dose, of
-the same quantity, was then administered in the same way; the man began
-to sing and shout, his expressions relating to the firing of guns. The
-second quantity having been exhausted, and the effects of the chloroform
-becoming more apparent, but sensibility being still perfect, and even
-intelligence almost unaffected, a third quantity, of ten minims, was
-poured out, and, afterwards, twenty minims more. Having passed through
-the usual convulsive stage, and insensibility being established, the
-further administration of chloroform was desisted from at the end of
-about seven minutes, though this time is merely guessed at; it might
-have been more, but was certainly not less. At this time the respiration
-was unembarrassed, and the pulse regular, and about seventy, with as
-much volume as before the inhalation. The lips were florid; in fact, the
-chloroform appeared to have acted in the most benign way. Mr. Busk
-commenced the operation by an incision through the scrotum, which
-divided a small arterial branch, and some enlarged veins, from which the
-blood flowed pretty freely. The flow, however, almost instantaneously
-ceased, and Dr. Rooke, who kept his finger on the man’s pulse, found
-that cease at the same moment. Respiration appeared to cease almost
-instantaneously with the heart’s action. Regular respiration at least
-did; for, while we were looking at the man’s face, he fetched one or two
-sigh-like inspirations. The ribs and abdomen were compressed, so as to
-induce inspiration and expiration; the lungs were inflated by blowing
-through the nostrils, the larynx being compressed against the spine,
-and, for three or four minutes, upon our efforts being suspended, the
-man occasionally took an inspiration; on one occasion three or four in
-succession, so as to make us flatter ourselves that he would come
-round.... It is worthy of remark that, for a long time after spontaneous
-respiration had ceased, the lips retained a florid colour. The muscles
-were all relaxed, and the veins on the side of the neck turgid.”[90]
-
-At the inspection of the body next day, the vessels of the dura mater,
-and those on the surface of the brain, were gorged with fluid blood. The
-lateral sinuses also afforded a flow of dark-coloured blood. There was a
-considerable quantity of serous fluid in the cavity of the arachnoid and
-in the spinal sheath. The substance of the brain was very soft. (The
-weather was warm.) The lungs were of a dark purple colour posteriorly,
-and much loaded with fluid blood and serum, but were everywhere
-crepitant and healthy. The external surface of the heart was covered
-almost entirely with fat; in some parts to a considerable thickness.
-There were two fibrinous spots on its surface. No fluid in the
-pericardium. The venæ cavæ were full of fluid blood. On removing the
-heart, a white fibrous coagulum, about as big as a walnut, was found in
-the commencement of the pulmonary artery. The heart was uncontracted,
-and the cavities contained a very small quantity of dark fluid blood.
-The walls of the right ventricle, and of the left auricle, were thinner
-than natural. Some portions of the substance of the heart were paler
-than natural:—“In these paler portions of the muscular substance, the
-fibres had, for the most part, lost their striated aspect, and had
-become converted into a fine granular material contained in the
-sarcolemma. Here and there a minute oil-globule could be observed in the
-muscular fibrillæ, but nowhere did this amount to fatty degeneration.”
-
-In this case all the precautions appear to have been taken which are
-possible in making a patient insensible with undiluted chloroform,
-administered on a handkerchief; and the case, therefore, strongly
-confirms the proposition that chloroform cannot be administered in this
-way with perfect safety.
-
-The patient was apparently in the most satisfactory condition at the
-conclusion of the inhalation, and yet, a few seconds afterwards, the
-heart suddenly ceased to beat, from the effect, as we must conclude, of
-that portion of vapour which was in the lungs at the moment when the
-inhalation was discontinued.
-
-
-_Case 24_ occurred in October, 1851, at Chipping Norton, Somerset, to a
-patient of Mr. Farwell, named Elizabeth Hollis, and aged 37. No one
-observed the manner in which the breathing and circulation ceased, and,
-as the patient was in a state of extreme debility, it is not quite
-certain that the chloroform was the sole cause of death. It was
-administered to prevent the pain of removing the fæces, which became
-impacted in the rectum on account of extensive cancerous disease of the
-uterus and vagina. The surgeon reports that “the time occupied in the
-inhalation was about eight or nine minutes; quantity inhaled 10½
-drachms, half a drachm at a time, allowing her frequently to breathe the
-atmospheric air. She spoke to me during this period. When I found that
-her arm fell after being raised, I proceeded to and accomplished the
-operation. At this time she was not inhaling. I then, as I always do,
-wetted the face with a sponge, with the view of washing off any
-remaining chloroform from the nose and lips, when, to my surprise, I
-found that she had ceased to breathe, and all attempts to restore her
-were in vain.... When I commenced the operation, the pupil was
-contracted, and the conjunctiva slightly red. After death, the pupil was
-very dilated, and the countenance extremely pallid.”[91] There was no
-inspection of the body. This patient had inhaled chloroform on two
-previous occasions for a similar operation.
-
-
-_Case 25_ occurred in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, on March 17, 1852.
-Thomas Hayward, aged 23, was suffering from aneurism by anastomosis,
-occupying the right ear and its neighbourhood. He had inhaled chloroform
-on the 14th of the previous month, whilst Mr. Lloyd placed ligatures on
-the temporal artery and some other arteries supplying the tumour; and it
-was with a view to tie an additional artery, situated between the
-mastoid process and the ramus of the jaw, that chloroform was again
-administered.
-
-“The chloroform was some of the same, and the apparatus employed for its
-administration precisely similar [alluding to the former occasion.] It
-was administered by one of Mr. Lloyd’s dressers, who well understood,
-and had great experience in its use. A gentleman of great experience,
-who had been for years at the hospital, and two years house-surgeon, was
-watching its effects, and marking the state of the pulse. Other
-gentlemen were assisting, and also on the look out.
-
-“In from five to ten minutes the usual effect was produced, the patient
-having previously struggled much. The operation was then commenced; but
-no sooner had Mr. Lloyd cut the skin, than it was stated that the pulse
-had suddenly ceased. The chloroform was at once removed; but in a few
-seconds, the patient had ceased to breathe, and no pulsation could be
-felt at any of the arteries or the heart.
-
-“Artificial respiration, as well as percussion and compression of the
-different parts of the body, were immediately employed with energy; and,
-after continuing the means for a short time, the circulation was
-observed to be returning, and the act of respiration was several times
-performed. The state of inanimation, however, speedily returned; but, by
-the employment of the same means as before, with the use also of
-galvanism, the circulation and respiration were again restored. Quickly,
-however, the patient fell into the same state as at first, but was again
-restored by the same means.
-
-“In a few minutes the state of inanimation again returned, when the
-external jugular vein, which on the right side was very turgid, was
-opened, and tracheotomy was performed, and the lungs inflated. The
-patient was also placed in a warm bath, at the temperature of 104°,
-artificial respiration being kept up all the time. All, however, was of
-no avail.”[92]
-
-At the examination of the body, the following are amongst the
-appearances noted. “The venæ innominatæ and vena cava superior were full
-of blood, and probably would have been distended, but that two or three
-ounces of blood had flowed into the coffin from the opening made into
-the external jugular vein. The right auricle and ventricle were
-distended with blood, and would probably have been more so but for the
-escape of blood mentioned above. The left auricle and ventricle
-contained very little blood; the left ventricle was perfectly contracted
-in the rigor mortis. The heart was of full size. It appeared in every
-part natural in its texture, and as if it had possessed full power. Its
-valves also were all healthy; neither could any disease be found in any
-of the chief bloodvessels within the chest. All the blood, however, was
-fluid, and it remained without coagulation after its escape from the
-heart and vessels. It had also a brownish purple hue, much like that
-which is commonly observed in the spleen: none of it, when thinly spread
-out, presented the ordinary dark, black, or crimson hue of venous blood.
-Both lungs were attached by old adhesions about their apices and
-posterior surfaces, but these were of small extent. Their texture was
-healthy, but they appeared more than usually collapsed and dry. Their
-bloodvessels were not over filled.”[93]
-
-In this case, every precaution seems to have been taken, except that one
-which is most essential of all, of regulating the proportion of vapour
-in the inspired air. It had always been made a great point in St.
-Bartholomew’s Hospital to attend to the pulse very carefully,[94] and on
-this occasion it was closely examined, but only, as in some other cases,
-with the result of being able to note the moment when it suddenly
-ceased.
-
-With regard to the return of the circulation, which is mentioned in the
-report as having occurred on three occasions, together with the
-breathing, during the efforts at resuscitation, I understood from
-inquiries I made of a gentleman present, that this was judged of from
-the red colour returning to the face and lips, but that the pulse and
-sounds of the heart were never distinctly perceived after they first
-ceased. The respiration may cause the colour to return to the face
-without a true circulation, as I have seen whilst inflating the lungs of
-still-born children; for if a portion of red blood be mechanically
-displaced from the lungs by the motion of the chest, it will be
-propelled by the contractility of the arteries, which continues for some
-time after death.
-
-
-_Case 26_ is related by Dr. Majer, of Ulm.[95] It occurred on June 27th,
-1852. The patient, Madame W., was 32 years of age, and of good
-constitution. She was in very good spirits, and was only waiting the
-operation of having a tooth extracted, before going to dinner. It was
-stated that only twenty or twenty-five drops of chloroform were put on a
-sponge, which was surrounded by a handkerchief. After four or five
-inspirations, the operator inquired if his patient did not feel a
-singing in the ears. She replied with a trembling and thick voice. At
-the same time she stretched out her limbs, the face became bluish, the
-eyes haggard, the head and the arms fell—she was dead. The patient’s
-husband said, that the time between the inhalation and death was so
-short that one could scarcely have said Yes or No.
-
-An examination of the body was made twenty-five hours after death.
-Putrefaction had commenced, and the body was not rigid. The vessels of
-the membranes of the brain were gorged with blood containing many
-bubbles of air. The heart was soft and flaccid; the coronary vessels
-were engorged with blood and air; the cavities of the heart contained
-air, but little blood. The lungs were congested at the inferior parts.
-
-
-_Case 27_ took place at Melbourne, Australia. The name of the patient
-was Mr. John Atkinson, but his age is not stated. Dr. Thomas, who was
-about to operate for fistula _in ano_, said: “Before administering the
-chloroform, I asked the deceased particularly if he had ever suffered
-from any serious illness, to which he replied in the negative. I also
-inquired whether he had been subject to cough or palpitation, and he
-answered that, some time ago, he had suffered slightly from cough. The
-pulse was good, and Mr. Barker proceeded in the usual manner to
-administer the chloroform, which shortly produced convulsive twitchings
-of the muscles. I then went to the door to request the nurse to send up
-some person to assist in holding the patient in a proper position for
-the operation, and I returned to the bed, and poured a little more
-chloroform on the handkerchief; when it was applied to the face, I heard
-him splutter at the mouth; the chloroform was instantly discontinued,
-but the patient suddenly expired. We tried all the means usually
-resorted to in other cases of suspended animation, but without effect. I
-had frequently used the same chloroform in other cases. It was not more
-than a minute after the first application of chloroform that death
-occurred. About a drachm had been poured on the handkerchief.”
-
-At the examination after death, “there was considerable serous effusion
-into the pericardium, and the heart itself was larger and more flabby
-than usual. It was hypertrophied, and there was dilatation of the
-cavities; the lungs were healthy, and there was a slight appearance of
-disease about the liver, such as is observed in persons addicted to
-intemperance.”[96]
-
-
-_Case 28._ On August 10th, 1852, a Mr. Martin, a cattle dealer died near
-Melrose, in Scotland, after inhaling chloroform for the application of
-potassa fusa to some ulcers of the leg. Dr. W. M. Brown, who relates the
-case, says:—“Before proceeding to apply the caustic I gave him
-chloroform. He was not easily affected by it, and struggled a good deal.
-After beginning to apply the caustic I found he was not sufficiently
-insensible to pain, and gave him a little more chloroform, which had the
-desired effect. I then proceeded with the application of the caustic,
-and was just finishing, when I observed a sort of catch in his
-breathing. I immediately stopped, and, on looking at him, I saw the
-mouth and eyes open, the breathing irregular, the face pale, the eyes
-slightly turned upwards, and the pupils dilated.” Dr. Brown tried
-artificial respiration and other means to resuscitate the patient, but
-without effect. He says, “in a few minutes the man died.” The pulse is
-not mentioned, nor the age of the patient.[97]
-
-
-_Case 29_ took place in the Manchester Royal Infirmary, on December
-24th, 1852, during the removal of a malignant tumour of the thigh, by
-Mr. Jordan. The patient was Henry Hollingsworth, a factory operative.
-His age is not stated. “The man was very much excited, struggled and
-talked fast. The chloroform was administered slowly, and every
-precaution was taken to prevent any danger, and the medical men remarked
-two or three times how very long it was in taking effect. He at last
-became insensible, in about seven minutes at least. Mr. Jordan commenced
-the operation by an incision into the skin covering the tumour. I was
-assisting the surgeon when Mr. Heath directed my attention to the
-patient’s face. This was about five minutes after the operation had
-commenced. I then observed congestion about the face, but there was no
-stertorous breathing. His pupils appeared almost to have ceased to act.
-His breathing was becoming exceedingly slow, and he seemed to be sinking
-fast. I directed the attention of the operator and the other medical men
-to these symptoms. The operation was then suspended, and means were
-resorted to for restoring animation, but the pupils had ceased to act,
-and had become fixed almost immediately. He gave one strong gasp, and
-then to all appearance was dead. In administering the chloroform,
-successive doses were given until it took effect. Every dose consisted
-of a drachm, taken, at intervals, in an inhaler.”[98]
-
-The following remark is made respecting the autopsy. “The post-mortem
-examination shewed that asphyxia, caused by chloroform, produced the
-death. There was a congestion both of the brain and lungs.” The
-appearances met with after death from chloroform do not indicate the way
-in which death has taken place. In animals that are killed by it, the
-right cavities of the heart are always found filled with blood, whether
-they die suddenly by its direct action on the heart, or more slowly by
-its effects on the brain, and the breathing ceases before the
-circulation. The lungs are seldom much congested in animals, whichever
-be the mode of dying, and the appearances in the head are not unusual.
-The state of the pulse is not mentioned in the above account of the
-case; but congestion about the face was first observed, and then it was
-noticed that the breathing was getting slow. It is sufficiently probable
-that the breathing ceased on account of the action of the heart being
-first arrested; but even if the respiration was embarrassed by the
-action of the chloroform on the brain, it is pretty certain that that
-agent also acted directly on the heart; for it cannot be supposed that
-the means used for restoring animation would have failed, if the heart
-had been acting properly when the breathing ceased.
-
-
-_Case 30_ took place on March 19th, 1853, in University College
-Hospital, London. The subject of it was an unmarried woman, named
-Caroline Baker, aged twenty-eight. The chloroform was administered with
-the intention of applying nitric acid to a sloughing ulceration of the
-labia and vagina. “The chloroform, supposed in the first instance to be
-about a drachm, was poured on lint about five inches square, and folded
-four or five times over. After a short time the patient became restless,
-talked loudly, and threw about her arms. Soon afterwards a partial
-relaxation of the limbs took place, and she became insensible and
-pulseless.”[99]
-
-Further symptoms are not given, but it is stated that she sank and died.
-The breathing is not mentioned, but Mr. Erichsen, who, although not
-present at the accident to his patient, would be made aware of all that
-occurred, stated at the inquest, that death was produced by a paralysis
-of the heart from the influence of the chloroform. Dr. Quain examined
-the structure of the heart with the microscope, and he “found that
-organ, particularly on the right side, in a state of fatty
-degeneration.”
-
-
-_Case 31_ was communicated to the Society of Surgery of Paris by M. De
-Vallet, Surgeon-in-chief to the Hôtel-Dieu, d’Orléans. “A soldier of the
-line, aged twenty-five, apparently in good health, and of strong frame,
-consulted M. Vallet for a small tumour situated behind the right labial
-commissure. Before operating, he proceeded to direct the inhalation of
-chloroform. The patient, fasting, being placed in the horizontal
-posture, the chloroform (about one gramme) was poured upon a hollow
-sponge, and applied to the nose, the mouth being left free. At the
-expiration of a minute, no effect having been produced, four grammes
-were poured on the sponge, and at the expiration of four minutes, the
-patient, without having experienced any irritation of the larynx,
-without having manifested any resistance, without redness of the
-countenance, and after only a slight period of agitation, fell into a
-state of insensibility fit for the operation. Scarcely had the incision
-been made, necessary to expose the cyst, when the patient became pale,
-respiration was suspended, and he sank into a state of complete
-collapse. All the usual remedies were tried, and without avail. M.
-Vallet opened the trachea, and performed artificial respiration with an
-elastic tube; then an electric current was sent by needles through the
-region of the heart. The patient died without any sign of reaction.
-
-“Examination of the body.—The vessels of the brain were empty; the lungs
-were congested with blood, which in some situations was extravasated;
-the heart was excessively flaccid; there were some soft clots in the
-right cavities; the left were empty. The stomach was full of gas; the
-liver, spleen, and kidneys were gorged with black blood.”[100]
-
-
-_Case 32_ occurred in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to a man aged
-forty-three, on whom Dr. Dunsmure was about to operate for stricture of
-the urethra by perineal section. The chloroform was administered by Dr.
-Struthers. About an ounce of chloroform was used, and the patient had
-been put under the influence of this agent on two former occasions, when
-a similar quantity was employed without ill effect. The following is Dr.
-Dunsmure’s account of the case:—
-
-“While the patient was inhaling the drug, he struggled considerably, and
-became a good deal congested in the face and head. He seemed to take a
-slight convulsion, like an epileptic fit, and such as I have seen on
-several occasions in people who have led an intemperate life. During the
-convulsion, the handkerchief containing the chloroform was removed to
-some distance from the face. In a short time the inhalation took effect,
-and he began to snore, and although still violent, the chloroform was
-removed from the face entirely, and the handkerchief placed under the
-pillow. As soon as the patient became more quiet, he was pulled down on
-the table, and placed in the proper position for the operation. I then
-shaved the perineum, and was just going to make my first incision, when
-one of the assistants said that his pulse was becoming weak. The
-posterior tibial, Mr. Spence then remarked, was good, but in a second or
-two after, both gentlemen exclaimed that the pulse was gone. I rushed
-from my seat to the patient’s head, and found that his breathing had
-ceased. Those present who had an opportunity of observing the
-respiration, which I had not, owing to the stool on which I sat being
-low, positively assert that the breathing did not cease before the
-pulse. The face was much congested, the jaws were firmly closed, and the
-pupils were dilated. I immediately forced open the lower jaw by means of
-the handle of a staff, and with catch forceps pulled out the tongue.
-Artificial respiration was had recourse to, and in a few minutes he made
-a long inspiration. This was soon followed by a second, by a third at a
-longer interval, by a fourth at a still longer period, and then by a
-fifth, when all attempts at natural breathing ceased. No pulsation could
-be felt in the radial arteries. The chest was noticed to be much
-contracted, to have apparently lost its elasticity, and not to expand
-when the ribs were forcibly compressed during the artificial
-respiration. I had previously sent for a galvanic apparatus, which was
-in the flat below, and it arrived almost immediately after the patient
-had made the fifth inspiration. When the tongue was pulled out, and
-before the first breath was taken, I was on the point of opening the
-trachea, but this proceeding was then abandoned; it was now, however,
-had recourse to, in order to carry on artificial respiration more
-certainly: the external jugular was also opened, and about a couple of
-ounces of blood flowed. By the time the tracheotomy tube was inserted,
-the galvanic apparatus was in working condition, and it was applied on
-each side of the diaphragm. It acted remarkably well; at each
-application of the sponges, the muscle descended as if the patient was
-in life; air passed through the tube in the trachea, and for some time I
-was in great hopes that the man was to be saved; but the muscle
-gradually lost its contractility, and although the galvanism was kept up
-for an hour, it was evident that all our efforts were in vain—that life
-was extinct. The post-mortem examination was made the following day at
-one o’clock, rather more than twenty-four hours after the patient’s
-death, and I give the report of it as drawn up by Dr. Gairdner, the
-pathologist to the Infirmary:—
-
-“John Mitchell, aged forty-three, died 28th September. A very robust
-man; height five feet eight inches; diameter (lateral) of base of
-thorax, ten and a half inches.
-
-“External appearances.—Considerable lividity of face and neck, and more
-than usual congestion of depending parts. Considerable amount of fat,
-but more in omentum and around viscera of abdomen than in external
-parietes.
-
-“Chest.—Right pleura presents a few slight adhesions near the middle;
-left pleura free. No fluid in either pleural cavity. Pericardium
-contained about half an ounce of serum, and presented a few opaque
-patches on its surface. Both sides of heart contained blood, the right
-side rather more than the left. Blood more than usually fluid. External
-fat of heart considerable, about three lines on some parts of right
-ventricle. Muscular tissue of heart generally flabby, and rather pale,
-but not distinctly disorganized to the naked eye. Valves perfectly
-healthy. Aorta presented very faint traces of atheroma. A few traces of
-atrophy of right lung towards its apex and anterior edge, but very
-limited. In all other respects lungs free from disease, but somewhat
-congested.
-
-“Spleen soft, but not diffluent.
-
-“Liver congested, but otherwise normal.
-
-“Kidneys congested, but otherwise healthy.
-
-“Brain.—The subarachnoid fluid presents considerable milky opacity, and
-is of moderate quantity. Moderate congestion of the meninges generally.
-About half an ounce of fluid in the ventricles. Substance of brain
-healthy. Arteries at base perfectly free from atheroma. Air
-passages.—Glottis perfectly patent. Mucous membrane of larynx and
-trachea slightly congested.
-
-“Microscopic examination shewed the fibres of the heart to be nearly
-normal, though scarcely so distinctly striated as in some cases. The
-minute vessels of the brain and pia mater presented at some points a few
-clustering granules, but to no great extent.”[101]
-
-Dr. Dunsmure expressed the opinion that four or five minutes elapsed
-from the time the chloroform was left off before the pulse failed. But
-it is pretty certain that he has much over-estimated the time. Indeed,
-if the shaving of the perineum were likely to occupy even half of this
-time, the operator would have done it, or had it done, before the
-chloroform was administered. Dr. Dunsmure makes the following remark in
-his comments on the case: “In several instances where I have seen
-chloroform very nearly prove fatal, the respiration became gradually
-restored after an inspiration had once been made; in this case, however,
-no such fortunate occurrence took place.” In the other cases to which
-allusion is here made, the heart has not been paralysed, or at least not
-completely, but they show that the method of administering chloroform in
-Edinburgh had been far from satisfactory in its results, although no
-patient had before that time been actually lost.[102]
-
-
-_Case 33_ occurred in University College Hospital, London, and the
-following account of it was given by Dr. Hillier:
-
-“E. R., aged 40, a woman of moderate height, rather thin. The general
-health has been pretty good; she had not been liable to palpitation or
-dyspnœa. Had been in the habit of drinking pretty freely. Admitted on
-October 5th, at 11 p.m. She was suffering from the symptoms of
-strangulated hernia, which had existed two days and a half. Efforts were
-made to reduce the hernia, both without and with a warm bath, in which
-she was for upwards of half an hour without getting very faint. These
-efforts being unsuccessful, an operation was at once determined on. Her
-pulse was at this time regular, and of tolerable strength.
-
-“Chloroform was administered in the usual way, on a piece of lint, which
-was held three or four inches from the patient’s face, and then brought
-to within an inch and a half of her nose and mouth, leaving space around
-for the admission of air.
-
-“For three or four minutes nothing unusual presented itself; the pulse
-and respiration proceeded normally. There was put on the lint, at first,
-one fluid drachm of chloroform; and, at the end of three or four
-minutes, forty minims more were added. This was the whole quantity of
-chloroform employed. Within a minute after the second quantity of
-chloroform was added, the patient struggled violently both with her arms
-and legs. During these struggles I was holding her right hand, and was
-unable to feel the pulse in consequence of her constant motions. The
-struggling lasted about a minute, and on its ceasing, the patient
-commenced to breathe with loud, rough stertor. I at once removed the
-lint from before the face, and felt for the pulse, which I could not
-find. Immediately cold water was dashed on her face. She breathed with
-this stertor for two or three short inspirations, and then two or three
-long ones, and then the breathing ceased. Immediately artificial
-respiration was resorted to, and within a minute galvanism was applied
-to the back of her neck and the diaphragm. Under the influence of these
-agencies, the patient gasped about three times at intervals; after this,
-no further signs of life were exhibited.
-
-“At the time when the stertor commenced and the pulse failed, the pupils
-were dilated, and the face of the patient was only slightly altered. The
-tongue was not retracted, for one of the bystanders at once put his
-fingers into her mouth to ascertain this.”
-
-At the autopsy made by Dr. Garrod thirteen hours after death, the rigor
-mortis was well marked; the blood was very fluid in all parts of the
-body. There was about an ounce of colourless fluid in the pericardium.
-The heart was quite collapsed and empty, but, as Dr. Garrod observes,
-this may have been due to the fluidity of the blood. The weight of the
-heart was seven ounces and three-quarters; valves healthy. Walls of the
-right ventricle flabby and pale; mean thickness one eighth of an inch.
-At some parts the muscular substance was in a very thin layer, being
-much encroached on by fat. In several places there was scarcely any
-muscular fibre visible. This was chiefly the case near the apex.
-Examined by the microscope, much fatty degeneration of the muscular
-fibres of the right ventricle generally was discovered. The walls of the
-left ventricle were flabby, dry in appearance, pale, and very friable.
-Both lungs were crepitant throughout, not much engorged. Brain not
-congested. The intestines above the strangulation were much distended
-with flatus, and inflamed.[103]
-
-
-_Case 34_ occurred on October 20th, 1853, a few days after the last. The
-patient was a young woman named Ann Smith, aged 22 years, under the care
-of Mr. Paget in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, who was about to apply the
-actual cautery to a sore of cancroid nature in the vagina. She was a
-stout, florid young woman, formerly of dissolute habits, but apparently
-in perfect health, with the exception of the local ailment. She had been
-put under the full and prolonged influence of chloroform a fortnight
-previously for the application of the cautery, without the occurrence of
-any untoward symptoms whatever. The chloroform was administered by Dr.
-Black, one of the assistant physicians.
-
-“The usual form of inhaler was employed,—a padded metal cup, fitting
-over the nose and mouth, and supplied with valves. A drachm, by measure,
-was first poured on the sponge, but as the administration did not
-immediately commence, a considerable part of this was no doubt wasted;
-after a short inhalation, a second drachm was supplied, and subsequently
-the further quantity of half a drachm. The patient had gone through the
-usual stages of excitement, etc., and the last dose was scarcely used,
-as she sank off, almost immediately after its application, into a state
-of complete insensibility, unattended by any alarming symptoms. About
-five minutes had been occupied by the inhalation, and probably not more
-than a drachm and a half of the fluid really inhaled. The apparatus was
-now removed from the face, and the patient having been drawn into the
-proper position, Mr. Paget was about to commence the operation, when Dr.
-Black, who throughout had kept his finger on the pulse, noticed it to
-have become extremely weak and fluttering. Almost immediately
-afterwards, the patient’s countenance was observed to be dusky, turgid,
-and congested, and the respiratory movements began to be performed at
-long intervals, and by slight catching efforts. No time was lost; cold
-water was at once dashed on the thighs, face, and breast; and, the
-failure of the respiration becoming shortly complete, Mr. Paget
-immediately began artificial insufflation of the lungs, by alternately
-blowing into the nostrils, and compressing the chest. Just before
-commencing this process, Mr. Paget had ascertained, by drawing the
-tongue forwards and examining the glottis with the finger, that the
-epiglottis was not pressed down.”
-
-Other means were employed, but no further signs of life appeared. It is
-further recorded that, “immediately after the first alarming symptoms,
-the pupils were of the medium size, neither contracted nor dilated. All
-efforts at respiration ceased about two minutes after the first
-indications of failure; the pulse, however, as a very feeble flutter,
-was felt occasionally for at least two minutes later.”[104]
-
-At the autopsy, performed by Mr. Paget, twenty-two hours after death,
-“the thorax was first examined, and nothing whatever abnormal could be
-detected in any of the viscera; the lungs were healthy and crepitant in
-every part; their posterior lobes were not more congested than is seen
-in almost every examination; the heart, collapsed, but not contracted,
-and containing a small quantity of fluid blood in each cavity, was of
-normal size and proportions, in every respect, and its muscular
-structure, examined by the microscope, showed no degeneration.... The
-brain, its sinuses, ventricles, etc., were all carefully examined, and
-neither in texture nor quantity of blood was anything abnormal
-detected.”[105]
-
-Although the failure of the pulse was the first symptom of danger in
-this case, it continued to be felt as a very feeble flutter for about
-four minutes, so that the heart was not so completely paralysed as in
-most of the fatal cases. It must, however, have been so far paralysed as
-to be past recovery.
-
-
-_Case 35._ Professor Dumreicher related a case of death from chloroform
-at the meeting of the Vienna Society of Physicians, held on November 16,
-1853. The patient was a young man, aged nineteen, in somewhat feeble
-health, who inhaled chloroform in the recumbent position, in order to
-have his anchylosed knee-joint forcibly extended. It was inhaled from a
-vessel resembling a snuff-box, which was held to the nostrils. “The
-inhalation was continued for fifty seconds, and the patient had spoken a
-few seconds previously, when Professor D. observed that the pulse had
-become frequent and undulating. He immediately suspended the
-administration of the anæsthetic. Trismus occurred; the respirations
-became irregular; the face turned livid, and he foamed at the mouth.”
-The measures which were employed included the abstraction of eight
-ounces of blood from the jugular vein, but they were of no avail. He
-only once made a feeble attempt at inspiration.[106]
-
-
-_Case 36_ occurred in the practice of Dr. Wüstefeldt of Neustedt. “A
-young girl, thirteen years of age, had on the dorsal region a voluminous
-lipoma, which extended from the last dorsal vertebra to the crest of the
-ilium.... One drachm of chloroform was employed. As soon as
-insensibility was manifested, the operation was commenced, but scarcely
-had the surgeon divided the skin, when the girl, yielding to the laws of
-gravity, fell suddenly forwards on her chest. Dr. Wüstefeldt, struck by
-the phenomenon, which he had witnessed before under similar
-circumstances, immediately desisted from operating, and strove to
-restore the patient to life; but every effort was useless, and, in the
-course of a few minutes, it became evident that she was dead.”[107]
-
-Further particulars are not given; but as the patient died suddenly,
-when the surgeon had scarcely divided the skin, it must be admitted that
-he was, in all probability, correct in attributing the event to the
-chloroform. The patient usually yields to the laws of gravity when only
-partially under the influence of chloroform, and it seems surprising
-that the operation should have been undertaken without placing the
-patient in the horizontal posture. The proper position of the patient,
-when a large tumour of the back is to be removed, is to be lying almost
-flat on the abdomen, the head being a little turned on one side, so that
-it rests with one ear on the pillow.
-
-
-_Case 37._ Jane Morgan, aged fifty-nine, died whilst inhaling chloroform
-in the Bristol Infirmary, on January 21st, 1854. She was moderately
-stout, pale, but not otherwise of unhealthy appearance. “The
-stethoscopic indications were favourable, the beat of the heart was
-natural, and the air passed freely throughout both lungs; but the chest
-movements on the right side were not quite so free as on the left.”
-Chloroform was ordered by Mr. Harrison, the senior surgeon of the
-Infirmary, with the intention of attempting to reduce a dislocation of
-the humerus of eight weeks standing. “Having taken no food since her
-breakfast, she commenced the inhalation of one drachm of chloroform, at
-2 P.M., in bed in her ward, under the superintendence of Mr. Hore, the
-house-surgeon. Nothing unusual occurring in the patient’s general
-condition during inhalation, a second drachm, in about five minutes from
-the first, was poured upon the sponge, and the inhalation was continued.
-Almost immediately after the addition of the second drachm, the
-chloroform was withdrawn, as the patient’s breathing became stertorous;
-and immediately afterwards her pulse, which had hitherto continued
-pretty firm, was suddenly imperceptible, the respiration ceasing at the
-same time. The pupils were not dilated.” Various measures were promptly
-resorted to with the hope of restoring the patient; but there were no
-further signs of life, unless “some convulsive efforts of the
-respiratory muscles,” under the application of galvanism, be so
-regarded.
-
-At the examination of the body on the following day, the right pleura
-was found to be adherent. The lungs were healthy in structure, but
-gorged with dark fluid blood. There was about an ounce of fluid in the
-pericardium. There was a small quantity of fluid blood in each of the
-cavities of the heart. For the length of an inch from their
-commencement, both coronary arteries were much dilated, and studded with
-atheromatous and bony deposits. The muscular structure of the heart was
-examined under the microscope by Dr. William Budd, and a considerable
-proportion of the fibres were found in a state of incipient fatty
-degeneration. It was learned, after her death, that she had been subject
-to occasional attacks of fainting.[108]
-
-
-_Case 38._ A death from chloroform occurred in the Hôpital St. Antoine,
-at Paris, in the spring of 1854. The subject of this was a woman aged
-forty, on whom M. Richard was operating for the removal of a uterine
-polypus. The surgeon placed the patient in the horizontal posture, and
-administered the chloroform on a compress of lint. She became insensible
-in two minutes, having first been excited so that it was necessary to
-hold her. M. Richard moved the patient to the edge of the bed, gave the
-compress containing the chloroform into the hands of an assistant, and
-commenced the operation, which was likely to be of short duration. He
-had almost completed it, when he was apprised by an assistant, who had
-been set to feel the pulse, that it had ceased to beat. He sought for it
-himself, but found that it did not beat. The face was extremely pale; a
-slow respiration still continued, but soon ceased; and the measures
-which were used with the hope of restoring the patient were of no
-avail.[109]
-
-At the examination of the body all the organs were found in a healthy
-state. The right cavities of the heart and the great veins contained a
-considerable quantity of blood, and the left cavities of the heart a
-small quantity. The blood was everywhere fluid.[110]
-
-
-_Case 39._ A patient, named Mrs. Harrup, died at Sheffield from the
-effects of chloroform administered with the intention of removing a
-cancerous tumour of the left breast. The age of the patient was
-forty-five, and she was stated to be in good health, excepting the local
-affection.
-
-“The chloroform was administered with more than the usual precautions.
-After the inhalation had gone on without any effect for twenty minutes,
-it was thought that possibly different chloroform might succeed, and one
-ounce was accordingly procured from the public dispensary. After the
-inhalation had been conducted with the fresh chloroform about twenty
-minutes, the usual effects of the vapour began to manifest themselves.
-The pulse, which was 136 before any chloroform had been given, and had
-been very gradually decreasing in frequency while it improved in
-strength, was now about 104. At this moment muttering—half articulate
-delirium—came on, but ceased in a few moments, and was immediately
-followed by conclusive signs of the satisfactory action of the
-chloroform. Dr. Law now desired Mr. Wright to begin the operation; but
-before he could do so, Dr. Law, seeing an alarming change in the
-countenance of the deceased, cried, ‘Stop, Mr. Lewis, how is the pulse?’
-I replied, ‘It is gone.’” After stating the means which were used with a
-view to resuscitate the patient, it is added that the heart had ceased
-to beat, and that, after a few short and laboured inspirations, life
-became extinct.
-
-At the examination of the body, the cartilages of the ribs were found to
-be ossified. The heart and lungs were perfectly healthy, but the lungs
-were in a congested condition. There was an extravasation of blood in
-the spinal muscles, and a little blood in the spinal canal, in what part
-or between what structures is not stated.[111]
-
-
-_Case 40_ occurred in the Lock Hospital, London, in May 1854. Walter
-Hollis, a tailor, aged eighteen, had been under treatment for sores
-within the prepuce, and these having healed, he was about to undergo the
-operation for congenital phymosis. He had been of dissolute habits, and
-exhibited a pale cachectic appearance.
-
-“The inhaler used was a simple mouth-piece by which the nostrils are
-left uncovered. About two drachms of the fluid were poured into the
-instrument. After about six minutes inhalation, insensibility seemed to
-be coming on, and at this moment the pulse was ascertained to be of good
-volume. Nothing whatever had occurred to indicate the impending danger,
-when, after a few more inhalations, the pulse suddenly failed, became
-quite imperceptible, and the countenance assumed a pale and leaden hue.
-The inhalation was immediately stopped, and attempts to resuscitate, by
-means of striking the chest sharply with a wet towel, applying ammonia
-to the nostrils, and by artificial respiration, were at once commenced.
-These were employed for three or four minutes before any signs of life
-were perceived; but, subsequently, the pulse was again to be felt, and
-spontaneous respiration was renewed. Artificial respiration was desisted
-from on the occurrence of these signs of returning life, and for upwards
-of ten minutes the chest continued to fill regularly, and the pulse beat
-at a rate of from 40 to 50 in the minute; the countenance of the patient
-also much improved, and even assumed a slight flush. After the
-expiration of, perhaps, a little more than ten minutes, however, these
-indications of returning vitality again disappeared, the pulse and
-respiratory efforts simultaneously ceased, and the countenance became
-deathlike. Artificial respiration and the other means were again
-adopted, but this time without the slightest success.... Post-mortem
-examination on the next day shewed great venous congestion within the
-cranium; the lungs were also somewhat congested. The heart was slightly
-enlarged, and the ventricular parietes were thinned; in the muscular
-fibres the microscope detected decided fatty degeneration. The blood was
-universally fluid.”[112]
-
-The partial recovery of the patient is a remarkable feature in this
-case, and it is difficult to explain why he did not recover completely.
-The number of the pulsations during this partial recovery is mentioned,
-but not their quality, and I cannot help supposing that the pulse must
-have been extremely weak, as well as slow, at this period. The ten
-minutes during which the pulse and breathing returned is mentioned with
-the qualifying term of “perhaps”, which leads to the supposition that it
-was not noted by the watch or clock, and under such circumstances of
-anxiety and suspense, the time might be very much over-rated. The slight
-fatty degeneration of the heart might probably interfere with the
-complete recovery of the patient, after this organ had once been
-paralysed by the chloroform.
-
-
-_Case 41_ took place on July 13th, 1854, in the Middlesex Hospital. The
-patient was a stout, muscular, and florid man, 65 years of age, on whom
-Mr. De Morgan was about to perform amputation at the upper part of the
-thigh, on account of a large malignant tumour growing from the inner
-side of the femur.
-
-“Chloroform was administered by Mr. Sibley, the registrar to the
-hospital. Snow’s inhaler was employed. The quantity at first placed in
-the inhaler was rather less than two drachms, and another drachm was
-added eight minutes afterwards. The patient inhaled the chloroform
-without difficulty, and went through the usual stages; at the end of
-about ten minutes violent spasm was induced; this continued about three
-minutes, and then somewhat abated. The pulse, which had risen to about
-120, descended to 70, having a full, steady, and deliberate beat. The
-pupils, which had been much dilated, became less so. The respiration
-continued free and deep, but not stertorous. The colour of the face
-remained good.
-
-“At this moment, which was between thirteen and fourteen minutes from
-the commencement of the inhalation of the chloroform, the pulse gave a
-few rapid and irregular beats, and then ceased. Respiration, which, as
-has been stated, had been going on freely, ceased simultaneously. The
-face became suddenly pallid and deathlike. The inhaler was removed
-instantaneously, and cold water dashed on the face. Mr. Sibley
-immediately commenced to carry on artificial respiration, by applying
-his mouth to that of the patient, and inflating the lungs. The period
-that elapsed between the sudden cessation of the pulse and the inflation
-of the lungs was only a few seconds. After a few inflations, there
-appeared to be a slight effort at inspiration, but this was the only
-sign of life discovered after the syncopal attack. Galvanism was in
-operation within two minutes after the cessation of the pulse.”
-
-“An examination of the body was made by Dr. Corfe forty-eight hours
-after death. In the head nothing particular was discovered; the brain
-was firm, and rather more vascular than natural; the blood in the sinus
-was partly coagulated; the heart was rather larger than natural, and was
-extremely loaded with fat, especially on the right side, where fat
-formed three-fourths of the thickness of the wall of the ventricle; the
-muscular tissue was extremely pale and soft, and exhibited both to the
-naked eye, and the eye assisted by the microscope, an extreme degree of
-fatty degeneration; the blood in the cavities of the heart was firmly
-coagulated; on both sides it was almost purely fibrinous; the clot on
-the right side was larger than on the left; a fibrinous clot extended
-down the aorta.”[113]
-
-I do not know how the bibulous paper was arranged in the inhaler in this
-instance, nor whether the inhaler was used with a view to regulating the
-amount of vapour in the inspired air. The proportion of vapour must have
-been small during the first ten minutes, as the patient became so slowly
-insensible; and judging from the result, we must conclude that the
-proportion was large just before the accident. The firm coagulation of
-the blood and separation of the fibrin were probably owing to the
-galvanism which was so promptly applied. I found the fibrin separated
-from the colouring matter of the blood in the cavities of the heart of a
-cat, in which shocks of electro-magnetism had been sent through the
-chest just after it had been killed with chloroform.
-
-
-_Case 42._ A man died whilst inhaling chloroform in University College
-Hospital on October 11th, 1854. The patient was a shoemaker named George
-Sands, aged 39, and of rather bloated aspect. He inhaled chloroform
-whilst Mr. Erichsen was endeavouring to introduce a catheter, and had
-the intention of puncturing the bladder if not successful. The patient
-was made insensible, and the chloroform was left off, but was reapplied
-on account of the patient making some expression of pain. “Probably
-about two minutes of the second inhalation had elapsed, when the man
-became profoundly insensible, and began to snore with a peculiar and
-very profound stertor. His face at this time was suffused and flushed,
-and the inspirations were drawn at rather prolonged intervals. Mr.
-Erichsen’s attention was at once excited by these symptoms, and,
-desisting from the use of the catheter, he immediately commenced dashing
-the patient’s face and chest with water. The chloroform had, of course,
-been removed. In the course of about a minute, the noise with the
-breathing gradually lessened, and it became apparent that the
-respiration was ceasing altogether. Mr. Erichsen now put his finger into
-the patient’s pharynx, and dragged forwards the root of the tongue; at
-the same time attempting artificial inflation of the lungs, by applying
-his own mouth to that of the man. The latter plan did not appear to
-succeed well, and was almost immediately substituted by the more usual
-mode of artificial respiration, by compression of the chest, which was
-kept up most vigorously. The man’s pulse had been felt by the
-administrator [Mr. Carnell] to be still beating some little time after
-the commencement of the alarming symptoms and the cessation of
-respiration. Artificial respiration had been employed for about four
-minutes, when the man, whose countenance had meanwhile retained its
-colour and an expression of yet remaining life, began to breathe again.
-A very short intermission of artificial assistance having been made, he
-drew spontaneously three or four inspirations; but, as each successive
-one was more feeble, the artificial aid was at once recommenced. About
-five minutes from the commencement, the galvanic apparatus was got in
-readiness and applied. It produced, however, no benefit; and from this
-time the patient lost colour in the face, and was evidently dead.... The
-form of inhaler which had been employed was the one in ordinary use at
-this hospital, viz. a folded piece of lint. The administrator’s hands
-and the patient’s face had been covered during the inhalation by a
-towel.”[114]
-
-At the examination of the body seventy hours after death, extensive
-fatty degeneration of the heart was met with. The cavities of the heart
-were empty, owing, no doubt, to the artificial respiration.[115]
-
-The above case differs to a certain extent from those previously quoted,
-inasmuch as the first symptoms of danger were those of profound coma,
-and of threatened death by apnœa, as a consequence of the action of the
-chloroform on the medulla oblongata and nerves of respiration. In
-addition to this cause of danger, however, the chloroform present in the
-lungs at the moment when the inhalation was discontinued must have acted
-directly on the heart, or the prompt assistance of so able an authority
-on asphyxia as Mr. Erichsen, the moment the breathing was suspended,
-would surely have restored the patient. The mode of death, although not
-exactly the same as that in Experiment 24 (page 110), differs from that
-in the previous experiment, where the heart’s action was good and
-distinct after the breathing ceased; it resembles the mode of dying in
-many animals that I have killed with chloroform; being, in fact, a
-combination of death by apnœa and cardiac syncope, which generally
-occurs when the quantity of vapour in the respired air is intermediate
-between that in Experiments 23 and 24, or somewhere between 5 and 10 per
-cent.
-
-A great peculiarity in the way in which chloroform was administered in
-the case we are considering was that the head and face of the patient
-were covered by a towel, under which the lint wetted with chloroform was
-held. The countenance and state of respiration could not be observed in
-this mode of giving the chloroform; the person administering it had to
-depend almost entirely on the pulse; and, except for this cause, there
-is every reason to conclude that the chloroform would have been
-withdrawn in this instance in time to save the patient. It was not
-apparently till a peculiar and very loud stertor attracted the attention
-of the operating surgeon himself, that the inhalation was discontinued,
-and the face was already suffused.
-
-This plan of administering chloroform with the head and shoulders of the
-patient covered with a towel, was introduced by Mr. Clover, who was for
-several years a resident officer of the institution; and it is but right
-to state that it led to no accident in his hands; in those of his
-successors it was, however, less successful; three accidents having
-occurred in a little more than a year and a half. I much regret to find
-that Mr. Erichsen recommends this method of giving chloroform in the
-edition of his work on surgery recently published.
-
-
-_Case 43_ occurred in Guy’s Hospital, on December 5th, 1854. The patient
-was a woman whose leg Mr. Birkett was about to amputate on account of
-malignant ulceration. She gave her age as fifty-six, but appeared ten
-years older. “In each eye was a fairly marked arcus senilis, but the
-woman was not known to have suffered any symptoms referable to thoracic
-disease.... The administration of the anæsthetic was conducted by Mr.
-Bryant, the inhaler used consisting of a fold of lint, rather larger
-than an out-spread hand, and protected on its back by a piece of oiled
-silk to prevent wasteful evaporation.... In the first instance, about a
-drachm of the fluid was poured upon the lint. The patient inhaled it
-kindly; and, after about two minutes, another drachm was added. A stage
-of excitement now followed, during which the limbs required to be held.
-Insensibility was just fully established, and Mr. Birkett was on the
-point of commencing the operation, when Mr. Callaway, who was
-compressing the femoral artery, exclaimed that the pulse had suddenly
-ceased entirely. The wrist was examined, and the same found to be the
-case. Almost immediately afterwards, a long-drawn inspiration, attended
-with a deep sighing noise, was observed. For two or three breaths the
-cheeks puffed out during expiration; the respiration next fluttered, and
-then ceased. Mr. Birkett at once put his finger into the patient’s
-mouth, and drew forward the tongue, artificial respiration being
-meanwhile commenced by assistants by means of compression of the chest.
-A few slight inspirations were attempted by the patient subsequent to
-the commencement of the artificial assistance; but they did not
-continue, and no sign of vitality was ever afterwards shown.... It must
-be noted, that the woman had been very pale both before and throughout
-the exhibition, and that no change in her appearance was perceived when
-the alarming symptoms occurred, excepting that the superficial veins of
-the neck and temple became distended with blood. The cessation of the
-pulse was most sudden. Mr. Callaway stated that it was not preceded by
-the least premonitory fluttering, the stroke having been good one beat,
-and entirely wanting the next. This order of symptoms was of course
-suggestive of death beginning at the heart (cardiac syncope), the
-cessation of the functions of the nervous system having been markedly
-subsequent to that of the circulation....
-
-“Autopsy, twenty-four hours after death (conducted by Dr. Wilks). The
-corpse was much emaciated, and the rigor mortis imperfect. The lungs
-were much congested with fluid blood, which ran out after incision of
-their substance. The heart was of normal size, but soft and flabby; its
-left side was nearly empty, the right being distended with fluid blood.
-The left ventricle was of good thickness; its muscle of a deep colour,
-not encroached on by fat, or in the least mottled, the only observable
-departure from a healthy state being its flabbiness. The right
-ventricular wall was very thin, the subserous fat having in some parts
-almost taken the place of the muscular tissue. The layer of the latter,
-however, although much thinned, had still a good colour, and did not
-appear to the naked eye as degenerated, an observation which may apply
-also to the carneæ columnæ. The liver was in an early stage of
-cirrhosis, and the kidneys were both of them mottled, and contained
-numerous small cysts in the external part. The brain was rather paler
-than usual, its convolutions appeared shrunken and atrophied, and there
-was a quantity of serous fluid in the arachnoid sac and in the
-ventricles. There was general atheromatous disease of the arterial
-system, both in the head and other parts of the body. The blood was
-universally fluid, and of a dark colour.”[116]
-
-As far as could be estimated, the time occupied by inhalation was about
-three minutes in this case.
-
-
-_Case 44_ occurred at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, on April 10th,
-1855, in a man on whom Mr. Bowman was about to perform excision of the
-left eyeball. The patient, named John Cannon, was forty years old, and
-was moderately stout, florid, and healthy-looking. He had generally led
-a temperate life. The disorganisation of the eye was the result of
-injury.
-
-“The inhaler used was the one devised and recommended by Dr. Snow....
-The administration was entrusted to Dr. Playne, of King’s College
-Hospital. In the commencement of the inhalation, the valve of the
-mouth-piece was so turned as to admit an abundant supply of air, a point
-to which Mr. Bowman directed personal attention. During the first four
-minutes (more or less) nothing unusual occurred. Dr. Playne, who had his
-finger on the pulse, had noticed that it had rather increased in
-fulness, and was of good volume. Rather suddenly, however, just as the
-anæsthetic appeared to be producing its effect, symptoms of excitement
-occurred. The eyes became fixed and staring, the arms outstretched and
-rigid, and the face contorted. It was now impracticable to feel the
-pulse, on account of the tossing about of the arms; but, as is usual in
-such conditions, the respiration was noticed to be all but, if not
-quite, suspended by the spasmodic fixture of the chest. The inhaler was
-at once removed, and the face and chest of the patient dashed with cold
-water. Almost immediately after, as the respirations had become
-extremely feeble and sighing, Mr. Bowman commenced practising artificial
-breathing, by the application of his own mouth to that of the patient.
-By this means, the chest was made to fill very completely, and the
-process was kept up almost without intermission for from five to eight
-minutes. During the first three or four minutes after the alarm began,
-the patient continued at times to make slight sighing efforts at
-voluntary inspiration, and the case was not thought, by those looking
-on, to be by any means hopeless. At length, however, these finally
-ceased, and from that time it was apparent that the man was dead.... At
-the first opportunity which occurred for examining it after the
-spasmodic struggling had commenced, the pulse was found to be extinct,
-and it remained so ever after, although there were, as stated, feeble
-efforts at inspiration. The patient’s countenance changed somewhat
-during the treatment, but was mostly suffused and congested.”
-
-At the examination of the body forty-eight hours after death, “the
-sinuses, and the veins of the brain generally, were much congested, and
-there was some œdema of the brain substance. The heart, excepting some
-slight deposits on the curtains of the mitral valve, was healthy. Its
-muscular substance was easily lacerable. The right ventricle contained a
-considerable quantity of fluid blood, the left was nearly empty. There
-were some pleuritic adhesions, and the lungs generally were congested,
-being also in some parts full of air. The blood in every organ examined
-was fluid, and without trace of coagulation.”[117]
-
-It does not seem that the inhaler used in this case was employed with
-the object for which it was contrived—that of regulating the amount of
-vapour in the inspired air; and I do not know whether the bibulous paper
-was arranged properly in the interior.
-
-
-_Case 45._ On September 8th, 1855, a lady, aged twenty-nine, the wife of
-a physician, died suddenly whilst inhaling chloroform for the relief of
-facial neuralgia. I was sent for when the accident happened, and arrived
-twenty minutes afterwards. I found the deceased lady without any sign of
-life. The face and lips were very pallid. The husband was performing
-artificial respiration by mouth to mouth inflation of the lungs, and
-alternate pressure on the chest, and I assisted him in this for a long
-time, though with no hope that any thing could be of service. Dr.
-Barker, of Grosvenor Street, arrived soon after me, and assisted in the
-same measures. An inhaler was employed in this case consisting of a
-face-piece, like the one above delineated in this work, and a bent metal
-tube lined with bibulous paper. Two quantities of ten minims each had
-been inhaled, with some relief to the pain, and without causing
-unconsciousness when the inhaler and the chloroform were put away in a
-closet; but the patient begged to have more chloroform, in order to be
-completely relieved of the pain, as she had been on a previous day. Ten
-minims more chloroform, as I was informed, were put into the inhaler,
-and the patient, being seated on a sofa, began to inhale very eagerly,
-but had no sooner commenced than she gave a sudden start, as if taken in
-some kind of fit. Her husband laid her on the floor, but she evinced no
-further signs of life.
-
-There was no inspection of the body.
-
-The only explanation which the case admits of is that, in her eagerness
-to get relief, the patient took one or more inspirations of air very
-highly charged with vapour. The symptoms were those of death by cardiac
-syncope.
-
-
-_Case 46_ occurred in the practice of Dr. Roberts, a surgeon dentist of
-Edinburgh. The patient was a lady, thirty-six years of age, to whom Dr.
-Roberts had administered chloroform on four previous occasions within a
-twelve-month. Dr. Roberts says the chloroform was administered in the
-usual way, by which he means on a handkerchief. He says: “Mrs. H. had
-only taken about nine or ten inspirations, obtaining but a partial
-influence of a quantity short of ʒiss poured out from the bottle, and
-inhaling it for a space of time certainly less than a minute, when she
-said, ‘You must not operate until I am quite insensible;’ and again, ‘I
-am not over yet;’ and immediately, even while speaking, she gave a
-convulsive start, and with a stertorous inspiration, and with the eyes
-and mouth open, sunk to the floor.” Dr. Simpson was sent for, and
-arrived within five minutes. Artificial respiration was resorted to, and
-after it had been applied for a time, there were a few spontaneous
-inspirations, and the pulse, it is said, could be perceived at the
-wrist; but these symptoms of reviving animation disappeared.
-
-At the examination of the body, the right cavities of the heart were
-found gorged with blood. The walls of the right ventricle were thinner
-than natural, and affected to a certain extent with fatty
-degeneration.[118]
-
-A paragraph was inserted in some of the Edinburgh newspapers, and
-forwarded by Dr. Roberts to the _Lancet_,[119] in which it was implied
-that death in this case was not caused by the chloroform. It is,
-however, like the preceding case, a well marked instance of the sudden
-and fatal action of this agent.
-
-
-_Case 47._ A sailor, aged thirty, died whilst inhaling chloroform in St.
-Thomas’ Hospital, in October 1856, preparatory to having some necrosed
-bone removed from one of his fingers. “He did not appear to be in robust
-health; still there was no obvious reason against his having the
-chloroform, which was accordingly administered as follows. One drachm
-was poured on a sponge folded between two thicknesses of lint, and this
-held at a little distance from his mouth, while he was sitting in a
-chair. He appeared to be going off very comfortably, when the chloroform
-was left off for from half a minute to a minute, and then resumed. He
-now began to raise his hands and tremble, and kept spitting in the lint,
-and appeared as if about to vomit. Suddenly he was violently convulsed
-through his whole frame, as if in an epileptic fit. The chloroform was
-at once discontinued, and he was laid in a semi-horizontal posture. The
-convulsion only lasted for a few seconds, and when it had ceased he
-began to breathe with effort and puffing of the lips, and almost
-immediately to gasp irregularly. His pulse was almost imperceptible and
-intermittent. Artificial respiration was at once performed by alternate
-compression and relaxation of the walls of the chest, the tongue being
-held out of the mouth by the forceps. Ammonia was applied to the
-nostrils, and cold water dashed in the face, and in about a minute he
-rallied so as to breathe without assistance, but in a few seconds he
-relapsed, and could not be recovered.
-
-“At the post-mortem examination there was found to be fatty degeneration
-of the heart, liver, and spleen, and the membranes of the brain were
-thickened. The lining of the ventricles presented a peculiar pitted
-appearance, apparently from inflammatory deposit. The brain itself was
-pale.”[120]
-
-“It was ascertained after the man’s death that he had been of
-intemperate habits, and had had an attack of delirium tremens three
-weeks previously. In the report of this case in the _Association Medical
-Journal_, the following is the account of the appearances met with after
-death. In the autopsy in the present case, which we observed with
-particular care, the brain was in a state of œdema and bloodlessness,
-very like the brain in a patient who died from chloroform in the
-Ophthalmic Hospital. The liver was fatty; but the heart seemed the very
-model or type of the healthiest kind of heart. All the other organs were
-also healthy.”[121]
-
-
-_Case 48_ is related by Mr. Paget as follows. “I am anxious to place
-before the profession, at the earliest opportunity, a narrative of a
-case in which chloroform proved fatal in my private practice.
-
-“The patient was a boy, nine years old, of delicate constitution, and of
-nervous, timid disposition; but with no indication of any organic
-disease, except that for which the operation was to be performed:
-namely, a tumour of the scapula; for which it was proposed to remove the
-greater part of that bone.
-
-“At half-past eight A.M., on February 28th, after the patient had passed
-a night of sound sleep, the chloroform was first administered in a room
-adjoining that in which the operation was to be performed. He was
-alarmed at the thought of being put to sleep, and of what would then be
-done, and was very averse from taking chloroform, but he was persuaded
-to inhale it; and, though not without resistance, yet with less than is
-commonly made by patients of the same age, he was brought under its full
-influence in about three minutes. He sat in bed during the first few
-inspirations, and after these, was recumbent. It was observed that two
-or three deep inhalations were quickly followed by complete
-insensibility; and the next few inspirations were stertorous. He was at
-once carried, in the horizontal posture, into the room, and laid on the
-table, arranged for the operation.
-
-“Three or four minutes passed while we were arranging his position and
-his dress, and while I was pointing out to those who were to assist me
-the proposed plan of operation. During this time the influence of the
-chloroform so far passed off, that he became sensible, displaced his
-coverings and pillows, said something expressive of discomfort, and
-vomited a small quantity of frothy fluid. (He had taken no food since
-the previous night, when he had had a good supper.) A very small
-quantity more of chloroform was slowly inhaled, and he became again
-nearly quiet, and was again placed on his side. I was on the point of
-commencing the operation, but as he again, by movements, indicated some
-degree of sensibility, and changed his posture, about forty drops more
-of chloroform were poured on cotton wool, inclosed in a fold of lint,—an
-inhaler, with the chloroform on sponge, having been previously used. The
-lint was held, about half an inch from the face, by Mr. Thomas Smith, my
-usual assistant in operations. The patient inhaled lightly for a few
-times, then made one long inspiration, and appeared to pass at once into
-deep sleep. Except that he thus appeared to come suddenly under the full
-influence of chloroform, no external change was visible; but, a few
-seconds later, his pulse, which had been carefully watched, and had been
-to this time normal, suddenly began to beat very quickly; then it ceased
-for two or three seconds; then beat rapidly several times, with a kind
-of flickering movement; and then ceased to be perceptible.
-
-“Just before this change of the pulse was observed, the chloroform had
-been withdrawn. The one deep inspiration was followed by a few
-stertorous breathings, but after these he breathed naturally, his
-complexion and features showed no change, he seemed only calmly asleep,
-and in this state he continued breathing naturally, and with no change
-in his appearance, but pulseless, for at least a minute. Then his
-breathing became less frequent, and seemed as if it might soon cease;
-his face grew pale, and his lips very slightly livid.
-
-“With the help of cold water sprinkled on his chest and face, and cold
-air blown on his face and throat, he was raised from this state of
-defective breathing in about two minutes, and again breathed deeply and
-freely, though slowly, (probably about twelve times in the minute.) He
-thus breathed for two or three minutes, and during this time the lips,
-and the pale or slightly livid parts of the face, became pink again, and
-though no pulse could be felt at the wrists, the heart was heard acting.
-During this time, also, some wine and brandy were poured into the mouth,
-and passed down the œsophagus, but without any evident movements of
-swallowing. His breathing again became gradually infrequent and feeble.
-Cold air and sprinkling with water, frictions and percussions of the
-chest, scarcely increased the breathing, and in less than two minutes it
-ceased. Artificial respiration, by the method of Dr. Marshall Hall, was
-immediately employed, and many times during the first five minutes of
-its employment the artificial inspiration obtained, when turning the
-body over to its side, was followed by a distinct, and sometimes even a
-full muscular inspiration. But at the end of about five minutes, these
-signs of life ceased, fæces escaped, and no more indications of life
-appeared, though the artificial breathing, the friction of the limbs,
-and other means for resuscitation, were continued for twenty or more
-minutes.
-
-“I refrain, at present, from all comments on this case. Only, I wish to
-call particular attention to the fact that good breathing was
-maintained, and, after a suspension, was renewed, long after the heart
-had ceased to act with sufficient force to produce a pulse at the wrist.
-And I would add, that this narration is sanctioned and considered to be
-exact, by the four gentlemen who were to have assisted in the operation,
-and to whom I am greatly indebted for their counsel and assistance in
-the greater difficulty that we had to cope with.”[122]
-
-
-_Case 49._ This case occurred in the Liverpool Infirmary on April 5,
-1857, and is related by Mr. Allan, the resident officer who administered
-the chloroform. The subject of the case was a labourer, aged 35, on whom
-Mr. Bickersteth was about to perform amputation of the thigh on account
-of gangrene following the ligature of the femoral artery. He had inhaled
-the chloroform six days previously without ill effects, when the femoral
-artery was tied for popliteal aneurism. On the day of the accident, he
-was first rendered insensible in the ward by chloroform poured on a
-piece of lint which was held a short distance from the nose and mouth.
-Having partially recovered during his removal into the operating
-theatre, the chloroform was reapplied, and Mr. Allan relates what
-occurred as follows: “About half a drachm of chloroform was now poured
-on some lint, which was held to the nostrils, and he then became _fully_
-under the influence; respirations _good_; pulse frequent, feeble. The
-operation was about to be commenced, and I was pouring about twenty
-minims more chloroform on the lint, (having pronounced the patient to be
-in a fit state,) so as to be ready to give him some more as occasion
-required, but had not applied it, when, turning round, I noticed
-something peculiar in his general appearance, and, on lifting up the
-eyelid, found the pupil dilated, and the lid did not close over on the
-removal of the finger; the eyes were slightly turned up. I at once felt
-for the temporal artery, but there was no pulsation, and none detected
-at the left wrist; the respirations had almost ceased. The head was
-lowered, cold water was dashed on the face, and the abdomen struck with
-the palm of the hand; the finger thrust into the mouth (there was no
-action of the heart felt); the legs were elevated, and a wet towel was
-dabbed over the epigastrium. After one or two blows, the respirations
-became better, and seemed good, and in about two minutes a pulse was
-felt at the wrist. This continued between two and three minutes, the
-respiration being good. His pulse then began to fail, and in about a
-minute more the respirations were less. The tongue was seized with a
-pair of forceps, and drawn forwards, and artificial respiration tried,
-and ammonia held to the nostrils; but he was becoming livid in the face,
-so the Ready Method was at once adopted, and this produced apparently a
-few _natural_ respirations. But the pulse had gone, and in about two
-minutes more there was no breathing save artificial. About the time that
-the pulse stopped, there was a convulsive movement of the muscles of the
-leg, and a slight clamminess of the skin succeeded. The Ready Method was
-continued for half an hour, and galvanism tried, but without avail. From
-the time he was placed on the table to his death, or the cessation of
-natural respiration, about ten minutes elapsed.”
-
-The writer adds: “He apparently sank from syncope, or cessation of the
-heart’s action, for his respiration had been good just before he
-changed, and it continued for a second or two, though faint, when the
-pulse had stopped; and after the respiration had been restored, and was
-very good, the pulse was very feeble, and ceased two minutes before the
-respiration.”
-
-At the autopsy on the following day, the brain was found to be healthy,
-tolerably firm, and pale; the lungs were healthy; the right cavities of
-the heart contained some fluid blood, which afterwards coagulated on
-exposure, and a small clot. The left cavities also contained some blood.
-The muscular tissue of the heart had an unhealthy look, and very readily
-tore, but no oil globules were discovered with the aid of the
-microscope.[123]
-
-
-_Case 50_ occurred in King’s College Hospital, August 7th, 1857. The
-following is the account of the case furnished by Mr. C. Heath, the
-House-surgeon:—
-
-“The patient [Ann Stoner] was a female, aged seventeen, under Mr.
-Partridge’s care, with syphilitic warts and mucous tubercles. She was
-admitted July 8th, and had had chloroform administered twice, in order
-that the sores might be touched with nitric acid, and, on both
-occasions, not the slightest ill effect was produced. On Friday evening
-last, chloroform was again administered for the same purpose; only a
-drachm was put into the inhaler (Snow’s), and as soon as she became
-unconscious the inhaler was removed, and the acid applied. I and my
-assistant (who administered the chloroform), then went to see another
-patient in the same ward, and then washed our hands, during which time
-the patient was moving her legs about much as they do when recovering,
-and in addition she made water over the bed. I gave directions to the
-nurse to apply a poultice as usual, and left the ward, having been up to
-the bed first without noticing anything unusual about the patient. In a
-few minutes the nurse came down for some medicine for another patient,
-and mentioned that this one was looking very pale: I sent up Mr. Liddon
-to see her at once; he found her pale and senseless, dashed some water
-over her, and called me, and I went up immediately. I found her
-pulseless and cold, and immediately commenced artificial respiration
-(Marshall Hall), and sent for the galvanic battery; this was brought and
-applied without effect, and the artificial respiration was continued for
-twenty-five minutes without the slightest effect being produced.”[124]
-
-I was present at the examination of the body on the following day. The
-mouth was sore and swollen from the effects of the inunction of mercury.
-There were a few drachms of clear serum in the pericardium. The heart
-was large for the size of the patient. There was a patch of organised
-lymph on the pericardium, covering the left ventricle. The right
-cavities of the heart were full of dark fluid blood, and the left
-cavities contained a little. The mitral valve was much thickened, but
-the other valves were healthy. The lungs were healthy, and not much
-congested. The brain was healthy. The patient had suffered from acute
-rheumatism before entering the hospital.
-
-It will be observed that the pulse is not mentioned in the above case,
-until its absence is alluded to, when the patient was already cold, and
-the breathing is not alluded to throughout the account; indeed, it is
-not known when the patient died. She was alive after the application of
-the nitric acid, as she was observed to move her legs, but further than
-this there is no clear evidence.
-
-It is perhaps an open question whether this patient died at once from
-the direct effects of the chloroform, or whether she died after
-partially recovering and going on favourably for a time. The account
-would, at first view, seem to favour the latter opinion, but it is not
-corroborated by any other case. Patients have been partially recovered
-from the effects of an overdose, without being entirely restored, and
-others have sunk after great operations, attended with hæmorrhage, when
-the effects of the chloroform had more or less subsided, but there is no
-instance of a patient going on favourably, and partially recovering from
-the influence of the vapour, and then dying suddenly without any other
-known cause. Patients have occasionally become faint whilst recovering
-from chloroform, more especially if they remain in the sitting posture,
-but in those cases the right side of the heart is probably
-insufficiently supplied with blood; whilst, in the case under
-consideration, the patient was lying, and the right cavities of the
-heart were found full after death, the serum in the pericardium showing
-that they had probably been distended when death took place. If Mr.
-Heath had made any observation which enabled him to say that the patient
-was really alive, when he went up to the foot of the bed, before leaving
-the ward, it would decide the question, and show that death did not take
-place at once from the direct effects of the chloroform, but he only
-makes the negative remark that he did not notice anything unusual about
-the patient.
-
-I had an opportunity of examining the particular inhaler employed, and
-found that it was so arranged that the vapour might be breathed from it
-in much greater proportion than would be safe, if precautions were not
-taken to leave the expiratory valve a considerable way open, especially
-when the high temperature of the weather at the time is taken into
-account.
-
-
-The foregoing cases comprise all the instances I have seen recorded in
-which death appears to have been occasioned by the administration of
-chloroform, and not by other causes in operation about the same time. A
-few additional cases have indeed been referred to by different authors
-where death was probably caused by chloroform, but as I do not find that
-the details have been published, I cannot make them available in an
-inquiry respecting the cause and prevention of these accidents.
-
-In June 1852, Dr. Simpson alluded in the following terms to an accident
-from chloroform which had occurred near Glasgow:—“In this instance,
-chloroform was given by the practitioner for tooth extraction; but, I am
-sorry to add, none of the parties present were at the time in a
-condition to give any satisfactory evidence.”[125]
-
-A person, named Breton, a dealer in porcelain, died in Paris, in the
-early part of 1853, immediately after a few inspirations of chloroform,
-which was administered with the intention of removing a tumour of the
-cheek. An action was brought against Dr. Triquet and M. Masson for
-causing death by imprudence in this case; and at the trial which ensued,
-various interesting opinions were given, and the accused practitioners
-were ultimately exonerated.[126] I have not, however, met with any
-record of the symptoms which occurred in the case.
-
-In relating the case of death from chloroform, which occurred in his
-practice, to the Medical and Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, Dr.
-Roberts referred to another death from chloroform in tooth-drawing which
-took place in the neighbourhood from which his own patient came, just
-previously to October 1855; but I have not met with any account of the
-case so alluded to. Dr. Mackenzie of Kelso also alluded in the same
-Society, in the following year, to a death from chloroform which had
-occurred at Coldstream, and I do not know whether this was the case to
-which Dr. Roberts had alluded, or a fresh one.
-
-One of the surgeons to the hospital at St. Louis, who was lately
-visiting the medical institutions of London, informed me that there had
-been three deaths from chloroform at his hospital out of between six and
-seven hundred operations in which it had been administered. I did not
-learn the particulars of those fatal cases.
-
-There have been several cases in which persons have been found dead
-after inhaling chloroform when no one else was present, either for
-toothache or some other affection, but I have not included such cases in
-the above list, as they throw no light on the way in which death is
-occasioned. The simple way to avoid such accidents as those just alluded
-to, is for persons to abstain from inhaling chloroform, when no one is
-by to watch its effects.
-
-
- ALLEGED FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.
-
-Several deaths have been attributed to chloroform which were due to
-other causes, or where the cause of death is a subject of great doubt. A
-gentleman, named Walter Badger, twenty-two years of age, the son of one
-of the coroners for the county of York, died instantly at Mr.
-Robinson’s, the dentist’s, in Gower Street, on June 30th, 1848, whilst
-commencing to inhale chloroform with the intention of having some teeth
-extracted. The inhaler employed consisted of a face-piece to enclose the
-mouth and nostrils, and containing a sponge on which the chloroform
-(ʒiss) was placed. This, according to the evidence of Mr. Robinson and
-his female servant, who was present in the room, was held not nearer
-than an inch and a half from the face for less than a minute, and the
-patient made the remark that the chloroform was not strong enough; Mr.
-Robinson requested him, as he had done before, to have the operation
-performed without chloroform, but he again declined; and Mr. Robinson
-then took away the face-piece and asked his servant to reach the bottle,
-intending to put more chloroform on the sponge, to replace that which he
-believed had been lost by evaporation. Just after removing the
-face-piece, and before any fresh chloroform was poured out, the head and
-hand of the patient dropped, and he did not show any further sign of
-life.
-
-I found, on making trial of the kind of inhaler which Mr. Robinson
-employed, that it is impossible to inhale enough of the vapour to
-produce any appreciable effect, unless it is applied so as to touch the
-face. At the distance of an inch no effect is produced, even in five or
-ten minutes; and therefore I expressed my opinion, soon after this
-accident, that it was not caused by the chloroform, which properly
-speaking the patient did not inhale.
-
-A consideration of the symptoms in this case confirms the view that the
-death was not caused by chloroform. In six of the fatal cases related
-above, death took place instantaneously, without insensibility or any of
-the usual effects of chloroform having been produced; but the mode of
-dying was not the same as in Mr. Robinson’s patient. In Case 4, that of
-Madlle. Stock, the patient said “I choke”, and tried to push away the
-handkerchief; then there was embarrassed breathing and foaming at the
-mouth. In Case 11, that of Madame Labrune, the fatal attack followed
-immediately on a full inspiration of chloroform, and there was an
-immediate alteration of the features, and a convulsive rolling of the
-eyes, amongst other symptoms. In Case 14, the young lady stretched
-herself out, and frothed at the mouth, at the moment of the fatal
-attack, and the face became livid. In Case 26, that of Madame W., who
-died at Ulm, the voice, when answering the question about singing in her
-ears, was trembling and thick; she stretched out her limbs, and the face
-became bluish. In Case 45, that of the wife of a medical man, and in 46,
-that of Dr. Roberts’s patient in Edinburgh, there was a convulsive start
-at the moment of the sudden death. It thus appears that when the heart
-is suddenly paralysed by an overdose of chloroform, before the patient
-is rendered insensible, there are usually some symptoms as if of a
-violent shock or injury. After complete insensibility is induced, the
-heart may be suddenly paralysed by chloroform, as is shown by numerous
-cases, without this spasmodic action; and it would perhaps be premature
-to deny that a patient might die thus quietly without being first made
-insensible; and the nature of the death in this particular case must be
-chiefly decided by the physical fact that the patient could not have
-inhaled enough chloroform to produce an appreciable effect of any kind,
-much less to cause sudden death.
-
-At the inspection of the body, the liver was found so much enlarged that
-it weighed eight pounds, and it encroached very much on the chest. The
-walls of the left ventricle of the heart were found thinner than
-natural, and the muscular tissue was interspersed with fatty
-degeneration. There was blood in the right auricle and in both
-ventricles. In the ventricles it was partly coagulated. The brain
-presented nothing abnormal.[127]
-
-It is probable that the immediate cause of death in this instance was
-fear. The patient had been told in the country that it would be unsafe
-for him to take chloroform, and yet he could not summon resolution to
-undergo the operation without it. Mr. Robinson unfortunately allowed his
-patient to remain seated in the operating chair; and it was only when
-Dr. Waters had been sent for and arrived from a neighbouring street that
-he was laid on the floor.
-
-I was present on one occasion with Mr. Peter Marshall at the examination
-of the body of a woman who died suddenly of fright in consequence of a
-fire in the next house to that in which she lived, and it is worthy of
-remark that we found exactly the same diseased conditions as those which
-were found in Mr. Robinson’s patient; viz., great enlargement of the
-liver, displacing the viscera of the chest, and fatty degeneration of
-the heart.
-
-A young man, aged twenty-four, died suddenly of syncope, on June 25th,
-1848, at the Hospital Beaujon, at Paris, whilst M. Robert was performing
-amputation at the hip joint, the thigh bone having been broken into
-splinters by a bullet during the conflict in the streets of Paris. The
-patient was in a state of great depression, both physical and moral,
-before the operation; and it is most likely that he sank under the
-combined effects of the injury and the operation.
-
-Another patient had the neck of the humerus broken by a ball in the same
-conflict; he was much reduced by hæmorrhage and gangrene of the wound;
-M. Malgaigne performed disarticulation at the shoulder joint; a fresh
-inhalation took place to enable him to search for the ball, and the
-patient sank and died during the last incisions. This patient also most
-probably died from the effects of the operation added to those of the
-previous injury and loss of blood.
-
-A woman died in Paris, 1848, after removal of the breast. The operation
-was finished, and the chloroform had been left off some time, and the
-patient had become conscious, when on raising her into a sitting
-posture, in order to apply a bandage, she suddenly expired. Although the
-chloroform was blamed in this instance, death evidently took place by
-the ordinary kind of syncope, which arises from the heart not being
-supplied with blood, and which may be called anæmic syncope, in
-contradistinction to cardiac syncope, which begins at the heart itself,
-when properly supplied, or even when distended with blood.
-
-A child, aged twelve years, died in the hospital at Madrid in 1849,
-during amputation of the leg after violent tetanic rigidity.[128] Death
-was attributed to the chloroform which had been inhaled, but no further
-particulars are given, and it is not stated whether or not there was any
-unusual hæmorrhage, or other cause, which would explain the fatal event.
-
-Dr. Aschendorf has attributed the death of a child a year old to
-chloroform.[129] The child had a nævus on the face and neck, which
-extended from the zygoma to the os hyoides, and from the external
-auditory meatus to the maxillary fossa. No one had been willing to
-undertake its removal. Dr. Aschendorf operated on the nævus at three
-different times, by means of seton threads. These operations were
-performed under the influence of chloroform. The tumour was reduced
-one-third part in size by these means, and eleven weeks afterwards Dr.
-Aschendorf determined to extirpate it. The chloroform was administered
-as on the former occasions, by placing six drops on some tow in a cup.
-In about ten minutes, as the child cried a little, three drops more of
-chloroform were used for inhalation, and in about eight minutes more the
-operation was concluded. “On raising the child it laid its head on one
-side, convulsive twitches of the face were observed, with distortion of
-the eyeballs and dilatation of the pupils. For one moment the arms were
-stretched out stiff, then again they were relaxed, and fell as supple as
-the rest of the body. Death quickly followed—only one pulsation of the
-heart and a single râle with the expiration being perceived.”
-
-There can be no doubt of this being a case of death from hæmorrhage,
-after the direct effects of the chloroform had subsided. Dr. Aschendorf
-says the quantity of blood lost was about two tablespoonfuls; but it
-would be necessarily removed by sponges during the operation, and there
-would be no means of estimating the quantity. The child was probably in
-a state of syncope during the latter part of the operation, as it would
-not remain insensible to the knife for eight minutes from a single
-application of chloroform.
-
-On September 15th, 1852, a patient died to whom I was administering
-chloroform whilst Mr. Cæsar Hawkins was performing lithotrity. He was a
-gentleman from the country, aged seventy-three; he was tall and stout,
-he had a weak intermitting pulse, and a well marked arcus senilis in
-each cornea. He had inhaled chloroform five or six times, between May
-1850 and May 1851, for the same operation, when under the treatment of
-another surgeon, and it always acted favourably. In the first week of
-December 1851, Mr. Hawkins performed the operation of lithotrity twice,
-when the chloroform was administered by Mr. Geo. D. Pollock. On the
-second of these occasions he became faint during the operation whilst
-under the influence of the chloroform, but recovered from the faintness
-before its conclusion. He again fell into a very alarming state of
-syncope a few minutes after the conclusion of the operation, but
-rallied, and vomited the breakfast which he had taken a little time
-before. I first administered the chloroform to this patient on December
-15th, 1851, eleven days after the above occurrence. Mr. Hawkins and I
-were inclined to think that the alarming syncope on the previous
-occasion might have been connected with the sickness which occurred. It
-was my firm belief that the patient had fatty disease of the heart; but
-I did not see any great objection to the chloroform on that account, as
-I had frequently given it in similar cases, and always with a favourable
-result. On this occasion (December 15th) he inhaled the chloroform
-before breakfast. Its effects were quite satisfactory, and it was not
-accompanied or followed by any unpleasant symptoms whatever. The
-operation was repeated four days afterwards, when I again exhibited the
-chloroform with like favourable results. After this the patient went
-back to the country relieved from his stone. He came back, however, in
-the autumn of 1852, with a return of his complaint, and I was again
-requested by Mr. Hawkins to assist him by giving the chloroform on
-September 15th.
-
-The patient became insensible, without any excitement or struggling, in
-the course of three or four minutes, and the operation was commenced. A
-little more chloroform was administered two or three times during the
-operation, in order to keep up the insensibility. After a few minutes
-had elapsed, I observed that the face and lips of the patient became
-pale. At this time he had not inhaled any chloroform for about two
-minutes. Immediately afterwards, however, his face became red, and he
-made straining efforts with the muscles of respiration, as if he were
-beginning to feel the operation. To prevent his becoming altogether
-sensible, therefore, I commenced to give him a little more chloroform,
-with the valve of the inhaler about one-third open, as on the former
-occasions. He had only taken two or three inspirations, however, when
-the breathing ceased. He appeared to be merely holding his breath, as
-sometimes happens during the exhibition of chloroform, and I expected
-that he would begin to breathe again in about a quarter of a minute. In
-the meantime, I endeavoured to feel the pulse in the temporal artery,
-but did not perceive any. Instead of the breathing recommencing at the
-time I expected, the countenance became suddenly pale, and a little
-afterwards rather livid. I applied my ear over the region of the heart,
-but could not hear any sound. After a few seconds, however, the patient
-took a rather deep inspiration, and immediately after this I was pretty
-sure that I heard the heart beating very feebly and rather frequently,
-but only for a few seconds, after which no sound could be heard. There
-were one or two more very feeble inspirations at intervals of about a
-quarter of a minute, after which there were no further signs of life. As
-soon as the patient had entirely ceased to breathe, artificial
-respiration was performed, but no sign of returning animation appeared.
-
-At the examination of the body fifty-two hours after death, the heart
-was found to be larger than natural, and there was a good deal of fat on
-its surface. Its right cavities contained air or gas, probably resulting
-from the partial decomposition of the blood. The right ventricle was
-dilated, and its walls were very thin. At one place, near the apex, they
-were extremely thin. The left ventricle was also dilated, but its walls
-were of the proper thickness. They were, however, like those of the
-other ventricle, very soft and friable. There was a calcareous
-incrustation on one of the aortic valves. There was scarcely any blood
-in the heart, but its lining membrane was stained in places, showing
-that blood had been present after death.
-
-Mr. Pollock and the late Mr. W. F. Barlow examined the structure of the
-heart under the microscope, and the latter gentleman furnished me with
-the following account of the examination:—
-
-“Many of the fibres have been converted into fat completely; in others,
-fatty degeneration was beginning. The degeneration, which was in various
-stages, appeared very general. The fasciculi were broken up, here and
-there, into masses of small irregular fragments, as they may be found
-frequently in hearts of this kind. Some large fat globules lay between
-and upon the fibres. A few fibres showed their transverse striæ plainly,
-and made the changes in the others look the clearer. On the whole, it
-may be said that the structure of the organ was greatly damaged, and
-that its action, consequently, was liable to cease suddenly from slight
-causes.”
-
-I am of opinion that this patient did not die from the direct effects of
-the chloroform. The air he was breathing just before he died did not
-contain more than three or four per cent. of vapour of chloroform at the
-utmost, and he had previously breathed quite as much, both during the
-same operation and on previous occasions. The patient seemed to be
-holding his breath at the moment when his heart ceased to beat; and it
-is whilst holding the breath, and making a straining effort, that
-patients labouring under disease of the heart not unfrequently expire.
-Mr. Pollock, who was present when the patient died, expressed to me his
-belief that he died of his heart disease, and not of the chloroform.
-
-After reflecting on this case, I see no reason to regret the course
-which was pursued. It was the opinion of Mr. Hawkins that the patient
-could not have borne the operations without the chloroform;
-consequently, if we had decided not to permit its use any more, in
-consequence of the alarming syncope which occurred after the operation
-under its influence on December 4th, 1851, he would probably have died
-in great suffering from the calculus, instead of having seven or eight
-months freedom from the complaint. And, on the other hand, if it had
-been decided to operate without chloroform, it by no means follows that
-the patient would have been in less danger, judging from what I have
-observed of the effect of pain on the circulation, as compared with the
-effect of the chloroform carefully administered, in numerous other cases
-of disease of the heart.
-
-On May 11th, 1854, a patient died suddenly in St. George’s Hospital as
-she was beginning to inhale chloroform. She was a pale and delicate
-looking woman, aged thirty-seven, from whose left breast Mr. Cæsar
-Hawkins was about to remove a mammary glandular tumour. “On entering the
-operating theatre she appeared nervous. Having been placed on the table
-on her back, in a half reclining position, the administration of
-chloroform was commenced. Dr. Snow’s inhaler was used. The quantity of
-chloroform placed in the receiver was a little more than a drachm; and
-the valve for the admission of air was left wide open. Apparently, from
-excitement, she did not inhale well, but drew her breath by deep
-catches, and irregularly. Mr. Potter, noticing this, spoke to her,
-begging her to compose herself, and try to breathe more quietly. The
-valve was then slightly turned on, in order that she might inhale but a
-very small quantity of chloroform. The same spasmodic efforts at
-inspiration still continued; very shortly afterwards, at most not more
-than a minute and a half from the commencement of the inhalation, Mr.
-Potter noticed her breathing to suddenly cease, and that she had become
-deathly pale. The inhaler was at once removed. On placing the finger on
-the wrist, no pulse could be found. Endeavours to arouse her by dashing
-the face and chest with water were immediately adopted; but, proving
-ineffectual, artificial respiration was commenced within a minute of the
-first symptoms. During the interval, two sighing attempts at inspiration
-had been observed; but there had been no pulse whatever; the mouth lay a
-little open, and the countenance was still extremely pale.”[130] Other
-attempts at resuscitation were made without effect.
-
-“At the post-mortem examination, on the following day, no very
-noticeable lesions of the viscera were discovered. There was congestion
-of the whole venous system, and the blood, in every organ, was of a deep
-purple colour, and quite fluid. The brain substance itself was perhaps a
-little more vascular than usual, and the veins of its meninges were
-loaded with blood. The heart was small and fat, the right ventricle
-being especially loaded with adipose material, and its muscular layer
-much thinned. Under the microscope there was found to be slight, yet
-decided, fatty degeneration of the muscular structure. Both chambers,
-but more particularly the right, were distended with blood in which no
-coagula could be found. The posterior lobes of the lungs were somewhat
-congested, but not more than the position in which the corpse had lain
-might account for. There was no disease of the abdominal viscera.”[131]
-
-I made a chemical examination of some blood obtained from the heart and
-large vessels, and also of portions of the lungs and liver, but I failed
-to detect any trace of chloroform, although the process I employed is
-one by which I have very easily detected it in the bodies of small
-animals killed by it, and also in portions of limbs and tumours removed
-whilst the patients were under its influence to the usual extent.
-
-It was impossible that this patient could have breathed air strongly
-charged with vapour. Every one in the operating theatre was a witness
-that the expiratory valve of the face-piece was not, at any time, more
-than one-third closed, being two-thirds open. In this way no great
-effect of any kind can be produced, as very little of the air which the
-patient breathes passes through the inhaler. Mr. Potter informed me,
-moreover, that the patient breathed very little even of air, her
-breathing was so much embarrassed by her frightened condition. He was
-trying to calm her apprehensions at the moment when she died.
-
-The mental emotion under which the patient was labouring was, no doubt,
-the cause of the sudden death in this instance, as in that above
-referred to, which occurred at Mr. Robinson’s. The mode of dying, in the
-present instance, was evidently by cardiac syncope; the same mode of
-death, in fact, as that which is occasioned by vapour of chloroform,
-when not sufficiently diluted; and it is only the absolute knowledge,
-that any small quantity of vapour which this patient inhaled was very
-largely diluted with air, that enables one to decide, with confidence,
-that the chloroform was not the cause of death. It may be observed,
-however, that there was an absence of the convulsive start or spasm
-which occurred in all those deaths from chloroform, which took place at
-the beginning of the inhalation, without loss of consciousness having
-been first induced.
-
-The right cavities of the heart were found full of blood in this case,
-and it is probable that they became so much distended, as the patient
-was in a state of alarm, and scarcely breathing, that, in the thin and
-diseased state of the walls of the right ventricle, the action of the
-heart was arrested. Sudden death not unfrequently takes place during
-mental emotion, and, in many of the cases, the mode of dying is probably
-that just mentioned.
-
-
- SYMPTOMS IN THE FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.
-
-Out of the fifty cases of death from chloroform, related above, there
-are five in which the symptoms at the time of death are not detailed,
-viz., Cases 6, 7, 21, 24, and 50; in the two first cases it is merely
-related that the patient suddenly expired, and, in the two last cases,
-no one was watching the patient at the time when death took place. In
-considering the remaining cases they may be conveniently divided into
-groups, according to the period of the inhalation at which the accident
-occurred. In six of the cases the fatal symptoms came on suddenly, at
-the beginning of the inhalation, before the patient had been rendered
-unconscious; in each of these cases there was the most unequivocal
-evidence of the sudden arrest of the action of the heart. In cases No. 4
-and No. 11 there was sudden pallor of the face at the moment when the
-circulation ceased. In Nos. 14 and 26 the face became livid at the time
-of the fatal attack, and, in Nos. 45 and 46, the colour of the face is
-not mentioned. In all these cases there were also symptoms as if of a
-sudden shock to the system, such as stretching out of the limbs, foaming
-at the mouth, rolling of the eyes, or a sudden convulsive start. In Case
-4, the patient at Boulogne had just complained of a choking feeling, one
-sign that the vapour she was breathing was not well diluted. In Case 11
-the fatal symptoms occurred immediately on a full inspiration; and in
-the other cases also the strength of the vapour was left to accident,
-and the result leads to the conclusion that it was very great at the
-moment before the fatal symptoms occurred.
-
-In thirteen cases the inhalation was discontinued on account of the
-sudden appearance of dangerous symptoms, after consciousness had been
-apparently suspended. These cases are numbered 9, 15, 17, 20, 27, 30,
-33, 35, 37, 40, 41, 44, and 47. In the greater number of these cases the
-over-action of the chloroform appeared to be exerted simply on the
-heart, the only dangerous symptoms being referrible to the paralysis of
-that organ; whilst in some of these cases symptoms of over-narcotism of
-the brain were conjoined with those connected with the heart. In the
-case of J. Verrier, No. 9, and in the case at Stockholm, No. 15, the
-sudden and entire cessation of the pulse was the symptom which first
-called attention to the danger of the patients, whilst the breathing was
-still going on. In Case 30 the woman became suddenly insensible and
-pulseless, after a short period of excitement. In Cases 35 and 40,
-although the pulse did not absolutely and entirely cease at once, its
-sudden failure was the first alarming symptom. In Case 20, at the Cavan
-Infirmary, the breathing and action of the heart ceased at the same
-moment. In Case 41, at the Middlesex Hospital, at a time when the pulse
-was full and steady, seventy in the minute, it gave a few rapid and
-irregular beats, and then ceased, and the breathing, which was free and
-deep, but not stertorous, ceased at the same time. In Case 15, which
-occurred at Jamaica, the patient, after a period of excitement, made one
-stertorous inspiration, when the breathing ceased. There were afterwards
-a few distant inspirations. The pulse is not mentioned; but it is pretty
-certain that it must have ceased about the time of the stertorous
-inspiration, or the additional inspirations which took place after the
-chloroform was withdrawn, would probably have restored the patient; to
-say nothing of the measures that were resorted to with a view to his
-resuscitation. Of Case 27, which happened at Melbourne, it is merely
-related that the patient spluttered at the mouth, and suddenly expired,
-just after a fresh portion of chloroform had been applied on the
-handkerchief. The symptom of spluttering at the mouth is recorded as
-occurring in other cases, just at the moment when the pulse had suddenly
-ceased.
-
-In Case 44, at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, the narcotism of the brain
-and nervous system proceeded as far as the third degree, which was
-attended with strong muscular spasms, as not infrequently happens; and
-an overdose of chloroform appears at this moment to have acted on the
-heart, for the pulse could not afterwards be felt. In Cases 33, 37, and
-47, the narcotism of the brain proceeded as far as the fourth degree,
-producing stertorous breathing, when the chloroform caused paralysis of
-the heart, by its direct action on that organ.
-
-There are six cases in which the fatal symptoms came on just after the
-patient had been rendered insensible, and the inhalation had been
-discontinued; the operation being about to be commenced. They are
-numbered 32, 34, 39, 43, 48, and 49. All these cases bear a very close
-resemblance to each other. In all of them the patient had been made
-insensible (satisfactorily so as it was thought), when in a few seconds
-the pulse suddenly stopped, or failed and fluttered just prior to
-stopping; in Case 32 Dr. Dunsmure thought the time was longer between
-the discontinuance of inhalation and the cessation of the pulse. The
-breathing continued a little time after the pulse ceased or failed in
-all these cases, and there was an absence of the spluttering at the
-mouth, stretching of the limbs, and other spasmodic actions, which
-occurred in all the six cases where the heart was paralysed at the
-beginning of the inhalation, before unconsciousness had been induced,
-and in some of those when the paralysis of the heart took place at a
-later period of the inhalation, when the patient had been apparently
-rendered unconscious, but was not yet insensible. In each of the six
-cases now under consideration, the fatal event was evidently occasioned
-by the vapour of chloroform, which remained in the lungs at the moment
-when the inhalation was discontinued. A portion of this vapour becoming
-absorbed, and added to that already in the blood, had the effect of
-paralysing the heart, when it circulated through the coronary arteries.
-
-There remain twenty-two cases in which the fatal symptoms came on during
-the course of the operation. In twenty of these cases the symptoms are
-described with more or less detail. I made some remarks respecting cases
-No. 1 and No. 2, in the place where they are related. In case No. 3, as
-in these cases, the patient appeared not quite insensible, and showed
-signs of pain during the operation, when “in a moment his pulse, which
-was full and natural, sank.” In case No. 5 the patient was probably dead
-when the incisions on the finger were commenced; the extreme suddenness
-of the death, and the absence of bleeding, show that death occurred in
-the way of syncope. The convulsive movements which just preceded death
-are worthy of note in connection with the other cases, in which death
-occurred immediately after the commencement of inhalation. Some remarks
-were appended to case No. 8. In case No. 10 paralysis of the heart is
-indicated by the absence of bleeding from the arteries, and the absence
-of pulse, whilst the breathing still continued for a short time. I made
-some remarks respecting case No. 12 when it was related. The patient
-seemed to die by embarrassed respiration, but whether that was caused by
-the action of the chloroform on the brain is doubtful. In case No. 13
-the patient died in a moment. In No. 16 the face turned pale, and the
-pulse and breathing ceased soon after the chloroform was discontinued,
-showing the effect of the vapour which was present in the lungs at the
-moment when the inhalation was left off.
-
-In Case 18 the livid countenance and sudden stopping of the pulse prove
-cardiac syncope. In Case 19 the blood which was gushing out suddenly
-stopped, and the patient expired. The congested state of the lungs and
-the blood in the right cavities of the heart prove that the syncope of
-which he expired was not the ordinary anæmic syncope from hæmorrhage; it
-was therefore cardiac syncope from the chloroform.
-
-In Case 22 the change of countenance and sudden character of the death
-are evidences of cardiac syncope. In Case 23 there was sudden cessation
-of the bleeding and of the pulse; in Case 25 the pulse suddenly ceased.
-In Case 28 the patient died suddenly, but the pulse was apparently not
-examined at the time. Some remarks have already been made on Case 29,
-which happened in the Manchester Infirmary. In Cases 31, 36, and 38 the
-suddenness of the death showed that it took place by syncope. In the
-last of these cases the pulse was being examined at the time it ceased.
-In Case 36 there was no examination of the dead body; but in 31 and 38
-the presence of blood in the right cavities of the heart indicates that
-the kind of syncope was cardiac syncope. Respecting Case 42, some
-remarks have already been made. The death commenced by deep coma, which
-embarrassed, and then suspended, the respiration, and cardiac syncope
-quickly followed. The chloroform was administered by a method which
-precluded the medical attendant from observing properly the most
-important symptoms.
-
-The accompanying table of the fatal cases of the inhalation of
-chloroform contains such short particulars respecting them as seemed
-capable of being tabulated, and it may assist the reader in retaining a
-more connected recollection of the facts previously related more in
-detail.
-
-
- MODE OF DEATH IN THE ACCIDENTS FROM CHLOROFORM.
-
-In all the cases in which the symptoms which occurred at the time of
-death are reported, there is every reason to conclude, as shown above,
-that death took place by cardiac syncope, or arrest of the action of the
-heart. In forty of these cases the symptoms of danger appeared to arise
-entirely from cardiac syncope, and were not complicated by the
-over-action of the chloroform on the brain. It was only in four cases
-that the breathing appeared to be embarrassed and arrested by the effect
-of the chloroform on the brain and medulla oblongata, at the time when
-the action of the heart was arrested by it; and only in one of these
-cases (No. 42) that the breathing was distinctly arrested by the effect
-of the chloroform, a few seconds before that agent also arrested the
-action of the heart.
-
-It was previously shown that chloroform vapour has the effect of
-suddenly arresting the action of the heart when it is mixed with the
-respired air to the extent of eight or ten per cent., or upwards; and we
-must therefore conclude that, in the fatal cases of its inhalation, the
-air the patients were breathing just before the accidents occurred
-contained this amount of vapour. There was no means adopted, so far as
-is reported, to regulate the proportion of vapour in the inspired air,
-in any case in which an accident happened; and there was the liability
-in every case that ten per cent. or more of vapour might be present in
-the air the patient breathed; and in no case did death occur in the
-manner that it occurs when the vapour of chloroform does not exceed five
-per cent. of the inspired air.
-
- TABLE OF FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.
-
- ───┬────────────┬────┬───────────────┬──────────┬───────────────
- No.│ Patient. │Age │ Operation for │ Position │Means by which
- │ │ in │ which the │ whilst │the chloroform
- │ │yrs.│chloroform was │inhaling. │was exhibited.
- │ │ │ inhaled. │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- ───┼────────────┼────┼───────────────┼──────────┼───────────────
- 1│Girl │ 15 │Removal of │Sitting │Towel
- │ │ │ toe-nail. │ │
- 2│Married lady│ 35 │Extraction of │Sitting │Inhaler
- │ │ │ teeth. │ │
- 3│Patrick │ │Operation for │Lying on │Handkerchief
- │ Coyle │ │ fistula in │ the side│
- │ │ │ ano │ │
- 4│Single lady │ 30 │Opening of │Lying │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ sinus in │ │
- │ │ │ thigh │ │
- 5│Young woman │ │Amputation of │ │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ the middle │ │
- │ │ │ finger │ │
- 6│Young man │ 22 │Transcurrent │ │Inhaler
- │ │ │ cauterisation│ │
- │ │ │ of wrist │ │
- 7│Young man │ │Intended │ │Probably
- │ │ │ removal of │ │ handkerchief
- │ │ │ toe-nail. │ │
- 8│Seaman │ 31 │Removal of │Lying on │Napkin
- │ │ │ hæmorrhoids │ the side│
- 9│Miner │ 17 │Intended │Lying │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ amputation of│ │
- │ │ │ middle finger│ │
- 10│Labourer │ 36 │Amputation of │ │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ toe │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 11│Married lady│ 33 │Intended │Sitting │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ extraction of│ │
- │ │ │ tooth │ │
- 12│Porter │ 48 │Removal of │Lying │Inhaler
- │ │ │ toe-nail │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 13│Married │ │Removal of │Probably │A sponge
- │ woman │ │ eyeball │ lying │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 14│Young lady │ 20 │Intended │Sitting │A sponge
- │ │ │ extraction of│ │ enclosed in a
- │ │ │ tooth │ │ napkin
- 15│A man │ │ │ │A sponge
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 16│Artilleryman│ 24 │Amputation of │ │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ middle finger│ │
- 17│Bookkeeper │ 30 │Intended │Lying │Napkin
- │ │ │ operation on │ │
- │ │ │ testicle │ │
- 18│Boy │ 8 │Sounding the │Lying │Piece of lint
- │ │ │ bladder │ │
- 19│Policeman │ 34 │Removal of │ │Napkin
- │ │ │ portion of │ │
- │ │ │ hand │ │
- 20│Man │ 24 │Intended │Lying │Folded lint in
- │ │ │ amputation of│ │ a hollow
- │ │ │ leg │ │ sponge
- 21│Man │ │Intended │Lying │
- │ │ │ operation on │ │
- │ │ │ the penis │ │
- 22│Married lady│ 36 │Extraction of │Sitting │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ teeth │ │
- 23│Mulatto │ 45 │Removal of │Lying │Napkin
- │ seaman │ │ testicle. │ │
- 24│Married │ 37 │Removal of │Lying │Handkerchief
- │ woman │ │ impacted │ │
- │ │ │ fæces │ │
- 25│Man │ 23 │Ligature of │Lying │Inhaler
- │ │ │ vessels near │ │
- │ │ │ vascular │ │
- │ │ │ tumour │ │
- 26│Married lady│ 32 │Intended │Sitting │Sponge
- │ │ │ extraction of│ │ surrounded by
- │ │ │ tooth │ │ handkerchief
- 27│Man │ │Intended │Lying │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ operation for│ │
- │ │ │ fistula _in │ │
- │ │ │ ano_ │ │
- 28│Cattle │ │Applic. of │ │Handkerchief
- │ dealer │ │ potassa fusa │ │
- │ │ │ to ulcers of │ │
- │ │ │ leg │ │
- 29│Factory │ │Removal of │Lying │Inhaler
- │ operative │ │ malignant │ │
- │ │ │ tumour of │ │
- │ │ │ thigh. │ │
- 30│Single woman│ 28 │Intended │Lying │Folded lint
- │ │ │ application │ │
- │ │ │ of nitric │ │
- │ │ │ acid to │ │
- │ │ │ ulcers of │ │
- │ │ │ pudenda │ │
- 31│Soldier │ 25 │Removal of │Lying │Hollow sponge
- │ │ │ small tumour │ │
- │ │ │ from cheek │ │
- 32│Tobacconist │ 43 │Intended │Lying │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ perineal │ │
- │ │ │ section │ │
- 33│Woman │ 40 │Intended │Lying │Folded lint
- │ │ │ operation for│ │
- │ │ │ strangulated │ │
- │ │ │ hernia │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 34│Single woman│ 22 │Intended │Lying │Inhaler
- │ │ │ application │ │
- │ │ │ of actual │ │
- │ │ │ cautery to │ │
- │ │ │ sore of │ │
- │ │ │ vagina │ │
- 35│Young man │ 19 │Intended │Lying │Inhaler
- │ │ │ forcible │ │
- │ │ │ extension of │ │
- │ │ │ knee │ │
- 36│Girl │ 13 │Removal of │Apparently│
- │ │ │ tumour from │ sitting │
- │ │ │ back │ │
- 37│Married │ 59 │Intended │Lying │Hollow sponge
- │ woman │ │ reductionof │ │
- │ │ │ old │ │
- │ │ │ dislocation │ │
- │ │ │ of humerus │ │
- 38│Woman │ 40 │Removal of │Lying │Folded lint
- │ │ │ uterine │ │
- │ │ │ polypus │ │
- 39│Married │ 45 │Intended │Lying │Sponge,
- │ woman │ │ removal of │ │ handkerchief,
- │ │ │ breast │ │ and inhaler
- 40│Tailor │ 18 │Intended │Lying │Inhaler
- │ │ │ operation for│ │
- │ │ │ phymosis │ │
- 41│Labouring │ 65 │Intended │Lying │Inhaler
- │ man │ │ amputation of│ │
- │ │ │ thigh │ │
- 42│Shoemaker │ 39 │Catheterism │Lying │Folded lint
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 43│Woman │ 56 │Intended │Lying │Folded lint &
- │ │ │ amputation of│ │ piece of
- │ │ │ leg │ │ oiled silk
- 44│Man │ 40 │Intended │Lying │Inhaler
- │ │ │ excision of │ │
- │ │ │ eyeball │ │
- 45│Married lady│ 29 │Inhaled to │Sitting │Inhaler
- │ │ │ relieve │ │
- │ │ │ neuralgia │ │
- 46│Married lady│ 36 │Intended │Sitting │Handkerchief
- │ │ │ extraction of│ │
- │ │ │ teeth │ │
- 47│Sailor │ 30 │Intended │Sitting │Sponge and
- │ │ │ removal of │ │ folded lint
- │ │ │ necrosed bone│ │
- │ │ │ from finger │ │
- 48│Boy │ 9 │Intended │Lying │Cotton wool &
- │ │ │ removal of │ │ folded lint
- │ │ │ tumour of │ │
- │ │ │ scapula │ │
- 49│Labourer │ 35 │Intended │Lying │Folded lint
- │ │ │ amputation of│ │
- │ │ │ thigh │ │
- 50│Young woman │ 17 │Application of │Lying │Inhaler
- │ │ │ nitric acid │ │
- │ │ │ to syphilitic│ │
- │ │ │ sores │ │
- ───┴────────────┴────┴───────────────┴──────────┴───────────────
-
- ───┬────────────┬────┬──────────────┬────────────┬────────────
- No.│ Patient. │Age │Time from the │ Apparent │ Previous
- │ │ in │ commencement │ mode of │inhalations.
- │ │yrs.│of inhalation │ death. │
- │ │ │ to the │ │
- │ │ │ beginning of │ │
- │ │ │ dangerous │ │
- │ │ │ symptoms. │ │
- ───┼────────────┼────┼──────────────┼────────────┼────────────
- 1│Girl │ 15 │Half a minute │Cardiac │Ether once.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- 2│Married lady│ 35 │About two │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- 3│Patrick │ │About one │Cardiac │One.
- │ Coyle │ │ minute │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 4│Single lady │ 30 │Probably half │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ a minute │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 5│Young woman │ │A very short │Cardiac │None stated.
- │ │ │ time │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 6│Young man │ 22 │Five minutes │Symptoms not│None stated.
- │ │ │ │ described │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 7│Young man │ │Not stated │Death very │None stated.
- │ │ │ │ sudden │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 8│Seaman │ 31 │About ten │Cardiac │One.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- 9│Miner │ 17 │About five │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 10│Labourer │ 36 │Died at the │Cardiac │A previous
- │ │ │ close of the│ syncope │ attempt.
- │ │ │ operation │ │
- 11│Married lady│ 33 │A very short │Cardiac │One.
- │ │ │ time │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 12│Porter │ 48 │A little more │Probably │None.
- │ │ │ than two │ asphyxia │
- │ │ │ minutes │ │
- 13│Married │ │Died during │Cardiac │None stated.
- │ woman │ │ the │ syncope │
- │ │ │ operation │ │
- 14│Young lady │ 20 │Just after │Cardiac │Previous
- │ │ │ beginning to│ syncope │ attempts.
- │ │ │ inhale │ │
- 15│A man │ │Died before │Probably │None.
- │ │ │ the │ cardiac │
- │ │ │ operation │ syncope │
- 16│Artilleryman│ 24 │ │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- 17│Bookkeeper │ 30 │Within five │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 18│Boy │ 8 │A few minutes │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- 19│Policeman │ 34 │Died during │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ operation │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 20│Man │ 24 │A few minutes │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 21│Man │ │ │“Suddenly │None stated.
- │ │ │ │ expired” │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 22│Married lady│ 36 │Less than a │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ minute │ syncope │
- 23│Mulatto │ 45 │About seven │Cardiac │None.
- │ seaman │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- 24│Married │ 37 │Eight or nine │Symptoms not│Two.
- │ woman │ │ minutes │ observed │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 25│Man │ 23 │Five to ten │Cardiac │One.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 26│Married lady│ 32 │Four or five │Cardiac │None stated.
- │ │ │ inspirations│ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 27│Man │ │Not more than │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ a minute │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 28│Cattle │ │Died during │Probably │None.
- │ dealer │ │ operation │ cardiac │
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 29│Factory │ │About twelve │Probably │None.
- │ operative │ │ minutes │ cardiac │
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 30│Single woman│ 28 │ │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 31│Soldier │ 25 │Five minutes │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 32│Tobacconist │ 43 │A few minutes │Cardiac │Two.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 33│Woman │ 40 │About five │Simultaneous│None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ deep coma │
- │ │ │ │ and │
- │ │ │ │ cardiac │
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- 34│Single woman│ 22 │About five │Cardiac │One.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 35│Young man │ 19 │Fifty seconds │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 36│Girl │ 13 │ │Cardiac │None stated.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 37│Married │ 59 │About five │Deep coma │None.
- │ woman │ │ minutes │ and │
- │ │ │ │ cardiac │
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 38│Woman │ 40 │A few minutes │Cardiac │None stated.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 39│Married │ 45 │Three-quarters│Cardiac │None.
- │ woman │ │ of an hour. │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 40│Tailor │ 18 │About seven │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 41│Labouring │ 65 │Between 13 and│Cardiac │None.
- │ man │ │ 14 minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 42│Shoemaker │ 39 │A few minutes │Deep coma, │None.
- │ │ │ │ apnœa, and│
- │ │ │ │ cardiac │
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- 43│Woman │ 56 │About three │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 44│Man │ 40 │About five │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 45│Married lady│ 29 │A few seconds │Cardiac │Two or
- │ │ │ │ syncope │ three.
- │ │ │ │ │
- 46│Married lady│ 36 │A few seconds │Cardiac │Four.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 47│Sailor │ 30 │Three or four │Deep coma │None.
- │ │ │ minutes │ and │
- │ │ │ │ cardiac │
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- 48│Boy │ 9 │A few minutes │Cardiac │None.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 49│Labourer │ 35 │A few minutes │Cardiac │One.
- │ │ │ │ syncope │
- │ │ │ │ │
- 50│Young woman │ 17 │ │Symptoms not│Two.
- │ │ │ │ observed │
- │ │ │ │ │
- │ │ │ │ │
- ───┴────────────┴────┴──────────────┴────────────┴────────────
-
-There is in a great number of the cases an evident connection between
-the accident and the probable strength of the mixture of vapour and air.
-In six cases the accident occurred just after the commencement of the
-inhalation; in two of the cases, Nos. 27 and 37, the fatal symptoms
-occurred just after fresh chloroform had been applied on the
-handkerchief and sponge; and in several cases, in which the circulation
-was suddenly arrested just after the patient had been rendered
-insensible, the insensibility had been induced so quickly as to prove
-that the vapour must have been inhaled in a very insufficient state of
-dilution.
-
-
- THE TWO KINDS OF SYNCOPE.
-
-Dr. Patrick Black has made an objection to the fact of the patients
-having died of paralysis, or over-narcotism of the heart, in the
-accidents from chloroform.[132] He says that paralysis of the heart
-would be death by syncope, but that the symptoms before death, and the
-conditions of the organs met with afterwards, are not in accordance with
-such a view of the case. In order to show that both the symptoms and the
-after death appearances, in the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform,
-are consistent with paralysis of the heart, it is necessary to point out
-the difference between ordinary syncope and cardiac syncope. One of the
-best examples of ordinary, or what may be called anæmic syncope, is that
-which occurs in a common blood-letting, whilst the patient is in the
-sitting posture. When the bloodvessels, especially the veins, which at
-all times contain the greater part of the blood in the body, do not
-accommodate themselves fast enough to the diminished quantity of blood,
-the right cavities of the heart are supplied with less and less of the
-circulating fluid; and in a little time are not supplied at all, when
-the heart ceases to beat, in accordance with the observation of Haller,
-that it does not pulsate when it is not supplied with blood. The moment
-the heart ceases to supply blood to the brain there are loss of
-consciousness and stoppage of respiration; but on the patient being
-placed in the horizontal position the blood flows readily into the right
-cavities of the heart from the great veins of the abdomen and lower
-extremities; the heart immediately recommences its contractions; the
-brain is again supplied with blood, and respiration and consciousness
-return.[133]
-
-The blood may remain in the ordinary quantity; but if the bloodvessels
-do not keep up their usual support, and exert a sufficient pressure on
-their contents, the same kind of syncope will occur as that from
-blood-letting. The late Sir George Lefevre related the case of a lady
-who fainted whenever she left her bed, and assumed the upright posture;
-no cause could be found for this until it was ascertained that she
-suffered from varicose veins of the legs: bandages to these extremities
-prevented the fainting. It is obvious that in this case the mechanism of
-the syncope was the same as that in blood-letting; the distension of the
-varicose veins under the weight of the superincumbent blood had the same
-effect in preventing the supply to the right cavities of the heart, as
-if the blood had been entirely removed. The faintness which often occurs
-on first rising, when a person has long kept the recumbent posture from
-any local cause, is probably of the same kind; the veins not having had
-to support the weight of the usual column of blood for some days or
-weeks, lose their tone we may presume, and yield when they are all at
-once subjected to the weight of a column of blood extending from the
-lower extremities to the heart, so that this organ ceases to be properly
-supplied with the circulating fluid.
-
-In cardiac syncope, on the other hand, the cavities of the heart, or at
-all events the right cavities of this organ, are always full, whether
-the syncope depend on paralysis of the heart by a narcotic, or inherent
-weakness of its structure, or on its being overpowered by the quantity
-of blood with which it is distended. After death from this kind of
-syncope, if the blood have not been displaced by artificial respiration
-or other causes, the right cavities of the heart and the adjoining great
-veins will be found filled with blood, and the lungs will in many cases
-be more or less congested. The appearances in short will be very much
-the same as in asphyxia by privation of air, which ends in a kind of
-cardiac syncope, the stoppage of the heart being partly due to
-over-distension of its right cavities, and partly to loss of power in
-its structure, from the want of a supply of oxygenated blood through the
-coronary arteries. In death by anæmic syncope, on the contrary, all the
-cavities of the heart are found empty, or nearly so, and the same is
-frequently the case with the adjoining great veins, whilst the lungs are
-usually pale.
-
-The syncope occasioned by some kinds of mental emotion is of the
-ordinary or anæmic kind, and consequently the condition of the brain
-must act first on the bloodvessels, and not directly on the heart.
-Certain persons are liable to faint on witnessing a surgical operation.
-Now if the mental emotion of these persons acted directly on the heart,
-whilst the rest of the vascular system was unaffected, the distribution
-of the blood would be nearly the same as in asphyxia, where the
-circulation is first impeded in the lungs, and is ultimately arrested by
-loss of power in the heart. If the action of the heart were weakened, or
-stopped, in the first instance, by the kind of emotion under
-consideration, the arteries would be emptied by their contractility and
-elasticity, and the blood would accumulate in the right cavities of the
-heart and the great veins leading to them. In a medical student fresh
-from the country, who is by no means deficient in blood, the jugulars
-would become distended and the face livid, and the recumbent posture
-would probably do but little towards removing the symptoms. The
-phenomena which are witnessed, however, indicate a very different
-condition of the vascular system. The person about to faint from the
-cause indicated, frequently becomes pale before he feels anything wrong;
-and when requested to retire and sit down, often says that there is
-nothing the matter with him. In a short time he faints, and falls, if no
-one catches hold of him; but the moment he is in the recumbent posture
-he recovers. In such a case as this, the effect of the mental emotion
-must be first exerted on the veins, or the veins and capillaries,
-through the nerves which supply these vessels; they allow themselves to
-become distended, and the heart ceases to act for want of its supply of
-blood, as in syncope from blood-letting, and anæmic syncope from any
-cause.
-
-Several authors have attributed the empty state of the heart met with
-after death, in certain cases of fatal syncope, to want of power in the
-left ventricle to supply the right cavities of the heart; but this is to
-argue as if the blood passed out of the body after leaving the right
-ventricle, and the left ventricle had to supply a newly formed fluid.
-The effects of want of power in the left ventricle are the same as those
-of an obstruction at the origin of the aorta; the lungs become
-congested, and the right cavities of the heart more or less distended,
-from the blood not being able to pass readily through the lungs.
-Patients who die of heart disease die with the cavities of that organ
-full. Some patients, indeed, with fatty disease of the heart, die
-suddenly of anæmic syncope, and the heart is found empty; but in these
-cases it is evident that death is not occasioned by the disease of the
-heart, but by some condition of the bloodvessels which accompanies it.
-
-Chevalier was, I believe, the first to draw marked attention to cases of
-sudden death arising from an empty state of the heart, in a paper in the
-first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical
-Society; and he rightly attributed the emptiness of the heart to a loss
-of power in the bloodvessels. His words are as follow:—
-
-“The disease I have now described may, perhaps, be termed _asphyxia
-idiopathica_. The essential circumstances of it evidently denote a
-sudden loss of power in the vessels, and chiefly in the minuter ones, to
-propel the blood they have received from the heart. In consequence of
-which, this organ, after having contracted so as to empty itself, and
-then dilated again, continues relaxed for want of the return of its
-accustomed stimulus, and dies in that dilated state.”
-
-The word asphyxia has become so closely connected by physiologists with
-death by privation of air, where the symptoms and appearances are the
-reverse of those in Chevalier’s case, that it is necessary to discard
-his name of the disease which he describes, although it is
-etymologically correct. His cases come under the definition of what is
-now universally called syncope, and what I have called anæmic to
-distinguish it from cardiac syncope.
-
-Chevalier speaks of a want of power in the vessels to propel the blood,
-and as it is not now believed that the vessels take any active share in
-the propulsion of the blood, this may be the reason why the views of
-this author have received less attention than they deserve; but it is
-very obvious that a want of tone in the vessels, or any great diminution
-of that power which enables them to support and compress the blood, is
-an adequate cause why the blood should be unable to reach the right side
-of the heart. In the case of varicose veins, previously mentioned, it
-was physically apparent that the cause of the syncope lay in the
-vessels. Disease of the arteries is well known to be usually associated
-with degeneration of the heart; the veins are also large and distensible
-in old people, who furnish the greater number of those who are liable to
-anæmic syncope; but the pathology of the veins, as regards both their
-functions and structure, is not yet sufficiently known.
-
-Persons with disease of the heart, who die suddenly in a fit of anger,
-probably die always with the heart distended; that is, of cardiac
-syncope. Dr. Joseph Ridge, however, in his able and interesting remarks
-on the disease and death of John Hunter,[134] states his belief that
-that celebrated man, who had been long subject to attacks of angina
-pectoris, died at last of syncope, with an empty heart. He died, as is
-well known, during a fit of anger, and the coronary arteries were found
-ossified. It is not said that the heart was empty, but that it was
-small, and that there were no coagula in any of its cavities. It is
-probable that there was not much blood in its cavities, at the time of
-the post mortem examination, but the body of Hunter was conveyed in a
-sedan-chair, from St. George’s Hospital to Leicester Square, a little
-more than an hour after his death, so that the fluid blood would
-gravitate downwards. It is related that the stomach and intestines were
-unusually loaded with blood, and that those parts which were in a
-depending position, as in the bottom of the pelvis and upon the loins,
-were congested in a greater degree than the others; and that “this
-evidently arose from the fluid state of the blood.”
-
-In syncope from muscular exertion, the cavities of the heart are
-distended, and its walls have occasionally been ruptured, both from
-violent exercise and fits of anger.
-
-Fear probably occasions each kind of syncope in different cases. In some
-cases, the right cavities of the heart become distended owing to impeded
-respiration, and possibly to a diminution of power in the heart itself.
-More frequently, the syncope appears to be of the ordinary or anæmic
-kind, the effect of the mental condition acting first on the more
-distant parts of the circulation. The pallor caused by fright is
-proverbial.
-
-Pain is also capable of causing both kinds of syncope. I have alluded to
-cases (page 55) in which the patients strained and held their breath
-till the pulse became intermittent, and the action of the heart was
-temporarily suspended by the arrested breathing; on the other hand,
-patients often become pale, if they are undergoing any slight operation
-when seated, and syncope of the anæmic kind occurs, without any previous
-disturbance of the respiration, but passes off as soon as they are
-placed in the horizontal posture. I have seen an apparently strong man
-faint in this manner, during the removal of a tumour from the back not
-larger than a nut, and where only a few drops of blood were lost.
-Chloroform was not employed.
-
-
- SUPPOSED CAUSES OF DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.
-
-Many writers have supposed that the deaths from chloroform have arisen
-from some peculiarity in the patient; and when any notable change of
-structure has been met with after death in any of the vital organs, this
-has been thought to afford a sufficient explanation of the event; whilst
-in the cases in which the organs were in a healthy state, surprise has
-been expressed at the occurrence. In looking over the account of the
-cases in which the inhalation of chloroform has been fatal, there is
-reason to conclude, however, that the subjects of them were, as regards
-health and strength, quite equal to the average of the multitude who
-have inhaled this agent without ill effects. In fifteen out of the fifty
-cases above related, there was no examination of the body after death.
-In one of these fifteen cases, the patient was in a state of debility,
-and had hectic fever, apparently from the disease of the ankle-joint,
-for he had no cough; in another of these cases, the patient was reduced
-to a state of great debility from cancerous disease of the uterus. In
-fourteen out of the thirty-five cases, in which an examination of the
-dead body took place, all the chief organs were found to be healthy, if
-we except the local congestions of blood connected with the mode of
-dying, and a flabby state of the heart in a few of the cases, which
-probably depended on its being full of blood at the time of death, or
-its not being in a state of post-mortem rigidity, at the time it was
-examined.
-
-In one case, No. 25, the only morbid appearances were adhesions of the
-pleura of small extent; and in No. 47, the only disease was fatty liver.
-In Case 17, there were signs of chronic disease of the membranes of the
-brain; and in two cases, Nos. 16 and 22, there was emphysema of the
-lungs. In the remaining sixteen cases, there was some alteration of the
-heart, accompanied in a few instances by disease of other organs. In
-Cases 23 and 32, there was fat on the surface of the heart, but the
-structure was not degenerated. In Case 43, the right ventricle was
-thinned, but not fatty. In Case 44, there were slight deposits on the
-mitral valve, the heart being otherwise healthy. In Case 50, there were
-deposits of lymph on the mitral valve and also on the surface of the
-heart, which was somewhat enlarged. In Case 8, the heart is merely
-stated to be large; and in Case 27, hypertrophied. In Case 3, the heart
-was enlarged, pale, and soft, and the lungs were tuberculous. In Case
-15, there was said to be some amount of disease of the aortic valves,
-and some amount of fatty degeneration of the heart. In Case 37,
-incipient fatty degeneration was present; and in Case 40, that of a
-youth of eighteen, the heart was slightly enlarged, with some amount of
-fatty degeneration. In Case 46, the right ventricle was thinned and
-slightly fatty. There remain three Cases, Nos. 30, 33, and 42, in which
-the fatty degeneration was more decided; and one case, No. 41, in which
-it is spoken of as being present in an extreme degree. This was in a
-man, aged sixty-five, the oldest person included amongst those who died
-from chloroform.
-
-When we consider how common is fatty degeneration of the heart,
-especially amongst old persons and those for a long time confined to
-bed, it is very probable that this affection has been proportionally as
-frequent, amongst the patients who have inhaled chloroform without ill
-effects, as in the fatal cases of its inhalation.
-
-There are nine of the fatal cases in which the age of the patient is not
-stated. In the other forty-one cases, the ages, when grouped in
-decennial periods, are shown in the following table, the last column of
-which shows the proportion which the deaths bear at each period to the
-number living at that period, out of a thousand persons of all ages in
-England and Wales.
-
- Under 5 years 0 0
- 5 and under 15 3 ¹⁄₇₆
- 15 „ 25 11 ¹⁄₁₈
- 25 „ 35 10 ¹⁄₁₅
- 35 „ 45 11 ⅒
- 45 „ 55 3 ¹⁄₂₇
- 55 „ 65 2 ¹⁄₂₆
- 65 and upwards 1 ¹⁄₄₄
-
-The nine persons whose ages are not given were all adults; one is spoken
-of as a young man, and another as a young woman, and the rest are
-mentioned in such a manner that it is certain they were not old people.
-It follows, therefore, that so far as is known, there has been a
-complete immunity from death by chloroform at both extremes of life. I
-have already given my reasons for rejecting Dr. Aschendorf’s case of an
-infant, and also the case of a gentleman, aged seventy-three, who died
-whilst inhaling chloroform. The youngest patient who died from
-chloroform was seven or eight years of age, and the oldest sixty-five,
-being the only death above sixty. The above table of the ages shows that
-the number of deaths, in proportion to the number living, increased
-rapidly after the age of twenty-five, and decreased rapidly after the
-age of forty-five. The small number of deaths between fifteen and
-twenty-five may be partly due to the circumstance that surgical
-operations are but seldom required at this period of life; but the
-decrease after the age of forty-five cannot be explained in this way;
-for persons become more liable to require surgical operations as they
-advance in years. Operations are often performed in infancy and old age,
-periods at which deaths from chloroform have not been recorded. The
-greatest proportion of deaths having occurred from thirty-five to
-forty-five, when the system is often more robust than at any other
-period, it cannot be supposed that an inability to bear the usual dose
-of chloroform, when carefully administered, is the ordinary cause of
-death from this agent.
-
-_Idiosyncrasy._ The accidents from chloroform have frequently been
-attributed to idiosyncrasy in the patient. This, it may be observed, is
-not to give an explanation of them, but merely to state that they depend
-on something we do not understand; that something, however, being in the
-person to whom the accident happens. This view receives apparent support
-from the supposition that the chloroform has been inhaled in exactly the
-same manner in the fatal cases as in other instances; but this apparent
-support fails when it is pointed out that the supposed same manner is
-only an equally uncertain manner. The different effects that have been
-produced on the same patient at different times, and the great number of
-instances in which medical men have failed to make the patient
-insensible, show that most of the usual modes of exhibiting chloroform
-are extremely uncertain.
-
-What most completely meets the question of idiosyncrasy, however, is the
-circumstance that in no fewer than eleven out of the fifty recorded
-cases of death from chloroform, the patient had previously inhaled this
-medicine without ill effects. In two other cases also, previous attempts
-had been made to make the patient insensible without success, on the day
-on which the accident occurred. In the above table of the fatal cases,
-those are indicated in which previous inhalations had taken place. In
-twenty-nine cases, I have concluded that the patient had not previously
-inhaled, for the medical man, having given an account of the state of
-his patient, and his reasons for administering the chloroform, would
-certainly have mentioned such a material fact as a previous inhalation
-if it had occurred. There are ten cases of which only a meagre account
-is given, and where a previous administration of chloroform may possibly
-have taken place without being mentioned; but if only eleven, out of the
-fifty patients, who died from chloroform, had inhaled it previously
-without ill effects, it is very clear that the fact of having inhaled it
-with a favourable result, gives no immunity from the possibility of
-accident. It would be impossible to say what proportion of the patients
-who have inhaled chloroform have inhaled it more than once, but it is
-not probable that they amount to more than 22 per cent., if so many.
-
-_Alleged Impurity of the Chloroform._ At one time accidents from
-chloroform were loosely attributed to impurity in the medicine, but this
-was only a guess, and is opposed to the facts. No case of accident has
-been traced to this cause, and in nearly all the cases of which the
-details are given, it is distinctly recorded, either that the chloroform
-was examined and found to be of good quality, or else that chloroform
-out of the same bottle had been used in other cases without ill effects.
-I have not thought it necessary to state this in quoting the individual
-cases.
-
-_Apparatus employed._ Accidents were at one time, and in one quarter,
-attributed to the use of inhalers; and it is curious that this
-allegation was made at a time when no death from chloroform had yet
-occurred in any cases in which an inhaler was used, except one in
-America, and one in France, the accounts of which had not reached this
-country. It is possible that death might be occasioned by want of air
-from the use of a faulty inhaler, and a case will be mentioned in which
-this apparently occurred in the administration of sulphuric ether, but
-there is no recorded case of accident from chloroform in which death was
-occasioned in this way. In the cases of death previously recorded, a
-handkerchief, a piece of folded lint, hollow sponge, or some such simple
-contrivance, was used in thirty-four instances; in twelve cases, an
-inhaler of some kind or other was used; and in four cases, it is
-uncertain what were the means employed.
-
-_Alleged Exclusion of Air._ The assertion has often been made that death
-might be caused by the vapour of chloroform excluding the air, and so
-causing asphyxia; but it has already been pointed out in this work that
-the physical properties of chloroform do not allow it to yield a
-quantity of vapour which would have that effect, and in much smaller
-quantity than this the vapour kills by a quicker way than asphyxia, I
-believe that the only elastic fluids which can cause death simply by
-excluding the atmospheric air are nitrogen and hydrogen.
-
-_Alleged Closure of the Glottis._ At the trial which took place in Paris
-respecting the death of a porcelain dealer previously mentioned, M.
-Devergie gave evidence, and after saying that chloroform might cause
-death as a poison, if given in undue proportion, he added: “Also it
-closes the glottis, and offers an obstacle to respiration. Employed by
-M. Demarquay on himself, in very small doses, closure of the glottis was
-occasioned. It was possible that Le Sieur Breton had experienced that
-accident, and in that case the most able surgeon could not prevent
-death.”
-
-I have not met with M. Demarquay’s account of his experiment, but I am
-happy to know that he did not die of the closure of the glottis. It may
-fairly be denied that a person could commit suicide in this manner if he
-wished, for he would either have to give up the attempt, or receive the
-vapour into his lungs, and experience its specific effects. When animals
-are placed in mixtures of vapour and air, they always breathe them,
-whatever the strength; and if the vapour amounts to eight or ten per
-cent., they die much more quickly than they would of mere closure of the
-glottis. Vapour of chloroform, when not largely diluted with air, is apt
-to cause cough and closure of the glottis, as soon as a little of it
-reaches the lungs; but this, so far from being a source of danger, is,
-as a general rule, a safeguard, by its preventing the patient from
-readily breathing air which is highly charged with vapour.
-
-In commenting on the fatal case No. 12, which occurred in St. Thomas’s
-Hospital, I have suggested that the accident might have happened from
-liquid chloroform being dropped into the throat; but liquid chloroform
-is very different from the vapour; it causes a lasting irritation if
-applied to a mucous membrane; when used for toothache, it often blisters
-the gums. The irritation caused by the vapour, on the contrary, is only
-momentary, and its local action ceases directly it ceases to be inhaled;
-for what is left in the air-passages is immediately absorbed or expelled
-with the expired air. The glottis is not a vital organ of itself. Its
-closure only causes death by preventing the access of air to the lungs.
-The glottis does not remain permanently closed, I believe, from the
-contact of any elastic fluid, however irritating;[135] but it does from
-the contact of a liquid, and persons who die by drowning, die with the
-glottis closed, for they do not fill their lungs with water. Therefore,
-if the vapour of chloroform did cause persistent closure of the glottis,
-and if a person were to hold it by force to the patient, the death it
-would occasion would be precisely like that in drowning. Death by
-asphyxia is a comparatively slow one. I find that when the access of air
-to the lungs is entirely cut off, death does not take place in less than
-three minutes and a half in guinea pigs, and four minutes in cats. In
-dogs, the process of asphyxia is still slower. Mr. Erichsen states, that
-on taking the average of nearly twenty experiments, the contractions of
-the ventricles continued for nine minutes and a quarter after the
-trachea had been closed, and that the pulsations of the femoral artery
-also were perceptible for an average period of seven minutes and a half.
-The process of drowning in the human subject is well known to occupy
-some minutes; and even if the pungency of the vapour of chloroform
-should entirely prevent the patient from breathing, and the medical man
-could overlook the fact that breathing was not going on, it cannot be
-supposed that he would use the force, and have the perseverance to cause
-his patient to die slowly by asphyxia. If any patient, therefore, has
-died from closure of the glottis, it must have been one in whom there
-was a great tendency to sudden death from any slight interruption to
-respiration. I do not know the particulars of the case respecting which
-M. Devergie was giving his evidence, but in those fatal cases previously
-related, in which the symptoms are sufficiently described, it is not
-probable that death took place in any instance from closure of the
-glottis. In the sudden death at St. George’s Hospital (page 209), it is
-possible that the slight pungency of the vapour might assist the fear
-under which the patient was labouring in impeding the breathing, and
-thus add to the distension of the right cavities of the heart, under
-which the patient apparently died.
-
-In 1855, two years after M. Devergie had given the above opinion, Dr.
-Black, of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, who has had great experience in
-the administration of chloroform, advanced a similar theory in the
-pamphlet previously alluded to. He did not, however, confine the effects
-of the supposed closure of the glottis to possibly causing a death here
-and there, as M. Devergie had done, but he attributed all the accidents
-which had happened to this cause, and not to the effects of chloroform
-in the system. He says that “the chloroform has not been even inhaled:
-its pungency was felt at the glottis, and its inspiration was
-immediately arrested. The patient would have removed the apparatus, but
-in this he was restrained. The struggle forthwith commenced, but up to
-the moment of his death, not a single inspiration took place.” These
-remarks were not applied to a single case, but generally to the
-accidents from chloroform. Dr. Black says: “Any concentration of the
-vapour of chloroform which can be breathed is safe; any condition of
-dilution which forces the patient to cough or hold his breath is
-dangerous, and if persevered in for even half a minute, may be fatal....
-We have only to attend to the breathing; we may disregard all
-considerations affecting the relative proportion of the chloroform in
-the air which is breathed;... if the patient breathes easily he is in
-safety, whatever be the amount of chloroform which is passing into the
-lungs.”
-
-In Experiment 28, previously related, where the respiration was kept up
-by a tube in the trachea, there could be no error in respect to the
-vapour of chloroform entering the lungs, when a bladder of air charged
-with ten per cent. of that vapour was substituted for the bladder of
-simple air; and the immediate paralysis of the heart was evident. An
-examination of the fatal cases, of which the particulars have been
-recorded, shows that death did not occur in the manner Dr. Black
-suggests. In the majority of the cases, the patients were rendered quite
-insensible by the chloroform, and the operation had either been
-commenced, or was on the point of commencing; when the fatal symptoms
-set in. In several other cases, the patients were partially under the
-influence of the vapour before the symptoms of danger commenced; and in
-the six cases where death occurred at the beginning of the inhalation,
-without loss of consciousness having been induced, the patients were not
-restrained in any way, and it was observed that they did breathe the
-chloroform; three of them were speaking up to the moment when the pulse
-stopped, and one took a full inspiration the moment before the fatal
-symptoms set in. It is only in eighteen of the fatal cases that there is
-any reason to suppose that the patient required to be held, and then
-only from mental excitement or muscular spasm, arising from the
-physiological effects of the absorbed chloroform. It is hardly possible
-that the struggles of a conscious patient from inability to breathe,
-would be mistaken for excitement or spasm caused by chloroform.
-
-In a case, No. 34, which occurred at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital whilst
-Dr. Black was present, and long before his pamphlet was written, the
-patient inhaled for five minutes, and sank off into a state of complete
-insensibility without alarming symptoms. The inhalation was
-discontinued, the patient moved into a proper position, and the
-operation just about to be commenced, when Dr. Black found the pulse to
-become extremely feeble and fluttering. Surely this patient breathed the
-chloroform, and died without any spasm of the glottis. In Case 48, so
-minutely related by Mr. Paget, the boy made one long inspiration, and
-became suddenly insensible. In a few seconds, the pulse suddenly failed,
-and then ceased to be perceptible, but the breathing continued for at
-least a minute afterwards. There was certainly no closure of the glottis
-in this instance.
-
-_Alleged Exhaustion from Struggling._ In cases where the patients have
-struggled violently whilst getting under the influence of chloroform,
-the accidents have been attributed to a supposed exhaustion caused by
-the struggling.[136] This opinion is, however, contrary to experience;
-for the patients who struggle violently are precisely those who bear
-chloroform the best, provided they do not breathe it in an insufficient
-state of dilution. They are generally cheerful and exhilarated by it,
-and are less liable to be depressed by its prolonged use, than those who
-come quietly under its influence. Although the patients who struggle
-bear the chloroform well, when it is carefully and judiciously
-administered, it is not improbable that the struggling has been now and
-then an indirect cause of accident. The muscular spasm and rigidity do
-not occur till about three-quarters as much chloroform has been absorbed
-as can be present in the system with safety; and, as the patients often
-hold their breath whilst struggling, and take deep inspirations suddenly
-and at long intervals, the greatest care is required that the vapour be
-administered in a very diluted state. In Cases 9, 44, and 47, the fatal
-symptoms came on whilst the patients were struggling; and in some other
-cases, the sudden failure of pulse occurred just after the struggling
-had ceased, rendering it probable that the patient inhaled too much of
-the vapour whilst struggling, or just as the spasmodic condition of the
-muscles was subsiding.
-
-The circumstances just mentioned, are probably the cause why so many of
-the fatal cases occurred at that period of life when the body is most
-robust. Very nearly two-thirds (twenty-seven out of forty-one), of those
-cases in which the ages are recorded, occurred in persons of twenty
-years and under forty-five years of age, although the proportion of
-persons living at this period of life, in England and Wales, is only a
-little more than one-third of the entire population. The majority of the
-accidents from chloroform occurred also in the stronger sex, in which
-muscular rigidity and spasm are most frequent:—twenty-nine of the fatal
-cases happened to males, and only twenty-one to females. According to my
-experience, the females who inhale chloroform for surgical operations
-are nearly twice as numerous as the males; and although this may not be
-the proportion in every one’s practice, it is probable that females
-inhale this agent quite as frequently as the other sex, in every part of
-the world.
-
-_Sitting Posture._ In some of the early cases of death from chloroform,
-the patients were inhaling it in the sitting posture, and it was
-surmised that this circumstance was the cause of death.[137] An
-examination of the account of the fatal cases, however, does not bear
-out this supposition. In thirty-one instances the patients were lying,
-in nine instances sitting, and there are ten cases in which the position
-is not mentioned, and where from the nature of the operation it may have
-been either one or the other. In fully one-fourth of the cases of which
-I have kept notes of the administration of chloroform, the patients were
-seated in an easy chair; and as in forty fatal cases in which the
-position is known, only nine, or less than one-fourth, were seated, it
-does not appear that the position of the patient has had any share
-either in causing or preventing accidents.
-
-_Supposed Effect of the Surgeon’s Knife on the Pulse._ Mr. Bickersteth
-alluded to a peculiar circumstance,[138] which he thought would account
-for several of the deaths attributed to chloroform. He relates three
-instances in which the pulse suddenly ceased on the first incision by
-the surgeon, and commenced again in a few seconds, the breathing going
-on naturally all the time. All the three cases were amputation of the
-thigh, and occurred in the latter part of 1851. Mr. Bickersteth did not
-observe the circumstance again during the two following years, and I
-have never observed it, although I have very often examined the pulse at
-the moment when the operation began, especially after reading Mr.
-Bickersteth’s remarks. He supposes that the action of the heart was
-arrested by the shock of the incision, notwithstanding the patient was
-insensible. I should attribute the temporary stoppage of the pulse in
-these instances to the direct influence of the chloroform on the heart.
-The moment when the operation is commenced, is usually a few seconds
-after the inhalation has been discontinued, and when the effect of the
-chloroform is at its height. A portion of that which was left in the
-lungs having been absorbed, in addition to that which was previously in
-the system. And if the vapour inhaled just at last was not sufficiently
-diluted, it might paralyse the heart, but not so completely as to
-prevent the natural respiration from restoring its action, in those
-cases where respiration continues. I found in experiments on animals
-that, when the action of the heart has been suspended by the effect of
-chloroform, it can very often be restored by artificial respiration
-instantly applied; and it is extremely probable that an accident of this
-kind not unfrequently occurs during the administration of chloroform,
-and is remedied by the breathing, without being noticed. The pulse
-recovered itself, in the cases mentioned by Mr. Bickersteth, just as it
-does in animals after the heart has been nearly overpowered by
-chloroform. In the first case, the pulse remained imperceptible for a
-period of four or five seconds, the countenance at the same time
-becoming deadly pale. As it returned, it was at first very feeble, but
-in a few seconds, it regained its usual strength. In the second case,
-Dr. Simpson administered the chloroform, and after the operation
-remarked that the pulse had stopped suddenly just as the knife was
-piercing the thigh, and had recovered itself with a flutter almost
-immediately.
-
-Mr. Bickersteth’s reason for attributing the stoppage of the pulse to
-the effect of the knife, rather than the chloroform, was that he had
-arrived at the conclusion from some experiments which he performed on
-animals, that the action of the heart cannot be arrested by chloroform,
-until the breathing has been first suspended. One of Mr. Bickersteth’s
-experiments (No. 5, on a half-grown cat) exactly resembles the
-experiment (No. 28 in this work) on a rabbit, which I had published
-upwards of a year before Mr. Bickersteth’s paper appeared, with the
-exception that in my experiment the artificial respiration was performed
-with air containing ten per cent. of vapour, and in Mr. Bickersteth’s
-the vapour was an unknown quantity. In both experiments, the heart of
-the animal was exposed. In that which I performed, three or four
-inflations of the lungs almost paralyzed the heart; and nine or ten
-inflations, which did not occupy half a minute, had the effect of
-paralyzing that organ irrecoverably. In Mr. Bickersteth’s experiment,
-the effect of the artificial respiration was as follows:—“After
-continuing it for seven minutes, the diaphragm, hitherto unaffected,
-began to move very irregularly and imperfectly; then its movements
-became slow and hardly perceptible; and, at the expiration of eleven
-minutes, they had ceased altogether. During all this time the heart’s
-action remained strong and regular, but now it got weaker and more
-rapid, and, in four minutes from the time the diaphragm had ceased
-acting, had become so feeble (still quite regular) that I feared every
-moment it would stop.” Mr. Bickersteth says he performed artificial
-respiration with air saturated with chloroform; but saturated or not,
-the vapour certainly did not exceed six per cent., and most likely was
-only between four and five, if the artificial resembled the natural
-respiration in quantity and frequency. The vapour which can be breathed
-for seven minutes without causing serious symptoms, and for eleven
-minutes without arresting the breathing, is of course incapable of
-stopping the action of the heart by its direct effect. It is scarcely so
-strong as that which one administers every day to patients with
-impunity. The vapour which is so diluted as to require to be added by
-small increments during one hundred and fifty inspirations, before the
-brain is even narcotized, cannot act directly on the heart, an organ
-which can bear a much larger amount of chloroform. Mr. Bickersteth fell
-into the error into which the Committee of the Society of Emulation of
-Paris afterwards fell, and argued from the rule to the exception. What
-he witnessed was the mode of death which would occur, if vapour of
-chloroform of the strength which can be safely inhaled, were
-deliberately continued till the death of the patient. But an accident
-from chloroform is an exception, and the mode of dying is as much an
-exception as the death itself, if the inquiry is extended to what this
-agent is capable of doing, instead of confining it to what one
-endeavours to effect with it in the human subject alone.
-
-So many of the deaths during the inhalation of chloroform have occurred
-before the operation had commenced, or after it had proceeded some way,
-that Mr. Bickersteth’s explanation would not apply to a great number,
-even if it were correct; and when it is remembered that the operation is
-always commenced when the effect of the chloroform is expected to be at
-its height, the number of cases of cardiac syncope which have happened
-at the beginning of the operation is not greater than might be expected
-as the result of the effect of chloroform.
-
-_Sudden Death from other Causes._ It has been more than once suggested
-that the deaths which have occurred, during the inhalation of
-chloroform, are of the same nature as the sudden deaths which have often
-occurred about the time of surgical operations, apparently without any
-adequate cause; and that in fact the accident and the chloroform may be
-a mere coincidence, and not connected as cause and effect. It has been
-already shown that the Commission of the Academy of Medicine of Paris
-made this suggestion in treating of the case of Madlle. Stock, and Dr.
-Simpson has more than once made a similar remark. On one occasion,[139]
-he remarked, in speaking of chloroform:—“The first surgical cases in
-which it was used were operated upon in the Royal Infirmary here, on the
-15th of November, 1847. Two days previously, an operation took place in
-the Infirmary, at which I could not be present, to test the power of
-chloroform; and so far fortunately so; for the man was operated upon for
-hernia, without any anæsthetic, and suddenly died after the first
-incision was made through the skin, and with the operation uncompleted.”
-I should say, so far unfortunately so, for whatever the cause of the
-man’s death, that cause could hardly have been present if the patient
-had been made insensible by chloroform; and so his life would in all
-probability have been saved. If he died either from fear or from pain,
-the chloroform would have prevented his death, by removing and
-preventing these causes; and if his death arose from simple exhaustion,
-it must be remembered that chloroform is a stimulant, during the first
-part of its administration, and, as a general rule, so long as it is
-actually in the system. Even Mr. Bickersteth, who thinks that the knife
-of the surgeon may have a direct influence on the heart when the patient
-is quite insensible, expresses his conviction that such an occurrence is
-far less likely to happen under the influence of chloroform than in the
-waking state.
-
-I have omitted from the list of deaths by chloroform two cases which are
-usually attributed to that agent, namely, the case of Mr. Robinson’s
-patient, and the one at St. George’s Hospital, and have attributed them
-to fear; and I also rejected the case of the infant on which Dr.
-Aschendorf operated, for the reasons I stated; and it is quite possible
-that amongst the fifty cases I have retained, there may be one or two in
-which the death was not caused by chloroform, especially as the details
-of some of the cases are very meagre; but when all the circumstances of
-the cases are examined, and especially when the mode of death is
-compared to that which chloroform can be made to produce in animals, it
-cannot be supposed that the fatal event was a more coincidence in the
-whole fifty cases, or in any great number of them.
-
-There are numerous instances recorded of sudden death during surgical
-operations, or just before intended ones, without any evident cause,
-except fear or pain, before the use of narcotic vapours was known; and
-some even since, in cases in which it was not thought worth while to use
-them. After the passage quoted above, Dr. Simpson continues:—“I know of
-another case in Edinburgh, where death instantaneously followed the use
-of an abscess-lancet without chloroform,—the practitioner, in fact,
-deeming the case too slight to require any anæsthetic.” Such events
-have, no doubt, often happened without being recorded; and it is
-extremely likely that the deaths of this kind which chloroform has
-prevented are quite as numerous as those it has occasioned by its own
-effects, but the medical profession will very properly not be satisfied
-with a result of this kind, if more can be done; and the endeavour of
-the practitioner of course is, whilst saving life as well as preventing
-pain by the use of this agent, to avoid as far as possible having any
-accident from its use.
-
-_Falling back of the Tongue._ It has been alleged that the falling back
-of the tongue into the throat, under the deep influence of chloroform,
-might be the cause of death by suffocation; but this appears to be an
-error; for the muscles of the larynx and neighbouring parts preserve
-their action as long as the diaphragm, and contract consentaneously with
-it. When the breathing has ceased, the tongue is indeed liable to fall
-backwards, if the person in a state of suspended animation is lying on
-the back, and this circumstance requires to be attended to in performing
-artificial respiration.
-
-
- STATE OF THE CHIEF ORGANS AFTER DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.
-
-A few years ago, I examined the viscera of the chest, and kept notes of
-the appearances, in thirty-seven animals killed by chloroform. They
-consisted of two dogs, twenty-two cats, one kitten, three rabbits, three
-guineapigs, two mice, two larks, and two chaffinches. Many of the
-animals were opened immediately after death, and the rest within a day
-or two. The lungs were not much congested in any instance. In seven of
-the animals, they were slightly congested; but in the remaining thirty,
-they were not congested. They were generally of a red colour, but in a
-few of the cats they were quite pale. I ascertained the specific gravity
-of the lungs of two of the cats, in which they presented the amount of
-vascularity I have most usually met with. The specific gravity was 0·605
-in one instance, and 0·798 in the other. As many of the animals died in
-a way resembling asphyxia, the respiration ceasing before the
-circulation, it might at first be supposed that we should meet with the
-same congestion of the lungs; but by the time that the respiration is
-altogether suspended by the action of chloroform, that agent has begun
-already to influence the heart, which does not inject the blood into the
-lungs with the same force as when the respiration is mechanically
-prevented, whilst it is in full vigour. Besides, in the gaspings which
-so often take place when the heart is ceasing to act, the animal
-inhaling chloroform draws air freely into the lungs, whilst the
-asphyxiated animal is prevented from doing so.
-
-As regards the condition of the heart, it was found in the two
-chaffinches that the auricles were filled with blood, whilst the
-ventricles were empty. The condition of the heart in the larks is not
-mentioned, but in all the thirty-three quadrupeds, the right auricle and
-ventricle were filled with blood. In ten of them, these cavities were
-much distended; and in some of these instances, the coronary vessels on
-the surface of the heart were distended also. The left cavities of the
-heart never contained more than a small quantity of blood, not exceeding
-a quarter of what they would hold.
-
-The head was examined in only ten of the animals. The substance of the
-brain was found to be of the natural vascularity, and the sinuses were
-not very much distended, except in two instances.
-
-With respect to the state of the blood, it may be mentioned, that in
-every instance in which the chest was opened within an hour after death,
-the blood which flowed from the cut vessels coagulated immediately and
-firmly. In eighteen of the animals in which the blood was examined in
-the heart or large vessels, a day or two after death, it was found to be
-well coagulated in ten, loosely coagulated in seven instances, and quite
-fluid in one instance. I have not met with air in the bloodvessels,
-either in the above thirty-seven examinations, or in any of the numerous
-other animals that I have opened, after they have been killed by
-chloroform. The appearances I have met with in animals killed by this
-agent have usually been such as I have described in the above
-thirty-seven instances; but I long since ceased, as a general rule, to
-make careful notes of the appearances, as I did not meet with anything
-new.
-
-In the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform previously quoted, the
-lungs are related to have been congested more frequently, and to a
-greater extent, than I have met with in animals. But there is no
-standard of what should be called congestion; and probably many of the
-medical men who made the examinations were speaking by comparison with
-cases where persons die after illness, in a state of inanition. In the
-human subject, the right cavities of the heart, although generally full
-of blood, were found empty in several cases; but as I previously stated,
-it is almost certain that they were emptied after death, either by the
-artificial respiration which was employed, or in some other way.
-
-The blood remained fluid in eighteen out of twenty-five cases of fatal
-accident from chloroform, in which an examination of the body was made
-and the condition of the blood recorded; whereas it was only quite fluid
-in one instance out of eighteen of the animals which were killed by
-chloroform, and not opened till a day or two afterwards. The fact of the
-blood coagulating more generally, in the animals on which I have
-experimented, than in the human subjects who died from chloroform, is
-probably due to their smaller size. I was formerly of opinion that the
-fact of the body of a small animal cooling more quickly than the human
-one was the probable explanation of this, but Dr. Richardson appears to
-have proved that the blood is kept in a liquid state by the presence of
-ammonia; and ammonia, we might expect, would escape more readily from
-the body of a small animal than from the human body. However this may
-be, it is pretty certain that the blood generally remains fluid in the
-human body after death from chloroform, only because it usually remains
-fluid in every kind of sudden death. When a patient dies slowly of
-illness, the body cools gradually before death takes place, and ammonia
-keeps exhaling in the breath, if Dr. Richardson is correct, whilst the
-formation of this alkali must be almost suspended. In many cases, we
-know that coagulation of the blood commences before the respiration and
-circulation have ceased. The blood which flows during surgical
-operations coagulates as quickly and firmly when the patient is under
-the influence of chloroform as at other times; and, as was mentioned
-above, the blood which flows from animals, just after they are killed by
-this agent, coagulates as well as usual; it follows, therefore, that if
-the coagulation of the blood were prevented by the chloroform, and not
-by the mere fact of sudden death, it would be by the presence of this
-agent in the blood after death, and not by any action which it exerted
-during the life of the patient.
-
-
- FURTHER REMARKS ON THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS FROM CHLOROFORM.
-
-In consequence of the prevailing opinion that accidents from chloroform
-depended chiefly on the condition of the patient, the main endeavours to
-prevent a fatal result have taken the direction of a careful selection
-of the persons who were to inhale this agent. It may be doubted,
-however, whether this line of practice has had so much effect in
-limiting the number of accidents, as in curtailing the benefits to be
-derived from the discovery of preventing pain by inhalation. In nearly
-all the recorded cases of accident from chloroform, it is stated that
-the patients had been carefully examined, and such proofs of disease as
-were met with after death were chiefly those which had not been
-detected; and, as already has been stated, were probably not greater on
-an average than in the cases in which no accident happened.
-
-I have not myself declined to give chloroform in any case in which a
-patient required to undergo a painful operation, whatever evidence of
-organic disease I have met with on careful examination; and although I
-have memoranda of upwards of four thousand cases in which I have
-administered this agent, I have not, as I believe, lost a patient from
-its use; the only person who died whilst under its influence having, in
-my opinion, succumbed from other causes, as I have already explained.
-
-Many writers have stated that accidents from chloroform might always be
-prevented by a close attention to the symptoms, or to some particular
-symptom, as the pulse or the breathing. Several authors have attached
-the utmost importance to feeling the pulse, and have considered this
-measure of itself sufficient to avert danger; whilst others have
-asserted that attention to the pulse is of no use at all. Mr.
-Bickersteth, for instance, writes as follows, in the article from which
-I previously quoted. “But the pulse should not be taken as any guide
-during the administration of chloroform. It should be wholly disregarded
-except under certain circumstances, when syncope is to be feared from
-loss of blood during the performance of a capital operation. The pulse
-is only affected secondarily in consequence of the failure of the
-respiration.”
-
-If the person administering chloroform was always quite sure that the
-vapour did not constitute more than five per cent. of the inspired air,
-it is quite true that the pulse might be wholly disregarded. I can never
-produce more certain and uniform results with chloroform than when I am
-giving it to small animals enclosed in glass jars, where of course the
-pulse cannot be felt. In surgical practice, however, where the amount of
-vapour in the inspired air is often very uncertain, watching the pulse
-may be of great service, irrespective of loss of blood; and although it
-will not always prevent accident, I am persuaded that it has saved many
-lives. In some of the accidents that have happened, the pulse has ceased
-suddenly, whilst it was being very carefully watched; but more usually
-it would show some signs of failure before entirely ceasing.
-
-In giving chloroform freely to animals from a napkin or sponge, whilst
-the ear or the hand was applied over the heart, I have usually found
-that its pulsations became embarrassed and enfeebled before they ceased;
-and by withdrawing the chloroform when the heart’s action first became
-affected, the life of the animal could often be saved.
-
-The importance of attending to the respiration of the patient has been
-previously noticed, and it is so obvious a symptom that it can hardly be
-disregarded, if anyone is watching the patient; it speaks, moreover,
-almost to one’s instincts, as well as to one’s medical knowledge. It is
-probable that no patient has been lost by disregard of the respiration,
-unless it be one or two whom no one was watching, or in which the head
-and shoulders were covered with a towel.
-
-It has already been shown in this work, from experiments on animals, and
-from the physiological effects and physical properties of chloroform,
-that accidents from this agent would arise by its suddenly paralyzing
-the heart, if it were not sufficiently diluted with air; and a careful
-review of all the recorded cases of fatal accident shows that nearly
-every one of them has happened in this way, and not from any neglect in
-watching the symptoms induced, or mistaking their import.
-
-The first rule, therefore, in giving chloroform, is to take care that
-the vapour is so far diluted that it cannot cause sudden death, without
-timely warning of the approaching danger; and the next rule is to watch
-the symptoms as they arise. A description of those symptoms, and what
-they indicate, has already been given.
-
-I have previously stated that the most exact way of giving chloroform to
-a patient is to put so much of it into a bag or balloon as will make
-four per cent. of vapour when it is filled up with the bellows; but I
-have not often resorted to this plan, on account of its being somewhat
-troublesome. I have previously described (p. 81) the inhaler which I
-employ. By arranging the bibulous paper suitably, and by ascertaining,
-with the inhaler in the scales, how much chloroform a given quantity of
-air carries off at different temperatures, I am able to produce very
-uniform results in the administration of chloroform. But, as I
-previously stated, those who do not wish to have the trouble of studying
-a suitable inhaler, may give chloroform on a handkerchief without
-danger, and with results sufficiently certain, by diluting this agent
-with an equal measure of spirits of wine. As the spirit (nearly all of
-it) remains behind, it is desirable, in a protracted operation, to
-change the handkerchief or sponge, now and then, for a dry one.
-
-
- TREATMENT OF SUSPENDED ANIMATION FROM CHLOROFORM.
-
-It is probable that artificial respiration, very promptly applied, will
-restore all those patients who are capable of being restored from an
-overdose of chloroform. All the patients who are related to have been
-restored after this agent has occasioned a complete state of suspended
-animation, have been resuscitated by this means. It is only by
-artificial respiration that I have been able to recover animals from an
-overdose of chloroform, when I felt satisfied that they would not
-recover spontaneously. And under these circumstances I have not been
-able to restore them, even by this means, except when a tube had been
-introduced into the trachea, by an incision in the neck, before giving
-them what would have been the fatal dose.
-
-M. Ricord succeeded in restoring two patients who were in a state of
-suspended animation by mouth to mouth inflation of the lungs. The first
-was a woman, aged twenty-six, who had been made rapidly insensible by a
-few inspirations of chloroform from a sponge. He had scarcely commenced
-the operation of removing some vegetations, when his assistant informed
-him that the pulse had ceased. The breathing also ceased about the same
-time.
-
-In the second case, he completed the operation of circumcision, and the
-patient, a young man, not coming to himself, M. Ricord found that the
-breathing had ceased, and the pulse was becoming more and more extinct,
-and very soon ceased entirely, till restored by the artificial
-respiration.
-
-After these cases, hopes were expressed that M. Ricord had discovered
-the means by which all patients might be restored from the over-action
-of chloroform; but these hopes have not been verified by events. In the
-first of the cases, the heart had probably not been so entirely
-paralyzed by the action of the vapour as sometimes happens, and in the
-second case, that organ was apparently not paralyzed by the chloroform
-at all. It was only after the breathing had ceased, that M. Ricord found
-the pulse was failing. This was a case, therefore, in which artificial
-respiration might reasonably be expected to restore the patient.
-
-The following cases of resuscitation, from the over effects of
-chloroform, are related by Mr. Bickersteth in the paper previously
-quoted. They occurred in Edinburgh:
-
-“_Case 1._ A boy was cut for stone by my friend Mr. Hakes, on the 29th
-of March, 1849. Chloroform was administered on a piece of sponge, and
-the full anæsthetic effect produced, before proceeding to tie him up in
-the ordinary position: the inhalation was continued, without any regard
-to his condition, until the operation had been completed—altogether
-about five minutes from the time he first became insensible. It was
-noticed that during the operation scarce a drop of blood escaped. When
-it was over, the child was found, to all appearance, dead; the muscles
-were flaccid; the surface of the body pale; the respiration had ceased;
-the pulse could not be felt; the heart sounds were not audible (but the
-room was by no means quiet); the eyes were half open; the jaw dropped;
-the pupils dilated; and the corneæ without their natural brilliancy.
-Several means were tried to resuscitate him, but without effect. At
-length artificial respiration was commenced; the air escaped with a
-cooing sound, as if from a dead body. After continuing it for a while,
-the breathing commenced, at first very slowly and feebly. Soon it
-improved. In two hours the child had quite recovered.”
-
-“_Case 2._ In December 1851, a child, a few months old, was put under
-the influence of chloroform for the purpose of having a nævus removed
-from the right cheek. As soon as insensibility was produced, the
-operation was commenced—the handkerchief containing the chloroform
-remaining over the face, as some difficulty had been experienced in
-keeping up the anæsthetic effect. Suddenly the breathing ceased; the
-muscles became flaccid; the countenance pale and collapsed, and the lips
-of a purple colour. Artificial respiration was employed, and in less
-than a minute the breathing returned, and the child was restored.”
-
-“_Case 3._ On the 6th of March, 1852, I had occasion to remove the
-finger of a robust, healthy-looking young man, in the Royal Infirmary.
-He was already under the influence of chloroform when I entered the
-room, and as there had been some difficulty in producing complete
-anæsthesia, and the last of the chloroform in the bottle was already on
-the handkerchief, it was thought advisable by my friend in charge of its
-administration to keep up the inhalation, in order to produce a coma
-sufficiently profound to last until the completion of the operation. It
-was therefore left over his face, and I commenced and removed the
-finger, slowly disarticulating it from the metacarpal bone. I distinctly
-recollect hearing the man breathing quickly and shortly; and I also
-remember, that when just about to look for the vessels, my attention was
-attracted to his condition, by not any longer hearing the respiration.
-The handkerchief was still on his face. I took it off, and found, to my
-consternation, that the breathing had ceased; the face was livid; the
-eyes suffused; the pupils dilated; the mouth half open. He was to all
-appearance dead; still the pulse could be distinguished as a small,
-hardly perceptible thread, beating slowly. Immediately artificial
-respiration was commenced. For a minute or two, his condition did not
-alter in any respect—then the lividity of the countenance increased, the
-pulse was no longer perceptible, and the sounds of the heart could not
-be satisfactorily heard. During the whole of this time, artificial
-respiration had been diligently employed, but still the air appeared to
-enter the chest very imperfectly. I despaired. I felt certain that the
-man was dead, and that no human aid could restore him; and if it had not
-been that those standing near me urged me to persevere, I believe I
-should then have deserted the case as hopeless. Just at this time it
-occurred to me to put my finger in the mouth and draw forward the
-tongue, in order to secure there being no impediment to the air entering
-the lungs. Retaining it in this position, we again began the artificial
-respiration, and found that then the chest was fully expanded by each
-inflation. After keeping it up for a minute or two, the gentleman, who
-had all along kept his hand on the pulse, exclaimed, to our delight,
-that he could again feel it—‘It was just like a slight flutter that
-reached the uppermost of his four fingers,’ all of them being placed
-over the course of the artery. It gradually became more distinct and
-firmer, and at the same time, the lividity of the face decidedly
-lessened. In another minute, the man made a slight inspiratory effort. I
-ceased directly the artificial respiration, and merely assisted the
-expiration by pressure upon the ribs. Another and another inspiration
-followed, and in a short time he breathed freely without assistance. The
-countenance became natural, and he appeared as if in a sound sleep. In
-half an hour, he spoke when roused; then he vomited, and complained of
-giddiness. In an hour afterwards, he had recovered sufficiently to walk
-home.
-
-“Moments of intense anxiety appear much longer than they really are; but
-even allowing this, I am quite sure that, at the very least, five
-minutes elapsed from the time when the man ceased breathing before the
-first inspiratory effort took place, and that for not less than one
-minute the pulse was imperceptible, and the heart’s action almost, if
-not altogether, inaudible.”
-
-“_Case 4._ A few weeks after the occurrence just described, I was
-assisting Mr. Syme in removing the breast of a lady. A gentleman, my
-superior in the hospital, was conducting the inhalation of chloroform.
-Anæsthesia was complete, and the breathing good, when the operation
-commenced. The chloroform was allowed to remain over the face during the
-whole time of its performance. Before it was over, I noticed the
-respiration become very quick and incomplete, and suggested, in
-consequence, the propriety of removing the handkerchief. My remark was
-neglected for eight or ten seconds, and then, just as it was taken away,
-the breathing ceased suddenly. The face became deadly pale; the eyes
-vacant; the lips livid. Instant dissolution appeared inevitable (the
-pulse was not felt). Artificial respiration was immediately commenced,
-but the air not entering the lungs freely, the tongue was pulled
-forwards, and retained so by the artery forceps. The chest then expanded
-freely with each inflation, the air escaping with a cooing sound. In
-rather less than a minute, the respiratory movements recommenced, but at
-first so slowly and imperfectly that it was necessary to assist
-expiration. When recovery was a little more established, the operation
-was completed. Before the putting in of the sutures, sensation had
-partially returned, and in a short time the lady had perfectly
-recovered.”
-
-Mr. Bickersteth very properly adds: “There can be no doubt, that in the
-foregoing cases, a grievous error was committed by continuing the
-inhalation after anæsthesia was produced, and that it was in consequence
-of this, the accidents, so nearly fatal, occurred.”
-
-As these accidents seem to have occurred from continuing the inhalation
-too long, they differ entirely from nearly all those which were actually
-fatal, and which, as we have seen, arose from the too great
-concentration of the vapour, and not from any want of care in watching
-the patient, so as to be able to leave off at the right moment, if it
-were possible. I have previously stated, that after breathing vapour of
-the proper strength for inhalation, animals may always be readily
-restored by artificial respiration after the breathing has ceased,
-provided the heart is still beating. In the cases related by Mr.
-Bickersteth, the heart had ceased to beat before the patients were
-restored; but in the third case, there is distinct evidence that the
-heart continued to beat for four minutes after the breathing had ceased.
-It was, therefore, certainly not paralyzed by the direct action of the
-chloroform. The patient was nearly in the condition of a drowned person,
-where we know that there is a good prospect of recovery by artificial
-respiration during the first few minutes after the breathing has ceased,
-even if the action of the heart be imperceptible. In the other three
-cases, also, it is probable that the breathing ceased before the action
-of the heart; and, at all events, this organ was not paralyzed so
-thoroughly as in the cases in which artificial respiration was promptly
-applied without effect.
-
-Several other cases have been related in the medical journals in which
-patients have been restored by artificial respiration, after animation
-had been suspended, more or less completely, by chloroform; but the
-above remarks would, I believe, be applicable to all these cases.
-
-Where patients have recovered under the use of other measures, without
-artificial respiration, it is probable that animation was not completely
-suspended, and that the recovery was spontaneous.
-
-M. Delarue related a case of accident from chloroform to the Academy of
-Medicine, on August 20th, 1850, which was apparently of this nature.
-After administering the vapour, and when he was about to divide some
-sinuses in the thigh, he found that his patient (a woman) was in a state
-of collapse, and the breathing and pulse, “_pour ainsi dire_”,
-insensible. The face was injected, and there was a bloody froth at the
-mouth. The uvula was titillated, and there was immediate movement of the
-eyelids, which was soon followed by copious vomiting, and the patient
-recovered.[140]
-
-Such measures as dashing cold water on the patient, and applying ammonia
-to the nostrils, can hardly be expected to have any effect on a patient
-who is suffering from an overdose of chloroform; for they would have no
-effect whatever on one who has inhaled it in the usual manner, and is
-merely ready for a surgical operation, but in no danger. I have applied
-the strongest ammonia to the nostrils of animals that were narcotized by
-chloroform to the third or fourth degree, and it did not affect the
-breathing in the least. They recovered just as if nothing had been done.
-It is difficult to suppose a case in which the breathing should be
-arrested by the effects of chloroform whilst the skin remained sensible,
-yet it is only in such a case that the dashing of cold water on the
-patient could be of use. There is, however, no harm in the application
-of this and such like means, provided they do not usurp the time which
-ought to be occupied in artificial respiration; for this measure should
-be resorted to the moment the natural breathing has entirely ceased.
-
-I have only seen two cases in which the patients seemed in imminent
-danger from the direct effects of chloroform. One of these occurred in
-1853. It was the case of a child, aged six years, but small and
-ricketty, which had the greater part of the eyeball removed on account
-of melanotic disease. The usual inhaler was employed, and when the child
-seemed sufficiently insensible, it was withdrawn. The operation was
-commenced by introducing a large curved needle, armed with a thick
-ligature, through the globe of the eye, in order to draw it forward. As
-the needle was introduced, the child cried out a very little, and
-thinking the parents, who were in the adjoining room, would be alarmed,
-I poured some undiluted chloroform hastily on a rather large sponge, and
-placed it over the nostrils and mouth. The sponge became pressed by the
-surgeon’s hand closer on the nose than I intended, but it was removed
-after the child had taken a few inspirations. The operation was quickly
-concluded without any further sign of sensation than that mentioned
-above. At the end of the operation, the breathing was natural, but the
-face was pale, and the lips blue, and the limbs were also relaxed. I
-tried to feel the pulse at the wrist, but did not discover any. The
-chloroform had at this time been left off half a minute at least. The
-pallor and blueness continued, and in a little time the breathing became
-slow and embarrassed, and appeared about to cease altogether, the pulse
-being still absent. The windows were opened, and cold water dashed
-freely on the face. The child made gasping inspirations now and then,
-but they did not follow immediately, or seem connected with each
-application of the water. The gasps became more frequent, till the
-breathing was thoroughly reestablished, when the colour returned to the
-lips, and the pulse was again felt at the wrist. In a minute afterwards,
-the child was red in the face, and crying violently from pain, which was
-relieved by a little more chloroform. It appeared to be a minute or a
-minute and a half from the time when the sponge with chloroform was
-removed, till the breathing became of a gasping character. There is no
-doubt that in this case the heart was paralyzed, or nearly so, by the
-chloroform, and that its action was restored by the spontaneous gasping
-inspirations of the child. The accident could have been prevented by
-having the chloroform, which was put on the sponge, diluted with spirit.
-
-The other case occurred in the latter part of 1852. I have no notes of
-it, as it took place at the beginning of an illness, which prevented me
-from writing for some time; but I recollect the chief particulars of it
-sufficiently well. The patient was a lady rather more than sixty years
-of age, rather tall and thin. She required to have a polypus removed
-from the nose. Mr. Fergusson, who was about to operate, was nearly an
-hour after the appointed time, and during this interval she was pacing
-up and down the room, apparently in a great fright. She was placed in an
-easy chair for the operation, and the pulse was small and feeble when
-she began to inhale. Nothing particular occurred during the inhalation,
-but just at the time when the patient was becoming insensible, the
-breathing ceased, and the pulse could not be felt. She appeared to have
-fainted, and was immediately placed on a bed which was in the room. I
-applied my ear to the chest, but could hear no sound whatever. Mr.
-Fergusson applied his mouth to that of the patient, and with a very
-strong expiration, inflated her lungs, so as to expand the chest very
-freely. I immediately heard the heart’s action recommence with very
-rapid and feeble strokes, as I had so often heard it recommence in
-animals. The patient soon began to make distant gasping inspirations,
-and the natural breathing and pulse were soon reestablished. Mr.
-Fergusson made only one or two inflations of the lungs after the first
-one, which of itself was the means of restoring the patient. It was
-about twenty minutes, however, before she became conscious; and during
-the greater part of this time there were spasmodic twitchings of the
-features and limbs on one side. In about an hour, she was pretty well;
-and on the following day the operation was performed without chloroform.
-
-The most ready and effectual mode of performing artificial respiration
-is undoubtedly the postural method, introduced by Dr. Marshall Hall a
-little time before his death. It consists in placing the patient on the
-face and making pressure on the back; removing the pressure, and turning
-the patient on his side and a little beyond; then turning him back on
-the face and making pressure on the back again; these measures being
-repeated in about the time of natural respiration.
-
-Whether the artificial breathing is successful or not must depend
-chiefly on the extent to which the heart has been paralyzed by the
-chloroform, as was previously observed. The fact of the breathing
-continuing after the action of the heart has ceased, in some of the
-fatal cases, shows that the heart may be so paralyzed as not to be
-readily restored by the breathing. It is probable that in all cases in
-which artificial respiration can restore the patient, its action would
-be very prompt; still it is desirable to persevere with this measure for
-a good while.
-
-As already stated, there is every reason to conclude that the right
-cavities of the heart are distended with blood, in all cases of
-suspended animation by chloroform, and therefore it would be desirable
-to open one of the jugular veins if the artificial respiration does not
-immediately restore the patient. In opening animals, just after death
-from this agent, I have observed the contractions of the heart to
-return, to a certain extent, when the distension of its right cavities
-was diminished by the division of the vessels about the root of the
-neck. Opening the jugular veins has been resorted to in a few of the
-cases of accident from chloroform, but hitherto without success.
-
-I have not succeeded in restoring an animal from an overdose of
-chloroform, by means of electricity, in any case where I felt satisfied
-that it would not recover spontaneously; and I have not heard of any
-patient being restored by its means. For keeping up respiration,
-mechanical means, such as the postural method, are better; as they cause
-air to enter the lungs without exhausting the remaining sensibility. If
-electricity be used, it should be directed towards restoring the action
-of the heart. It is probable that the electric current would not reach
-the heart without the help of the acupuncture needle; but it would be
-justifiable to use this in a desperate case, when other measures had
-failed. The needles should be coated with wax, or some other
-non-conductor of electricity, except near the points.
-
-In the fatal cases Nos. 40 and 48, previously related, the action of the
-heart partially returned during the efforts that were made for the
-restoration of the patient, but did not become thoroughly reestablished.
-It is probable that the circulation through the coronary vessels of the
-heart was not restored in those cases, or else the blood which must have
-been freed from chloroform, in its passage through the lungs, would most
-likely have enabled the heart to recover completely. Dr. Cockle has
-expressed the opinion, which is very probable, that the blood enters the
-coronary arteries in a retrograde manner, during the diastole of the
-ventricles, when the aorta and other great arteries are contracting on
-their contents; if so, with a very feeble circulation, the elasticity of
-the aorta, perhaps, cannot sufficiently act to cause a backward current;
-and perhaps, also, the over-narcotism of the heart is itself an obstacle
-to the coronary circulation, on account of the congestion of the
-capillaries which always attends on narcotism.
-
-The knowledge how seldom anything effectual can be done for a person who
-has inhaled a dose of chloroform from which he would not spontaneously
-recover, ought to impress the rule very strongly on every one, to use
-the greatest care in its administration.
-
-
- EFFECT OF CHLOROFORM ON THE RESULT OF OPERATIONS.
-
-Besides the great benefit conferred by chloroform in the prevention of
-pain, it probably confers still greater advantages by the extension
-which it gives to the practice of surgery. Many operations take place in
-children which could not be performed in the waking state; excisions of
-joints and tedious operations for the removal of necrosed bone are often
-performed on persons who would be altogether unable to go through them
-except in a state of anæsthesia; and the moving of stiff joints by force
-is an operation now frequently performed, although it would probably not
-have been thought of if narcotism by inhalation had not been discovered.
-The surgeon also obtains the ready assent of his patient to a number of
-other operations, where it would either not be obtained at all, or not
-at the most favourable time, if the patient had to suffer the pain of
-them.
-
-The effect of chloroform cannot fail to be favourable, to a certain
-extent, in large operations. The patient is in a more tranquil and
-cheerful condition after the operation, than he would be in if he had
-suffered the pain of it. His pulse is usually of the natural frequency;
-and after an amputation, there is generally an entire absence of the
-starting of the stump, which was formerly so distressing. After all the
-minor operations in which chloroform is used, and which according to my
-experience comprise at least one-half of the cases, there is never a
-death; and the only inconvenience is a troublesome sickness of stomach
-in a very few instances. Moreover, when patients die after the more
-formidable operations, they succumb to causes which are well known, and
-were in operation before the practice of anæsthesia. I only know of a
-very few instances where there has been a reasonable doubt on the mind
-of the surgeon, whether the chloroform may not have had some share in
-preventing the recovery of the patient, after a severe operation. These
-were cases in which the sickness, which occasionally follows chloroform,
-continued for three or four days, indeed till the death of the patient.
-This is a point which it would be difficult to decide, for the latter
-part of the sickness might depend on the sinking state of the patient,
-and might have come on if chloroform had not been used. Moreover, as
-sickness is seldom very prolonged after chloroform in minor operations,
-except in persons who are not in a good state of health, it is most
-probable, that the patients who died after a great operation with
-continued sickness, would not have done well if no chloroform had been
-used.
-
-Some attempts have been made to determine, by statistical inquiry,
-whether the result of operations has been more favourable since the
-introduction of anæsthesia. These attempts have been confined to the
-larger amputations, as they are the only operations which sufficiently
-resemble each other to admit of the application of statistical inquiry;
-and even in the case of these operations, the inquiries which had been
-made previously to the introduction of etherization differed widely in
-their results.
-
-Dr. Simpson took great trouble, in the early part of 1848, to collect
-the account of the amputations of the thigh, leg, and arm, which had
-been performed under the influence of ether or chloroform in forty-nine
-of the hospitals in Great Britain; and for comparison, he collected from
-thirty British hospitals the results of the same amputations, for the
-two or three years preceding 1847. He found that the mortality in the
-period preceding the use of ether was 29 per cent. in these amputations,
-and the return of patients whose limbs had been amputated under the use
-of ether and chloroform gave a mortality of 23 per cent.; and he
-concluded that 6 per cent. of the lives of those who had undergone these
-amputations had been saved by the use of these agents. In his
-application for an account of cases, however, Dr. Simpson merely asked
-for the number of cases, and the number of deaths. Nothing was said as
-to the time when the amputations had been performed; and there is reason
-to believe that a number of cases still under treatment may have been
-included; some of which may have ended fatally after the returns were
-made. The cutting part of a large amputation is of very short duration.
-The loss of blood is not great; and patients hardly ever died during the
-performance of an amputation, but some time afterwards, of diseases
-which ether and chloroform have not been found capable of preventing. It
-was therefore not to be expected that these agents should save the lives
-of so many as 6 per cent. of those who underwent the larger amputations.
-
-In the early part of 1849, I published an account of fifty-five
-amputations of the thigh, leg, and arm, in which I had administered
-ether or chloroform, and the mortality was 27 per cent.[141]
-
-Dr. James Arnott has lately been investigating this subject in a very
-persevering manner. During the last three or four years, all the cases
-of amputation performed in the London hospitals have been reported in
-the _Medical Times and Gazette_, together with their results; and Dr.
-James Arnott has stated that the average per centage of deaths, after
-the three kinds of amputation above mentioned, is 34·4 per cent. There
-is obviously no means of ascertaining what was the mortality after
-amputations in the hospitals of London before the use of ether and
-chloroform, but Dr. James Arnott brings forward four papers, which state
-the mortality for a short period, in four hospitals, a little time
-before the introduction of etherization. The number of cases in these
-papers is 174, and the number of deaths 41. Dr. James Arnott states the
-per centage of deaths to be 21·9,[142] although it appears to me that it
-would be 23·5; and it may be remarked that the four papers from which
-these numbers are taken might probably not have been published if the
-numbers they contain had not been favourable. Dr. James Arnott, in a
-second table, gives the number of amputations and deaths from the
-several hospitals in London which are named. The cases are said to have
-occurred “during eighteen months from June 1855 to June 1856,
-inclusive;” here being obviously a mistake. The number of cases is 204,
-and the number of deaths 61; which would give a mortality of 29·9 per
-cent.; almost exactly the same as that which Dr. Simpson had obtained
-from thirty provincial hospitals before the use of ether. The numbers in
-Dr. Simpson’s table are 618 cases, and 183 deaths, or 29·6 per cent. Dr.
-James Arnott does not, however, mention the per centage of deaths in his
-second table, but gives another table, for a different period, in which
-the names of the hospital are not given. The numbers he gives in this
-table are 430 cases and 148 deaths, giving a mortality of 34·4 per cent.
-Dr. James Arnott therefore concludes that chloroform causes the death of
-upwards of 12 per cent. of those who inhale it for the purpose of
-undergoing amputation. It is evident that he can have had no experience
-of the effects of chloroform, or he would have perceived at once the
-error of his conclusions, for this agent is given for a much longer time
-than in amputations, in numerous operations of which the entire
-mortality is less than 12 per cent. In the removal of tumours of the
-female breast, for instance, more chloroform is generally administered
-than in an amputation, and the loss of blood is also much greater, yet
-the entire mortality after this operation is considerably less than that
-which Dr. J. Arnott supposes that chloroform adds to the ordinary
-mortality after amputations.
-
-Dr. J. Arnott stated that the pyæmia, of which many of the patients died
-after amputation, had probably been rendered more prevalent and fatal by
-the use of chloroform; but Mr. Thomas Holmes, in one of his able replies
-to the remarks of Dr. Arnott, points out that pyæmia had been prevalent
-also in cases of compound fracture, and others in which the patients had
-no chloroform. He stated that this complaint had been more prevalent in
-St. George’s Hospital during the three years in which Dr. J. Arnott’s
-statistics of amputations had been collected, than in the previous five
-years, in which chloroform had been used.[143]
-
-A very valuable paper on the result of operations performed in the
-Newcastle Infirmary, before and since the use of ether and chloroform,
-was published last year by Dr. Fenwick.[144] He says, respecting his
-tables, “in the first series are included the operations registered in
-the operation books of the Newcastle Infirmary from 1823 to 1843; but,
-as the record is imperfect, the actual period embraced is seventeen and
-a half years. In the second, are the operations registered since the
-first employment of ether; and as the use of anæsthetic agents has been
-general in all the more important operations since that time, these
-figures may be used to show any disadvantages likely to arise from the
-employment of chloroform.” Dr. Fenwick continues:—“Before the use of
-chloroform, there were registered 225 amputations of the thigh, leg, and
-arm, of which 54, or 24 per cent., died. Since the use of anæsthetic
-agents, 149 cases of similar operations have been recorded, of which 36
-died, showing also a mortality of 24 per cent.
-
-“Before, however, we can draw any conclusion from such facts, we must
-carefully exclude all those circumstances which are already known to
-produce an effect upon the mortality of amputations. It is, for
-instance, well known that amputations performed on account of accidents
-are, on the whole, nearly twice as fatal as those required for long
-standing disease. Now, if we divide the foregoing numbers into these two
-classes, we shall find that before the introduction of chloroform there
-were 144 pathological amputations, with a mortality of 19 per cent.;
-while since its employment there have been only 61, of which 13 per
-cent. have died; and while of 81 traumatic amputations which took place
-in the former period 32 per cent. died, only 31 per cent. perished in
-the latter period. The equal mortality obtained from a general average
-of all amputations is thus seen to have arisen from the smaller
-comparative number of operations performed for diseases.”
-
-After giving a table which shows the result of each kind of amputation
-in the two periods, he adds, “It is plain from the above table that
-since the employment of chloroform there has been a diminution of
-mortality; thus in amputations of the thigh for disease there has been 5
-per cent. less death, while after accidents 17 per cent. have been
-restored to health, who formerly would have perished. In the
-pathological amputations of the leg there is a difference of 8 per cent.
-in favour of chloroform; and while one out of three died after the
-removal of the forearm for accidents in the former series of cases, no
-death had occurred out of eight in the latter. The only exceptions are
-to be found in the traumatic amputations of the leg, and in the
-pathological amputations of the arm. In the former there is an excess of
-deaths since the introduction of chloroform amounting to 5 per cent.;
-and in the latter, the cases, being only two in number, do not warrant
-us in drawing any deduction from them.”
-
-Dr. Fenwick found that the mortality from lithotomy had been greater
-since the introduction of chloroform than before, but that the increase
-was confined to the cases occurring in adults; and he justly attributes
-this to the fact of the more favourable cases having been operated on by
-lithotrity. He says, “However paradoxical it may appear, I believe that
-as surgery improves the general average of mortality, both after
-amputations and lithotomy, will increase; in the former, from the
-operation being confined more and more to those suffering from
-accidents, and in the latter, from those with a healthy condition of the
-kidneys and bladder being selected for the action of the lithotrite, and
-the worst cases only submitting to the knife.”
-
-Dr. Fenwick gives a table showing the causes of death in the fatal cases
-of lithotomy before the use of chloroform and afterwards, by which it is
-seen that, in the latter set of cases, a larger proportion of the
-patients had been afflicted with organic disease, in addition to the
-stone. He says:—“This table shows that the relative proportion of deaths
-arising from the operation in healthy persons has diminished since the
-use of chloroform, 58 per cent. having died in the former, and only 47
-per cent. in the latter.”
-
-Dr. Fenwick inquires into the result of a considerable number of
-operations in the Newcastle Infirmary, before and after the use of
-chloroform, in addition to those mentioned above; and gives the
-following summary towards the end of his paper.[145] “We find that there
-has been a decrease in mortality since the introduction of chloroform in
-the following operations:—
-
- Per cent.
- Pathological amputations of the thigh 5
- Traumatic amputations of the thigh 17
- Pathological amputations of the leg 8
- Amputation at the shoulder joint 7
- Traumatic amputation of the arm 5
- Pathological amputation of the forearm 33
- Traumatic amputation of the forearm 16
- Ligature of the brachial artery 20
- Ligature of the arteries of the forearm 25
- Amputation of the penis 11
- Amputation of the testis 14
- Excision of the elbow 30
- Tumours of the axilla, etc. 8
- Tumours of the bones, etc. 4
-
-“There has been an increase of mortality in:—
-
- Per cent.
- Traumatic amputation of the leg 5
- Pathological amputation of the arm 41
- Lithotomy 10
- Herniotomy 12
- Amputation of the breast 1
- Tumours of the head, etc. 5.”
-
-Dr. Fenwick very properly remarks that other circumstances may have had
-an influence over the mortality of the various operations, as well as
-the fact of chloroform being used or not used: but his inquiry is very
-important, as it shows the result of operations in the same institution
-since the employment of ether and chloroform, and for a long period
-immediately preceding the use of those agents.
-
-
- THE ADMINISTRATION OF CHLOROFORM IN THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF OPERATIONS.
-
-General directions for the exhibition of chloroform have already been
-given, but it is desirable to say a few words regarding its employment
-in some of the individual operations of surgery.
-
-_Lithotomy._ In this operation, it is advisable to have the patient
-placed on the operating table with his head supported by one or two
-pillows, and to administer the chloroform before the sound is
-introduced. This having been done, it is generally requisite to
-administer a little more vapour cautiously and gently, whilst the
-bandages are applied to the hands and feet, and the patient is drawn
-down towards the foot of the table. The bandaging should on no account
-be neglected in the adult patient. It would be an abuse of chloroform to
-carry its effects so far in every case that the slightest contraction of
-the muscles could not be excited by the use of the knife, merely to save
-the trouble of applying a bandage. In little children, the bandages are
-not usually employed; but in these cases, the person administering the
-chloroform should hold the head or shoulders of the little patient, just
-as the surgeon makes his first incision; for the two assistants who are
-holding the legs, and think they are doing a great deal of good, are
-really making a fulcrum to enable the child to push itself away from the
-surgeon, if it makes the least flinch, which it is almost sure to do, if
-the narcotism is not much deeper than there is any occasion for. In this
-operation the patient should be fully insensible when the surgeon makes
-his first incisions; and the chloroform must be repeated or not during
-the operation as occasion may require.
-
-I have memoranda of fifty-seven cases in which I have administered
-chloroform in the adult, and thirty-four in children, down to the
-present time, the end of March 1858. It was my expectation that I should
-be able to give the result of these, and all the other important
-operations; but I have in a few cases either not ascertained whether the
-patient recovered or not, or have neglected to make a note of the
-circumstances at the time; and although the deficiencies might perhaps
-be made up by private correspondence, and by searching the books of
-three hospitals, I regret that I have not time at present for such an
-undertaking.
-
-A large proportion of the above cases of lithotomy were performed by Mr.
-Fergusson, either in his private practice, or in King’s College
-Hospital, and the remaining operations were performed by a number of
-surgeons. On April 19th, 1855, Mr. Fergusson removed eight calculi, as
-large as pigeon eggs, from the bladder of a gentleman, aged sixty-nine,
-who had a favourable recovery.
-
-On June 7th, in the same year, he removed fourteen calculi from the
-bladder of an elderly gentleman, who also recovered. In January 1857, he
-removed forty-two calculi from the bladder of a gentleman, aged
-sixty-six; twelve of them were nearly as large as chesnuts, and the rest
-about as big as hazel-nuts. This patient died, I think, within a
-fortnight. He had disease of the kidneys. A considerable number of the
-elderly men on whom lithotomy has been performed have had well marked
-symptoms of fatty degeneration of the heart; but the chloroform has
-acted favourably on all of them. In January 1853, Mr. Fergusson
-performed lithotomy in the country on a gentleman, aged sixty-four,
-removing a rather large calculus. The patient weighed eighteen stone; he
-had a pulse which was liable to intermit, some of his relations had died
-suddenly, and his usual medical attendant was very much alarmed about
-the chloroform; but its action was very satisfactory. The patient
-recovered his consciousness without sickness, or any unpleasant symptom;
-and he had a favourable recovery. On August 11th, 1855, I administered
-chloroform in King’s College Hospital to a man, aged seventy-five,
-whilst Mr. Fergusson performed lithotomy. The patient had suffered from
-apoplexy a year before; he was still paralyzed on one side, he had the
-arcus senilis well marked in both eyes, and the temporal arteries were
-very thick and rigid. He went through the operation well; the pulse
-being good all the time. He died on the fifth day, and the following
-appears in the _Medical Times and Gazette_ respecting the appearances
-found after death. “At the autopsy, the cellular tissue of the pelvis
-was found infiltrated with pus. The kidneys were contracted, and
-occupied by many cysts; the ureters were inflamed and contained pus. The
-bladder was extensively sacculated, and its mucous membrane so much
-congested as to appear on the point of sloughing. There was no
-peritonitis. The heart was large and fatty, and its aortic valves
-diseased to a small extent. The brain was congested, and its
-bloodvessels extensively ossified.” On December 22nd, 1855, I
-administered chloroform in King’s College Hospital to a very fat man,
-aged sixty-one, with a soft weak pulse, and arcus senilis of the cornea.
-Mr. Fergusson performed lithotomy. He went well through the operation,
-and recovered promptly from the effects of the chloroform. He died on
-the seventh day, with purulent effusion into the left knee, and around
-the left shoulder. The heart was large and flabby, and the substance of
-the left ventricle was very friable. The right ventricle was dilated and
-thinned, and its walls were soft and friable, and encroached on
-externally by fat; at one place there seemed scarcely any muscular
-substance left.
-
-I have memoranda of four cases of lithotomy in the female, in which the
-urethra was divided as well as dilated to extract the stone; and I
-recollect two other cases of the same kind of which I have no notes.
-
-_Lithotrity._ I have memoranda of 155 operations of lithotrity in which
-I have administered chloroform. The number of cases of stone in which
-these operations took place was sixty, but some of the patients had
-operations performed, either without chloroform, or when it was
-administered by some one else. The earliest cases of lithotrity in which
-I administered chloroform were in St. George’s Hospital, and a great
-number of the patients to whom I have given it were the private patients
-of Mr. Fergusson, who is entirely satisfied of its utility in this
-operation. Speaking of this operation in his _Practical Surgery_ (third
-ed., p. 800), he says: “I am of opinion that there is not any department
-of practical surgery in which anæsthesia has been of more service than
-in this.” I have administered chloroform in a few operations of
-lithotrity by Sir Benjamin Brodie; but I believe that he does not
-approve of it in this operation, as a general rule. The following are
-amongst the other surgeons whom I have frequently assisted by giving
-chloroform in this operation: Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, Mr. Cutler, Mr.
-Coulson, Mr. Charles Hawkins, and Mr. Henry Lee. Mr. Fergusson, in one
-of his operations, extracted some portions of gutta percha bougie round
-which a phosphatic calculus had formed. He was not informed of the
-presence of the bougie in the bladder, until it was extracted. On
-another occasion, a patient was brought from the country soon after a
-bougie of this description had broken off, and he extracted with the
-lithotrite the piece remaining in the bladder. It was between two and
-three inches in length.
-
-It is generally desirable to make the patient quite insensible during
-the operation of lithotrity; and the patient sometimes groans during its
-performance, when he is in a condition that, so far as one can judge, he
-would show no sign of sensation under the use of the knife; but he, of
-course, has no recollection of the operation afterwards. The bladder is
-sometimes apt to expel the water which is injected, if the patient is
-not well under the influence of the chloroform; but when the vapour has
-been continued for a few minutes, and the narcotism is complete, the
-bladder will, I believe, always hold water as well as if the operation
-were performed in the waking state, and generally much better. There are
-some surgeons who occasionally raise the breech of the patient for a
-short time during this operation, so that the head becomes considerably
-lower than the body. Stout old men generally snore more loudly when in
-this position under the influence of chloroform; but I have not met with
-any ill effects, nor expected any, from the head being lowered for a
-short time. From ten to twenty minutes has been the most usual duration
-of the operations under chloroform at which I have been present.
-
-I have administered chloroform six times in female children whilst Mr.
-Fergusson performed lithotrity. The patients were three in number. I
-think the calculus all came away after the first operation, and the
-second was only an examination of the bladder. I administered chloroform
-also, on one occasion, to a lady whilst Mr. Spencer Wells repeated the
-operation of lithotrity.
-
-_Section of the Urethra in the Perinæum._ I have notes of 56 cases of
-this operation. A great proportion of them were performed by Mr.
-Fergusson, either in King’s College Hospital, or in private practice.
-Amongst the other surgeons whom I have assisted in this operation were
-the late Messrs. Guthrie, Bransby Cooper, and Avery. In a great number
-of the cases, it was impossible to get a catheter into the bladder until
-after the incision was made in the perinæum, and many of the operations
-were very tedious; several of them lasting above an hour. It is very
-desirable to apply the bandages in this operation, as in that of
-lithotomy, especially if the assistants are not numerous.
-
-_Other Operations for Stricture, etc._ I have notes of four operations
-in which the stricture was divided internally by a urethratome; and of
-two operations in which the orifice of the urethra was enlarged; and of
-nine plastic operations to restore deficiencies of the walls of the
-urethra, congenital or otherwise. I have memoranda of 66 cases in which
-I have administered chloroform for sounding the bladder or the
-introduction of a catheter. In catheterism under chloroform the patient,
-of course, lies on his back, which is indeed the position in which he
-ought to be during this operation, when chloroform is not administered.
-
-_Amputation of the Thigh._ This operation is often performed for disease
-of the knee, when the joint is in such a state of tenderness that the
-least motion causes great pain. In such cases, I have administered the
-chloroform to the patient in bed, before his removal to the operating
-table, and given a little more chloroform just before the operation was
-commenced. In King’s College Hospital, I have several times given the
-chloroform in the ward in such cases, before the patient was removed to
-the operating theatre; but in St. George’s Hospital, the passages and
-doors being wide, the patient has been carried on his bed into the
-theatre, where the chloroform was administered just before his being
-lifted on the table. In those cases in which the tourniquet is applied,
-in preference to pressure with the fingers, it should be adjusted as the
-patient is getting under the influence of the chloroform, and tightened
-just before the operation begins. It is desirable to keep the patient
-quite insensible till the limb is removed, and the femoral artery is
-tied; after which a little chloroform may be given whenever the patient
-shows by a slight flinch, or contraction of his features, that sensation
-is returning. A few patients have recovered their consciousness during
-the tying of the smaller arteries, and have entered into a conversation
-without feeling the pain, but this condition is quite the exception. I
-have notes of 49 cases of amputation of the thigh in which I have
-administered chloroform. Some of the patients, who were almost grown up
-to the adult age, did not know that the limb was removed till three or
-four days had elapsed.
-
-_Amputation of the Leg._ I have notes of 31 cases in which I have
-administered chloroform during this amputation. The remarks made above
-with regard to amputation of the thigh are applicable to this operation.
-
-_Amputation of the Arm._ I have only administered chloroform five times
-in this operation, and only in one case during the last seven years.
-This case was that of a boy, aged sixteen; Mr. Hancock was the operator,
-and the patient recovered. I have no note of the disease for which the
-operation was performed, but in two or three of the remaining cases, the
-arm was amputated on account of malignant disease of the forearm. In one
-of the operations, the patient was seated in an easy chair, but in the
-others, the patients were lying on a sofa, or operating table, with the
-head and shoulders a little raised.
-
-Amputation of the arm has apparently been much less frequently performed
-of late years, owing to the increasing practice of performing excision
-of the elbow; and it appears to me that all the great amputations are
-much less frequently performed now than they were a few years ago.
-During a little more than nine months of 1847, I administered sulphuric
-ether in 32 amputations of the thigh, leg, and arm; and in the last ten
-years and four months, I have only administered chloroform in 85 of the
-same operations; in the last three years, indeed, in only 16 cases; so
-that the practice of amputation is still diminishing. This is due to the
-practice of anæsthesia, which enables the surgeon to explore and to
-remove diseased joints and portions of diseased bone by operations that
-would be too long and too painful to be endured in the waking state.
-This circumstance confirms the remark of Dr. Fenwick, previously quoted,
-that the mortality after amputations may be expected to become greater,
-as they will cease to be performed, except after accidents, or in very
-desperate cases.
-
-_Amputation of the Ankle._ I have notes of 15 cases of amputation at the
-ankle. They were chiefly performed by Mr. Fergusson, and generally in
-the manner recommended by Mr. Syme, or nearly so; but latterly Mr.
-Fergusson and Mr. Partridge have, in three or four cases, adopted the
-modification of this operation introduced by Prof. Pirogoff, by which a
-portion of the os calcis is left.
-
-_Other Amputations._ I have notes of nine cases of amputation of the
-forearm; four of these operations were performed in 1850, and only three
-since that year. I have memoranda of twelve cases in which I have given
-chloroform whilst Chopart’s or other partial operations of the foot were
-performed. Also of three cases in which Mr. Fergusson performed
-amputation at the knee, and three cases in which he performed amputation
-at the wrist in King’s College Hospital. I have notes also of 65 cases
-in which I have administered it during the amputation of one or more
-fingers or toes.
-
-_Operations for Necrosis._ Anæsthesia is of the utmost service in these
-operations, which are often tedious, and would be of the most painful
-nature. The operations are of the most successful kind of any in
-surgery; they usually relieve the patient from a very painful affection,
-and leave no mutilation. I have administered chloroform in many cases of
-necrosis in which an operation could not have been undertaken without
-its assistance; and in a still larger number, in which the operation
-could not otherwise have been satisfactorily completed. I have memoranda
-of 197 cases of necrosis in which I have given chloroform. In 70 of
-these, the tibia was the bone affected; in 15 cases, the femur; in 24
-cases, the humerus; in 14 cases, the radius, or ulna, or both of these
-bones; in 29 cases, the bones either of the carpus or tarsus, or
-metacarpus or metatarsus. I have notes of six cases of necrosis of the
-sternum; in five of these the operation was performed by Mr. Fergusson,
-and in one case by Mr. Solly. Great care was required in some of the
-cases to avoid going through into the chest with the bone nippers. There
-have been nine operations for necrosis of the os calcis. In one of
-these, Mr. Wm. Adams lately removed, along with the necrosed bone, a
-small bullet which had been in the bone for six years.
-
-The other cases of necrosis comprise the upper and lower jaw, the
-parietal bone, the edge of the orbit, the scapula and clavicle, the
-sacrum, the ileum, and the phalanges of the fingers and toes.
-
-_Excision of the Head of the Femur._ I have notes of five cases of this
-operation. They all occurred in children from eight to thirteen years of
-age. Three of the operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson, one by Mr.
-Bowman, and one by Mr. French; I also recollect assisting Mr. Henry
-Smith in a similar operation in a child in 1848, at a time when I did
-not keep any account of the operations in which I administered
-chloroform. In one of Mr. Fergusson’s operations, he removed some
-diseased portions of the acetabulum.
-
-_Excision of the Elbow._ There is every reason to conclude that this
-excellent operation has been performed more frequently in consequence of
-the inhalation of narcotic vapours than it otherwise would have been. I
-have memoranda of 19 cases of this operation in which I have exhibited
-chloroform; 18 of them were performed by Mr. Fergusson, and the
-remaining one was performed by Mr. Coulson, whilst Mr. Fergusson was
-present.
-
-_Excision of the Knee._ I have notes of 17 cases in which I have given
-chloroform during the performance of this operation. Thirteen of the
-operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson, two by Mr. Bowman, one by
-Mr. Partridge, and one by Mr. Henry Smith.
-
-This operation had been rarely performed till within the last seven
-years, and there is every reason to believe that it never would have
-been frequently performed, if the practice of producing anæsthesia had
-not been introduced. I shall speak of this operation again in treating
-of amylene.
-
-_Excision of Wrist._ There have been two cases of this operation
-performed by Mr. Fergusson in King’s College Hospital.
-
-_The Removal of Tumours of the Upper Jaw._ Mr. Syme, Mr. Lizars, and
-some other surgeons, expressed an opinion at one time that chloroform
-could not be safely used in this operation, as the blood would be liable
-to flow into the lungs. This is not the case, however, as the glottis
-retains its sensibility apparently unimpaired, if the influence of the
-chloroform is not too deep or long continued. It is only necessary to
-hold the head forward now and then, when the throat is very full of
-blood, in order to allow the patient the same opportunity of breathing
-that he would require if he were awake. A good deal of blood passes into
-the stomach in great operations about the mouth under the influence of
-chloroform; and if a few drops pass into the windpipe, they are coughed
-up again, as they would be in the waking state; there is, however, less
-appearance of suffocation in operations where the blood flows back into
-the throat, when the patient is insensible, than when he is awake. The
-glottis appears to retain some sensibility as long as a creature is
-capable of breathing, for I have placed the head of more than one cat
-under water after making them thoroughly insensible with chloroform, and
-the action of the respiratory muscles lasted more than two minutes, but
-no water entered the lungs.
-
-I have always made the patient insensible in the usual way, with the
-inhaler, before the operation of removing tumours of the jaw, and have
-kept up the insensibility during the operation by means of a mixture of
-chloroform and spirit on a hollow sponge; or in cases in which I have
-not been provided with this mixture, I have put not more than fifteen or
-twenty minims of chloroform on the sponge at one time. Owing to the
-hands of the surgeon and his assistants being very much in the way, I
-have not always been able to keep the patient quite insensible
-throughout the operation. He has sometimes struggled or cried out, but
-there has been hardly any case in which the patient afterwards
-remembered any considerable part of the operation.
-
-I have notes of twelve cases of removal of the upper jaw in which I have
-administered chloroform, in addition to four cases to which I alluded in
-the _Medical Gazette_, in the early part of 1849. In some of the cases,
-the malar bone was removed, as well as the superior maxillary. Eleven of
-these operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson, and the others were
-performed by Mr. Partridge, Mr. Henry Charles Johnson, Mr. Hewett, Mr.
-Henry Smith, and Mr. Haynes Walton.
-
-Mr. Fergusson introduced a great improvement in this operation about
-seven years ago; instead of the incisions through the cheek or lip, or
-both of these parts, he merely slits open the lip exactly in the mesial
-line, as far as the columna of the nose, and then carries the knife
-along one side of the base of the columna into the nostril, next the
-tumour. He says: “By opening the nostril in this way as much relaxation
-was gained as if the knife had been carried from the root of the ala an
-inch up the side of the nose, and as much facility was given for the
-future steps of the operation, as if an incision three inches in length
-had been made through the lip and side of the nose, while a grand object
-was gained in leaving the slightest possible conspicuous appearance
-afterwards.”[146] This plan has the further great advantage of avoiding
-the very copious hæmorrhage which arises from a deep incision in the
-side of the face.
-
-In one of the operations which was performed before this improvement was
-introduced, the patient died of hæmorrhage. The case is related by Mr.
-Prescott Hewett in the _Medico-Chirurgical Transactions_ for 1851. This
-operation was performed in St. George’s Hospital, in May 1848, with the
-consent of the surgical staff of the hospital. The patient was a man,
-aged twenty-five; the tumour was of nearly six years duration. For some
-time previous to the operation, he had suffered occasionally from
-hæmorrhage from the affected nostril, to an extent which had reduced him
-considerably. The vapour was given to him rather slowly, with the
-apparatus I commonly employ, and he became gradually insensible, without
-previous excitement or struggling. In about three minutes, the
-inhalation was discontinued, the narcotism having reached the third
-degree. The patient was passive, but the muscles were not relaxed. The
-breathing was not stertorous. Some teeth were now extracted without
-causing any sign of pain. A little more chloroform was then given to
-him, and when the inhalation was discontinued a second time, he was in
-the same state as before the teeth were drawn. The operation was
-immediately commenced. The superior maxillary and malar bones of the
-left side were removed. During the first part of the operation, whilst
-the flaps were made, the patient was perfectly quiet and silent; but
-afterwards he began to groan and move his limbs, and he was not again
-rendered altogether insensible; for although a few minims of chloroform
-were from time to time sprinkled over a sponge, which was, now and then,
-held near his face, yet, owing to the hands of the operator and his
-assistants being in the way, and the cavity of the mouth and nostril
-being laid widely open, he got very little of the vapour, and the only
-effect of it was partially to quiet him on one or two occasions. After
-the first two or three minutes of the operation, the effect of the
-chloroform never exceeded the second degree. The patient executed
-voluntary movements of his arms and legs; sometimes it was necessary to
-hold his hands, and at one time he appeared conscious, for he folded his
-arms as if making an effort not to raise his hands to the seat of pain.
-He coughed now and then, and seemed somewhat embarrassed with the blood
-in his throat. He was seated in a chair, but as there was no window in
-the operating theatre except the skylight, his head was obliged to be
-inclined rather backwards. He was leaned forwards once or twice, to
-allow him to get rid of the blood, and it appeared that he vomited some
-on one of these occasions. Towards the conclusion of the operation, and
-at a time when he was very little under the influence of chloroform, he
-fainted. He was laid down, and brandy was given to him. No more
-chloroform was administered after this time. He partially rallied from
-the syncope, but again became faint. The actual cautery was applied, but
-oozing of blood continued until the moment of death,—about half an hour
-after his removal into another room. During this interval, he was much
-exhausted; his pulse was small, and difficult to feel. He was tossing
-himself about in a restless manner, but there was no difficulty of
-breathing. He seemed quite conscious, doing as he was told, but, of
-course, could not speak, from the nature of the operation. I left a few
-minutes before the patient’s death. When he ceased to breathe,
-laryngotomy was performed, and artificial respiration exercised by the
-opening, with no beneficial result. In my opinion, this measure was not
-indicated, but of course it could do no harm.
-
-One of the surgeons who was present when the patient died informed me
-that blood entered his windpipe from the wound, when he became moribund.
-
-It was found during the operation that the tumour did not involve the
-superior maxillary or malar bones, but was situated behind them. In his
-address to the class immediately after the operation, Mr. Hewett
-estimated the loss of blood at sixteen ounces. It appeared to me to be
-much greater; besides that a great deal of blood would certainly be
-swallowed.
-
-After death, portions of the tumour were found still remaining attached
-to the posterior and upper part of the cavity, and projecting into the
-foramen lacerum of the orbit and right nostril, as well as in other
-directions. The trachea and bronchi contained some frothy blood.
-Numerous small dark spots of congestion were met with in the lung,
-resulting from some of the small bronchi being filled with blood.
-
-The late Mr. Liston lost a patient from hæmorrhage during the removal of
-a tumour of the upper jaw, before the prevention of pain by inhalation
-was discovered; and it is evident that the chloroform did not contribute
-either directly or indirectly to the death of Mr. Hewett’s patient. His
-symptoms were simply those of exhaustion from loss of blood; he
-recovered from the effects of the chloroform some time before he died;
-and the small quantity of blood which spotted the lungs, and was
-observed to enter as he was dying, would not have led to any immediate
-urgent symptoms if it had entered during the operation.
-
-_Tumours of the Lower Jaw._ I have notes of twelve cases in which I have
-given chloroform during this operation. Eight of the operations were
-performed by Mr. Fergusson, and the others by Mr. Stanley, Mr. Tatum,
-Mr. Hancock, and Dr. Pettigrew. In some of the cases the jaw was divided
-on each side above its angles, and in most of the others it was
-disarticulated on one side, and divided near the symphysis. Three of the
-patients died within three days, from the hæmorrhage which occurred at
-the time of the operation, but the others all recovered.
-
-The remarks which were made respecting the application of chloroform in
-the removal of tumours of the upper jaw are applicable here. After the
-operation has been commenced, one should endeavour to keep up the
-insensibility by means of a mixture of chloroform and spirit on a hollow
-sponge. In tumours, both of the upper and lower jaw, the operating table
-is preferable to an easy chair for the patient under chloroform. The
-head and shoulders must be raised by the movable flap of the table, or
-by some other contrivance if the operation be performed in a private
-house. I have, however, seen the operation performed on a sofa, and with
-the patient in bed. The blood does not flow into the throat so much in
-the removal of tumours of the lower jaw, as in those of the upper one.
-
-_Tumours of the Female Breast._ I have memoranda of 222 cases in which I
-have given chloroform during the removal of tumours of the breast, or
-tumours which returned after the breast had been removed. I do not
-include with these a considerable number of small tumours, situated
-upon, and near the gland, but not involving it. By far the greater
-number of the tumours of the breast were looked upon as malignant, but I
-am not able to state the numbers which were believed to be malignant,
-and which were thought not to be so. I may state that there is no
-surgeon whom I am in the habit of assisting who does not occasionally
-remove malignant, as well as non-malignant, tumours of the breast. By
-far the greatest proportion of the above mentioned operations on tumours
-of the breast were performed in private practice. In a number of cases
-diseased glands were removed from the axilla, in addition to the mammary
-gland. It is desirable in the removal of large tumours of the breast
-that the surgeon should be well seconded, by assistants who are in the
-constant habit of assisting him, in order that the bleeding may be
-restrained and arrested as quickly as possible. I have not seen any case
-in which the patient did not go through the operation, and live, as far
-as I can remember, for two or three days. But a few of the patients have
-been very faint from bleeding during the operation, and faintness from
-hæmorrhage seldom takes place during the influence of chloroform unless
-the loss of blood is very great. The greater portion of the patients who
-have been faint during the operation have done well afterwards, but a
-few of them have not. In cases where there is a great loss of blood, and
-a very large wound remains, the patients are apt to sink and die in from
-three to five days. Most patients may recover from a considerable
-hæmorrhage, and most patients may be able to bear up during the healing
-of a large wound, but the combination of a great hæmorrhage and a great
-wound is apt to be fatal; especially to patients who are already reduced
-by illness. The largest tumour of the breast I have seen removed, was
-one on which Mr. Fergusson operated, in King’s College Hospital, on Feb.
-26th, 1853; it weighed eighteen pounds and a half. On the 4th of June,
-following, the same patient had a small tumour removed from the same
-situation. It probably resulted from a portion of the large one which
-had been left behind.
-
-There are a few surgeons who prefer to have the patient seated in an
-easy chair whilst removing a tumour of the breast; but it is more
-convenient, under the influence of chloroform, that the patient should
-lie on a table, or sofa, or in bed. I usually keep the patient
-unconscious till the wound is stitched up, and the plaster and bandage
-applied.
-
-I have administered chloroform in four cases of tumour of the male
-breast. These tumours were all of them malignant, I believe.
-
-_Other Tumours._ I have had to administer chloroform during the removal
-of several large and deep-seated tumours of the face, situated just in
-front of the ear, over the parotid gland, with which some of them were
-thought to be connected. These operations were generally extremely
-difficult and tedious, owing to the necessity of avoiding the division
-of the branches of the facial nerve which passed over the tumour. When
-the branches of the facial nerve are touched with the forceps, or back
-of the scalpel, during these operations, the muscles of the face to
-which the branches are distributed contract very freely, at a time when
-the patient is perfectly insensible. Mr. Stanley, Mr. Fergusson, and Mr.
-Tatum, are amongst the surgeons whom I have assisted in the removal of
-tumours of this kind.
-
-I have memoranda of 41 tumours situated behind the angle of the jaw, in
-the removal of which I have exhibited chloroform. These tumours, which
-mostly consisted of diseased lymphatic glands, were often very
-deep-seated, passing near to the carotid artery, and it was necessary on
-that account to keep the patient quite insensible, to prevent his
-flinching during the operation. The greater number of these tumours were
-removed by Mr. Fergusson.
-
-Seventy-one of the tumours of the removal of which I have notes, are
-stated to have been of the encysted kind. Sixteen of them were situated
-on the eyelids, sixteen on the scalp, three or four in the orbit,
-several in front, or at the side of the neck, and the rest in different
-parts of the body.
-
-I have memoranda of 66 fatty tumours which were removed from different
-parts of the body. Some of them were of great size; one weighed fifteen
-pounds. One which Mr. Fergusson removed in 1855 from the arm of a lady,
-the patient of Messrs. Maurice and Harris of Reading, was situated
-beneath the biceps muscle, and weighed two pounds six ounces and a half.
-The diagnosis of it was very difficult. The fatty tumours were easily
-removed, except in a few instances, in which the fat was infiltrated in
-the surrounding tissues.
-
-I have notes of the removal of 87 other tumours of various kinds, as
-fibrous, scirrhous, epithelial, melanotic, fungoid, etc.
-
-On February 11th, 1854, Mr. Fergusson removed a large fibrous tumour,
-situated over the right scapula of a stout gentleman about forty. It
-weighed about three pounds. The tumour was very adherent to all the
-surrounding tissues, and the removal of it occupied five or ten minutes,
-and was attended with considerable hæmorrhage. At the time when the
-tumour was completely detached, the patient became pale, and the pulse
-could no longer be felt in either wrist or in the temporal arteries. He
-did not faint, however, for the breathing continued to be well and
-regularly performed. He partially recovered his feeling once or twice,
-whilst the vessels were being tied, and more chloroform was given to
-him. At the end of the operation he was quite conscious, and did not
-complain of being faint, although no pulse could be felt. The pulse had
-not returned when I left him half an hour after the operation, and I was
-informed that it did not return for about three hours. Four hours after
-the operation, when I called to see him, he had a frequent and very
-distinct pulse. He had some hot brandy and water just after the
-operation, and about ten minutes afterwards he insisted on going to the
-water-closet in the next room, and could not be persuaded to lie still.
-The moment he was raised on his feet, however, he fainted, but was
-immediately laid down again, when he as quickly recovered his
-consciousness, and was content to lie still. This was the only faintness
-he had. It is my opinion that the effect of the chloroform kept up the
-breathing and prevented syncope, whilst the smaller arteries of the
-exterior of the body contracted so as to confine the remaining blood
-very much to the vital organs. The patient seemed in some danger for two
-or three days, but was walking out quite well in less than a fortnight.
-
-In April 1856, Mr. Paget removed a fibro-cellular tumour, weighing
-probably ten or twelve pounds, from a lady a few weeks out of her
-confinement. The tumour was situated over the sacrum and nates. Sir
-Benjamin Brodie was present at the operation. The patient recovered
-favourably.
-
-_Nævi._ I have memoranda of 116 operations on vascular tumours, the
-greater part of them in infants. The operations have generally been
-performed by subcutaneous ligature, and have been extremely successful.
-The greater number of them have been performed by Mr. Fergusson and Mr.
-Bowman, in private practice and in King’s College Hospital. Some of the
-nævi on the faces of infants, which were operated on by Mr. Fergusson,
-were very large, and required a succession of operations.
-
-_Ligature of Arteries._ I have administered chloroform in three cases of
-ligature of the carotid artery, by Mr. Bowman, Mr. Lane, and Mr. Haynes
-Walton. Mr. Walton’s patient was an infant six months old. The right
-common carotid artery was tied, on account of a tumour which pushed
-forward the eye to a great extent. On the child being brought under the
-influence of chloroform, the prominence of the eye diminished very much,
-as I was informed that it had done when chloroform was given for some
-reason on a previous occasion. On the ligature being placed under the
-artery, the chloroform was discontinued, and its effects allowed to
-subside before the ligature was tied. As the effects of the chloroform
-went off, the eye became as prominent as before; and the tightening of
-the ligature had no effect on this prominence whilst I remained,
-although it instantly stopped the pulsation of the temporal artery. I
-was informed that this child was cured by the operation.
-
-I have also administered chloroform in three cases of ligature of the
-external iliac artery, for aneurism of the femoral. Two of the
-operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson, and the other by Mr. Henry
-Smith. One of Mr. Fergusson’s patients was a very stout gentleman; the
-external iliac artery was diseased at the usual situation of the
-ligature, and it had to be tied near to the common iliac. This patient
-died. Mr. Henry Smith’s patient recovered, as I believe did the other of
-Mr. Fergusson’s. It is necessary that the patient should be kept very
-insensible during the operation of tying the carotid or external iliac
-artery, to prevent the possibility of his flinching.
-
-I have exhibited chloroform six times for the ligature of the
-superficial femoral artery, on account of aneurism in the popliteal
-space. Two of these operations were performed by Mr. Bowman on the same
-man with an interval of three weeks. He had an aneurism in the popliteal
-space of both limbs. There was a case of false aneurism of the radial
-artery, on which Mr. Fergusson operated by tying the artery above and
-below, and turning out the clot; and also a case in which Mr. Hancock
-tied the vessels for a false aneurism, situated between the metacarpal
-bones of the thumb and forefinger. There were two cases also in which
-the radial artery was tied for a recent wound; one by Mr. Henry Charles
-Johnson, the other by Mr. Henry Lee.
-
-_Tumours of Bone._ I have administered chloroform in a number of cases
-of the removal of enchondroma, and other tumours of bone. In June 1849 I
-assisted the late Mr. Aston Key whilst he removed a bony tumour from a
-youth about sixteen, situated at the inner and anterior part of the
-femur, just above the knee; and I have seen two or three other tumours
-of the same kind, exactly in the same situation. I have no notes of the
-other cases; but one was a patient of Mr. Quain, and another, I think,
-of Mr. Fergusson. After an incision is made, the tumour can be clipped
-clean off at once with a pair of strong, curved bone nippers. Unless the
-bone nippers are curved, the operation is troublesome and difficult.
-
-_Hare-Lip._ I have notes of 147 operations for hare-lip, for which I
-have given chloroform. A few of these operations were performed by Mr.
-Arnott, Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Henry Charles Johnson, and
-others, but nearly nine-tenths of the whole number were performed by Mr.
-Fergusson, either in his private practice or in King’s College Hospital.
-A great number of Mr. Fergusson’s operations were in children from three
-to six weeks old; and some were younger than this, one being only eight
-days. There used to be an objection against operating for hare-lip on
-very young infants, as it was said that they often died of convulsions,
-which I believe to be true. The convulsions were supposed to be caused
-by the shock of the operation on the nervous system, which I believe to
-be entirely untrue. I believe they were caused by hæmorrhage; and I
-would not recommend the surgeon to perform his first operations for
-hare-lip on very young and feeble infants. The great success of this
-operation of late years, in the first weeks of life, depends on the
-dexterity of the surgeon who performs the operation so quickly that
-scarcely any blood is lost. When Mr. Fergusson performs this operation,
-the infant is held by a nurse, who is seated opposite to him, whilst its
-head is placed in his own lap between his thighs. An assistant
-compresses the labial artery on the right side, by grasping the lip
-between his finger and thumb, just at the angle of the mouth; a
-sharp-pointed scalpel is pushed through the lip on the right side, just
-below the nose, and carried downwards so as to cut away the edge of the
-fissure; then the same performance is done on the left side of the
-fissure, while Mr. Fergusson compresses the labial artery on that side
-with the finger and thumb of his left hand. In about twenty seconds from
-the beginning of the operation, the hare-lip pins are introduced, and
-the cut edges of the lip being pressed together, the bleeding is at once
-entirely stopped. I have no doubt that many lives are saved by early
-operation, especially amongst the poor, as a child with a bad hare-lip
-cannot take the breast till it is operated on, and there is a very great
-mortality amongst infants brought up by hand.
-
-The blood which escapes when the infant is laid on its back flows back
-into the throat, and it usually passes on each side of the epiglottis,
-and runs into the stomach without any act of deglutition. In a few cases
-of strong children, in whom the bleeding is rather free, the breathing
-gets embarrassed, and Mr. Fergusson turns the face of the child
-downwards for a moment to let the blood run out of its mouth. When the
-quantity of blood flowing into the throat is greater than can run down
-into the stomach, in the way I have mentioned above, the glottis closes
-and the breathing stops, which gives the indication for turning the face
-downwards. I have seen a few operations in the hospital for hare-lip,
-without chloroform, whilst the children were on their backs. In these
-cases they cried violently from the pain, set the blood in the mouth
-into violent commotion, and then drawing a deep inspiration, drew a
-little of the blood into the larynx, which caused a violent cough; so
-that there was usually much more appearance of choking than in the cases
-where chloroform was given. Moreover, in these latter cases, it is
-usually towards the end of the operation that the children sometimes
-become embarrassed with the blood; not because the quantity of blood is
-greater, but because the sensibility is returning. I have seen one case
-which shows that the effects of chloroform, when deep or long continued,
-will diminish the sensibility of the glottis. After an infant was made
-insensible some years ago for an operation for hare-lip, it was found
-that an instrument for dividing the projecting intermaxillary bone was
-wanting, and I kept the child insensible for several minutes, by
-administering chloroform occasionally, until the instrument was found;
-the bleeding was rather free, and some of it entered the windpipe and
-caused a tracheal râle. The child coughed it up on awaking, and no ill
-consequences followed; but the occurrence confirms the opinion
-previously expressed, that the insensibility should not be both deep and
-long continued at a time when copious hæmorrhage is flowing into the
-throat. The effects of chloroform pass off very quickly in infants, and
-it is not often that they last till the operation of hare-lip is
-finished, short as that operation is. In private practice, indeed, when
-the parents of the infant are close by, I usually have an opportunity to
-apply a little chloroform, mixed with spirit, on a sponge, in the course
-of the operation, when it is required to prevent crying; but in the
-hospital, the children sometimes cry a little before the operation is
-concluded.
-
-_Cancer of the Lip._ I have memoranda of nineteen cases of cancer of the
-lower lip, and three or four of the upper lip, in which I have
-administered chloroform. As there is never an easy chair in the
-operating theatre of an hospital, and it is difficult to keep the
-patient in a common chair when he is under the influence of chloroform,
-it is better to place the hospital patient on the operating table, with
-his head and shoulders raised during this operation; but in private
-practice the patient may either be placed on a sofa, or in a large easy
-chair with a high back. The effect of the chloroform often lasts to the
-end of the operation, if it be completed within two or three minutes;
-but I always go provided with a hollow sponge, and a mixture of
-chloroform and spirit to apply during the operation, if required.
-
-_Division of the Sensory Nerves of the Face._ I have notes of nineteen
-cases in which I have administered chloroform during this operation.
-They were chiefly performed by Mr. Fergusson, but a few of them by Mr.
-Bowman. The operation is of so painful a nature, that I believe it was
-seldom performed before the practice of inhaling narcotic vapours was
-introduced. It is done subcutaneously, by means of a small sharp-pointed
-bistoury, by which the affected nerves are chopped up by twenty or
-thirty incisions, at and near the points where they issue from their
-respective foramina. In operating on the mental branch of the fifth
-nerve, the bistoury is sometimes introduced from the face, and sometimes
-from the interior of the mouth. The pain continues for two or three
-days, till the inflammation caused by the operation subsides, when there
-is usually a complete absence of pain for three or six months, at the
-end of which time the operation has often to be repeated. I am not aware
-whether the relief has been permanent in any case, but it has often been
-very complete for a time. One patient, on whom Mr. Fergusson operated in
-King’s College Hospital, looked like an old man at the time of the
-operation, but this was the effect of his severe suffering; for a week
-or two afterwards he looked his real age, which I think was less than
-forty. This operation is not performed for the milder cases of
-neuralgia, or for cases that can be cured by quinine or iron; but only
-for the more terrible forms of the complaint, which fortunately are
-somewhat rare. Rare as they are, however, they occur sometimes in near
-relatives.
-
-_Division of other Nerves of Sensation._ I have notes of nine cases in
-which nerves in other parts of the body were divided, and a portion cut
-out, for neuralgia. On four occasions the nerve was situated in a stump
-following amputation; and on two occasions a tumour of the nerve was
-removed. The operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson, Mr. Solly, and
-Mr. Paget.
-
-_Operations on the Eye._ The operations for cataract are frequently
-performed without chloroform, when the patient has sufficient resolution
-to keep his eye steady. I have, however, administered chloroform
-fifty-three times during the extraction of cataract; thirty of the cases
-occurred in the private practice of Mr. Bowman. On November 25th, 1851,
-I administered chloroform whilst Mr. White Cooper extracted a piece of
-flint from the interior of the eye; and on February 7th, 1852, whilst
-Mr. Bowman extracted the capsule of the lens. On February 17th of the
-same year, I assisted Mr. White Cooper with chloroform whilst he
-extracted a cataract from the eye of an elderly lady; and I assisted him
-in eleven other cases during that and the following year. I assisted Mr.
-George Pollock in two operations of the extraction of cataract in June
-1852; and Mr. Lawrence in three operations in 1853. Eighteen of Mr.
-Bowman’s operations were performed in the summer and autumn of 1854, and
-were of the usual kind; but in six out of the twelve cases in which I
-have since assisted him, the cataract was first drilled and then
-removed, in a softened state, through a small opening in the cornea, by
-means of a small scoop. I have assisted Mr. Alexander in two cases, and
-Mr. Critchett also in two. Several of the patients were over eighty
-years of age.
-
-The operation for the extraction of cataract is said not to be a painful
-one, but the patient requires to be as insensible during its performance
-as if he were about to undergo lithotomy, or a great amputation; without
-this, the eye and eyelids will not be steady. The insensibility must be
-kept up completely until the cataract is extracted.
-
-It is necessary that the stomach should be empty when the patient
-inhales chloroform for this operation, in order that vomiting may, if
-possible, be avoided. There was a little vomiting in a very few of the
-cases in which I administered chloroform, but it was not attended with
-straining, and I believe it did no harm in any case. Mr. Bowman informed
-me of a case of his in which chloroform was administered in the
-Ophthalmic Hospital for the extraction of cataract, and the woman
-vomited violently afterwards, and the eye was destroyed. She, however,
-was a person of bad constitution, and the vomiting might have occurred
-without the chloroform. The patients were lying on a sofa in all the
-operations, except, I think, one by Mr. Alexander.
-
-I have notes of nine cases of the drilling of cataract in which I have
-administered chloroform, and there were some other cases in 1848, of
-which I have no memoranda. Some of the early operations were performed
-by Mr. George Pollock, and the more recent ones by Mr. Bowman. Many of
-the patients were infants or children. There have been two cases of the
-removal of coagulated lymph from the interior of the eye, by Mr. Bowman
-and Mr. White Cooper; and six cases of the formation of artificial
-pupil, by the same surgeons, and Mr. Dixon; and in two cases lately, Mr.
-Bowman has removed a portion of the iris.
-
-I have given chloroform in 25 cases of excision of the eyeball; 20 of
-the operations have occurred within the last two years, in addition to
-some in which I administered amylene. The whole of the operations were
-performed by Mr. Bowman, except one by Mr. Fergusson, and one by Mr.
-Hancock. The operation is of late years a much less formidable one than
-formerly, owing to the plan of commencing to dissect off the conjunctiva
-just around the cornea. After the eyeball is removed, the edges of the
-conjunctiva are drawn together by a fine suture, so that scarcely any
-wound is left, and the patient can generally begin to wear an artificial
-eye in four or five days. In cases of malignant disease extending beyond
-the globe, of course, the more formidable and extensive operation would
-still require to be performed.
-
-I have administered chloroform for the removal of sparks of iron and
-other foreign bodies from the cornea, chiefly in cases in which the
-surgeon had previously tried without success. Under the influence of
-chloroform, the foreign matters were always removed very readily. There
-have also been operations for the removal of growths from the eye and
-granular growths from the conjunctiva, and also for staphyloma and
-pterygion.
-
-I have memoranda of 54 operations for strabismus in which I have
-administered chloroform. The greater number of them were performed by
-Mr. Bowman, but several by Mr. Fergusson, and a few by other surgeons.
-One operation was performed by the late Mr. Dalrymple. Mr. Bowman
-generally operates on both eyes at the same time. A great number of the
-patients who have taken chloroform for this operation were children.
-They have nearly all been lying down during the operation.
-
-There have been nine operations for ectropion and entropion, chiefly by
-Mr. Bowman. I have administered chloroform on four occasions whilst Mr.
-Bowman has performed a plastic operation for the formation of a new
-eyelid. On three occasions, the eyelid had been destroyed by a burn, and
-the material for the new one was taken from the integuments of the
-forehead. The operations were necessarily tedious.
-
-_Removal of Foreign Bodies and Polypi from the Ear._ In May 1849, Mr.
-Henry Charles Johnson extracted a pea from the ear of a child, six years
-of age. The pea had been a month in the ear, and Mr. Johnson had
-endeavoured to examine the ear without chloroform, but could not do so.
-In May 1857, I administered chloroform to a child aged three years, a
-patient of Mr. Tuach, whilst Mr. Hewett extracted a glass bead with
-sharp edges from the ear. He got it out with a director. I have notes of
-four cases in which a polypus was removed from the ear by Mr. Partridge,
-Mr. Fergusson, Mr. Henry Lee, and Mr. Henry Smith; and I recollect
-giving chloroform more than once at Mr. Toynbee’s whilst he performed a
-similar operation, although I have no memoranda of the circumstances.
-
-_The Removal of Polypi and Foreign Bodies from the Nose._ I have
-memoranda of fourteen cases in which I have administered chloroform for
-the removal of polypi from the nose. The operations were nearly all
-performed by Mr. Fergusson. The patient was nearly always seated in an
-easy chair, and the chloroform, in several cases, was repeated to keep
-up the insensibility till the operation should be completed. In one of
-the cases, the polypus caused a protrusion of the nasal bones; the
-nostril was slit up, and there was very great hæmorrhage as the polypus
-was brought away. The pulse became small for a time, but there was no
-syncope. The patient did well. In June 1852, I gave chloroform to a
-girl, five years old, and Mr. Fergusson scooped out some polypus growth
-from the right nostril, and also an oval softened body, rather bigger
-than a horse-bean, which was a young orange that the child had pushed up
-her nose in India. The case had given rise to a good deal of difference
-of opinion amongst medical men in India and Malta, who generally
-discredited the child’s account of the orange. In August 1856, Mr.
-Stanley removed a bean from the nose of a child.
-
-_Certain Operations in the Mouth._ I have notes of six operations for
-cancer of the tongue, performed by the late Mr. Keate, Mr. Quain, Mr.
-Hancock, and Mr. Paget. Mr. Paget’s was a case of epithelial cancer, in
-a lady, about twenty-five. The operation was one of excision of the
-tumour, and I lately heard that the patient remained free from the
-complaint. The other operations were by ligature. Mr. Quain’s was a
-hospital patient, and I do not know the ultimate result of the case. The
-other patients had a return of the disease, and died after great
-suffering.
-
-I have notes of ten operations for epulis, chiefly by Mr. Fergusson. The
-patient was generally on a sofa or the operating table, with the head
-and shoulders raised. As the operations were soon completed, the
-chloroform seldom required to be repeated. There have been some cases of
-cancerous disease of the gums and alveolar process in which I have
-administered chloroform. One of these was a patient of Mr. Bell, the
-dentist, on whom Mr. Hilton operated. I assisted the late Mr. Avery by
-giving chloroform in two operations for cleft palate. A large cork with
-a string to it[147] was kept between the molar teeth on one side during
-the operation; and the inhalation was repeated from time to time. The
-surgeon, however, much prefers to have the patient awake during this
-operation, when he can get his assent.
-
-I have administered chloroform four times for the removal of the
-tonsils. Three times in children, and once in the adult. In the case of
-a child on which Mr. Curling lately operated, he removed one of the
-enlarged tonsils very easily and very well, but just as he was beginning
-to remove the other, the child began to vomit its breakfast, and the
-throat was afterwards so filled with mucus and blood, that we thought it
-better to defer the remainder of the operation till another day.
-
-_Plastic Operations._ I have memoranda of 50 plastic operations in which
-I have administered chloroform, in addition to those on the eyelids,
-previously mentioned. Eight of the operations were for the formation of
-a new nose. Five of them were by Mr. Fergusson, two by Mr. Critchett
-when Mr. Fergusson was present, and one by Mr. Samuel A. Lane. I made
-the patients insensible with the inhaler before the operation was
-commenced, and afterwards kept up the insensibility by means of
-chloroform, diluted with spirit, on a hollow sponge. No fewer than 24 of
-the plastic operations were for the remedy or mitigation of deformity
-caused by burns. In fourteen of these cases, the operation was performed
-on the neck, but often extended to the breast and lower part of the
-face. The other ten operations were for burns on the face and arms and
-other parts of the body. Nearly all these operations were performed by
-Mr. Fergusson. One of his patients was a gentleman from New York, who
-had a most severe burn in the face when a child. The operations, without
-the action of a narcotic, would be of the most painful nature; and the
-greater number of those at which I have been present would not have been
-performed, except for the discovery of narcotism by inhalation. The
-remaining eighteen plastic operations were for a variety of purposes,
-such as replacing the loss of a lip, the closing of artificial anus, and
-of openings in the cheek, and a variety of other defects, either
-congenital, or arising from injury or disease. They were nearly all
-performed by Mr. Fergusson.
-
-_Raising depressed Portions of Skull._ In Dec. 1848, I administered
-chloroform to a gentleman in Norfolk, aged sixty-two, on whom the late
-Mr. Aston Key operated. The patient had been thrown from his horse four
-years previously, and probably kicked whilst on the ground. He believed
-that he did not lose his consciousness. There was a considerable
-depression of a portion of the right parietal bone, near its upper and
-posterior angle; but there were no symptoms of cerebral pressure or
-irritation for two years after the accident; but at that time he fell
-from his seat in some kind of fit, after which he had partial paralysis
-of the left arm, impaired vision, and a melancholy or apathetic state of
-mind. He was also subject to attacks of real or apparent suspension of
-breathing, and to occasional attacks of vomiting.
-
-His ordinary medical attendant, Dr. Bell of Aylsham, objected to the
-chloroform, on account of feeble and irregular action of the heart, in
-addition to the above symptoms. The patient, however, became gradually
-insensible, without any unfavourable symptoms. After making incisions in
-the scalp, Mr. Key sawed out a good sized piece of the parietal bone
-with Hey’s saw. The insensibility was kept up gently during the
-operation, which lasted above half an hour. There was pus under the
-bone, and the dura mater was diseased, and gave way during the
-operation. Mr. Key immediately expressed a bad opinion of the case. The
-patient recovered his consciousness in about a quarter of an hour, and
-in a little time was in the perfect enjoyment of all his faculties,
-being very cheerful, and in a totally different state from the one of
-apathy and almost unconsciousness, in which he appeared when we first
-saw him. He was attacked with inflammation of the brain on the third
-day, and died on the fifth.
-
-In May 1855, I administered chloroform in St. George’s Hospital to a
-young man who had been kicked by a horse. The frontal bone above the
-right eye was driven in to a good depth, and a little of the brain had
-escaped. Mr. Cæsar Hawkins cut a piece from the frontal bone, just above
-the depressed portion, with the bone forceps, to enable him to introduce
-the elevator. The depressed portion being quite loose, was removed,
-together with the roof of the orbit. The youth was partially comatose
-before chloroform was given, but made a resistance to the operation. A
-week after the operation, when I saw him, he was conscious, but
-feverish, and he died a week or two later.
-
-Mr. Bowman, on one occasion, made an incision over the frontal sinus in
-a gentleman; and made an aperture in the outer table of the frontal
-bone, which gave exit to a quantity of pus which had been formed in the
-sinus.
-
-In the summer of 1847 the late Mr. Liston performed a similar operation
-on a lady, the patient of Dr. Locock, who was present. I exhibited
-sulphuric ether on that occasion.
-
-_Operations for ununited Fracture._ I have notes of seven operations by
-Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Bowman, for ununited fracture of the femur,
-humerus, radius, and ulna. The usual course has been to scrape and
-puncture the ends of the bones by subcutaneous incision, and where this
-has not succeeded, to cut down on the bones and saw off the ends; or to
-bore holes near the ends, and introduce ivory pegs.
-
-_The Reduction of Dislocations._ I have notes of twenty-seven cases in
-which I have administered chloroform during the reduction, or attempted
-reduction, of dislocations. Only three of these were recent
-dislocations. One had existed a few days; and the other twenty-three for
-some weeks or months. Twelve of the operations were performed by Mr.
-Fergusson, and the others by Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, Mr. Cutler, Mr. Bransby
-Cooper, Mr. Partridge, Mr. Tatum, Mr. H. C. Johnson, Mr. Charles
-Hawkins, Mr. Hewett, Mr. Henry Lee, and Mr. Price. Most of the
-dislocations at the shoulder were quite successfully reduced; one of
-them by the late Mr. Bransby Cooper, as long as ten weeks after the
-accident. Dislocations of the hip were successfully reduced in three
-weeks and five weeks after the accident. At longer periods, dislocations
-of the femur were often benefited by the operation, but not completely
-reduced. The dislocations at the elbow were not successfully reduced
-except when recent, although the position and motion of the forearm were
-improved in several cases by the operation. Pulleys were applied, often
-for a length of time, in the old dislocations; and many even of the
-successful operations could not have been performed except the patient
-had been in a state of anæsthesia. A full dose of chloroform is required
-in the attempts to reduce old standing dislocations, in order to
-suspend, as nearly as may be, the resistance of the muscles.
-
-_Forcible Movement of Stiff Joints._ I have given chloroform in
-twenty-two operations of this kind, within the last three years, for the
-restoration of motion in the knee, elbow, and hip, after the joints had
-become fixed in one position, generally by adhesions resulting from
-disease. The first operation of the kind in which I assisted was one
-performed by Mr. Brodhurst, whom I have since assisted more frequently
-in these kinds of operations than any other surgeon; but other
-operations have been performed by Mr. Fergusson, Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, Mr.
-Partridge, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Hewett, and Mr. Edwin Canton. These
-operations would evidently not have been performed except for the
-discovery of producing a state of anæsthesia by inhalation.
-
-_Tenotomy._ I have memoranda of 78 cases of tenotomy in which I have
-administered chloroform. In some of the cases which have occurred during
-the last two or three years, forcible movement of a stiff joint has been
-resorted to, in addition to the tenotomy. I applied chloroform in St.
-George’s Hospital in tenotomy, when the agent was first introduced; and
-have also given it in King’s College Hospital for ten years. During
-these ten years I have also administered chloroform to a number of the
-private patients of Mr. Fergusson, whilst he has performed tenotomy, and
-to those of other surgeons occasionally. During the last three years, I
-have given it in several operations by Mr. William Adams. I understand
-that several orthopædic surgeons had, at one time, an objection to
-chloroform in tenotomy, from an impression that it would relax the
-muscles, and thus render the operation less easy of performance. But it
-is altogether unnecessary to carry the effects of chloroform so far as
-to relax the muscles. The pain of this operation can always be prevented
-without relaxing the muscles, which are indeed often more tense than if
-the patient were awake.
-
-_Operations for Strangulated Hernia._ I have notes of only nineteen
-cases of operations for strangulated hernia in which I have administered
-chloroform since the end of 1849. This operation is, I believe, often
-performed without the use of this agent. Fifteen of the cases in which I
-have exhibited chloroform were inguinal or femoral hernia, and four
-cases were umbilical hernia. In these latter cases, the patients all
-died.
-
-In one of the cases, there was a complication, in addition to the
-hernia. The patient was an old gentleman, and the surgeon had directed
-him to apply ice and salt, and had either given no directions respecting
-the time it was to be applied, or the directions were misunderstood. The
-patient was a scientific man, and applied the ice and salt most
-effectually for about four hours. When we arrived, a portion of the
-integuments around the umbilicus, larger than the palm of the hand, was
-as hard as a board, and of a dull white colour. The surgeon said that he
-could not turn back the flaps of the integument, if he made them whilst
-it was in that hardened state. The part thawed whilst the patient was
-inhaling chloroform, and when the incisions were made some fluid blood
-of a light crimson colour flowed. Iced water was applied to the part
-immediately after the operation, for a short time. The integuments which
-had been frozen sloughed two days after the operation. The patient had
-peritonitis, and died on the fifth day.
-
-On March 6th, 1848, a man was placed on the operating table in St.
-George’s Hospital, with a strangulated femoral hernia. I administered
-chloroform to him at the request of Mr. H. C. Johnson; and when he
-became completely insensible and the muscular system relaxed, Mr.
-Johnson readily reduced the hernia by means of the taxis, although it
-was previously quite incapable of reduction. If the taxis had not been
-successful, the operation, for which the instruments were arranged
-ready, would at once have been performed whilst the patient was
-insensible. I do not think that chloroform has been sufficiently
-employed of late years during the application of the taxis to
-strangulated hernia.
-
-In every case in which sickness was present, it was relieved by the
-chloroform. And vomiting returned in scarcely any instance, after the
-chloroform, so long as I remained in the room.
-
-_Operations for Hæmorrhoids and Prolapsus Ani._ I have memoranda of 171
-operations for these affections in which I have administered chloroform.
-A great number of these operations have been performed by Mr. Fergusson
-and Mr. Salmon; but I have also assisted Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, Mr. Bowman,
-Mr. Quain, Mr. Erichsen, and a number of other surgeons, whilst
-performing this operation. The patient always lies on one or the other
-side during this operation, with the knees drawn up towards the stomach.
-The chloroform should be inhaled till the patient is quite insensible,
-that is, till the edge of the eyelid can be touched without causing
-winking, otherwise he is apt to stretch out his legs, as soon as the
-operation is commenced. Ligatures always, or nearly always, introduced
-with a needle, have been applied to the mucous membrane in every case
-both of hæmorrhoids and prolapsus ani, except in two or three in which
-Mr. Henry Lee applied nitric acid and the actual cautery. In a great
-number of the cases, however, folds of redundant and diseased skin were
-cut away from around the anus, with a pair of large curved scissors,
-after the ligatures had been applied to the mucous membrane. It is the
-rule in these cases never to cut the mucous membrane, and never to tie
-the skin. It is desirable to get the patient to protrude the hæmorrhoids
-by bearing down at the night stool before he inhales the chloroform, and
-they always remain protruded during the operation; indeed, there is
-generally a good deal of bearing down during the operation under
-chloroform, and if the bowels have not been entirely emptied, they are
-apt to act as the operation is being performed. It is customary, and
-very desirable, to give a full dose of opium almost as soon as the
-patient wakes from the chloroform, to diminish the pain caused by the
-ligatures. I have, in a few cases, continued to administer the
-chloroform at intervals for an hour or two after the operation, till the
-opium began to take effect; and I consider that it would be useful, in
-some cases, to give the opiate two or three hours before the operation.
-I administered chloroform to two ladies, one a patient of Mr. Bowman,
-and the other of Mr. Wm. Adams, whilst hæmorrhoids were removed by the
-écraseur. The operations lasted rather more than half an hour; but the
-chloroform, after the commencement of the operation, required only to be
-kept up to a moderate extent. There was no hæmorrhage in either case;
-and it seemed to me that the great pain which is caused by the presence
-of the ligatures would be prevented by this means of operating.
-
-Hæmorrhoids and prolapsus ani are peculiarly prevalent in the upper
-class of society. That small portion of English people who dine in the
-evening seem to furnish more cases of hæmorrhoids for operation than all
-the rest of the population. And I am inclined to attribute the
-circumstance to the habit of taking the greater part of the food towards
-the close of the day, after a long fast; by which means congestion of
-the liver, and obstruction to the return of blood from the bowels is
-induced. Many of the patients with hæmorrhoids are ladies who are far
-from luxurious in their habits, indeed many of them are abstemious; and
-many of the male patients are the reverse of sedentary, as they spend a
-great part of their time in hunting, and other field sports. Again, the
-complaint cannot in my opinion be attributed to highly seasoned food, as
-I think the working classes use more pepper than fashionable people. I
-am inclined to believe that the habit of taking the chief meal of the
-day at twelve or one o’clock, is the principal reason why bad cases of
-hæmorrhoids are comparatively so rare in the working and middle classes,
-many of whom live luxuriously, and are more sedentary in their habits
-than the higher class of society.
-
-Several of the patients operated on for hæmorrhoids were extremely
-blanched, from the continued loss of blood arising from the disease; but
-these patients underwent both the action of the chloroform and the
-operation very well. The operation, it must be remembered, is not
-attended with loss of blood.
-
-_Fissure of the Anus._ I have notes of forty-four cases in which I have
-exhibited chloroform in operations for the cure of this disease. Two of
-them were performed by the late Mr. Copeland. The sphincter ani was
-divided in the greater number of the operations. In addition to these
-cases, there were some in which fissure existed, along with hæmorrhoids,
-or fistula _in ano_. The patient was always placed on his side, in the
-same position as in the operation for hæmorrhoids.
-
-_Operations for Fistula in Ano._ The position of the patient in this
-operation should be the same as in those for hæmorrhoids and fissure of
-the anus, unless the patient is placed on the back, in the lithotomy
-position, as I have seen in a few cases.
-
-I have memoranda of 218 cases in which I have given chloroform in
-operations for fistula _in ano_. In many of the cases the sinuses were
-very numerous and extensive. It is necessary that the patient should be
-quite insensible during this operation, to prevent the possibility of
-his moving suddenly whilst the bistoury is being used.
-
-_Operations on Ovarian Tumours._ I have notes of three cases in which I
-gave chloroform during the removal of an ovarian cyst. The first of
-these was in March 1850. Twenty-four pints of liquid were first
-evacuated from the tumour. It consisted of four cysts united together,
-two of which contained serous fluid of slightly different colour; the
-third contained serum tinged with blood, and the fourth and smallest
-cyst, a purulent fluid. An incision was made, twelve or fourteen inches
-in length, extending from the pubes to midway between the umbilicus and
-sternum. Some slender adhesions were removed at one spot. The tumour was
-attached by a membranous pedicle, with the left iliac fossa, and the
-fundus of the uterus. Needles were passed through the pedicle, and it
-was tied in three or four portions, when the tumour was removed. After
-the tumour was removed, the patient seemed to breathe entirely by the
-ribs, the diaphragm remaining relaxed, and not contracting, whilst the
-wound in the abdomen was being closed. Scarcely any blood was lost
-during the operation. The patient died of peritonitis early on the
-fourth day.
-
-The next case occurred on August 27th, 1850, and is reported in the
-_Medico-Chirurgical Transactions_ for 1851. Mr. Duffin was the operator,
-and the patient made a favourable recovery.
-
-The third operation was performed on the 31st of January, 1854. The
-patient was a spinster, twenty-eight years of age, and the tumour had
-not been tapped. It contained about two gallons of clear fluid, and was
-removed through an opening in the median line above the umbilicus, about
-seven inches in length. There was no depression when the patient awoke
-after the operation. She died within three days.
-
-I administered chloroform in two cases where it was intended to remove
-an ovarian cyst. In one case the cyst was so adherent to the peritoneum
-that it could not be removed; in the other case, there was no cyst, but
-some serum in the peritoneal cavity, and a tumour growing from the
-fundus of the uterus. This tumour was allowed to remain. Several medical
-men, in addition to the operator, had diagnosed an ovarian tumour in
-this case. These two patients recovered.
-
-I exhibited chloroform in four operations in which an ovarian cyst was
-opened, and the cut edges of it sewed to the wound in the abdominal
-parietes. These four patients, I believe, all died. I am quite certain
-as regards three of them.
-
-On March 10th, 1852, I administered chloroform in St. Mary’s Hospital to
-a woman, apparently about thirty-five, who had suffered from an ovarian
-cyst about eighteen years. Mr. Isaac Baker Brown made an incision, about
-six inches in length, into the peritoneal cavity, drew out a portion of
-the cyst, tapped it, and removed several pints of clear serum. He then
-cut away a piece of the anterior wall of the cyst, about as large as the
-hand, and allowed the rest of the cyst to remain loose in the abdomen.
-The wound in the parietes of the abdomen was stitched up. If I remember
-rightly, the patient died, but I have no note of the result.
-
-_Operations for Cancer of the Vagina._ I have notes of eighteen cases in
-which I have given chloroform for operations of this kind by the knife,
-which would have been extremely painful without the use of an
-anæsthetic.
-
-I exhibited this agent, in 1848, to a lady, whilst the late Mr. Aston
-Key applied the actual cautery to malignant excrescence of the os uteri;
-and I have administered it in several cases in which potassa and other
-caustics have been applied to the os uteri. In operations on the vagina
-or perineum, the woman should inhale chloroform whilst lying on her
-back; and when insensible, should be drawn to the edge of the bed, or
-the foot of the operating table, and have the knees held back and
-separated.
-
-_Operations for Rupture of the Perineum._ I have notes of fourteen
-operations for this accident. Six of them were performed by Mr. I. B.
-Brown, five by Mr. Fergusson, and the others by Mr. Paget, Dr. Protheroe
-Smith, and Mr. Henry Lee. Mr. Fergusson has, in five cases, performed an
-operation for prolapsus uteri, by paring the edges of the outlet of the
-vagina, and stitching them together so as to diminish the orifice.
-
-I have given chloroform in several operations for vesicovaginal fistula,
-some of which were performed by Mr. Spencer Wells; and also for the
-removal of warts and other growths from the labia pudendi, either by the
-knife or caustics.
-
-_Removal of the Testicle; Amputation of the Penis, etc._ I have
-memoranda of twenty-seven cases in which I have administered chloroform
-during the removal of a testicle, generally for malignant disease; and
-six cases in which I have administered it for amputation of the penis,
-always for malignant disease. There were six operations, also, in which
-a part of the penis was removed for malignant disease; and eleven cases
-in which warts were removed from the glans penis, generally with the
-knife. In two cases in August 1854, Mr. Acton destroyed a number of
-venereal warts on the glans penis and prepuce by a caustic composed of
-potassa and lime. In all the operations on the testicle and penis, under
-chloroform, the patients have been lying on the back.
-
-_Operations for Phymosis._ I have memoranda of 76 operations for
-phymosis, in which I have exhibited chloroform. The operations were
-generally in the adult, although the complaint was, in most cases,
-congenital. I have known two cases in which cancer of the penis was
-produced by the patient’s suffering a congenital phymosis to remain to
-about the age of fifty. The cancer commenced in the glans from the
-irritation of the retained urine. One of the patients died of the
-disease.
-
-_Removal of enlarged Bursa._ I have notes of six cases in which the
-bursa of the patella was dissected out by the surgeons of King’s College
-Hospital for housemaid’s knee. The patients were charwomen and domestic
-servants. In two cases a bursa was removed from the forefinger.
-
-_Evulsion of the Nails._ I have notes of twenty-five cases in which I
-have given chloroform for cutting down the nail of the great toe, and
-tearing away the whole, or the two edges of it; and also of three cases
-in which one or more finger nails were removed by a similar process.
-This operation is one of the most painful of the minor operations of
-surgery. It is better that the patient should be lying when it is done
-under chloroform.
-
-_Laryngotomy._ I administered chloroform to one or two infants in which
-Mr. Henry Smith performed laryngotomy for croup. I also administered it,
-on four occasions, to a patient of Mr. Partridge, a boy four years old,
-who was believed to have a button in some part of the air-passages. The
-larynx had been opened a few days previously to the first occasion in
-which I gave chloroform, and I administered it on a sponge, held near to
-the tube in the larynx. It was necessary to give the vapour gently at
-first, just as if it was entering in the usual way. When it was given at
-all strong, whilst the patient was still conscious, he showed exactly
-the distress that a patient experiences when he says that the vapour
-produces a choking feeling; which confirms my opinion that the feeling
-referred to the throat, from the action of pungent vapours and gases, is
-caused by their presence in the lungs. The chloroform was given to keep
-the child quiet whilst Mr. Partridge searched for the supposed button in
-the larynx and bronchi. When the child recovered from the chloroform,
-before the operation was concluded, the explorations in its air-passages
-embarrassed the breathing much more, and caused more apparent
-threatening of suffocation, than they did when he was under the
-influence of the vapour. This little boy remained for months in King’s
-College Hospital; and at last the embarrassment in his breathing
-subsided, the tube was removed from the larynx, and the wound allowed to
-heal; and he left quite well, although the button, which was supposed to
-have gone down his windpipe at the moment when his symptoms first
-suddenly came on, was never found.
-
-I have administered chloroform in a great variety of surgical
-operations, in addition to those mentioned above, but as they required
-only the usual management in the application of the vapour, I need not
-allude to them, but shall, however, make a few remarks regarding dental
-operations.
-
-_Extraction of Teeth._ It is the custom in the medical journals and
-medical societies, to object occasionally to the use of chloroform in
-tooth-drawing, as if the operation were not sufficiently severe to
-require it. I will say nothing of the wives and daughters of medical men
-in connexion with this subject, but will only allude to the case of an
-elderly lady, who had for thirty years been the private friend, as well
-as the patient, of one of the Council of the College of Surgeons. After
-she had had ten necrosed teeth extracted, and had awakened from the
-effects of the chloroform, her friend and surgeon, who had been looking
-on, discoursed eloquently on her case, explaining how the state of her
-mouth was ruining her health; how impossible it would have been for her
-to go through the operation without chloroform, and what a great
-advantage it was.
-
-Dr. Watson says in his Lectures:[148] “I am not at all sure that the
-increased longevity of modern generations is not, in some degree,
-attributable to the capability of chewing their food which the skill of
-the dentist prolongs to persons far advanced in life.” I have seen at
-least fifty cases in which the dentist has been able to exert his skill
-in enabling his patient to masticate only by the aid of chloroform;
-cases of feeble, aged, or debilitated persons, whose mouths contained
-between twenty and thirty stumps of teeth or necrosed teeth; and who
-were able to get rid of them all at two or three operations a few days
-apart; but without the opportunity of being made insensible, would
-undoubtedly have continued with the mouth in a tender and painful state.
-
-It was in consequence of the relief afforded by nitrous oxide gas, in
-pain caused by a tooth, that Sir Humphrey Davy suggested its application
-in surgical operations; it was for the extraction of a tooth that Mr.
-Horace Wells first carried out the suggestion of Davy; and it was in the
-extraction of teeth that Dr. Morton first employed sulphuric ether as a
-substitute for nitrous oxide gas. These circumstances seem to point to a
-demand for anæsthetics in operations on the teeth; and when the great
-frequency of these operations is considered, it is probable that more
-pain may be prevented during their performance than in any other class
-of operations.
-
-I have notes of 867 cases in which I have administered chloroform during
-the extraction of teeth, chiefly by dentists living in this
-neighbourhood: amongst whom are Mr. Saunders, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Samuel
-Cartwright, Mr. Arnold Rogers, Mr. Thomas A. Rogers, Mr. Tomes, Mr.
-Bigg, Mr. Crampten, Mr. F. W. Rogers, Mr. Alfred Canton, Mr. Woodhouse,
-Mr. Lintott, Mr. Rahn, Mr. Vasey, Mr. Sercombe, Mr. Fletcher, and
-several others; and there is one dentist in the City, Mr. West of Broad
-Street, whom I have frequently assisted. The number of teeth, or stumps
-of teeth, extracted in these 867 operations, has been about 3021. In
-some cases in which several teeth have been removed, I have not been
-sure of the exact number, but have put down about the number.
-
-The number of teeth extracted at an operation has varied from one to
-nineteen. The latter number was extracted by Mr. Canton on one occasion,
-and on two or three occasions, Mr. Arnold Rogers and Mr. Samuel
-Cartwright extracted seventeen at one sitting; but these gentlemen and
-others, as well as myself, have thought it better, as a general rule, to
-make more than one operation, when the number of teeth to be drawn
-exceeded ten, in order that the mouth might not contain too many wounds
-at one time, and that the loss of blood might not be very great. A great
-number of the operations have been for the extraction of the four first
-permanent molars, in children about thirteen, as these teeth are very
-apt to decay at an early period.
-
-I have on 181 occasions, of which I have memoranda, given chloroform for
-the extraction of a single tooth. I exhibited it lately to a lady, aged
-eighty-six, whilst Mr. Bigg extracted an abortive wisdom tooth, which
-had recently come through the gum, and was giving pain. She awoke in
-about two minutes after the operation, and was quite cheerful and well.
-
-The patients have been seated in an easy chair in all the operations on
-the teeth, except in a very few cases where a female patient was too ill
-to sit up. In many cases, and always if there was any feeling of
-faintness, the patient has been placed on a sofa, after the operation,
-for twenty minutes or half an hour. I am not aware of any inconvenience
-from the chloroform, in any of the cases of tooth-drawing, excepting
-sickness and vomiting, which in a very few of the cases have been
-troublesome for some time.
-
-It is necessary in tooth-drawing to make the patient unconscious, and to
-continue the chloroform a little while after unconsciousness is induced,
-till the sensibility of the edge of the eyelid is very much diminished,
-or almost altogether suspended, otherwise the patient will probably make
-a resistance that will interfere with the operation, or scream out and
-alarm his or her friends. I nearly always take about four minutes in the
-inhalation. It is not desirable to take longer than five or six minutes,
-as the patient would be slower than is desirable in recovering
-completely from the effects of the vapour.
-
-The patient is usually in the third degree of narcotism when the
-operation is performed, and, in this degree, as was previously stated,
-there is not unfrequently a contracted and rigid state of the muscles.
-This state often affects the muscles of the jaws, and interferes with
-the opening of the mouth, if it be closed. I generally tell the patient
-to keep his mouth open whilst inhaling, and by that means it often
-remains open when he is insensible. Not unfrequently, however, he closes
-it on becoming insensible. One can generally open it by pressing on the
-chin; but as the chin does not afford a very favourable hold, there are
-a very few cases in which the mouth cannot be opened easily in this way,
-at least not unless the effects of the chloroform are carried further
-than is desirable for these operations. I therefore carry with me a
-little instrument of two blades, made to open by means of a screw. The
-ends of the blades are covered with leather, and, if introduced between
-the teeth, at the corner of the mouth on the side opposite to that on
-which the dentist is about to operate, the mouth can easily be
-opened.[149] The power of the instrument is only such that I can
-scarcely open it with one hand, when I hold the blades with the other.
-It would not enable one to open the mouth of an adult if he were closing
-it by voluntary power; but the spasm caused by chloroform is very much
-less powerful than the action of the muscles when influenced by the
-will. I never use the instrument for opening the mouth when the patient
-is closing it voluntarily under the influence of a disordered
-consciousness, but always wait till consciousness and volition are
-entirely suspended. When the mouth is once opened, it can generally be
-kept open with the fingers, and the instrument may be withdrawn.
-
-The bleeding during tooth-drawing is never so free as to interfere with
-the breathing; but when more than two or three teeth are extracted, and
-especially if they be in the back part of the mouth, some of the blood
-which escapes nearly always flows into the stomach; it flows down the
-fauces and œsophagus usually without any act of deglutition; but the
-evidence of its having gone into the stomach is obtained in those cases
-where the patient vomits. In consequence of the blood flowing into the
-stomach, vomiting cannot so generally be prevented by the precaution of
-not taking a meal before the operation in tooth-drawing as in other
-operations; but the sickness usually subsides as soon as the patient has
-emptied his stomach.
-
-The chloroform has occasionally to be repeated in tooth-drawing before
-the operation is completed, especially in cases where several teeth
-require to be extracted. When this is the case, I always reapply it as
-soon as the patient begins to show signs of feeling the operation,
-without waiting till he recovers his consciousness. In many cases,
-however, a number of teeth are extracted without any repetition of the
-chloroform; and in the instances in which as many as fifteen, seventeen,
-or nineteen teeth were extracted at one operation, it was chiefly
-because the first application of the vapour enabled the dentist to take
-out such a number, otherwise, in most of these cases, a number of the
-teeth would have been left for a succeeding operation. It has
-occasionally happened, however, that the chloroform has required to be
-repeated, once or twice even, for the extraction of a single stump. When
-the chloroform is repeated once or twice, it is generally a longer time
-before the patient is able to leave the dentist’s house. I always
-request the patients who are operated on at the dentist’s, to drive
-home, as it is not advisable to walk, or use any exertion for an hour or
-two after the action of chloroform. Indeed, the patient is usually
-disinclined for any exertion for twenty minutes or half an hour after
-the influence of this agent, and sometimes for much longer; although I
-have seen a patient mount the box of a sort of dog-cart, and drive
-himself away, within five minutes after having several teeth extracted
-whilst he was in a state of complete insensibility from chloroform.
-
-I have administered chloroform in a great number of cases for the
-destruction of the nerves of the teeth. The patient requires to be made
-as insensible in this operation as in tooth-drawing.
-
-_Secondary Hæmorrhage_ after Operations. The hæmorrhage which
-occasionally comes on several days after an operation, from sloughing,
-ulceration, or the non-formation of a coagulum in an artery, is probably
-as liable to occur now as formerly; but I believe that hæmorrhage, a few
-hours after an operation, is much less frequent since the practice of
-narcotism by inhalation. Before this practice, it was extremely common
-for the patient to faint during an operation, when the bleeding of the
-smaller arteries stopped, and they escaped the ligature, to break out in
-hæmorrhage occasionally afterwards; but under the influence of narcotic
-vapours it is unusual for the patient to faint, and consequently every
-vessel which is capable of bleeding is tied during the operation.
-
-
- CHLOROFORM IN PARTURITION.
-
-When the practice of inhalation in midwifery was first introduced by Dr.
-Simpson, he very naturally adopted the plan which is usually followed in
-surgical operations, making the patient unconscious at once, and keeping
-her so to the end of the labour. It was soon found, however, by other
-practitioners, that this is not necessary; and, indeed, it would not be
-safe in protracted cases. Drs. Murphy and Rigby were, I believe, amongst
-the first to state, that relief from pain may often be afforded in
-obstetric cases, without removing the consciousness of the patient; and
-I soon observed the same circumstance.[150] Some persons, indeed, have
-alleged that the pain of labour can always be prevented, without making
-the patient unconscious of surrounding objects; whilst others have
-asserted that no relief can be afforded unless unconsciousness be
-induced. But both these opinions are directly opposed to experience.
-There are comparatively few cases in which the suffering can be
-prevented throughout the labour without interfering with consciousness,
-although there are very many cases in which it can be in this way
-prevented in the early part of the labour. This difference depends, in
-some measure, on the constitution of the patient, but chiefly on the
-severity of the pain to be prevented. It is in accordance with what is
-observed in medical and surgical cases, that the pain should be removed,
-in some instances, without abolishing consciousness, and that in other
-instances it should not; for, in certain cases of neuralgia, the pain is
-so severe, that no material relief can be obtained by chloroform as long
-as consciousness is retained; and in surgical operations, although it
-now and then happens that the minor and concluding parts of an
-operation, such as tying vessels and introducing sutures, can be
-performed without pain, whilst the patient is consciously looking on, a
-free incision in the skin can hardly ever be made, under similar
-circumstances, without pain.
-
-With regard to the cases of labour in which chloroform may be employed,
-it will be readily conceded that, in cases where the pain is not greater
-than the patient is willing to bear cheerfully, there is no occasion to
-use chloroform; but when the patient is anxious to be spared the pain, I
-can see no valid objection to the use of this agent, even in the most
-favourable cases. The benefits arising from chloroform in severe cases
-of labour are experienced in a lesser degree in favourable cases; and
-the patient may be fairly allowed to have a voice in this, as in other
-matters of detail which do not involve the chief results of the case.
-The determination of the kind of labours in which chloroform should be
-used, or withheld, is really a matter of not much importance, because,
-as we pass from cases that are severe and protracted to those which are
-short and easy, the quantity of chloroform that is used, and the amount
-of diminution of the common sensibility, and of interference with the
-mental functions, become so trifling, that very little remains about
-which to hold a discussion. Indeed, from what I have observed of the
-continued use of this agent in medical cases, and its use by healthy
-persons for experiment, I believe that the quantity which is inhaled in
-a short and easy labour might be continued daily for an indefinite
-period, without appreciable effect on the health.
-
-The above remarks apply also, in some measure, to the question as to the
-period of the labour when the exhibition of chloroform should commence;
-for, in proportion as the pains are feeble, it must be more sparingly
-administered. The most usual time when the accoucheur and I have
-determined that the inhalation should be commenced, has been when the os
-uteri was nearly dilated to its full extent, and the pains were taking
-on an expulsive character. In many of the cases which I have attended,
-it has, however, been commenced much earlier; for the suffering caused
-by the dilating pains in the first stage of labour is often very great,
-and the chloroform is consequently of the utmost service when employed
-at this time.
-
-As regards the manner of giving chloroform, I shall first allude to
-cases not requiring manual or instrumental assistance. In such cases,
-when it has been determined to resort to inhalation, the moment to begin
-is at the commencement of a pain; and the chloroform should be
-intermitted when the uterine contraction subsides, or sooner, if the
-patient is relieved of her suffering. It is desirable to give the
-chloroform very gently at first, increasing the quantity a little with
-each pain, if the patient is not relieved. The practitioner easily
-finds, with a little attention, the quantity of vapour which it is
-desirable to give at any stage of the labour, and in each particular
-case; his object being to relieve the patient without diminishing the
-strength of the uterine contractions and the auxiliary action of the
-respiratory muscles, or with diminishing it as little as possible. At
-first, it is generally necessary to repeat the chloroform at the
-beginning of each “pain”; but, after a little time, it commonly happens
-that sufficient effect has been produced to get the patient over one or
-two uterine contractions without suffering, before it is resumed.
-
-The external evidences of the uterine contractions continue as before,
-when the patient is rendered unconscious by chloroform; and the muscles
-of respiration are called freely into play, to assist the action of the
-uterus in the second stage of labour. The aspect of the patient under
-these circumstances, is generally that of one who is suppressing the
-expression of her sufferings; and any relative or friend who comes in,
-without knowing that chloroform has been given, begins to praise the
-unconscious patient for her fortitude. On some occasions, indeed, there
-are groans and cries, as of suffering; but the mind being unconscious of
-pain, it can hardly be said to exist.
-
-It may be remarked, that complete anæsthesia is never induced in
-midwifery, unless in some cases of operative delivery. The diminution of
-common sensibility to a certain extent, together with the diminution or
-removal of consciousness, suffice to prevent the suffering of the
-patient during labour; and she never requires to be rendered so
-insensible as in a surgical operation, when the knife may be used
-without causing a flinch or a cry. The nerves of common sensation must
-be allowed to retain their functions to a certain extent during labour;
-otherwise the assistance of the respiratory muscles, which consists of
-reflex action, or “motion arising from sensation, without the aid of
-volition”, would not take place, even if the contractions of the uterus
-should still continue.
-
-The effects of chloroform on the brain should not be carried during
-labour beyond what I denominate the second degree of narcotism, or that
-condition in which the mental functions are diminished, but not
-altogether suspended, except when the effect of the vapour is associated
-with natural sleep. The patient under the influence of chloroform to
-this extent, has no longer a correct consciousness of where she is, and
-what is occurring around her, but is capable of being aroused to give
-incoherent answers, if injudiciously questioned. In this state, the
-patient will sometimes assist the labour by bearing down voluntarily, if
-requested to do so, and be otherwise obedient to what is said; and by
-withholding the chloroform for a few minutes, she at any time becomes
-quite conscious. As a general rule, it is desirable not to hold any
-conversation whilst the patient is taking chloroform, in order that her
-mind may not be excited. The plan mentioned above, of giving the
-chloroform very gently at first, also has a tendency to prevent its
-causing mental excitement, the patient coming gradually under its
-effects. In surgical operations, excitement of the mind can nearly
-always be avoided by carrying the patient pretty rapidly into a state of
-insensibility, in which the mental functions are necessarily suspended.
-But in the practice of midwifery, it is not allowable to cause a state
-of coma or insensibility, except in certain cases of operative delivery,
-hereafter to be mentioned.
-
-I nearly always employ, in obstetric cases, the inhaler that I use in
-surgical operations. There is not the same necessity for an accurate
-means of regulating the proportion of vapour in the air which the
-patient is breathing during labour, where but a trifling amount of
-narcotism requires to be induced, as in surgical operations, where a
-deeper effect is necessary; still I find the inhaler much more
-convenient of application than a handkerchief, and it contains a supply
-of chloroform which lasts for some time, thereby saving the trouble of
-constantly pouring out more. When I do administer chloroform on a
-handkerchief during parturition, I follow the plan of putting only ten
-or fifteen minims of chloroform on the handkerchief at one time.
-
-The quantity of chloroform administered during any one pain, never
-exceeds a very few minims; but the quantity used in the course of a
-protracted labour is often considerable. I have several times used from
-four to six ounces; and in one case, at which I was present the greater
-part of the time, seventeen fluid ounces of chloroform were used with
-the inhaler, which would produce as much effect as three or four pounds
-used on a handkerchief. The inhalation was continued with intermissions
-over a period of thirty-one hours. The patient was unconscious during
-the greater part of the last five or six hours, but previously to this,
-her constant complaint was that she had not enough chloroform. She was
-the wife of a physician, was thirty-seven years of age, and in her first
-confinement. The membranes ruptured early. The labour was natural, but
-there was excessive sensibility. The first twenty-six hours of
-intermitted inhalation were during the first stage of labour.
-
-Chloroform can be best applied when there is an additional medical man,
-who has not to attend to the ordinary duties of the accoucheur; but it
-can be given very well by the accoucheur himself, so as to save the
-greater part of the suffering of labour; although he perhaps cannot
-always administer it in the perfect way in which he could, if he had no
-other duties to divide his attention.
-
-It is probable that the use of chloroform has no particular influence
-over the duration of labour, in the whole number of cases in which it is
-employed; but individual labours are occasionally either retarded or
-quickened by it, according to circumstances. In some cases, the
-chloroform, even when very moderately employed, diminishes both the
-strength and the duration of the uterine contractions, and prolongs the
-interval between them, thereby making the labour somewhat longer—a
-matter of no consequence, however, as the patient is not suffering in
-any way. In other cases, the inhalation causes the uterine action to
-become stronger and more regular, by removing the excess of sensibility
-by which it has been interfered with. This occurs more particularly in
-the first stage of labour. In some cases, also, the chloroform seems to
-act as a direct stimulant to the uterine contractions, increasing their
-force and frequency—a circumstance at which we need not be surprised,
-when we remember that both opium and brandy, in moderate quantity, often
-act in the same manner. Chloroform has also the effect of promoting the
-dilatation of the os uteri in many cases, even when no rigidity exists;
-and when there is rigidity of the os uteri, the inhalation is of the
-utmost service, and shortens labour very much. This is the case, also,
-when there is rigidity of the perineum.
-
-When the forceps have to be applied, it is desirable to make the patient
-insensible, as if for a surgical operation just before they are applied;
-and to leave off the chloroform as soon as they are introduced, in order
-to allow of the uterine action to return, and assist in the delivery. I
-have always found the action of the uterus return immediately after the
-forceps were introduced; and where the child was not delivered at once,
-I have continued the chloroform in sufficient quantity to keep the
-patient unconscious, whilst allowing the uterine contractions to
-continue.
-
-I have administered chloroform on nine occasions in which the forceps
-were applied; in four of the cases, I was sent for in consequence of the
-operation being required; and in the other five cases, I was in
-attendance from an early part of the labour, and had administered
-chloroform more or less for some hours before the forceps were applied.
-They were applied in three instances by Dr. Murphy, twice by Dr.
-Ramsbotham, and in the other cases by Drs. Farre, Frere, and Thudichum,
-and Mr. Peter Marshall.
-
-I have administered chloroform in two cases of craniotomy, both of which
-were performed by Dr. Murphy, on account of deformity of the pelvis. The
-amount of chloroform scarcely requires to be increased during this
-operation beyond what would be given according to the strength of the
-pains which may be present at the time.
-
-In the operation of turning the child, the mother requires to be made
-quite insensible, in order that the uterine contraction may be entirely
-suspended till the legs of the child are brought down, when the
-inhalation should be discontinued to allow the contraction of the uterus
-to return. I have notes of six cases of turning the child, in which I
-have administered chloroform. The first case, which occurred in 1848,
-was one of natural presentation, in which turning was performed by Dr.
-Murphy, on account of narrowness of the pelvis, and the impossibility of
-applying the forceps; the introduction of the hand was difficult on
-account of want of space, but the uterus offered no resistance. Dr.
-Murphy has related the case. Three of the other instances of turning
-were performed by Mr. French, in cases which had been attended by
-midwives, and the membranes had been ruptured for several hours. The
-shoulder and part of the chest were in each case pressed down into the
-pelvis, and the pains were very strong; yet under a full chirurgical
-dose of chloroform, the child was turned as easily as if the membranes
-had not been ruptured. In the first of these three cases, the child was
-dead before the operation commenced. In the other two, it was born
-alive. In the last case, the membranes had been ruptured for ten hours
-before the operation was performed. After the child was delivered, there
-was found to be a second child presenting naturally, but I did not stay
-to give any more chloroform. The fifth case of turning was performed in
-a case of elbow presentation by Mr. Peter Marshall. The membranes had
-been previously ruptured. I administered chloroform, also for Mr.
-Marshall, in a case where the hand was presenting below the head; he
-raised it above the head, and as it did not come down again when the
-pains returned, the labour was allowed to pursue its natural course, and
-terminated favourably in two or three hours, the child being alive. The
-chloroform was not continued after the operation was performed. The
-remaining case of turning was performed by Mr. Tegart, of Jermyn Street.
-I was in attendance with him from an early stage in the labour, and the
-operation was performed before the membranes were ruptured.
-
-I administered chloroform, in 1849, in a case in which Dr. Murphy had to
-make an artificial os uteri. The patient was, of course, made quite
-insensible as for any other surgical operation; and the vapour was
-continued afterwards in a modified degree till the labour was completed.
-
-On December 26th, 1850, I was requested by Mr. Cooper, of Moor Street,
-Soho, to assist him in a case of retention of the placenta. The patient
-had given birth to a child two hours before, and Mr. Cooper had
-introduced his hand, but had been unable to bring away the placenta, on
-account of firm contraction of the uterus in a sort of hour-glass form.
-On the chloroform being administered, the hand was easily introduced,
-and the placenta detached, and extracted. There was very little
-hæmorrhage.
-
-In some of the many cases at which I have met Dr. Cape, premature labour
-was induced about the eighth month of utero-gestation, by rupturing the
-membranes, on account of deformity of the pelvis.
-
-In a case attended by Mr. Cantis, the patient was suffering from
-osteo-sarcoma of the bones about the shoulder. Dr. Ferguson was present
-during the latter part of the labour. The lady lived a few weeks after
-her confinement.
-
-A patient, attended in her confinement by Mr. Colambell of Lambeth, in
-1853, to whom I gave chloroform, had been long under the care of Dr.
-Williams with cavities in the lungs. I heard very lately that she was
-still living.
-
-A patient of Mr. Robert Dunn, to whom I gave chloroform in her
-confinement, was at the time in a state of insanity.
-
-In one of the patients whom I have attended with Dr. Arthur Farre, there
-was separation of the recti muscles of the abdomen; which there is no
-doubt must have taken place gradually during pregnancy. The patient was
-but twenty years of age, and in her first labour. Quite early in the
-labour, before the pains were at all strong, Dr. Farre and I observed
-that the abdomen was of a peculiar form, the uterus projecting very much
-forwards, whilst there was a slackness in the flanks. The abdominal
-muscles did not assist the pains at all; and it was probably from this
-cause that the labour progressed slowly and was terminated at last with
-the forceps. The recti muscles recovered their position by careful
-bandaging.
-
-The chloroform has always been left off as soon as the child was born,
-but a little has been administered again on several occasions during the
-expulsion of the placenta. The placenta has generally been expelled very
-soon in the labours in which I have given chloroform; usually in about
-five minutes. There has hardly ever been uterine hæmorrhage of any
-amount, except in patients who had suffered from it in previous labours.
-In a case attended by Mr. Nathaniel Ward, however, there was a slight
-hæmorrhage before the birth of the child, and about an hour afterwards
-there was a considerable hæmorrhage which made the patient feel rather
-faint for some hours. She afterwards went on favourably, however. She
-was a young woman who had had several children.
-
-A patient, to whom I was recommended by Sir John Forbes, inhaled
-chloroform in three confinements. She recovered favourably from the two
-first; but on the third occasion, after going on favourably till the
-fifth day, she was attacked with puerperal fever, and died on the
-seventh day from her confinement.
-
-I am not aware that more than one death has been recorded as having
-occurred from chloroform during labour; and this took place in England,
-in 1855, when no medical man was present.[151] The patient had inhaled
-chloroform in America in a previous labour; but her medical man, on the
-last occasion, who was her particular friend, forbad that agent, and
-said that if she was determined to have it, he would not attend her. She
-procured chloroform unknown to him, and a number of scents to put on her
-handkerchief and hide the odour of it from him. He went to bed in the
-house, and was not called up till his patient had been dead about an
-hour. The monthly nurse, who had procured the chloroform for the
-patient, said that she snored very loudly for an hour after she fell
-asleep. About five drachms of chloroform were used from the bottle, and
-the handkerchief from which it was inhaled remained close to the
-patient’s face till she died. The death seemed to have taken place very
-slowly, and the monthly nurse was extremely stupid to allow the patient
-to die. It may also be remarked that the accident would not have taken
-place except for the medical man’s extreme objection to the use of
-chloroform.
-
-The chloroform has been occasionally blamed by the friends of patients,
-or medical men opposed to its use, in cases where patients have died
-from puerperal convulsions or other causes, so long after the vapour had
-been left off that it could not be the cause of death. The following
-case shows how easy it would be to make a mistake with respect to the
-effects of chloroform. Soon after its introduction, I was requested to
-administer it to the wife of a medical man who had a great desire for it
-in her confinement. Mr. Propert was to attend the lady. I was sent for
-late one evening, but as there were no pains at the time when I arrived,
-I was requested to go to bed in the house. After a time, I was called by
-a servant, who told me that the baby was born, and that Mr. Propert was
-sent for. I found that the birth had been so sudden that the husband,
-who was in the room, could not get to the bed side before the child was
-born. Mr. Propert arrived, and I went home, leaving the patient very
-well. Mr. Propert informed me, that after I left the patient went into
-such a state of syncope as to make him think she was going to die, and
-continued so for some time. She ultimately recovered. There was no
-hæmorrhage or any other cause to account for the faintness, and I
-understood Mr. Propert to say, that if the patient had inhaled
-chloroform, he should have blamed it for the condition into which she
-lapsed.
-
-
- THE INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM IN MEDICAL CASES.
-
-_Neuralgia._ When the pain of neuralgia is not extremely severe, it may
-be removed by the inhalation of chloroform without causing
-unconsciousness; but when it is very severe, it is necessary to make the
-patient unconscious before the pain is suspended. In some cases of
-neuralgia of the face, the pain is so severe that the signs of it remain
-after the patient is rendered unconscious, and only disappear when he is
-quite insensible; and then, as the insensibility passes off, the hand is
-raised to the face, and the contortions of the features return before
-the patient awakes to be aware of his suffering. When the mental branch
-of the fifth nerve is affected, the paroxysms of pain are accompanied by
-a motion and smacking of the lips. In a hospital patient I have seen
-this when he was awake, but in a gentleman only when his consciousness
-was removed by the chloroform, and before complete insensibility was
-induced; when awake, he restrained the impulse to this kind of motion of
-the lips.
-
-In administering chloroform it is desirable to continue it steadily and
-gradually till the pain is relieved; and if the patient is rendered
-unconscious before the pain is removed, to continue it till all signs of
-suffering disappear. After the first inhalation of the vapour, the pain
-will generally return in a few minutes, but when again subdued, it will
-not return so quickly; and after it has been suspended a few times by
-the repetition of the chloroform during the space of an hour or so, the
-pain is usually removed either permanently or for two or three hours. In
-some cases I have had to repeat the chloroform occasionally throughout
-the day, and, on one or two occasions, for two or three days in
-succession. The chloroform can, in general, only be considered a
-temporary remedy, and therefore such other medicines should be applied
-as may be thought advisable.
-
-When I have prescribed chloroform in a liniment, to be applied to the
-face, the patient has often found out that he obtained more relief by
-smelling at the liniment than by applying it. Chloroform generally gives
-great relief, however, when applied locally in neuralgia, either alone
-or mixed with camphorated spirit; it is advisable to apply it on a piece
-of lint or blotting paper, which should be covered over with tinfoil, or
-some other impermeable substance, to prevent the evaporation. It causes
-about as much heat and uneasiness as a mustard poultice, before it
-relieves the pain.
-
-_Spasmodic Asthma._ On November 12th, 1850, I administered chloroform in
-the Hospital for Consumption, at Brompton, to a married woman, aged
-thirty-five, a patient of Dr. Cursham. She was in a fit of spasmodic
-asthma, but was the subject also of chronic bronchitis. Twenty minims of
-chloroform were inhaled from an inhaler. It gave immediate relief,
-producing a momentary state of unconsciousness, or a state bordering on
-it. In a few minutes the difficulty of breathing gradually returned, but
-not to the same extent, and the inhalation was repeated with a like
-effect. The difficulty of breathing returned less quickly and severely;
-and after a third inhalation of twenty minims she was completely
-relieved, and could lie down. The patient had a good night, and was
-better next day. On the 14th, she had another fit of spasmodic asthma,
-which was relieved completely by the chloroform in the same manner as
-the previous one. This patient inhaled extract of stramonium every
-evening, by a method which will be described further on.
-
-Other cases of spasmodic asthma have been relieved as readily and
-completely; but in one or two cases, in which the difficulty of
-breathing seemed to depend on disease of the heart, the relief was not
-so great; the patient went to sleep, but the breathing remained
-embarrassed.
-
-_Spasmodic Croup._ I have administered chloroform in seven cases of this
-complaint. It was recommended in every instance by Dr. Ferguson, and all
-the cases ended in recovery. The children were from eight months to two
-years of age; the majority being about a year. I always gave enough
-chloroform to cause a state of unconsciousness, for which a few minims
-suffices in a young child, and when the effect passed off, or nearly so,
-I repeated the dose. I generally gave five or six doses in the course of
-about half an hour, after which the child would often sleep for two or
-three hours. In the milder cases it was repeated once a day; but in the
-more severe cases it was continued, in the above manner, twice a day. I
-administered it to a patient of Dr. Van Oven, respecting whom Dr.
-Ferguson had been consulted, for fifteen days, twice every day,
-excepting the last three days. This child was very ill when the
-treatment was first commenced, having a severe fit of spasmodic
-breathing every five minutes. When the chloroform is given during the
-spasm, it is desirable to give it very cautiously.
-
-Mr. W. J. H. Cox read a paper on the treatment of laryngismus stridulus,
-with chloroform, at the London Medical Society, in 1850. He had
-entrusted the administration of it to the mother or nurse, and directed
-it to be given whenever the spasmodic breathing should come on. I am
-inclined to think that this would be the best way of giving it, if one
-could be quite sure of the intelligence of the party to whom it was
-entrusted.
-
-_Hooping-Cough._ I have only administered chloroform in two cases of
-this complaint. It was recommended in both cases by Dr. Ferguson. One of
-the children was extremely ill of bronchitis, and it died. The other
-child recovered, but the chloroform was not continued. I am not aware
-that chloroform has had any fair trial in hooping-cough. It should be
-given whenever a fit of coughing comes on.
-
-_Infantile Convulsions._ I have administered chloroform in two cases of
-this disease, with the effect of relieving the convulsions, but the
-children died. They were both extremely ill before the chloroform was
-administered. One was the patient of Mr. Walter Bryant, and Dr. Seth
-Thompson was consulted about it. A case has been related by Dr. Simpson
-of Edinburgh, in which the chloroform was continued for a day or two,
-and in which the infant recovered.
-
-_Delirium cum Tremore._[152] Some cases have been related in the medical
-journals, in which this complaint was treated successfully by chloroform
-alone; but I prefer to use this agent only as an adjunct to the
-treatment by opium. Sometimes the patient is so violent and suspicious
-that he cannot be made to take opium; but it is much easier to make a
-person breathe a medicine, than swallow one. It is only necessary to
-hold a patient, and to apply the chloroform near his face, and he is
-obliged to breathe it, and as the effect of it subsides, he recovers the
-power of swallowing before his delirium returns; for whilst he is still
-unconscious, he will swallow whatever is poured into his throat. Opium
-can be administered, and the chloroform can be repeated occasionally so
-as to keep him asleep for an hour or two till the opium takes effect and
-prolongs the sleep. It is a great advantage of chloroform that the
-delirium may be subdued in a few minutes by it, and can be kept away
-till opium takes effect.
-
-In certain cases of delirium cum tremore, such a quantity of opium is
-taken without procuring sleep, that the medical attendant has, what I
-believe to be, a well-grounded fear of giving more. A patient whom I saw
-with Mr. Peter Marshall, in April 1850, had taken ten fluid drachms of
-laudanum and two grains of acetate of morphia, within twenty-four hours
-of my seeing him, without any sleep being procured. He was put to sleep
-immediately by chloroform, which was repeated on the following day. The
-patient got quite well in a few days.
-
-In December 1851, I saw a patient who had had no sleep for four days,
-except three intervals of a quarter of an hour each, although a great
-deal of opium had been given. He was very violent; and for the last
-twelve hours had spat out all the medicine that was given to him; his
-pulse was small and very rapid. He was made insensible in a few minutes,
-and the chloroform was repeated, at intervals, for half an hour, so as
-to keep him unconscious. Fifty minims of tincture of opium were given in
-one of the intervals. I waited an hour and a quarter after the
-chloroform was discontinued; the patient was still sleeping, and his
-pulse was less frequent. I learnt that when he awoke he was quite free
-from delirium, and he was well in a few days.
-
-_Delirium in Fever._ In November 1857, I administered chloroform to a
-youth of seventeen, who had been ill of typhoid fever for sixteen days.
-He had been in a state of constant delirium for upwards of forty-eight
-hours without having the least sleep, although he had had tincture of
-opium in divided doses to the extent of forty-five minims, and had taken
-a tablespoonful of wine every four hours. The chloroform was continued
-gently for half an hour; he slept for an hour afterwards, and at
-intervals during the night. He was a little better in the morning; and
-the delirium was not again so violent as it had been. He died on the
-nineteenth day of the fever, from a recurrence of diarrhœa.
-
-Dr. Fairbrother, of Bristol, gave small doses of chloroform by
-inhalation, with the best effects, in a case of typhus fever, in the
-Bristol Infirmary. The patient was delirious and worn out for want of
-sleep, her life being in fact despaired of. She inhaled the chloroform
-occasionally for several days, sleep being always procured when it was
-applied, and she recovered without any other medicine.[153]
-
-_Hydrocephalus._ I administered chloroform on two occasions, for half an
-hour at a time, to a child, seven years old, when delirious and
-screaming violently, in this complaint. The child was much relieved by
-the inhalation, but it died on the fourteenth day of the disease.
-
-_Tetanus._ I have notes of three cases of tetanus in which I have
-administered chloroform. The first was a patient of the late Mr. Keate,
-in St. George’s Hospital, in February 1849. It was a girl, fourteen
-years old, who had received some severe burns in the face and various
-parts of the body, a fortnight previously. Four days before inhaling the
-chloroform, she was attacked with symptoms resembling those of chorea,
-but for the last two days the complaint was recognised to be tetanus.
-There was rigidity of the spine and jaws, and of one arm, which was
-flexed. Spasms came on every minute or two, affecting, more
-particularly, the head and the arm. I commenced to give chloroform very
-gently at four in the afternoon. It prevented the spasm before
-consciousness was quite removed. Whenever the spasm offered to return,
-the inhalation was repeated with the effect of stopping it. The
-chloroform was continued till half-past five, with the effect of keeping
-the spasm away; and the patient took some drink during this time, better
-than she had done previously. I saw the child again at eight o’clock in
-the evening, and found that the spasms had returned soon after I left,
-and had continued as before. The chloroform was given again at intervals
-for an hour and a half, with the effect of keeping away the spasms, and
-inducing sleep; but I found that the child was getting weaker, and would
-die even if the spasm was entirely prevented. She died at a quarter past
-eight the following morning. There was no inspection of the body.
-
-The next case was a patient of Mr. Propert, a boy, ten years of age, who
-had suffered from sloughing of the skin of the inferior extremities. The
-tetanus came on during the healing process, whilst the greater part of
-both extremities was in a state of ulceration, and covered with healthy
-granulations. The patient was in a very irritable and feeble state, and
-his pulse was 150 in the minute. He was made insensible, and the
-chloroform was repeated twice in the space of half an hour. No
-relaxation of the muscles of the jaws was produced, although the effect
-of the chloroform was carried as far as seemed safe in such a subject.
-He died twelve hours afterwards.
-
-I administered chloroform lately to a patient of Mr. Salmon in St.
-Mark’s Hospital. He underwent an operation by ligature for prolapsus ani
-and hæmorrhoids on March 1st; on March 5th tetanus commenced, and on
-March 7th chloroform was administered whilst Mr. Salmon removed some
-sloughs from the anus; and it was repeated occasionally afterwards. The
-patient was a man, fifty-two years of age; he was the subject of kidney
-disease, and the tetanus was extremely severe. He had had four doses,
-each containing a fluid drachm of laudanum, between the time when the
-tetanus commenced and his inhaling the chloroform. His pupils were
-contracted, and he was made insensible by an extremely small quantity of
-chloroform. He was, in fact, very much under the influence of opium,
-although the spasm of the tetanus prevented his sleeping.
-
-Chloroform affords great relief to the patient affected with tetanus,
-and it probably increases the prospect of recovery in cases which are
-not too severe and acute.
-
-_Epilepsy._ Dr. Todd at one time had chloroform administered by
-inhalation, in King’s College Hospital, to the extent of causing
-insensibility, at stated intervals, in cases of epilepsy, and he thought
-with advantage. I have frequently administered chloroform for surgical
-operations to patients who were subject to epilepsy, and have very
-rarely found it produce any approach to a fit.
-
-In July 1850, I administered chloroform to a boy, seven years old, in an
-epileptic fit, which had lasted about an hour when the inhalation was
-commenced. He had had fits previously, the last of which had occurred a
-year before, but none of them had lasted so long as the existing one. He
-had eaten nine new potatoes for his dinner, at one o’clock, and the fit
-came on about eight. I found the abdomen swollen and very tympanitic.
-There was constant convulsive motion of the right arm, and of the neck;
-the latter drawing the head to the right side. The mouth was also drawn
-to the right at each convulsive motion. The chloroform was given by
-putting a few minims at a time on a handkerchief, and holding it to the
-mouth and nostrils. It caused immediate cessation of the convulsions
-every time it was applied. The convulsions, however, returned again in a
-minute or two. In the intervals that he was partially under the
-influence of the vapour, he breathed easily without stertor. The
-convulsions became gradually less severe, and ceased entirely ten or
-fifteen minutes after the commencement of the inhalation.
-
-_Puerperal Convulsions_. I have not been called to any case of this
-complaint since chloroform has been in use; but some cases have been
-related in the medical journals in which the inhalation of chloroform
-has been employed with a favourable result. One case is related by Mr.
-Henry Rudge, of Leominster.[154] When the chloroform was administered,
-the patient was in violent convulsions which came on in frequently
-succeeding fits. The os uteri was dilated, and the head presenting. The
-pains were entirely arrested. The chloroform was administered by twenty
-minims, at intervals, on a folded handkerchief. The convulsions, after a
-few inhalations, entirely ceased, and Mr. Rudge extracted the child
-without difficulty. There was another child with the head presenting: it
-was delivered with the forceps. The placenta was delivered with the hand
-on account of smart hæmorrhage. There was only one attack of convulsions
-after delivery, and the patient recovered favourably. It was her first
-labour, and her age was twenty-three years.
-
-A case of puerperal convulsions was related by Mr. Andrew Bolton to the
-Newcastle and Gateshead Pathological Society.[155] His patient, aged
-twenty-two, was at the full period of her first pregnancy. The os uteri
-was high, slightly dilated, and extremely rigid. She was treated at
-first by blood-letting, and full doses of morphia. Mr. Bolton says: “As
-her condition appeared hopeless should the paroxysms continue,
-chloroform was administered on a piece of linen, in half-drachm doses,
-and its full effects kept up for three hours. At two P.M., there was a
-slight return of convulsion; skin warm and perspiring; the os uteri was
-found steadily dilating; and from her uneasy movements, it was apparent
-that uterine action had begun.
-
-“Half-past three. The membranes were ruptured; and brisk uterine action
-ensuing, a dead child was expelled, immediately followed by the
-placenta. She regained her senses during the expulsive efforts, but
-appeared entirely ignorant of her previous condition. Recovery followed
-without any bad symptom.
-
-“In conclusion, I would remark, that the convulsions were in no measure
-mitigated by the depletion, which was carried to the utmost; nor was
-there any yielding of the os uteri until the chloroform was inhaled.”
-
-The urine was not examined in either of the above cases, and it is not
-stated that œdema was present.
-
-_Hysterical Paralysis and Contractions._ In December 1851, I
-administered chloroform in Charing Cross Hospital to a young woman about
-twenty-five, a patient of Dr. Chowne. She kept her left knee in a
-semiflexed position, and would not allow it to be moved. She had been in
-bed in the hospital for two months. She inhaled the chloroform
-reluctantly, and, after becoming unconscious, she breathed and sobbed in
-a hysterical manner. When insensible, the limb went down flat on the
-bed, the knee being quite movable. A straight splint was applied, and
-the limb was secured to it with bandages. I was informed that in a few
-days she contrived to get her leg bent again. She was the domestic
-servant of a nobleman. It was evident that there was nothing the matter
-with her limb, and that it was only influenced by her volition, which
-was perverted by the hysteria under which she was labouring.
-
-In November, in the same year, I administered chloroform in the same
-hospital to another patient of Dr. Chowne, whose case was more obscure
-and complicated. The patient was a woman, aged thirty-three, who
-represented that for several months she had been unable to open her
-mouth, or to speak, and that she had, for the same length of time, been
-paralyzed in the left arm and leg. The affection, it was said, came on
-suddenly, in a kind of fit, which was followed by unconsciousness for
-three or four weeks. It was also said, that she had one or two fits the
-previous year, after which she was unconscious for a long time. The
-patient was quite conscious before inhaling the chloroform, and replied
-to questions by nodding or shaking the head, or by writing on a slate.
-She was unmarried, and had not menstruated for some months past. The
-chloroform was administered with a view to ascertain whether or not she
-was feigning. On first becoming unconscious, the patient breathed in a
-sobbing and hysterical manner. The chloroform was given very gradually;
-and as she became more affected, there were some struggling and
-rigidity, when the right arm and leg were moved about a good deal. The
-left arm and leg were also distinctly moved, but not above a tenth part
-as much as the extremities of the opposite side. When the patient was
-quite insensible, the limbs being relaxed, the pupils turned upwards,
-and the conjunctiva insensible, attention was turned to the jaws, which
-were still firmly closed, but they were opened by using a moderate
-degree of force with the fingers. The effect of the chloroform having
-been allowed in a great measure to subside, it was again administered,
-when the movements of the limbs recurred, and there was the same
-difference between the motion of the right side and that of the left, as
-before. When I left the patient, more than half an hour after the
-chloroform was discontinued, she had not opened her eyes or answered
-questions; and she did not do either for six days. I saw her five days
-after the chloroform. The pulse was very rapid on my first going to the
-bedside, but its frequency subsided in a few minutes. On my raising the
-eyelid, she turned her eye about, as if endeavouring to hide the pupil
-under the lid. On the following day she answered questions by nodding
-and writing on a slate, and was, in other respects, the same as before
-inhaling the chloroform.
-
-The great difference in the amount of motion in the limbs of this
-patient, under the influence of chloroform, showed that the paralysis of
-the left side was not a mere pretence. It is, indeed, possible that the
-absence of motion in the limbs of the left side, for several months,
-would cause them to move less than the opposite ones during the action
-of chloroform; but it is not to be supposed that the patient would keep
-these limbs in one posture during the night, and when no one was
-present, without ever moving them, unless she herself believed that they
-were paralyzed. I looked on the woman as a sick person, and not a mere
-impostor; for although she appeared to exaggerate her symptoms, and to
-have a good deal of pretence and affectation, this circumstance arose,
-no doubt, from her complaint.
-
-In April 1853, I administered chloroform four times to a patient of Dr.
-Arthur Farre, a girl of fifteen years of age, who was affected with a
-contraction of the flexor muscles of the left thigh and leg, of the
-muscles which bend the body to the left side, and those which bend and
-turn the head to the same side, in consequence of which the leg was
-drawn up, and the body and head were curved greatly to the left side.
-The contraction of the muscles had lasted for several weeks, but she had
-been ill for a much longer period, her illness having commenced with a
-fever. She took an extremely small quantity of nourishment, and was very
-thin. Her bowels were moved with difficulty. The pulse was very feeble
-and small, and there was a tendency to coldness of the surface. An
-eminent surgeon in the provinces had expressed his opinion that the
-distortion of the limbs and trunk was a feigned disorder; but the action
-of the chloroform proved that he was altogether in error. The muscles
-became completely relaxed when the patient was quite insensible, and the
-limbs and trunk and head could be readily moved into any position; but
-as the effects of the chloroform subsided, the deformity returned on
-each occasion before the patient recovered her consciousness. Neither
-the chloroform nor any other measures were of any service, and Dr. Farre
-informed me that the patient died a few weeks after I saw her.
-
-_Mania._ I have been informed of several cases in which chloroform has
-been administered in acute mania, with the effect of calming the patient
-and procuring sleep. I have administered it in two cases with the same
-temporary advantage. In one of the cases, the patient was persuaded to
-inhale it; in the other, he had to be held by three keepers till he was
-unconscious. An eminent and well-known scientific man, who became insane
-some years ago, refused to take food. It was found that after being made
-unconscious by chloroform, he would take a meal just as he recovered
-from its effects, and the chloroform was given before every meal for a
-long time.
-
-_Spasmodic Pain._ In August 1851, I administered chloroform to a woman
-who was labouring under a severe paroxysm of spasmodic pain in the
-abdomen. The pain was completely removed, without altogether causing
-unconsciousness. An opiate was given to prevent the pain from returning.
-
-I have not had the opportunity of administering chloroform during the
-passage of calculi down the ureters, or of gall-stones; but there can be
-no doubt that it would be of the greatest service in such cases. If Dr.
-Griffin had been provided with chloroform when he attended the late Mr.
-Augustus Stafford with an attack of gall-stones,[156] he would have been
-able to relieve his patient in five minutes, instead of taking two or
-three hours to produce relief by opium. There would have been no
-occasion for the venesection, which was carried to thirty ounces. And at
-the end of the attack, on Dr. Griffin leaving his patient for the night,
-if chloroform had been employed, he would have left him without any
-appreciable amount of the narcotic in his system. As it was, however, he
-left him with a quantity of opium unabsorbed from the alimentary canal.
-The bandage got displaced from the arm; there was an additional
-hæmorrhage, the opium became absorbed more quickly, and a dangerous
-state of narcotism was induced.
-
-_Frequent and long continued Use of Chloroform._ Many patients have
-inhaled this agent hundreds of times, and it continued to produce
-insensibility as readily as at first. The dose does not require to be
-increased on account of its long use. I was informed of the case of a
-lady who was affected with a painful cancer, and was attended by the
-late Mr. Keate and Mr. Henry Charles Johnson. She inhaled chloroform at
-frequent intervals, by day and night, for a very long time, consuming
-three or four ounces in the twenty-four hours.
-
-In November 1851, a surgeon in the north of England wrote to me
-respecting one of his patients, a lady, who had inhaled a great deal of
-chloroform, on account of neuralgia of the uterus. He said that, during
-that year, and principally within the last six months, she had inhaled
-at least two hundred ounces; that she often inhaled as much as three
-ounces in a day; and that it seemed to have produced very little effect
-on her general health, except that she seemed to be more susceptible of
-pain. He said that he had reluctantly yielded to the entreaties of his
-patient to administer it so often, and he wished for my opinion
-respecting the propriety of continuing its use, and what effect it would
-be likely to produce.
-
-I advised that the chloroform should be continued as long as the
-severity of the pain rendered it necessary; and expressed my opinion,
-that it would produce as little ultimate effect as any other narcotic
-which might be used to relieve the pain. I saw the surgeon in September
-of the following year. He informed me that the chloroform was continued
-for some time after he had written to me; but that his patient had
-recovered from her complaint, and had left off the chloroform, and was
-in good health.
-
-Mr. Garner, of Stoke-upon-Trent, has related the case of a lady,
-affected with neuralgia, who inhaled sixty-two ounces of chloroform from
-her handkerchief, in twelve days.[157]
-
-
-
-
- SULPHURIC ETHER, OR ETHER.
-
-
-_History and Composition._ “This liquid is first described by Valerius
-Cordus, in 1540, under the name of _oleum vitrioli dulce_. The term
-_ether_ was applied to it a hundred and ninety years afterwards by
-Frobenius, who, in a paper in the _Philosophical Transactions_,
-described its singular properties; at the end of this paper is a note by
-Godfrey Hankwitz, Mr. Boyle’s operator, mentioning the experiments that
-had been made upon it by Boyle and by Newton.”[158]
-
-The present chemical name of ether, or sulphuric ether, is oxide of
-ethyle. It consists of four atoms carbon, five atoms hydrogen, and one
-atom oxygen. Its atomic number is consequently 37.
-
-The usual way of making ether, is to distil common alcohol (the hydrated
-oxide of ethyle) with sulphuric acid.
-
-_Chemical and physical Properties._ Ether is a clear, colourless liquid,
-of the specific gravity of 0·715 at 68°. It boils at 96° Fahr.; and the
-specific gravity of its vapour is 2·565. It is soluble, in all
-proportions, in alcohol, and it is soluble in nine parts, by measure, of
-water. Water is also soluble in nine parts, by measure, of ether, so
-that after ether has been agitated with water, it retains one-tenth of
-its volume of that fluid. Ether is very inflammable, and, as it yields
-its vapour very freely, great care is required in pouring it out by
-artificial light. Its vapour is also very explosive when mixed, in
-certain proportions, with atmospheric air.
-
-The ordinary ether of the shops contains a portion of alcohol which has
-distilled over with it; the alcohol should be removed by agitating the
-ether with twice its volume of water, before it is used for inhalation.
-The ether which has been treated in this way is called washed ether. The
-water which it takes up during the washing can be removed by distilling
-it from lime, or dry carbonate of potassa; but this is unnecessary, as
-the water does not interfere with the action of the ether when inhaled;
-and part of the water evaporates and is inhaled with the ether, when the
-atmospheric air is not already saturated with moisture.
-
-Ether has a peculiar and very strong odour; in this respect it differs
-extremely from chloroform. The odour of a single drop of ether can be
-distinctly perceived all over a large operating theatre, whilst a pint
-of chloroform may be spilt without its odour being much noticed. The
-strong odour of ether is, indeed, one of the greatest objections to its
-use, since another agent has been discovered which is free from this
-objection. As was previously stated, the odour of chloroform cannot be
-perceived in the breath, after the lungs are emptied by one or two
-expirations of the vapour just taken in; whilst the smell of ether can
-be perceived in the breath for twenty-four, and sometimes for
-forty-eight, hours after the patient has inhaled it. The surgeon, and
-others who have been about the patient, also smell of the ether to a
-less degree. When a rabbit has been killed by the inhalation of ether, a
-starving cat will not eat its flesh even after it has been boiled;
-whereas the odour of chloroform cannot be perceived in the bodies of
-animals that have been killed by it.
-
-If ether is exposed to atmospheric air by being kept a long time in a
-bottle but partly filled, it is apt to be decomposed into acetic acid
-and water.
-
-The following Table shows the result of experiments which I made to
-ascertain the quantity of vapour of ether that 100 cubic inches of air
-will take up, when saturated with it, at various temperatures, the
-barometric pressure being 30 inches of mercury. The ether I employed in
-the experiments was washed, but not dried. It was, therefore, saturated
-with water, of which it contained one-tenth of its volume. It had a
-specific gravity of 0·735 at 60° Fahr., and it boiled at 98°.
-
- Temp. Fah. Cubic inches of vapour. Minims of ether.
- 50° 52 64
- 51 54 66
- 52 56 69
- 53 59 72
- 54 62 76
- 55 65 80
- 56 68 84
- 57 72 88
- 58 76 93
- 59 80 98
- 60 84 102
- 61 88 107
- 62 92 112
- 63 97 117
- 64 102 122
- 65 107 128
- 66 112 134
- 67 117 140
- 68 123 147
- 69 130 156
- 70 138 165
-
-In the above Table the air is a constant quantity of 100 cubic inches,
-which becomes expanded to 152, and so on; but the following Table shows
-the quantity of vapour in 100 cubic inches of the saturated mixture of
-vapour and air at different temperatures:—
-
- Temp. Fah. Air. Vapour.
- 40° 73 27
- 42 72 28
- 44 70 30
- 46 69 31
- 48 67 33
- 50 66 34
- 52 64 36
- 54 62 38
- 56 60 40
- 58 57 43
- 60 54 46
- 62 52 48
- 64 49 51
- 66 47 53
- 68 45 55
- 70 42 58
- 72 40 60
- 74 37 63
- 76 34 66
- 78 32 68
- 80 29 71
-
-The absorption of caloric during the evaporation of ether is much
-greater than during that of chloroform, owing both to the greater
-quantity of vapour it yields on account of its lower boiling point, and
-to the lower specific gravity of the vapour. The evaporation of ether
-from the bulb of a thermometer usually lowers the temperature nearly to
-zero of Fahrenheit. When the inhalation of ether was first commenced,
-the inhalers employed consisted generally of glass vases containing
-sponge, to afford a surface for the evaporation of the ether. Both glass
-and sponge being very indifferent conductors of caloric, the interior of
-the inhalers became much reduced in temperature, the evaporation of
-ether was very much checked, and the patient breathed air much colder
-than the freezing point of water, and containing very little of the
-vapour of ether. On this account, and through other defects in the
-inhalers, the patient was often very long in becoming insensible, and,
-in not a few cases, he did not become affected beyond a degree of
-excitement and inebriety.
-
-To ensure the ether taking effect in a short time in every case, I made
-use of the conducting power of the metals, and the great capacity of
-water for caloric. The inhaler which I employed was made of plated
-copper, and was placed in two or three pints of water, of the ordinary
-temperature. The form of the inhaler was that of one which had been
-contrived by Mr. Julius Jeffries for the inhalation of aqueous
-vapour.[159] No sponge or bibulous paper, or other material, was used;
-and the air, before being inhaled, was made to pass over a considerable
-surface of ether by means of a spiral volute, soldered to the top of the
-inhaler, and reaching nearly to the bottom. The accompanying engraving
-shows the interior of the inhaler, on a scale of half the dimensions,
-the bottom being removed.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Physiological Effects of Ether_ are essentially the same as those
-of chloroform. The various degrees of narcotism which I described in the
-earlier part of this work, when treating of chloroform, were first
-described by me when treating of ether in 1847, before chloroform was in
-use.[160] All the remarks which I made with respect to the manner in
-which age, strength or debility, and other circumstances, influence the
-action of chloroform, apply also in an equal degree to ether.
-
-I performed some experiments in 1848,[161] for ascertaining the
-proportions of vapour of ether present in the blood in the different
-degrees of narcotism. They were conducted on the same principles as
-those previously related, which were performed for the purpose of
-determining the same point in regard to chloroform.
-
-_Experiment 31._ Two grains of ether were put into a jar holding 200
-cubic inches, and the vapour diffused equally, when a tame mouse was
-introduced, and allowed to remain a quarter of an hour, but it was not
-appreciably affected.
-
-_Experiment 32._ Another mouse was placed in the same jar, with three
-grains of ether, being a grain and a half to each 100 cubic inches. In a
-minute and a half, it was unable to stand, but continued to move its
-limbs occasionally. It remained eight minutes without becoming further
-affected. When taken out, it was sensible to pinching, but fell over on
-its side in attempting to walk. In a minute and a half, the effect of
-the ether appeared to have gone off entirely.
-
-_Experiment 33._ A white mouse in the same jar, with four grains of
-ether, was unable to stand at the end of a minute, and at the end of
-another minute ceased to move, but continued to breathe naturally, and
-was taken out at the end of five minutes. It moved on being pinched,
-began to attempt to walk at the end of a minute, and in two minutes more
-seemed quite recovered.
-
-_Experiment 34._ Five grains of ether, being two and a half grains to
-each 100 cubic inches, were diffused throughout the same jar, and a
-mouse put in. It became rather more quickly insensible than the one in
-the last experiment. It was allowed to remain eight minutes. It moved
-its foot a very little when pinched, and recovered in the course of four
-minutes.
-
-_Experiment 35._ A white mouse was placed in the same jar with six
-grains of ether. In a minute and a half, it was lying insensible. At the
-end of three minutes, the breathing became laborious, and accompanied by
-a kind of stertor. It continued in this state till taken out, at the end
-of seven minutes, when it was found to be totally insensible to
-pinching. The breathing improved at the end of a minute; it began to
-move at the end of three minutes; and five minutes after its removal, it
-had recovered.
-
-_Experiment 36._ The same mouse was put into this jar on the following
-day, with seven grains of ether, being 3·5 grains to the 100 cubic
-inches. Stertorous breathing came on sooner than before; it seemed at
-the point of death when four minutes had elapsed; and being then taken
-out, was longer in recovering than after the last experiment.
-
-_Experiment 37._ Two or three days afterwards, the same mouse was placed
-in the jar, with eight grains of ether, being four grains for each 100
-cubic inches. It became insensible in half a minute. In two minutes and
-a half, the breathing became difficult; and at a little more than three
-minutes, it appeared that the breathing was about to cease, and the
-mouse was taken out. In a minute or two, the breathing improved; and in
-the course of five minutes from its removal, it had recovered.
-
-The temperature of the mice employed in the above experiments was about
-100°. That of the birds in the following experiments was higher, as is
-stated; and they differ widely from the mice in the strength of vapour
-required to produce a given effect, although I found but little
-difference between the mice and birds, in this respect, in the former
-experiments on chloroform. And one of the linnets was employed in both
-sets of experiments. Having seen MM. Dumeril and Demarquay’s statement
-of the diminution of animal temperature from inhalation of ether and
-chloroform, before the following experiments were performed, the
-thermometer was applied at the beginning and conclusion of some of them.
-I have selected every fourth experiment from a larger series on birds.
-
-_Experiment 38._ 18·4 grains of ether were diffused through a jar
-holding 920 cubic inches, being two grains to each 100 cubic inches, and
-a green linnet was introduced. After two or three minutes it staggered
-somewhat, and in a few minutes more appeared so drowsy, that it had a
-difficulty in holding up its head. It was taken out at the end of a
-quarter of an hour, quite sensible, and in a minute or two, was able to
-get on its perch. The temperature under the wing was 110° before the
-experiment began, and the same at the conclusion.
-
-_Experiment 39._ Another linnet was placed in the same jar, with four
-grains of ether to each 100 cubic inches of air. In two minutes it was
-unable to stand, and in a minute more, voluntary motion had ceased. It
-lay breathing quietly till taken out, at the end of a quarter of an
-hour. It moved its foot slightly when it was pinched. In three minutes
-it began to recover voluntary motion, and was soon well. The temperature
-was 110° under the wing, when put into the jar, and 105° when taken out.
-
-_Experiment 40._ A green linnet was put into the same jar with 55·2
-grains of ether, being six grains to 100 cubic inches. It was insensible
-in a minute and a half, and lay motionless, breathing naturally, till
-taken out at the end of a quarter of an hour. It moved its toes very
-slightly when they were pinched with the forceps, and it began to
-recover voluntary motion in two or three minutes. Temperature 110°
-before the experiment, and 102° at the end.
-
-_Experiment 41._ A linnet was placed in the same jar, containing eight
-grains of ether to each 100 cubic inches. Voluntary motion ceased at the
-end of a minute. The breathing was natural for some time, but afterwards
-became feeble, and at the end of four minutes appeared to have ceased;
-and the bird was taken out, when it was found to be breathing very
-gently. It was totally insensible to pinching. The breathing improved,
-and it recovered in four minutes.
-
-_Experiment 42._ 9·2 grains of ether, being one grain to each 100 cubic
-inches of air, were diffused through the jar, holding 920 cubic inches
-of air, and a frog was introduced. At the end of a quarter of an hour,
-it had ceased to move spontaneously, but could be made to move its
-limbs, by inclining the jar so as to turn it over. At the end of half an
-hour, voluntary motion could no longer be excited, and the breathing was
-slow. It was removed, at the end of three-quarters of an hour, quite
-insensible, and the respiratory movements being performed only at long
-intervals, but the heart beating naturally; and it recovered in the
-course of half an hour. The temperature of the room was 55° at the time
-of this experiment.
-
-We find from the 32nd experiment, that a grain and a half of ether for
-each 100 cubic inches of air, is sufficient to induce the second degree
-of narcotism in the mouse; and a grain and a half of ether make 1·9
-cubic inch of vapour, of specific gravity 2·586. Now the ether I
-employed boiled at 96°. At this temperature, consequently, its vapour
-would exclude the air entirely; and ether vapour, in contact with the
-liquid giving it off, could only be raised to 100° by such a pressure as
-would cause the boiling point of the ether to rise to that temperature.
-That pressure would be equal to 32·4 inches of mercury, or 2·4 inches
-above the usual barometrical pressure; and the vapour would be condensed
-somewhat, so that the space of 100 cubic inches would contain what would
-be equivalent to 108 cubic inches at the usual pressure. This is the
-quantity, then, with which we have to compare 1·9 cubic inch, in order
-to ascertain the degree of saturation of the space in the air-cells of
-the lungs, and also of the blood; and by calculation, as when treating
-of chloroform,
-
- 1·9 is to 108 as 0·0175 is to 1.
-
-So that we find 0·0175, or 1–57th to be the amount of saturation of the
-blood by ether necessary to produce the second degree of narcotism; and
-as by Experiment 35, three grains in 100 cubic inches produced the
-fourth degree of narcotism, we get 0·035, or 1–28th, as the amount of
-saturation of the blood in this degree. Now this is within the smallest
-fraction of what was found to be the extent of saturation of the blood
-by chloroform, requisite to produce narcotism to the same degrees. But
-the respective amount of the two medicines in the blood differs widely;
-for whilst chloroform required about 288 parts of serum to dissolve it,
-I find that 100 parts of serum dissolve five parts of ether at 100°;
-consequently 0·05 × 0·0175 gives 0·000875, or one part in 1142, as the
-proportion in the blood in the second degree of narcotism; and 0·05 ×
-0·035 gives 0·00175, or one part in 572, as the proportion in the fourth
-degree.
-
-In Experiment 42 the frog was rendered completely insensible by vapour
-of a strength which was not sufficient to produce any appreciable effect
-on the mouse in Experiment 31. This is in accordance with what was met
-with in the experiments with chloroform. Air, when saturated with ether
-at 55°, contains 32 grains in each 100 cubic inches; so that the blood
-of the frog might contain 1–32nd part as much as it would dissolve,
-which, although not quite so great a proportion as was considered the
-average for the fourth degree of narcotism in the mice, yet was more
-than sufficient to render insensible the mouse in Experiment 34.
-
-There is a remarkable difference between the birds and the mice, in
-respect to the proportions of ether and air required to render them
-insensible, a difference that was not observed with respect to
-chloroform. In some experiments with ether on guineapigs, which are not
-adduced, they were found to agree with mice in the effects of various
-quantities.
-
-The birds were found to require nearly twice as much; five grains to 100
-cubic inches, the quantity used in an experiment between the
-thirty-ninth and fortieth, which is not related, may be taken as the
-average for the fourth degree of narcotism in these birds, with a
-temperature of 110°. By the kind of calculation made before, we should
-get a higher amount of saturation of the blood than for the same degree
-in mice. But as serum at 110° dissolves much less ether than at 100°,
-the quantity of this medicine in the blood of birds is not greater than
-in that of other animals; and, considered in relation to what the blood
-would dissolve at 100°, the degree of saturation is the same.
-
-By Experiments 36, 37, and 41, we find that with ether, as with
-chloroform, a quantity of vapour in the air, somewhat greater than
-suffices to induce complete narcotism, has the effect of arresting the
-respiratory movements.
-
-In treating of chloroform (page 74), the average quantity of serum in
-the adult human subject was estimated at 410 fluidounces. In order to
-find the quantity of ether in the system, we may multiply 410 by
-0·000875 for the second degree of narcotism, and by 0·00175 for the
-fourth degree, when we shall obtain 0·358 and 0·71 of an ounce, _i. e._
-f. ʒii. ♏︎l in the first instance, and f. ʒv. ♏︎xl in the second. In the
-third degree of narcotism, in which surgical operations are usually
-performed, the quantity is intermediate, or a little over four drachms.
-
-_On the Administration of Ether._ About a fluid ounce of ether is
-usually inhaled by an adult patient in becoming insensible; fully
-one-half of this is, however, thrown back from the lungs, windpipe,
-nostrils, and face-piece, without being absorbed. I usually put two
-fluid ounces of ether into the inhaler above described, at the beginning
-of the inhalation, and this quantity often lasts to the end of the
-operation, if it is not a protracted one. The inhaler is connected, by
-means of a wide elastic tube, with a face-piece similar to that
-described and delineated in treating of chloroform. It is necessary that
-the inhalation should commence, as in the case of chloroform, with the
-expiratory valve of the face-piece turned on one side, for the admission
-of air which is not charged with ether, and that the vapour should be
-admitted to the air-passages by degrees, to avoid the irritation that
-would arise from suddenly inspiring any considerable quantity of the
-vapour. The vapour of ether is very much less pungent than an equal
-quantity of the vapour of chloroform; but as the patient requires to
-breathe about six times as much of it in the inspired air, it feels
-quite as pungent as that of chloroform, and, perhaps, a little more so.
-Whilst the patient never requires to take in more than four or five per
-cent. of vapour of chloroform in the inspired air, he requires to inhale
-about thirty per cent. of vapour of ether, in order to be rendered
-insensible in a convenient time. The air-passages, however, soon get
-accustomed to the presence of the vapour of ether, and in a minute and a
-half or two minutes after the patient begins to inhale, he can usually
-bear the valve to be closed so far as to charge the air with as much
-vapour as is necessary speedily to cause insensibility. The inhaler
-yields quite sufficient vapour when the water-bath is at 50° Fahr.; and
-at the seasons of the year when the temperature of the water is higher,
-the expiratory valve of the face-piece can be left more or less open to
-admit a portion of air which has not passed through the inhaler.
-
-I prefer the flavour of ether vapour to that of chloroform; and the
-sensations I experience from the inhalation of ether are more
-pleasurable than those from chloroform. Many persons agree with me on
-both those points; but some prefer chloroform. The quantity of ether
-expended in causing insensibility is eight or ten times as great as that
-of chloroform, but the quantity used in a protracted operation is not so
-disproportionate; for, owing to the great solubility of ether and the
-large quantity of it which is absorbed, it is much longer in exhaling by
-the breath, and when the patient is once fairly insensible, it does not
-require to be repeated so frequently as chloroform.
-
-In administering ether, I usually rendered adult patients insensible in
-four or five minutes, and children in two or three minutes. A somewhat
-longer time was occasionally occupied in cases in which the air-passages
-were irritable, or where there was much rigidity and struggling. I never
-failed to make the patient insensible in any one instance in which I
-administered ether. I have notes of 152 cases in which I administered
-ether, before chloroform was introduced, and twelve cases in which I
-have exhibited it since.
-
-Nearly all the great operations of surgery were included several times
-amongst the cases in which I administered ether. Amputation of the thigh
-was performed in nineteen cases; fifteen of the patients recovered, and
-four died. Amputation of the leg was performed eleven times; eight of
-the patients recovered, and three died. The arm was amputated three
-times; one of the patients died, and two recovered. There were thus
-thirty-three of the larger amputations with eight deaths, being a
-mortality of twenty-four per cent. There were two amputations of the
-forearm, and both patients recovered. There were nine operations of
-lithotomy; seven of the patients recovered, and two died. Five of the
-patients were children, who all recovered; the two deaths occurring
-amongst the four adult patients. Eighteen female patients had the breast
-removed for tumour, and they all recovered except one.
-
-On July 1st, 1847, Mr. Cutler amputated the leg of a man, aged
-forty-four, in St. George’s Hospital, who had suffered from disease of
-the tibia and ankle, which had existed thirty years, and was caused by
-an accident. This patient died on the seventh day, of sloughing
-phagedena, which was present in the hospital. It was then found that he
-had disease of the heart. Its structure was soft and easily lacerable;
-much fat was mixed up with the muscular structure. The aortic valves
-were much thickened, and almost cartilaginous in structure. Two of them
-were so much contracted that they were together about the size of a
-healthy one. The left ventricle was dilated, and the right ventricle
-still more so; its walls being extremely thin. The ether had acted quite
-favourably on this man.
-
-I administered ether repeatedly in infants and old people. Some of the
-infants were operated on by Mr. George Pollock, in 1847, for congenital
-cataract by drilling; and two of them were operated on, in 1857, for
-hare-lip, by Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Bowman. A gentleman, one of whose
-toes the late Mr. Liston amputated in 1847, was said to be subject to
-apoplectic attacks. The ether acted very favourably. Amongst the
-operations which Mr. Liston performed on patients to whom I administered
-ether, was the tying of the external iliac artery in a man, aged forty,
-for an aneurism of the groin, situated partly above Poupart’s ligament.
-The patient lay perfectly still in this, as in all the other important
-operations in which I administered ether. He recovered.
-
-On June 18th, 1847, I exhibited, in University College Hospital, ether
-to a man, aged forty-two, with stricture of the urethra, caused by an
-accident. He passed his urine only in drops, and the attempts to pass a
-catheter had all failed. It was Mr. Liston’s intention to divide the
-urethra in the perinæum, but when the patient was placed fully under the
-influence of ether to the fourth degree of narcotism, a catheter (No. 1)
-passed into the bladder, and the operation was not required. Larger
-catheters were introduced in a few days, and on July 27th, the patient
-was discharged, being able to pass his urine in a good stream.
-
-Ether was administered in many cases of midwifery by Dr. Simpson, who
-had first applied it in obstetric cases, and by a number of other
-practitioners. I only exhibited it in one case, and then only for a
-short time. Mr. Lansdown of Bristol used it in thirty cases.[162] In one
-case, it was continued for eleven hours and a half, and fourteen fluid
-ounces of ether were used. He said that he invariably found the perinæum
-relaxed before the head came to bear on it, thereby not requiring the
-pressure of the head to force it open, in cases where ether was used. He
-says: “I find the uterus sending out the placenta immediately after the
-expulsion of the child, and there has been scarcely any hæmorrhage
-following.” Mr. Lansdown said that he had found the action of the uterus
-to be induced by ether, when in a sluggish state, but he had not found
-this effect from chloroform, in the cases in which he had used it.
-
-Ether was used with great advantage in most of the kinds of medical
-cases in which chloroform was afterwards applied. In the summer of 1847,
-an infant, nine months old, was brought to me in a convulsive fit, which
-had lasted twenty minutes. I poured twenty minims of ether on a sponge,
-and applied it to its mouth and nostrils; in two or three minutes, the
-quantity was repeated. The spasm subsided, and the child fell asleep. It
-had no return of the fit. It was labouring under hooping-cough at the
-time, which had existed a week.
-
-The inhalation of ether was employed in the treatment of asthma,
-hooping-cough, and tetanus, before it was employed in surgical
-operations. It has been already stated (page 14) that Dr. Richard
-Pearson administered the vapour of ether in consumption in 1795. Dr.
-Robert Willis sent an article to the _Medical Gazette_ on February 2nd,
-1847,[163] in which the following passages occur.
-
-“Ether, given by the mouth, has long been familiarly employed in the
-treatment of asthma. I have for many years been aware of the fact that
-it is vastly more efficacious administered directly in vapour by the
-breath. My plan of using it is extremely simple. I have had recourse to
-no kind of apparatus for this purpose, but have been content to pour
-two, three, or four drachms of the fluid upon a clean handkerchief, and
-to direct this to be held closely to the mouth and nostrils: a single
-short and difficult inspiration is hardly made before the effect is
-experienced; and I have occasionally seen the paroxysm ended in six or
-eight minutes, the respiration having in that brief interval become
-almost natural.
-
-“It is not otherwise with hooping-cough: the paroxysms of coughing are
-positively cut short by having the ether and the handkerchief in
-readiness, and using them when the fit is perceived to be coming on.”
-
-I have been informed of a case of tetanus which was treated successfully
-by inhalation of ether more than twenty years before this medicine was
-used to prevent the pain of operations, but I am not able at present to
-give a reference to the case. Mr. C. A. Hawkesworth, surgeon, of
-Burton-on-Trent, wrote me an account of a case of tetanus, which had
-recovered under the inhalation of ether in 1847. The patient was a
-healthy-looking butcher’s boy, about twelve years old, who had received
-a slight scalp wound, which was followed by general tetanus. Mr.
-Hawkesworth administered the vapour of ether to him during the greater
-part of one day. The spasm relaxed most completely whilst the influence
-of the ether continued, but returned in great degree when the inhalation
-was intermitted. He took no other medicine except calomel and jalap,
-with a view to purgation; the calomel, however, acted on his mouth. He
-recovered speedily and completely. Some other cases of recovery from
-tetanus under the inhalation of ether have been recorded in the medical
-journals.
-
-In February, 1847, Dr. Sibson related several cases of facial neuralgia
-that had been greatly benefited by the inhalation of ether;[164] and it
-has been used in many cases since.
-
-The inhalation of ether causes an increased flow of saliva in many
-cases; quite as frequently, in fact, as chloroform. Vomiting also
-follows the use of ether quite as often as that of chloroform. The
-insensibility from ether lasts longer than that from chloroform without
-repeating the inhalation when the narcotism is carried to the same
-degree. When the narcotism from ether is carried to the fourth degree
-there is generally a complete absence of pain for three minutes, and a
-state of unconsciousness for five minutes longer, a period during which
-any pain there might be would not be remembered afterwards. On account
-of this longer duration of the effects of ether, it is better adapted
-than chloroform for certain operations on the face, as removal of
-tumours of the jaws, the operation for hare-lip, and making a new nose.
-The relaxation of the muscular system from the effects of ether seems
-greater in general than from chloroform, and ether therefore seems to be
-the better agent to employ in the reduction of old dislocations, and
-strangulated hernia.
-
-_Great safety of Ether._ I believe that ether is altogether incapable of
-causing the sudden death by paralysis of the heart, which has caused the
-accidents which have happened during the administration of chloroform. I
-have not been able to kill an animal in that manner with ether, even
-when I have made it boil, and administered the vapour almost pure. The
-heart has continued to beat after the natural breathing has ceased, even
-when the vapour has been exhibited without air; and in all cases in
-which animals have been made to breathe air saturated with ether vapour,
-at the ordinary temperatures of this country, they have always recovered
-if they were withdrawn from the vapour before the breathing ceased. Even
-in cases where the natural breathing had ceased, if the animal made a
-gasping inspiration after its removal from the ether it recovered.
-
-I hold it, therefore, to be almost impossible that a death from this
-agent can occur in the hands of a medical man who is applying it with
-ordinary intelligence and attention.
-
-I am only aware of two deaths which have been recorded as occurring
-during the administration of ether, and it is not probable that the
-death in either case was due to the ether. The first of these cases
-occurred in France, at the Hotel Dieu d’Auxerre, on July 10th,
-1847.[165] The patient was a man fifty-five years of age, who had a
-cancerous tumour of the left breast of seven months duration. He was
-robust, and had no general lesion resulting from the cancerous disease.
-The ether was exhibited with the apparatus of Charrière. The patient had
-hardly inhaled two or three minutes when he became strongly excited. The
-trunk and limbs were agitated with violent starts and shocks. The
-breathing became frequent, and the face injected. He endeavoured to push
-away the inhaler, and babbled as if drunk. This state lasted for five
-minutes, and the prick of a pin showed that sensibility still remained.
-The apparatus was still applied, but in opening to the ether vapour an
-issue as large as the instrument permitted; for the tap which gave
-passage to it had hitherto been but half turned, and that progressively.
-At the end of ten minutes from the beginning of inhalation, the
-relaxation and immobility of the limbs was complete, the insensibility
-was not doubtful, the respiration was deep, gentle, but free from râle.
-The muscles of the face had ceased to be agitated, and it was of a
-violet red colour, as was also the skin in front of the chest; the
-pupils were turned upwards, dilated and immovable.
-
-The apparatus was taken away, and the operation was commenced; but the
-incision had only given issue to a small quantity of black blood, when
-it was perceived that the features were altered and become entirely
-violet, and that the respiration was extremely feeble. The pulse,
-touched on this moment for the first time, was soft, full, and very
-slow. All at once it ceased to beat.
-
-Twenty-four hours after death, all parts of the body yielded a strong
-odour of ether. The blood was deep black, fluid, and rather viscous. The
-blood which gorged the back part of the lungs had a consistence and
-colour somewhat like treacle. The mucous membrane of the bronchi,
-trachea, and larynx was very much congested. The spleen was so softened
-in its interior as to resemble the lees of wine.
-
-This patient appears to have died rather from the want of admission of
-sufficient air to the lungs than from the effects of ether. The
-apparatus was applied without intermission, long after the face became
-injected, and was kept applied till it became of a violet colour. The
-pulse was not felt till the patient was dying. Artificial respiration
-was not attempted, although it would most likely have restored the
-patient.
-
-The other death which happened whilst the patient was under the
-influence of ether took place at the Hotel Dieu de Lyons, on September
-11th, 1852.[166] The patient was a woman, aged fifty-five, but looking
-much older. She was affected with a tumour of the superior maxillary
-bone, and was weak and in a bad state of general health. M. Barrier was
-reluctant to remove the tumour, but yielded to the entreaties of the
-patient. The ether was administered from a sponge placed in a bladder,
-and the patient was quickly put to sleep. M. Barrier had made the
-incisions in the face, and had just divided the ascending process of the
-jaw, when the breathing stopped. There was no pulse at the wrist, and it
-was doubtful whether there was any at the precordial region. The patient
-was placed horizontally, and artificial respiration and other measures
-were applied, but without success.
-
-This patient evidently died of hæmorrhage; the mode of death which M.
-Barrier must have been dreading, as we perceive from his reluctance to
-perform the operation. According to the result of my experiments on
-animals, ether is not capable of causing the kind of death which this
-patient died.
-
-There were three or four cases in which ether was blamed by the
-operating surgeons for causing the death of patients, who recovered from
-its effects, and, died some days, or at least hours, afterwards. The
-nature and circumstances of the operation were sufficient to account for
-the fatal result in each of these cases, whilst the extended use of
-ether has confirmed the opinion that it cannot be the cause of deaths
-which occur days, or even hours, after its use.
-
-On Friday, the 12th of February, 1847, Mr. Roger Nunn performed
-lithotomy, in the Colchester Hospital, on a man who, as it was found
-after his death, had disease of the kidneys. The ether seemed to act
-favourably. Mr. Nunn says: “There was neither difficulty nor loss of
-time in cutting into the bladder; but having done so, some little delay
-occurred in grasping the stone, which was small, very flat, and lying in
-the posterior part of the bladder; the delay was also increased by the
-extremely relaxed state of the bladder itself, which seemed to fall in
-folds on the forceps, and to cover the stone.”[167] This delay in
-grasping the stone is attributed by Mr. Nunn to a collapsed state of the
-bladder caused by the ether, but it can only have arisen from the fact
-of the urine having escaped from the bladder, before the stone was
-seized. The small vessels divided in making the first incision showed
-much inclination to bleed, and Mr. Nunn secured them immediately after
-the patient was put to bed.
-
-Speaking of his patient and the ether, Mr. Nunn says: “He recovered from
-its effects after a short time, and continued in a quiet passive state,
-but without decided reaction for twenty-four hours. At this period he
-had a chill, which lasted for nearly twenty minutes.” Stimulants were
-given, but without much effect. The patient seemed incoherent from eight
-o’clock P.M. of Saturday till nine A.M. of the following day. From this
-time he gradually sank, and died at five o’clock P.M. of that day,
-Sunday, being sensible to the last.
-
-On March 9th, 1847, Mr. Wm. Robbs, of Grantham, removed an
-osteo-sarcomatous tumour from the back part of the left thigh of Ann
-Parkinson, a married woman, aged twenty-one, the mother of one
-child.[168] Mr. Robbs tried to make his patient insensible with ether,
-but did not succeed. He says, indeed, that in about ten minutes its
-usual effects were produced; but these could not have been its full and
-proper effects; for he says, “she appeared quite sensible to the pain
-during the whole of the operation.” It is reported that she appeared to
-feel the first cut. Mr. Robbs says that during the early part of the
-operation, the patient “cried out much, complained, and writhed in great
-agony of pain.” The operation was begun by an incision commencing midway
-between the tuberosity of the ischium and the trochanter major, and
-extending about six inches down the thigh. The fascia was next divided,
-and the muscles were next separated with the handle of the scalpel, so
-as to expose the upper surface of the tumour. After this had been done,
-the inhaler was replaced to the mouth of the patient whilst the
-operation proceeded, but the ether appeared to take no effect. The
-tumour was “very adherent to the long head of the biceps flexor cruris,
-which nearly covered it anteriorly, while posteriorly it rested on the
-sheath of the great sciatic nerve. It took its origin from the common
-tendon of the flexor muscles, close to the tuber ischii, and was
-inserted into the short head of the same muscle just below its origin.”
-Mr. Robbs says: “The dissection was protracted longer than I expected,
-from the violent contractions of the muscles, and the struggles of the
-patient.” He estimated the time occupied in the operation at twenty-five
-or thirty minutes; and the sister-in-law of the patient, who gave her
-evidence at the inquest, expressed her opinion that the operation lasted
-an hour all but five minutes. At the end of the operation, the patient
-appeared very faint, and the pulse was very rapid and feeble. The
-patient remained much depressed, with a pulse of 140 in the minute,
-small, and without much power, having her intellect perfect; she died
-forty hours after the operation.
-
-A coroner’s inquest was held, but neither the coroner nor any of the
-jury appeared to have any knowledge or suspicion that a surgical
-operation on the thigh could possibly be the cause of death. A surgeon
-who gave evidence stated, that “the shock from the operation was not
-simply the cause of death, as the seat of the disease was not essential
-to life.” The verdict was, that the death of deceased was caused by the
-inhalation of ether; and that no blame was attached to the surgeon, as
-ether had been used and recommended by eminent medical men.
-
-I cannot tell whether Mr. Robbs would have undertaken the operation if
-ether had not been about to be used, but if he had undertaken it without
-ether, one may presume that he would have done what every surgeon does
-who undertakes a great operation, that he would have informed the
-patient and her friends that it would be attended with some amount of
-danger. In his communication to the _Medical Gazette_, Mr. Robbs
-complains of the friends of his patient having thought it necessary to
-obtain a coroner’s inquest; but he has himself to blame for that. After
-he had attributed the death entirely to a new agent, which had been
-given with a view to prevent the pain, and had entirely failed even in
-that, it was very natural that they should seek for a legal
-investigation of the affair.
-
-Mr. Robbs makes no admission that the pain his patient suffered could be
-due to any defect in the administration of the ether. He states, that he
-“was quite unprepared for that perfect state of prostration of the brain
-and nervous system which it appears in this case to have induced”. The
-fact of the patient crying much, and complaining, and writhing in great
-agony of pain, and the contraction of the muscles, and the struggles
-which protracted the operation, do not look like a prostration of the
-brain and nervous system. At the end of the operation she was, to be
-sure, prostrated by its long duration, and the great loss of blood which
-must have occurred; but her brain and nervous system were not so much
-affected as the vascular and muscular system. She spoke of the operation
-as having been very severe, and she retained her mental faculties
-perfectly to her death. Ever since 1818 many of the students at lectures
-on chemistry had inhaled the vapour of ether to quite as great an extent
-as Mr. Robbs’ patient.
-
-As a proof how far the feelings will suspend both reason and common
-sense, it may be mentioned that some of the medical men, who were
-strongly opposing the use of ether in 1847, did not hesitate to allude
-to the inquest in this case, as showing that ether had caused the death
-of a patient.
-
-Mr. Eastment, of Wincanton, Somersetshire, related a case[169] in which
-he attributed the death of the patient to ether. It was apparently the
-first time he had seen ether employed on the human subject; and with a
-larger experience of its effects, he would no doubt alter his opinion
-respecting the cause of death in the case he related.
-
-A boy, aged eleven years, became entangled in the machinery of a mill,
-about eight A.M., on February 23rd, 1847, in consequence of which he
-sustained a very severe compound fracture of the left thigh, with great
-laceration of the soft parts, and a simple fracture of the right thigh.
-The surgeons in attendance waited till four P.M. for the boy to recover
-from the shock of the injury, and then performed amputation of the left
-thigh. Ether was given, but so badly, that the patient’s sufferings were
-so severe on the circular incision being made, that it appeared to be a
-complete failure. The inhalation was repeated, however, and the pain of
-the latter part of the operation was prevented. The patient died three
-hours after the operation, being in a state of great exhaustion, with
-occasional mental excitement, during the three hours.
-
-This patient’s chance of life would probably have been improved if the
-ether had been more effectually given, so as to prevent all the pain of
-the operation; but I believe that his chance of recovery would have been
-most improved by administering the ether soon after the accident in the
-morning, which would most likely have removed the collapse, and enabled
-the surgeon to perform amputation at once, and thus have prevented the
-eight hours suffering and depressing effects of the great laceration of
-the thigh.
-
-M. Bouisson[170] has mentioned a case in which death was attributed to
-ether by a surgeon named Roël, of Madrid. Dolorès Lopes, aged fifty, of
-very feeble constitution, and addicted to drunkenness, had long suffered
-from a cancerous tumour of the breast. It was removed after the patient
-had inhaled ether for half an hour, and it weighed three pounds and a
-quarter. The patient died seven hours after the operation. But the
-operation itself was sufficient to account for the death of such a
-patient; and she could not die from ether at the end of seven hours
-after inhaling it.
-
-On account of its great safety, ether is extremely well adapted for
-medical cases, in which it is necessary that a narcotic vapour should be
-administered by the patient’s nurse.
-
-_The Combination of Chloroform and Ether._ Some practitioners have
-recommended the inhalation of the vapour from a mixture of chloroform
-and ether; but the result is a combination of the undesirable qualities
-of both agents, without any compensating advantage. Ether is about six
-times as volatile as chloroform—that is to say, if equal measures of
-each be placed in two evaporating dishes kept side by side, at the same
-temperature, the ether evaporates in about one-sixth the time of the
-chloroform; and when the two liquids are mixed, although they then
-evaporate together, the ether is converted into vapour much more
-rapidly; and, in whatever proportions they are combined, before the
-whole is evaporated the last portion of the liquid is nearly all
-chloroform: the consequence is that at the commencement of the
-inhalation the vapour inspired is chiefly ether, and towards the end
-nearly all chloroform: the patient experiencing the stronger pungency of
-ether when it is most objectionable, and inhaling the more powerful
-vapour at the conclusion, when there is the most need to proceed
-cautiously.
-
-A death which occurred during a surgical operation in America, has been
-attributed to the mixture of chloroform and ether which was
-employed;[171] but there is no doubt that the patient died of
-hæmorrhage. Dr. R Crockett, of Wytheville, Virginia, removed a fatty
-tumour from the back of a boy, aged five years. Four parts of washed
-ether by measure were mixed with one part by measure of chloroform, and
-a drachm of this mixture was poured on a funnel-shaped sponge which was
-applied near the mouth and nostrils. The tumour was very large, and
-required two incisions of nine inches in length for its removal. Six
-arteries required to be tied; and just as the last one was secured, the
-child began to vomit. He was found to be pulseless, and he died three or
-four minutes from the commencement of vomiting. Dr. Kincannon, who was
-present, and watching the patient, said that up to the time he began to
-vomit, there was nothing in the circulation or respiration to produce
-the least apprehension.
-
-The operator said that the patient probably lost four ounces of blood,
-certainly not six. It must be observed that as the blood during an
-operation is carried away by the sponges, it is impossible to estimate
-the amount. It could be ascertained only by an analysis of the water in
-which the sponges are washed. But even admitting that in the present
-case the loss of blood did not exceed six ounces, it is probable that
-this amount, flowing suddenly from a child of five years of age, might
-cause death. Vomiting does not take place when a patient is deeply under
-the influence of ether or chloroform, and the fact of no signs of over
-narcotism having appeared, confirms the view that death was occasioned
-by the loss of blood.
-
-
-
-
- AMYLENE.
-
-
-This substance was discovered and described in 1844 by M. Balard,
-Professor of Chemistry to the Faculty of Sciences of Paris.[172] M.
-Auguste Cahours had given this name five years previously to a product
-which is isomeric with amylene, and is produced at the same time, but is
-now termed paramylene.
-
-Amylene is made by distilling amylic alcohol with chloride of zinc. The
-amylic alcohol is obtained from crude fusel oil, otherwise called oil of
-grain, or oil of potatoe spirit. The fusel oil must be submitted to a
-careful distillation, with a thermometer in the retort. It begins to
-boil at a comparatively low temperature, but that portion only is to be
-retained which comes over from 266° to 284° Fah. Caustic potash is
-added, to decompose the œnanthic ether which the distilled liquid
-contains, and it is then redistilled, and that portion which boils
-steadily at 270° Fah. is collected as pure amylic alcohol. Amylene can
-be obtained from amylic alcohol in the same manner that olefiant gas, or
-ethylene, can be made from common alcohol, namely, by heating it with
-dishydrating agents, as sulphuric, phosphoric, fluoboric and fluosilic
-acids, and chloride of zinc; but most conveniently with the last
-substance, which is the one that M. Balard employed. The product which
-is obtained when amylic alcohol and chloride of zinc are distilled
-together, contains at least three distinct hydrocarbons, amylene,
-paramylene, and metamylene; and the amylene which is the most volatile
-is separated from the others by successive distillations.
-
-Amylene is a colourless and very mobile liquid, of extremely low
-specific gravity; being one of the lightest liquids known. The amylene
-made for me by Mr. Bullock[173] had a specific gravity of 0·659 at 56°.
-It is very volatile, boiling at 102° Fah. according to M. Balard, and at
-95° according to Frankland, and the specific gravity of its vapour is
-2·45. It is composed of ten atoms carbon and ten atoms hydrogen, and
-bears the same relation to amylic alcohol that olefiant gas, or
-ethylene, bears to common alcohol.
-
-It is inflammable, burning with a brilliant white flame; and in pouring
-it out by candle light, the same care is required as in dealing with
-sulphuric ether. A slight explosion may be obtained by applying a light
-to a mixture of a small amount of its vapour with a large quantity of
-air.
-
-It is soluble in alcohol and ether in all proportions, but is very
-sparingly soluble in water, being in fact a hundred times less soluble
-than many substances which are ordinarily spoken of as insoluble. From a
-number of careful experiments which I made, I found that water dissolves
-2·35 per cent. of its volume of the vapour of amylene. It follows
-therefore, from the specific gravity of amylene and of its vapour stated
-above, that amylene requires 9319 parts of water for its solution. The
-water which has dissolved this small quantity of amylene tastes as
-distinctly of it as amylene itself.
-
-Amylene has more odour than chloroform, but much less than sulphuric
-ether, and the odour does not remain long in the patient’s breath. The
-smell of amylene somewhat resembles that of wood spirit. The first
-specimens which Mr. Bullock made were slightly offensive, but the odour
-improved and diminished in strength, as he obtained the substance in a
-state more nearly approaching to purity. Many persons, who thought the
-odour disagreeable at first, began to like it after they had been
-exposed to it three or four times. It is almost without taste, and it
-produces no irritation, or effect of any kind on the sound skin, even
-when confined, and prevented from evaporating. The vapour is almost
-entirely without pungency, furnishing in this respect a remarkable
-contrast to both ether and chloroform. Its presence can be perceived on
-first beginning to inhale it, but after two or three inspirations, one
-cannot tell whether the air one is breathing contains any of the vapour
-or not. It does not cause any cough unless there is great irritability
-of the air-passages, or the vapour is breathed of great strength in the
-very first inspirations.
-
-Amylene produces about as much cold during its evaporation as sulphuric
-ether does. If a sponge or piece of blotting paper wetted with amylene
-is exposed to the air, a portion of the moisture of the air becomes
-condensed on its surface, by the cold caused during the evaporation of
-the amylene; and by the further effect of the cold the condensed
-moisture is frozen, and the sponge or paper is covered with hoar frost.
-
-The boiling point of pure amylene would probably be that which I have
-quoted above from Frankland, viz., 35° cent. or 95° Fah.; but the
-amylene which has been obtained for inhalation contains other
-hydrocarbons of an analogous composition, and its boiling point is not
-steady: 95° Fah. was indeed about the average boiling point of the
-greater part of the amylene furnished to me by Mr. Bullock, for it
-usually commenced to boil at 86°, and as it evaporated, the boiling
-point gradually rose to 109°, or higher.
-
-No method is at present known of separating amylene from the products
-which come over with it, except a number of distillations; and although
-these may be carried so far as to obtain a small quantity almost pure,
-the price of it would be too great to admit of its employment for
-inhalation. For this purpose, one must be content with a product
-approaching to purity. Dr. Debout, in an article on amylene,[174] says
-that the boiling point commences at 28° (82° Fah.), and rises gradually
-to 40° or 45° (104° or 113°) in the best products which have been
-obtained by Mr. Bullock of London, M. Hepp of Strasbourg, and the house
-of Ménier at Paris.
-
-M. Duroy published an elaborate paper on amylene, on April 9th,
-1857.[175] In this paper, he gives the result of an examination of four
-specimens of amylene: the first, which he calls A, was amylene made by
-Mr. Bullock; the second (B) was the amylene of M. Ménier; the third (C)
-was some that he had prepared according to the process of M. Hepp; the
-fourth (D) was amylene which he had obtained by a process which he
-described. In this process, he employed dry chloride of zinc and amylic
-alcohol. M. Balard recommended a solution of chloride of zinc of a
-certain strength to be used. I may state, however, that Mr. Bullock had
-from the first used dry chloride of zinc.
-
-The following table shows the temperature at which the different
-specimens began to boil, and the temperature to which they rose before
-being boiled entirely away.
-
- A 30° cent. = 86° Fah. to 46° cent. = 115° Fah.
- B 29 „ = 84 „ to 75 „ = 167 „
- C 30 „ = 86 „ to 62 „ = 143 „
- D 31 „ = 88 „ to 57 „ = 134 „
-
-Mr. Bullock’s amylene went through the smallest range of temperature
-whilst boiling away.
-
-M. Duroy found that potassium was oxidized to a certain extent in all
-these specimens of amylene, and a small quantity of hydrogen gas was
-produced, showing that they did not consist entirely of hydrocarbons,
-but that there distilled over with them a small quantity, either of
-amylic alcohol, or amylic ether.
-
-The following table shows the cubic centimetres of hydrogen gas which
-were disengaged from three grammes of each of the different kinds of
-amylene.
-
- A 64
- B 91
- C 75
- D 69
-
-Examined in this way, Mr. Bullock’s amylene showed the smallest quantity
-of impurity; and, next to that, the amylene made by M. Duroy.
-
-M. Duroy found that amylene can be purified from the substances
-containing oxygen by distilling it again with dry chloride of zinc. He
-was able to obtain pure amylene, boiling steadily at 35° cent., but to
-get at this result he made so many distillations that he had only forty
-grammes of amylene from five litres of amylic alcohol.
-
-He states that the following are the characters of absolute amylene.
-
-To boil steadily at 35° cent.
-
-To be without action on potassium, and to preserve that metal like
-naphtha.
-
-Not to be coloured, even by prolonged contact with caustic potassa.
-
-Not to give rise to valerianic acid under the action of hydrated
-potassa.
-
-The following table shows the amount of vapour of amylene in air which
-is saturated with it at various temperatures. The specimen of amylene
-with which I made the experiments began to boil at 95° Fah.
-
- Temp. Fah. Vapour. Air.
- 24° 20·3 79·7
- 26 20·9 79·1
- 28 21·6 78·4
- 30 22·3 77·7
- 32 23·2 76·8
- 34 24·3 75·7
- 36 25·5 74·5
- 38 26·8 73·2
- 40 28·2 71·8
- 42 29·6 70·4
- 44 31·1 68·9
- 46 32·7 67·3
- 48 34·3 65·7
- 50 36·0 64·0
- 51 36·9 63·1
- 53 38·6 61·4
- 55 40·0 60·0
- 57 42·5 57·5
- 58 43·7 56·3
- 59 45·0 55·0
- 60 46·5 53·5
- 61 47·7 52·3
- 63 50·4 49·6
- 65 53·1 46·9
- 67 55·9 44·1
- 69 58·8 41·2
- 71 61·9 38·1
- 73 65·1 34·9
- 75 68·6 31·4
-
-I was not aware of the existence of amylene till 1856, or I should have
-tried it sooner; for I made inquiry in 1848 for a substance named eupion
-by Reichenbach, its discoverer, but was unable to obtain it. Eupion is a
-carbo-hydrogen, described as having all the physical characters which
-belong to amylene, though obtained in a different way; and I believe it
-is the same substance, or the hydride of amyle. Reichenbach obtained it
-from coal tar, but other chemists have not been able to make it.
-
-Judging from experiments which I had made on analogous substances, there
-could be no doubt of amylene causing insensibility when inhaled; but I
-could not tell, without actual trial, whether it might not be unpleasant
-in its action.
-
-I believe that amylene had but rarely been made, and only in very small
-quantity, until I requested Mr. Bullock to make it for me. For some time
-afterwards, soon after my first paper had appeared on the subject, M.
-Berthé, of Paris, made some amylene and submitted it to M. Balard, its
-discoverer, who acknowledged its purity, and was astonished at the great
-quantity M. Berthé had obtained. This quantity, however, appears to have
-only been forty grammes, or about ten fluid drachms.
-
-As soon as Mr. Bullock succeeded in making some amylene for me, I
-proceeded to perform some experiments with it on small animals. I found
-that it was necessary that an animal should breathe air containing about
-10 per cent. of the vapour in order to lose its consciousness, and that
-20 per cent. caused a deep state of insensibility, whilst 25 per cent.
-could be breathed with perfect safety.
-
-The following are a few of the experiments.
-
-_Experiment 43._ A guinea pig was placed in a glass jar holding four
-hundred and twenty-eight cubic inches. Fifteen grains of amylene were
-dropped through a small tube in the air-tight cover of the jar, fell
-upon blotting paper suspended within, and quickly evaporated and became
-mixed with the air. In three or four minutes the guinea pig staggered
-and became altered in its manner. It did not become further affected,
-although it was allowed to remain for ten minutes. When taken out its
-sensibility did not seem impaired. Each grain of amylene produces 1·315
-cubic inch of vapour, and consequently the air in this experiment
-contained 4·6 per cent. of vapour.
-
-_Experiment 44._ The same guinea pig was placed in the same jar three
-days afterwards, and twenty-five grains of amylene were introduced in
-the same manner. At the end of two or three minutes the guinea pig
-seemed estranged in its manner, and turned its head from side to side.
-In a little time it seemed getting drowsy, but at the end of twelve
-minutes it was still on its legs and moving voluntarily. Eleven grains
-more of amylene were now introduced. In a little time it sank down
-unable to stand, and on being turned over by inclining the jar it made
-efforts to right itself, which became more and more feeble. It was taken
-out at the end of fifteen minutes, _i. e._, three minutes after the
-introduction of the additional amylene. It gave a slight squeak, and
-moved its feet and eyelids on being lifted. On being pricked it gave
-decided evidence of sensation. It recovered in a few minutes. There were
-7·7 cubic inches of vapour in each one hundred cubic inches of air in
-the first part of the experiment, and eleven cubic inches in the latter
-part.
-
-_Experiment 45._ Six fluid drachms of amylene in a little bottle were
-put into a glass jar of the capacity of one thousand six hundred cubic
-inches, and the mouth of the jar was tied over with a large piece of
-oiled silk. The bottle was emptied by inclining the jar, and the amylene
-was made to run about the sides of the jar till it had all evaporated. A
-guinea pig was then folded in the superabundant oiled silk beyond the
-string which tied it, the string was then opened, and the animal
-introduced into the jar without allowing any communication with the
-external air. The guinea pig began to be affected within half a minute,
-and in a minute it was lying insensible, but moved its limbs when it was
-rolled about in the jar. In two minutes it was flaccid, and could be
-rolled about without causing any resistance or muscular action. It lay
-relaxed and motionless till taken out at the end of four minutes,
-although by an occasional motion of the eyelids it seemed not altogether
-insensible. It was quickly taken out, but the moment it was removed it
-began to kick, and being pricked it flinched. It was not able to stand
-for two minutes, but after this it quickly recovered. Six fluid drachms
-of amylene weigh 240 grains, and produce 315 cubic inches of vapour;
-consequently there was nearly 20 per cent. of vapour in the air in this
-experiment.
-
-_Experiment 46._ A guinea pig, a fortnight old, was placed in the jar
-holding 428 cubic inches, and eighty-two grains of amylene were
-introduced on blotting paper. It was six minutes in evaporating. The
-guinea pig became gradually affected, and, a minute or two before the
-amylene had all evaporated, it was lying unable to walk. It was allowed
-to remain till ten minutes had elapsed, that is, four minutes after the
-amylene was all converted into vapour; but it did not, apparently,
-become quite insensible. The limbs were never quite relaxed, and when
-turned over in the jar there was a little motion of the limbs and head.
-There was also a little quivering motion of the limbs occasionally when
-not disturbed, and at one time it opened and shut its mouth. On its
-removal, pricking the soft parts of its toes caused sometimes a slight
-groan. It recovered slowly and gradually. In ten minutes it was quite
-conscious, but not as brisk as before the experiment. There was 25 per
-cent. of vapour in the air the guinea pig breathed in this experiment.
-
-Guinea pigs have a great tendency to flinch when pricked whilst they are
-under the influence of amylene. I did not find this to be the case with
-other animals.
-
-_Experiment 47._ A lean, starved cat was placed in a glass jar holding
-1,600 cubic inches, and 120 grains of amylene were introduced upon
-blotting paper. The cat became inebriated whilst the amylene was
-evaporating; and by the time it had all evaporated—which was four and a
-half minutes—the cat had sunk down in a state of insensibility. The eyes
-were turned downwards, so as to expose the white; but its limbs were not
-relaxed. In a minute or two afterwards it made no effort when rolled
-about in the jar. It was taken out at the end of nine minutes from the
-commencement of introducing the amylene. It was breathing noisily; its
-limbs were not relaxed; it was totally insensible to pricking of the
-ears and paws. It began to recover in about a minute: in two or three
-minutes it flinched on being pricked; it staggered for two or three
-minutes longer, and in ten minutes it was pretty well recovered. The
-amylene would produce 158 cubic inches of vapour, or very nearly ten per
-cent. in this experiment.
-
-_Experiment 48._ A linnet was placed in a jar holding 428 cubic inches,
-and forty grains of amylene were introduced on blotting paper. In two
-minutes it had evaporated. Until it had nearly evaporated, the bird was
-hardly affected, only evincing a desire to escape. As soon as the
-amylene had evaporated, the linnet lay unable to move, but evincing
-consciousness and sensibility by the motion of its eyelids and eyes, and
-by moving its legs when it was turned over by inclining the jar. It
-remained in this state for three minutes, when eight grains more of
-amylene were introduced into the jar. The bird almost immediately closed
-its eyes; and it opened its bill a little, from which a little liquid
-flowed. The motion of its legs also ceased, and its breathing was
-slower. It was taken out half a minute after the last portion of amylene
-was introduced. It seemed quite insensible when removed, but began to
-recover in a few seconds. When its foot was pricked, twenty or thirty
-seconds after its removal, it flinched. In two or three minutes it was
-quite recovered. There were 12·3 per cent. of vapour in the air in the
-first part of this experiment; and 14·7 per cent. in the latter part.
-
-_Experiment 49._ Another linnet was placed in the same jar, and
-forty-eight grains of amylene were introduced in the same manner. It
-took nearly three minutes to evaporate, hoar frost being produced on the
-blotting paper. The bird began to stagger when the amylene was about
-half evaporated; and by the time it was all evaporated, the bird was
-lying apparently insensible, with its eyes closed, and breathing
-quickly. It was allowed to remain two and a half minutes, during which
-it did not alter. It was often rolled about by moving the jar; and
-during the last minute and a half it made no effort, except once or
-twice a slight motion of the wings. It was taken out two and a half
-minutes after the amylene had all evaporated. It was quite passive, and
-insensible to pricking of the toes, for half a minute or so after its
-removal, when it began to recover, went through a stage of staggering,
-and was well in three or four minutes. The amount of vapour in the air,
-in this experiment, amounted to 14·7 per cent.
-
-_Experiment 50._ Fifty grains of amylene were diffused in a glass jar
-holding 330 cubic inches, and a linnet was introduced by momentarily
-moving the lid a little to one side. It was quickly affected, and in
-about a quarter of a minute was lying quite insensible. It remained so,
-breathing quickly and naturally, and made no effort whatever when rolled
-about in the jar. It was allowed to remain three minutes, and there was
-a slight fluttering motion of the wings just before its removal. It was
-quite passive when removed, and insensible to pricking of the soft part
-of the foot. It began to recover its sensibility in three-quarters of a
-minute. In two minutes it was able to stand, and in six minutes it got
-on the perch. There was twenty per cent. of vapour in the air in this
-experiment.
-
-As amylene boils nearly at the temperature of the blood, that fluid
-would be able to absorb about one-fifth as much as it would be able to
-dissolve, when an atmosphere is breathed containing twenty per cent. of
-the vapour, which produces a complete state of insensibility, or the
-fourth degree of narcotism. When ten per cent. is breathed, which has
-been shown to cause the second degree of narcotism, about one-tenth as
-much vapour as the blood would dissolve must be absorbed. In treating of
-chloroform and ether, it was previously shewn that the fourth degree of
-narcotism was caused by one twenty-eighth part as much of these agents
-as the blood would absorb; and the second degree by one fifty-sixth
-part. And these were the proportions absorbed of several other agents
-which are made from ordinary alcohol, and will afterwards be mentioned.
-
-Although the proportion of amylene absorbed is large in relation to the
-whole quantity which the blood would dissolve, it is a very small amount
-on account of the extremely slight solubility of the agent. If we
-estimate the average amount of serum of the blood in the human adult at
-410 fluid ounces, as before, then, as amylene requires 9,319 parts of
-watery fluids for its solution (as nearly as I could ascertain), the
-quantity of this agent in the system must be rather less than three
-grains in the fourth degree of narcotism; rather less than a grain and a
-half in the second degree; and a very little over two grains in the
-third degree of narcotism, the condition in which surgical operations
-are usually performed. Amylene is therefore, when absorbed, about as
-powerful in its medicinal properties as the alkaloids.
-
-The following fact also proves that but a very small quantity of amylene
-is absorbed. In breathing this agent backwards and forwards from a small
-bladder containing 200 cubic inches of air, fourteen minims was the
-largest quantity I could put into the bladder without being rendered
-unconscious; but in employing a large bladder holding 670 cubic inches,
-I could put in forty-five minims, and breathe it backwards and forwards
-for some time without being rendered unconscious. With fifty minims of
-amylene I immediately forgot where I was; but awoke in a minute or two,
-seated in the same position, and with the bladder in my hand. Fifty
-minims of amylene would produce between six and seven per cent. of
-vapour in the bladder; and after the air in the lungs became mixed with
-that in the bladder, there would be rather more than five per cent. of
-vapour in it.
-
-Viewed in the light of the small quantity which requires to be absorbed
-into the system to cause insensibility, amylene is a very powerful
-agent; but when considered in relation to the quantity which is consumed
-during inhalation in the ordinary way, it is very far from being
-powerful. This arises from the great tension and the small solubility of
-the vapour, in consequence of which it is, with the exception of a small
-fraction, expelled from the lungs again without being absorbed. In this
-respect it resembles, to a great extent, the nitrogen gas of the
-atmosphere, with which the lungs are always four-fifths filled, while
-the blood contains but a few cubic inches. It takes from three to four
-fluid drachms of amylene to cause insensibility in the adult.
-
-I found, by my experiments on animals, that amylene is, like chloroform
-and some other agents, capable of causing sudden death by over-narcotism
-of the heart, and paralysis of that organ; but that it is more difficult
-to cause this kind of sudden death with amylene than with chloroform.
-
-_Experiment 51._ One hundred and twenty grains of amylene were made to
-evaporate in a jar holding 330 cubic inches, and a full grown guinea pig
-was suddenly introduced, the cover being partly removed for a moment. It
-was allowed to remain for about a minute, when the breathing became of a
-gasping character. Being taken out, and the stethoscope applied
-immediately to the chest, the heart could not be heard to beat; and its
-action did not return, although the gasping continued for about a
-minute. There was nearly 48 per cent. of vapour in the air in this
-experiment, except that a small quantity might escape as the guinea pig
-was introduced. I had tried guinea pigs with smaller proportions of
-vapour in the air, but had not succeeded in arresting the action of the
-heart.
-
-The lungs were rather congested, and the right cavities of the heart
-were filled, and somewhat distended with coagulated blood.
-
-_Experiment 52._ A kitten, six weeks old, was placed in a jar holding
-330 cubic inches, after ninety-five grains of amylene had been made to
-evaporate and diffuse itself. The kitten remained three-quarters of a
-minute in the jar, and was suddenly taken out. It was scarcely
-insensible on its removal, but soon became so. The stethoscope was
-applied, and the heart was found to be beating rapidly. The kitten
-quickly recovered.
-
-One hundred and six grains of amylene were made to evaporate in the same
-jar, and the kitten was quickly introduced, as before, by moving the
-cover for a moment. It was allowed to remain for half a minute, and
-removed with the same symptoms and result as before.
-
-The same quantity of amylene was employed, and the kitten was introduced
-again, and allowed to remain for fifty seconds. On its first removal the
-heart was not beating, but the kitten was gasping; and just afterwards
-the heart was heard to be beating rapidly. The kitten quickly recovered.
-
-One hundred and twenty grains of amylene were allowed to evaporate in
-the jar, and the kitten was introduced again. It was allowed to remain a
-minute, and was taken out as the breathing appeared to be on the point
-of ceasing. The heart was beating when the stethoscope was employed, and
-the kitten quickly recovered. It seemed impossible to kill it with
-amylene, except by allowing it to remain and inhale the vapour, by those
-gasping inspirations which took place when the action of the heart was
-arrested, and which restored the action of this organ, when the kitten
-was withdrawn from the vapour. In the different parts of this experiment
-there were 37, 42, and 47 per cent. of amylene in the air.
-
-When mice are placed in air containing 30 per cent. and upwards of
-vapour of amylene, they usually recover, as in the following experiment,
-if the breathing has not entirely ceased on their removal; whilst if
-they are placed for a quarter of a minute in air containing 8 or 10 per
-cent. of vapour of chloroform, they generally die, although they may be
-breathing well, and hardly insensible, when they are removed.
-
-_Experiment 53._ Eighty grains of amylene were introduced into a jar
-holding 330 cubic inches, and when it had evaporated, a white mouse was
-introduced. In about five seconds it was quite insensible, and in about
-a quarter of a minute the breathing appeared to have ceased. The mouse
-was quickly withdrawn, and immediately began to gasp. After a few gasps
-the quick breathing returned. In half a minute after its removal the
-mouse was recovering, and it was soon quite well. There was 32 per cent.
-of vapour of amylene in the air in this experiment.
-
-I administered amylene with the inhaler which I had used for several
-years in exhibiting chloroform, and which I have described in treating
-of that agent. In administering chloroform it is desirable that the
-patient should breathe 4 or 5 per cent. of the vapour in the air he
-inspires; and the air, when saturated with vapour of chloroform at 60°,
-contains 12 per cent., or nearly three times as much as the patient ever
-requires. In administering amylene for surgical operations, it is
-desirable that the patient should take in 15 per cent. of the vapour
-with the air he breathes; and air, when saturated with this vapour at
-60°, contains 465. per cent., or fully three times as much as the
-patient ever requires. It therefore seemed reasonable that the inhaler
-which had answered so well with the former agent, might be employed in
-the same manner, and used successfully with the latter agent. Vapour of
-chloroform, when inhaled of twice the proper strength, _i. e._, of 8 or
-10 per cent., is capable of causing sudden death by over-narcotism of
-the heart; but amylene is required to be of nearly 40 per cent., or more
-than twice the proper strength, before it could produce this result: and
-it seemed, therefore, reasonable to expect that the inhaler which had
-been employed for so many years with chloroform, might be employed in
-exhibiting amylene with an equally satisfactory result. And if the
-amylene furnished for inhalation had been a constant and uniform
-product, boiling steadily at the same temperature, like chloroform,
-there is no doubt that these expectations would have been fulfilled.
-
-I first administered amylene, in King’s College Hospital, on the 10th of
-November 1856, to two boys, about fourteen years old, previous to Mr.
-Samuel Cartwright extracting some teeth. I had but a few drachms, and
-being very sparing of its use, it did not entirely remove consciousness
-in either case, and the pain was not altogether prevented: the effects,
-however, as far as they extended, were so favourable as to encourage a
-further trial, which was made in the same institution, on December 4.
-
-On this occasion I exhibited the amylene to four patients—two men, a
-young woman, and a girl of ten years old: it occasioned complete
-unconsciousness and absence of pain in each case. The first man was
-about thirty-five years of age. Half a fluid ounce of amylene was put
-into the inhaler, and he inhaled for three minutes. At first the valve
-of the face-piece was about one-third open, but it was gradually moved
-till it was almost closed. The man breathed readily, without coughing,
-and in a very little time seemed to be unconscious. The pulse became
-quick and slightly irregular; the skin became flushed; and in about two
-minutes there was a rather free sweating of the forehead; the eyes did
-not turn upwards; the conjunctivæ did not become insensible; there was
-no relaxation of the limbs, and, on the contrary, no struggling. The
-patient sat well, supporting himself, without any tendency to slide out
-of the chair; the mouth was partly open, and there was a tendency to
-laugh, just as the amylene was discontinued. The tooth was extracted by
-Mr. S. Cartwright, without making him flinch or cry in the least. In
-less than a minute he awoke. He looked a little strange at first, but
-immediately remembered all the circumstances of his situation, but knew
-nothing of the operation; and, three minutes after the extraction of the
-tooth, and six minutes after entering the room, he went away feeling, as
-he said, quite well. The amylene put into the inhaler was nearly used.
-
-A young man, about twenty years old, next inhaled the same quantity, in
-exactly the same manner, for just three minutes; there was no
-irregularity of pulse, and no sweating; otherwise the symptoms were
-exactly the same. The tooth was extracted without his knowledge, and
-without causing a cry or flinch. He awoke, and was able to go in three
-minutes.
-
-A young woman in bad health, an out-patient of one of the physicians of
-the hospital, next inhaled. She breathed the amylene for four minutes,
-and about three drachms were used. The effect was carried to the
-commencement of the third degree of narcotism; and the eyes were
-inclined to turn up, but did not do so persistently. The edges of the
-eyelids also remained sensible. There was a little trouble and delay in
-getting the mouth open, as the muscles of the jaws were rather rigid;
-and when the tooth was extracted, she flinched, and cried out a little.
-She did not remember the operation. She said she had had a very
-unpleasant dream, and she was dizzy and uncomfortable for about ten
-minutes, after which she was better.
-
-A little girl ten years old inhaled for four minutes, and between two
-and three drachms were used. The eyes were turned up for a short time.
-She did not flinch or cry as the first tooth came out, but did both as
-two others were afterwards extracted. She did not, however, know
-anything afterwards of the operation. She recovered her consciousness in
-a minute or two, and quite recovered from the effects of the vapour in a
-few more minutes. There was no sickness, and no increased flow of
-saliva, in any of the cases.
-
-On December 11th, I administered the amylene again in five more cases of
-tooth-drawing, with very similar results to those obtained in the
-previous cases; and on December 13th, I exhibited it in some more
-important cases.
-
-Mr. Fergusson performed an operation for fungus of the testicle; Mr.
-Bowman removed some diseased glands from the groin; and there were two
-cases of tenotomy, in one of which forcible extension of the knee was
-made.
-
-From November 1856 to July 1857, I exhibited amylene in 238 cases. There
-were seven cases of lithotomy; six of the patients were children, and
-the seventh a young man of seventeen. They all recovered. Five of the
-operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson, in King’s College Hospital;
-and two were performed in St. George’s Hospital, by Mr. H. C. Johnson
-and Mr. George Pollock.
-
-There were five cases of resection of the knee; three of the patients
-got well, and two died. These operations were performed in King’s
-College Hospital, one of them by Mr. Partridge, and the other four by
-Mr. Fergusson. Of the seventeen cases of resection of the knee,
-mentioned at page 280, in which chloroform was administered, I know the
-result only in thirteen of the cases. Of these, eight recovered, one of
-them after undergoing subsequent amputation at the thigh; and five died.
-
-Some statistics of this operation have been gathered by collecting the
-cases which happen to be reported in the medical journals, but such
-statistics are likely to be extremely erroneous. The cases that are
-reported are probably far more favourable than those that are not
-reported. A surgeon undertakes an operation of this kind with no other
-view than the benefit of his patient, and without thinking of the
-medical journals; and, if his first or second case is unsuccessful, he
-is probably not inclined to repeat the operation. If the cases should be
-successful, however, he is inclined to repeat the operation when
-opportunity occurs, and may ultimately give the result of his experience
-to the profession.
-
-Mr. Bowman removed the head of the femur in two little boys to whom I
-administered amylene; they both recovered, as did a girl who inhaled
-amylene whilst Mr. Fergusson performed resection of the elbow. I
-administered amylene in four cases of amputation of the thigh: one of
-these operations was performed by Mr. Henry Lee, on January 7th, 1857,
-on a girl aged twelve or thirteen, who underwent resection of the knee
-on the 1st of November previously. That operation was performed by Mr.
-Bowman, and the girl inhaled chloroform. At the time of the amputation,
-she was suffering from pyæmia, was extremely weak, and had a pulse of
-150 in the minute. The vapour was exhibited to the patient in bed,
-before her removal to the operating table. There was an examination of
-the knee before the operation; and the anæsthesia was kept up till the
-dressings were applied, which was twenty-five minutes from its
-commencement, and nearly three fluid ounces of amylene were used. She
-went through the operation extremely well. There was no sign of pain,
-and the pulse remained the same throughout the operation, and there was
-no depression. The patient recovered.
-
-There was one operation of amputation below the knee by Mr. Fergusson,
-in which I administered amylene. The patient was a woman of twenty. The
-operation was performed on account of paralysis of the muscles of the
-leg and foot. She recovered. There was an amputation of the forearm; two
-amputations of the great toe, with its metatarsal bone; and two or three
-of toes and fingers: four cases of operation for stricture of the
-urethra by perinæal section—three of them by Mr. Fergusson, and one by
-Mr. Curling. There were three operations of lithotrity, two for
-hæmorrhoids and prolapsus ani, and four for fistula _in ano_. There were
-nine operations for the removal of tumours of the female breast; there
-were seventeen operations for necrosis of the tibia, femur, lower jaw,
-and other bones.
-
-I administered amylene in several operations on the eye. There were two
-operations for cataract by extraction, and one by drilling, performed by
-Mr. Bowman; eight cases of excision of the eye by that surgeon, as well
-as some operations for artificial pupil, for the removal of foreign
-bodies from the eye, for staphyloma, and one for the separation of the
-eyelids from the globe. There were also twelve operations for
-strabismus, eleven of them by Mr. Bowman, and one by Mr. Fergusson.
-
-I exhibited amylene in forty-eight operations of tenotomy. Several of
-them were performed by Mr. Fergusson, but the greater number were
-performed by Mr. W. Adams and the late Mr. Lonsdale, in the Orthopædic
-Hospital. The narcotism was scarcely carried beyond the second degree in
-any of these cases. The eyes were open, and the features generally had
-an expression as if the mind was active on some subject or other. The
-muscles were nearly always in a state of tension, at least they were not
-relaxed in any case. Many of the patients were children, and a number of
-them only inhaled between one and two minutes. There were five
-operations for the forcible extension of stiff joints, and two for
-dislocation of the humerus: the latter were treated in the St. James’s
-Parochial Infirmary. The first case was a dislocation downwards in a
-woman aged sixty-eight. She inhaled for three minutes, when, extension
-being made, the bone slipped into its place with the utmost ease,
-although Mr. French had found a good deal of resistance in an attempt he
-made just before sending to me—not any serious resistance or pain, but
-so much of both as led him to think it would be a good opportunity for
-trying the amylene. In two minutes after the reduction of the
-dislocation, and five minutes after beginning to inhale, the patient was
-quite awake again, and said that she had felt nothing. The other case
-was a dislocation forwards in a man aged seventy-two. No attempt to
-reduce it was made till the amylene was administered. The case was under
-the care of Mr. Buzzard. After inhaling two or three minutes, the old
-man got into a state of muscular rigidity, and did not get beyond this
-state, although I continued the inhalation nearly ten minutes, until
-about two ounces of amylene were used. He was quite insensible, but the
-rigidity prevented the reduction of the dislocation. So I discontinued
-it, and sent for some chloroform, which I administered a few minutes
-afterwards. It produced muscular rigidity rather stronger than that
-which the amylene had caused; but, by continuing the inhalation steadily
-for about two minutes, the limbs became relaxed, and the humerus slipped
-easily into its place. This is the only case in which the amylene has
-not effected the purpose for which I have exhibited it; and I have no
-doubt that I could have produced relaxation of the voluntary muscles by
-increasing the strength of the vapour the patient was breathing; for I
-have always been able to produce relaxation of the muscular system of
-animals with it; but there were one or two circumstances which at the
-moment stood in the way of this. The patient’s face was so hollow from
-his loss of teeth that the face-piece fitted badly; and, as it was early
-in a frosty morning, the water-bath of the inhaler was colder than
-usual. These defects could have been remedied if necessary, but I
-thought it as well to use chloroform; and I am inclined to think that
-chloroform and ether are better agents to employ in those instances
-where relaxation of the voluntary muscular system is required.
-
-Sixteen tumours of different kinds were removed from different parts of
-the body, in addition to the tumours of the breast previously mentioned,
-in cases in which I administered amylene; and there was also a number of
-miscellaneous operations which I have not mentioned.
-
-One of the patients of the late Mr. Lonsdale at the Orthopædic Hospital
-was a girl of seventeen, who had the scapula drawn up in an
-extraordinary manner by the action of the muscles. When she became
-unconscious from the amylene the shoulder came into its right position,
-with hardly any pressure, although her muscular system was not in the
-least relaxed from the action of the vapour; and the deformity remained
-absent for three days. The amylene was repeated three or four times with
-the same temporary benefit, and chloroform was given on one occasion
-when I was not present with a similar result. I have not heard of the
-subsequent progress of the case. I cannot suppose that the direct effect
-of amylene would remain three days on the nervous system, and I conclude
-that the result was brought about by some change in the emotions of the
-patient.
-
-I gave amylene in twenty-four cases of tooth-drawing, including those
-which were previously mentioned. One of the cases was that of a lady
-under the care of Dr. Oldham. She was suffering from a large ovarian
-tumour, and was unable to rise from the sofa. Mr. Bell extracted four
-teeth whilst she was under the influence of the amylene. She became
-insensible without the least excitement, was perfectly quiet during the
-operation, and recovered in a minute or two, feeling quite cheerful and
-well.
-
-I have administered amylene in seven cases of labour. The first patient
-was under the care of Mr. Buzzard in St. James’s Infirmary, on January
-20th, 1857. It was the patient’s second labour, and was a lingering one,
-having lasted thirty-five hours. I administered the amylene only during
-the last twenty minutes preceding the birth of the child, the head being
-advanced so as to rest on the perinæum. The vapour was given, well
-diluted, at the beginning of each pain. The patient breathed very
-deeply, and got relief very quickly from each pain; the mind was quite
-clear between the pains, and I could not tell whether or not the
-consciousness was removed for half a minute or so during each pain. Half
-a fluid ounce of amylene was used. The next case occurred in an
-out-patient of King’s College Hospital, under the care of Mr. Meadows,
-Dr. Farre’s assistant. It was the patient’s third confinement. I arrived
-three hours after the commencement of labour, and two hours before the
-birth of the child. The os uteri was almost dilated on my arrival, and
-the pains were very strong, recurring every three minutes or so. They
-continued to increase in strength to the last. The patient was probably
-unconscious for a brief period during the uterine contractions, while
-the amylene was administered, but between the pains she was quite
-conscious. Under the use of chloroform, in a labour with brisk and
-frequently recurring pains, as in this case, the patient usually sleeps
-on from one pain to another. The amount of amylene inhaled in this case
-was three fluid ounces. The quantity used in each of these cases must
-have been about half a fluid drachm in each pain, and this is the
-quantity I had previously recommended Dr. Tyler Smith to employ, when he
-did me the honour to ask me some questions about amylene before he
-employed it in a case of labour. The results arrived at by Dr. Tyler
-Smith, in a case in which he employed amylene, were similar to my own,
-viz. relief of suffering during the uterine contraction, consciousness
-between the pains, and no interference with the progress of the labour.
-
-On April 28, 1857, I administered amylene in Brownlow Street, Drury
-Lane, to a woman in her sixth labour, attended by Mr. Ponsonby R. Adair,
-one of Dr. Farre’s assistants. She had been in labour since three P.M.
-the previous day. The os uteri was fully dilated, and the amylene was
-commenced at 5·25 A.M., and continued till 5·50, when the child was
-born. The placenta was expelled in a few minutes with very little
-bleeding. The amylene was exhibited with the inhaler at the beginning of
-each pain, which it soon relieved, although the patient did not become
-unconscious. The pains came on every two minutes or so, and kept
-increasing in force till the birth. About six drachms of amylene were
-used.
-
-On May 1st., I administered amylene to another woman in her sixth
-labour, also attended by Mr. Adair. The vapour was commenced at 9·30
-P.M., the patient having been in labour a few hours. The os uteri was
-not fully dilated. The pains came on regularly every three minutes, but
-were not very strong; they, however, gradually increased, and the child
-was born at half-past eleven. The cord was round the neck, and the child
-was nearly asphyxiated in the birth, but it was restored readily by Dr.
-Marshall Hall’s method. The placenta was expelled a few minutes after
-the child with very little hæmorrhage. The patient inhaled with every
-pain, which was very quickly relieved. The last quarter of an hour, she
-seemed to be altogether unconscious. About three fluid ounces of amylene
-were used.
-
-On May 14th, I exhibited amylene for about an hour to a woman in her
-third labour, attended by Mr. Adair. The os uteri was nearly dilated
-when I arrived, and the patient had been in labour about ten hours. The
-pains occurred every three or four minutes, but were not strong. Amylene
-was inhaled with each pain for about an hour, when the pains almost
-ceased, just as the os uteri was fully dilated. I waited for half an
-hour without giving amylene, and then left to attend to another
-engagement. Mr. Adair informed me that the pains returned soon after I
-left, and that the child was born in about half an hour. The patient was
-hardly rendered unconscious by the amylene. Between two and three fluid
-ounces were used.
-
-I exhibited amylene for an hour and ten minutes, on May 25th, to a woman
-aged 20, in her first labour. She was attended by Mr. Adair. She had
-been in labour since three P.M. the previous day, and the os uteri was
-not fully dilated. The amylene was commenced at 9·30 A.M., and inhaled
-with each pain, which it relieved in a very manifest way. The pains
-recurred every two minutes and a half. I left off giving the amylene at
-10·40 to attend to other business. Mr. Adair informed me that the labour
-was concluded at one P.M.
-
-On July 1st, I exhibited amylene to a woman in labour with her third or
-fourth child. Labour commenced at midnight of June 27th, and continued
-during the following day till the os uteri was dilated to the size of a
-crown piece, when the pains subsided on the evening of that day, and did
-not return to be effectual till the evening of July 1st. The amylene was
-commenced at 10·25, the os uteri being almost dilated, and the pains
-recurring every three or four minutes. The uterine contractions
-increased in force and frequency, and the child was born at 11·45. There
-was a gush of blood two or three minutes after the birth of the child,
-and Mr. Adair introduced his hand and removed the placenta, which was
-only partially detached. The hæmorrage immediately ceased. The patient
-was feeble and emaciated, and had suffered repeated beatings by her
-drunken husband. She recovered favourably, as did the other patients.
-
-The action of the amylene was very favourable in these obstetric cases.
-The pains were relieved very promptly by it, generally by the time the
-patient had taken two or three inspirations, and the effect of the
-vapour passed off in most cases between each pain.
-
-The great ease with which amylene can be breathed, owing to its entire
-want of pungency, is a decided advantage which it possesses over both
-ether and chloroform. Insensibility can always be induced with amylene
-in as short a time as is desirable, namely, in from three to four
-minutes in the adult, and about two minutes in young children. It is not
-desirable to cause insensibility in a shorter time than this with any
-agent. If narcotism is induced too quickly, the symptoms are not uniform
-or in regular order, owing, no doubt, to the circumstance that the
-narcotic vapour is not equally distributed through the blood, which must
-convey it to the nervous centres. Insensibility can, indeed, be
-generally induced with chloroform in the time above mentioned, but there
-are many cases in which there is considerable delay at the commencement
-of inhalation, owing to the pungency of the vapour, especially in
-nervous and in sensitive patients, and in persons with irritability of
-the air-passages from chronic bronchitis, phthisis, or any other cause.
-
-In the use of amylene, absence of pain has been obtained with less
-profound coma than usually accompanies the employment of chloroform and
-ether. There are some cases, indeed, in which the minor parts of an
-operation, under these latter agents, may be performed without pain
-while the patient is in a semi-conscious state, or even altogether
-conscious, but they form an exception; while in the use of amylene, the
-patient has very often been half-conscious during the operation. In
-operations under chloroform, the patients usually indicate the necessity
-of repeating the inhalation by a tendency to flinch or cry, without
-showing any signs of consciousness; but in the use of amylene, they have
-more frequently begun to look about and to speak before showing any sign
-of pain. There are some patients who will not lie still under the
-surgeon’s knife while chloroform is being used, unless its effects are
-carried so far that the breathing is on the borders of being stertorous,
-but I have not met with any such case in using amylene.
-
-The greater number of the operations under amylene were performed while
-the patient was in the second degree of narcotism, being apparently
-awake, although not really conscious of surrounding objects. This usual
-absence of coma in the employment of amylene cannot be looked on
-otherwise than as an advantage. It must conduce to the safety of the
-agent when the proportion of vapour in the air is properly regulated.
-The reason why no accident is known to have happened from chloroform, in
-the practice of midwifery, when superintended by a medical man, is no
-doubt due to the circumstance that it is only requisite to induce a
-slight effect, in comparison with the effect required in surgical
-operations.
-
-The best indication that the patient will quietly bear an operation
-under chloroform, is the more or less complete absence of sensibility of
-the ciliary edge of the eyelid; but during the inhalation of amylene the
-patient is often entirely regardless of the surgeon’s knife, whilst the
-edges of the eyelids retain their full sensibility, and the slightest
-touch causes strong winking. In operations on the eye, however, and in
-all other cases where great steadiness on the part of the patient is
-required, I have thought it best to continue the amylene till the
-sensibility of the margin of the eyelids was almost abolished; and to
-effect this it has usually been requisite to carry the influence of the
-vapour as far as the beginning of the third degree of narcotism, or that
-condition in which there is no longer voluntary motion of the eyes, or
-any other part, and in which the eyelids are usually closed, and the
-pupils inclined upwards. But even in these cases the patient has usually
-reverted to the second degree of narcotism before the end of the
-operation, and has shown signs of ideas by the voluntary motion of the
-eyes and eyelids, or in some cases by speaking. In several cases,
-however, the sensibility of the eyelid has been removed in the second
-degree of narcotism; and important operations have been commenced before
-the patient was “off”, to use an expression familiar on these occasions.
-One instance of this kind was the operation of lithotomy by Mr.
-Fergusson, on the 14th of March, 1857, in a young man, aged 17, in
-King’s College Hospital. The sound was first introduced, and the stone
-being detected, the assistants were requested to tie the patient up; and
-finding his limbs somewhat rigid, they requested me to give him some
-more vapour. If I had been using chloroform I should have done so
-without any request, in order to cause relaxation; but I allowed the
-effect of the amylene to partially subside, and in less than a minute
-the bandages could be easily applied. I then proceeded to give a little
-more amylene, but soon found that the margin of the eyelids was
-insensible; so the operation was performed whilst he was calmly looking
-about, as if awake; but he showed no sign of pain, and knew nothing of
-the operation. I never saw a capital operation performed on the adult,
-under the influence of chloroform or ether, whilst the patient was in
-this condition; but I once administered chloroform in St. George’s
-Hospital to a child of three or four years old, which was cut for stone
-whilst lying calmly with its eyes open, and holding a toy in its hand,
-all the time of the operation, without letting it fall.
-
-The pulse is almost always increased in frequency and force during the
-inhalation of amylene,—especially during the early part of the
-inhalation, and to a greater extent than happens with chloroform. The
-respiration is very often accelerated during the inhalation,—about as
-often, I think, as with ether, and more frequently than with chloroform.
-In many of the early cases in which I administered amylene, the pupil
-was dilated for a short time; but I consider that this arose from giving
-the vapour rather stronger than is desirable. I afterwards gave it more
-gently, and very seldom observed the pupils to be dilated. They
-remained, as nearly as I could tell, of the natural size, and also
-sensible to light, in the cases where I made an observation on that
-point.
-
-The colour of the countenance is generally heightened more or less
-during the whole period of the inhalation, and in a few cases there was
-sweating,—a symptom met with now and then under the influence of
-chloroform and ether. Amylene does not cause the great increase in the
-flow of saliva which is so often met with during the inhalation of
-chloroform, and especially of ether.
-
-There is a tendency to laugh during the inhalation of amylene much more
-frequently than during the use of chloroform. It occurs just after the
-patient has lost his consciousness, but is soon subdued by the
-increasing effect of the vapour. I only met with strong mental
-excitement in a very few patients, chiefly females. It subsided in half
-a minute in one case, on leaving off the vapour, and did not recur when
-the inhalation was resumed. In the other cases it was subdued by
-continuing the inhalation.
-
-The expression of the countenance generally remains calm and cheerful
-during the action of amylene; but in a few instances there is a
-singular, and even unpleasant, aspect of the face for a short time,
-arising apparently from a brief spasmodic action of the muscles.
-
-I met with less rigidity and struggling during the administration of
-amylene than in the use of chloroform; but this probably arose from the
-circumstance that the effects of amylene were very frequently not
-carried to that degree in which rigidity and struggling are liable to
-appear. It is in the third degree of narcotism from narcotic vapours
-that rigidity is met with in those cases in which it occurs, but the
-greater number of the operations under amylene were performed in the
-second degree of narcotism. The rigidity from amylene, when it occurs,
-is of a somewhat different kind, and takes place in patients in whom we
-should not expect it from chloroform. In the spasm and rigidity from the
-latter agent, the head is more commonly bent forwards or turned to one
-side, although it is occasionally thrown back; but under amylene, the
-latter is the usual position it assumes when rigidity occurs,
-constituting a brief opisthotonos. The rigidity under the influence of
-chloroform is usually accompanied with struggling, while in that caused
-by amylene the patient is generally quieter. The persons in whom
-rigidity and struggling are most violent from the effects of chloroform
-are lean, muscular men, who work at hard labour, or follow athletic
-sports, such as hunting, and especially boating; while those who lead a
-sedentary life, or are reduced by illness, seldom exhibit these
-phenomena. Women and children seldom exhibit any rigidity under
-chloroform, and fat persons least of all. Old people do sometimes,
-especially if thin. Under the use of amylene, on the other hand, I have
-most frequently met with some amount of rigidity in children and young
-persons, while many robust men, in whom it would be almost certain to
-occur under chloroform, have not shown any signs of it. The cause of
-this probably is, that the operation has generally been performed
-without carrying the narcotism beyond the second degree, while rigidity
-does not take place till the third degree is attained. In every case
-where rigidity and struggling have occurred in the employment of
-chloroform, however violent these symptoms might be, I have continued
-the vapour gently and steadily till they were subdued, either by
-removing the tendency to these symptoms, or by carrying the narcotism to
-the fourth degree, which is accompanied by relaxation of the voluntary
-muscular system, and usually with some tendency to stertor. In the use
-of amylene, on the contrary, I have not attempted to subdue the spasm by
-continuing the inhalation, but have, with the exception of a case of
-dislocation previously mentioned, withdrawn the vapour when the rigidity
-appeared, and the operation has either been performed at once, or else,
-if it was of a nature that the spasm would interfere with, I have waited
-a short time, and exhibited a little more vapour very gently, so as to
-get a state of anæsthesia without the recurrence of the spasm.
-
-Mr. Jones, of Jersey, favoured me with the following account of a case
-in which amylene acted much more favourably on his patient than
-chloroform.
-
-John D., æt. 41, stout and of very ruddy complexion, so injured his leg
-that it was deemed advisable to saw off the fractured ends of the tibia.
-Chloroform was at first given (March 16, 1857), but the effect it
-produced, though administered with the utmost caution, was evidently of
-so dangerous a nature, that it is more than probable that death would
-have resulted had it been persevered in longer than five or six minutes
-(the period it was employed). The patient became quite apoplectic, and
-had two or three very severe convulsions. Amylene was at once
-substituted, and with the happiest result. The patient appeared
-conscious, but was not so, and the operation, which was a tedious one,
-was commenced and finished without his experiencing the least pain,
-indeed without his having the slightest knowledge that operative
-measures had been resorted to.
-
-Amylene differs widely from chloroform, and still more from sulphuric
-ether, in the promptitude with which patients generally recover from its
-effects. This is a character of amylene which might have been predicted
-from its physical properties. I have many times observed how quickly,
-and, indeed, almost instantaneously, small animals recover from the
-stupor occasioned by certain permanent gases which are sparingly soluble
-in watery fluids, as olefiant gas, carbonic oxide and carbonic acid
-gases, nitrous oxide and the gaseous oxide of methyle. Now amylene is so
-volatile as to approach to a permanent gas; at a temperature a little
-above that of the human body it would be a gas, and the vapour is very
-sparingly soluble in watery fluids, and consequently in the blood.
-Sulphuric ether is, indeed, as volatile as amylene. I cannot remember
-any other two bodies whose volatility is so nearly alike; but sulphuric
-ether is very soluble in watery fluids, in comparison with amylene.
-Water dissolves a tenth of its volume of liquid ether, or 23 volumes of
-the vapour. Consequently a large quantity of ether is absorbed during
-inhalation, and the blood has to pass many times through the lungs
-before it is freed from it. The quantity of amylene which is absorbed
-is, on the contrary, extremely small, as I have explained above, and
-this, together with its volatility, is no doubt the reason why the
-patient recovers so promptly from its influence. In about a minute after
-the operation is concluded, and the inhalation left off, the patient
-usually awakes from the influence of amylene, and completely recovers
-his consciousness. The same quick recovery may take place after
-chloroform, but more frequently it is a few minutes before the patient
-is quite conscious. I have seen two or three instances in which a child
-has slept for twenty minutes or half an hour after amylene, but it must
-be remembered that children sometimes sleep for hours after chloroform
-in cases where the operation has not produced a painful wound. The quick
-recovery of the patient is a decided advantage in all minor operations.
-In great operations, where the patient is obliged to keep his bed
-afterwards, it is of less consequence whether he wakes promptly or not,
-although, even under these circumstances, his friends are generally
-anxious to see him recover his consciousness. The smarting of the wound
-after an operation is often prevented longer when chloroform has been
-employed than after the use of amylene, and this may be considered as a
-slight advantage which chloroform possesses in certain cases. In some
-instances, however, in which chloroform has been used, the patient
-begins to show symptoms of suffering pain in the wound before he has
-entirely recovered his consciousness, while after amylene I have not
-seen symptoms of pain in the wound till consciousness had completely
-returned. In any cases where the pain after an operation, either from a
-wound or ligatures or caustic, is very great, the inhalation of the
-agent which has been employed may be gently repeated at times until the
-pain has a tendency to subside, or till an opiate shall take effect.
-
-The patient generally seems surprised or confused on first recovering
-from the effects of the amylene, but in a few seconds he becomes, in
-most cases, completely conscious of his position, and feels that his
-mind has been wandering. He often says he does not know where he has
-been in his dreams, or that he has been a long way. Sometimes he does
-not remember exactly what he has dreamed about; at other times he does.
-All this is common enough after chloroform, except that the process of
-recovery is generally much slower; but there is one condition of mind
-which is very common after chloroform, which I have rarely met after
-amylene, I allude to that condition in which the patient asserts that
-the vapour has not taken effect, and that he has not been asleep at all.
-
-Amylene appears to support the pulse under loss of blood at least as
-well as chloroform. I have not found the pulse to fail, although there
-was rather free hæmorrhage in some of the operations.
-
-There has been a little headache in a few of the cases as the effects of
-this agent were subsiding, but it passed off in a few minutes.
-
-In administering amylene, the vapour must be given of such a strength as
-will cause insensibility in about three minutes, or it will not succeed
-at all unless the strength of the vapour be altered. In giving
-chloroform, the vapour may be of less than half the desirable strength,
-and by continuing more than twice the usual time, the patient may be
-rendered insensible; and in using sulphuric ether, the vapour may be
-breathed of one-seventh the proper strength, and by continuing it
-constantly for seven times the usual period, _i. e._, for half an hour,
-the patient might be rendered insensible; but in using amylene, time
-will not make up for deficiency in the strength of the vapour. If the
-vapour be not strong enough to cause insensibility in about three
-minutes, it might be breathed for an indefinite period without causing
-insensibility; and the patient is solely affected by what he has inhaled
-within two or three minutes.
-
-On account of the very rapid subsidence of the effects of amylene, it
-requires to be very frequently repeated during the performance of an
-operation. The patient generally requires to inhale a little of it every
-half minute or so to keep up its effect. On this account, it is not well
-adapted for certain operations on the face. I did, however, administer
-it with complete success in several operations on the face in King’s
-College Hospital. Amongst these, there were four operations by Mr.
-Fergusson for making a new nose in which I administered amylene, and
-succeeded in preventing the pain by holding a hollow sponge, wetted with
-that agent frequently, near the mouth and nose.
-
-In cases of tooth-drawing, in which a number of teeth or stumps have to
-be taken out, the effects of the amylene are apt to pass off before the
-operation is completed, and the inhalation has to be repeated once or
-twice, but in cases when only one or two teeth require to be extracted,
-amylene has a great advantage in the promptitude with which the patient
-recovers from its effects. There is occasionally some difficulty in
-opening the mouth with amylene, as with chloroform.
-
-The patient has nearly always a very cheerful expression of countenance
-when he recovers from the amylene, and the state of his mind, as
-indicated by his conversation, corresponds to his look. Dr. Debout has
-noticed the same circumstances. Speaking of the patients operated on
-under amylene in Paris, he says, “A leur réveil et le premier moment de
-stupeur passé, leur physionomie est épanouie.” The same state of
-countenance and mind is met with after chloroform only now and then, and
-is by no means the rule.
-
-Hysterical symptoms occurred in a few women after operations under
-amylene. They were met with about as frequently, I think, as after
-chloroform. These symptoms generally subsided in a few minutes; but in
-one or two young women in the hospital, they lasted nearly an hour.
-
-The greatest advantage that amylene possesses over ether and chloroform,
-is the great infrequency with which it excites sickness. I only saw
-vomiting occur in two of the 238 cases in which I administered amylene,
-although it occurred before I left the patients’ room in twenty-two
-cases out of 100 in which I administered chloroform and kept an account
-of this symptom, at the time I was using amylene. In the greater number
-of the cases in which chloroform was exhibited, the patients had been
-requested not to take a meal; whilst in the cases in which amylene was
-administered, no directions regarding diet had as a general rule been
-given.
-
-I made subsequent inquiries respecting most of the patients who inhaled
-amylene, and I was only able to hear of sickness in eight or ten cases,
-and it was not distressing or troublesome in any of these. It generally
-occurred three or four hours after the amylene, and subsequently to the
-patient taking his first meal after the inhalation. In one of the two
-cases in which vomiting occurred after amylene before I left the room,
-there was retching for four hours; but I did not hear of so much
-sickness after any other case in which I administered this agent; and
-there was no faintness or depression either in this case or any other in
-which amylene was employed, although faintness and depression often
-accompany the sickness which is occasioned by chloroform. Some of the
-patients who inhaled amylene without being sick, had previously suffered
-from sickness after inhaling chloroform. I administered amylene, on
-January 30th, 1857, to a lady, about twenty-five, whilst Mr. Bowman
-operated for strabismus, and there was no vomiting or sickness, either
-at the time of the operation or afterwards; but the same patient had
-undergone a similar operation a week previously, when chloroform was
-administered, and on that occasion vomiting commenced before the
-operation was finished, and recurred every quarter of an hour, with
-violent retching, for twelve hours.
-
-I had the misfortune to lose two patients from the inhalation of
-amylene. The following are the particulars of these cases.
-
-Mr. Fergusson requested me to assist him on the 7th of April, 1857, in
-the case of a gentleman on whom he was about to operate for fistula _in
-ano_. The patient was thirty-three years of age, and was in good health,
-with the exception of the local complaint, although he had lived
-somewhat freely. Mr. Fergusson examined the patient’s chest the day
-before the operation, and found the sounds of the heart to be normal. I
-felt his pulse just before he began to inhale. It was natural, but
-somewhat accelerated, as usually happens just before an operation. He
-was lying on his side in bed. About six fluid drachms of amylene were
-put into the inhaler (I never intentionally used all I put in, but added
-more before the paper became dry), and he breathed steadily and gently.
-The valve was gradually advanced over the opening in the face-piece till
-it about three-quarters covered it, and the patient appeared to become
-quietly unconscious in about two minutes. He breathed quickly for a few
-inspirations just as he appeared to become unconscious. Just after this,
-Mr. Fergusson came and felt the patient’s pulse, and he says it was very
-good. I felt it also. I looked at my watch at this time, and it was two
-minutes and a half or two and three-quarters from the beginning of the
-inhalation. Mr. Fergusson commenced to use the probe, and, finding the
-patient did not flinch, he began to use the bistoury. Mr. P. C. Price
-assisted at the operation. I held the patient’s thigh with one hand, as
-I often do in such an operation, lest he should flinch. He did not
-flinch, however, but kept his limbs tense, without moving them. Just at
-this moment, I observed that the valve of the face-piece, which I had
-left three-quarters covering the opening, had moved so as to cover it
-entirely, but I cannot say whether or not the patient had taken an
-inspiration a little stronger than I intended, and thought nothing of
-the matter, as I have frequently had to close the valve completely in
-giving amylene. It could not, however, have been many seconds in that
-position, for I paid no attention to the operation, except so much as
-was requisite to guide me in what I was doing. The inhalation was
-discontinued at the moment I have mentioned, and on looking round
-directly after, I found that the operation, which had apparently been
-but one incision, was finished. I now began to feel for the pulse, more
-out of constant habit, and from a scientific curiosity, than from any
-supposed necessity of doing so. Although it had been good only half a
-minute before, I could not find it in the left wrist, and only a slight
-flutter in the right one. His breathing was, however, good, indeed quite
-natural, and he did not seem even to be very insensible, for there was
-some motion both of his features and limbs, as if he were about to
-awake. I watched the patient with great anxiety, thinking that surely
-his good and natural breathing would restore the pulse, and feeling that
-at all events this superseded any other measures at the moment. In two
-or three minutes, however, he seemed to be getting more insensible; he
-did not wink on the edge of the eyelids being touched, and the breathing
-was getting slower and deeper. I called Mr. Fergusson’s attention to the
-patient, and both he, who was preparing to go away, and Mr. Price, who
-had all the time been standing by the patient, were surprised to find
-that anything could be wrong, as they had seen the patient going on
-apparently so well, not only during the inhalation, but after it was
-discontinued. They dashed cold water in his face, which did not seem to
-have any effect. His countenance was now livid, and his breathing of a
-gasping character. It soon began to leave off, with the exception of
-deep, distant, gasping inspirations, and we therefore began to perform
-artificial respiration, by Dr. Marshall Hall’s method, placing him in
-the prone position, and bringing him partly round, while Mr. Price kept
-the mouth open. The air could be distinctly heard passing through the
-larynx during this motion. We also tried pressing on the chest with the
-head on one side and the mouth open, which answered very well as
-regarded the ingress and egress of air. Inflation from mouth to mouth
-was tried, but did not seem to answer so well. Although deep gasping
-inspirations were made by the patient till fully ten minutes had elapsed
-from the failure of the pulse, the measures used had no effect; I
-believe that I heard a feeble motion of the heart even after this
-period; and, as Mr. Fergusson perceived a slight pulsation at the same
-time in the right wrist, I was probably not mistaken. There were no
-further signs of life after this, although the artificial respiration
-was continued for a long time. I am quite sure as to the length of time
-respiration continued after the failure of the heart’s action. The pulse
-ceased to be distinctly perceptible at ten minutes before five, and the
-patient was still breathing at five o’clock. He had not taken food for
-some hours, but drank a pint bottle of ale a little while before the
-operation. A good portion of amylene remained in the inhaler after it
-had been uncovered for an hour and a half.
-
-There was an examination of the body forty-eight hours after death. The
-body was rigid. There was a good amount of fat beneath the integuments.
-The cartilages of the ribs were ossified. The lungs were large, and did
-not collapse; they completely filled the cavity of the chest, and seemed
-by their texture to be emphysematous, although there were no large cells
-on the surface. There was a little congestion at the posterior surface
-of the left one, otherwise they were not very vascular. There was a
-little clear fluid in the pericardium. There was a good deal of fat on
-the surface of the heart, which was somewhat larger than natural. It was
-removed by cutting the great vessels before it was opened, and in
-removing it three or four ounces of dark-coloured fluid blood escaped.
-The right ventricle was somewhat dilated, otherwise the heart was
-healthy; the walls of the left ventricle seemed very thick, but it was
-contracted, so as almost to obliterate the cavity. The liver was
-vascular, dark-coloured, and friable. The stomach was healthy, and
-contained only a little mucus. The other organs were not examined. There
-was no odour of amylene in the body.
-
-I believe the patient had emphysema of the lungs. There was no such
-force used in the artificial respiration as could permanently dilate the
-air-cells, and the dilatation of the right ventricle indicates some
-chronic obstruction to the pulmonary circulation.
-
-The other death from amylene occurred in St. George’s Hospital on July
-30th, 1857, in a case in which Mr. Cæsar Hawkins removed a small
-epithelial tumour from the back. The patient, a short, muscular man, was
-a tailor, twenty-four years of age, who had been in the Hospital several
-months, and had had three similar tumours removed, by as many
-operations, under chloroform; the last of these operations having been
-performed three weeks previously. He inhaled the amylene without any
-difficulty; in about two minutes he appeared to be unconscious, and, in
-another minute, the sensibility of the margin of the eyelids was
-somewhat diminished, and I told Mr. Hawkins that he might perform the
-operation. For this purpose the patient, who had been lying on his side
-on the table, was turned a little more on his face, or at least it was
-attempted to turn him, when he burst out into a kind of hysterical
-excitement, laughed loudly, and was with difficulty held on the table.
-Nothing was done during this excitement, which lasted about a minute.
-After it had subsided, I administered a little more amylene, although
-the patient had not recovered his consciousness; and then Mr. Hawkins
-performed the operation, which I believe did not last more than two
-minutes altogether. During the operation, the patient was turned on his
-face. He rested, I think, chiefly on his knees and elbows. He was
-muttering in an incoherent manner, and making slight attempts to move,
-but was easily restrained. I gave him an inspiration or two of amylene
-now and then during the operation, with the intention of preventing his
-waking prematurely; for this purpose, I turned the head a little to one
-side, and raised the face a little from the table.[176] I had concluded
-that the patient would not require any more amylene, and was expecting
-that he would show signs of returning consciousness or sensibility
-almost as soon as Mr. Hawkins had tied the suture which he was
-introducing; but, instead of this, the limbs became relaxed, and the
-breathing, though free enough, took on a noisy, snoring character.
-
-This is a state which is common enough in the use of chloroform, and
-excites no alarm whatever, but I felt that it ought not to occur in the
-use of amylene, especially after it was left off. I therefore sought
-again for the pulse at the wrist, and could perceive it only with
-difficulty, if at all. I spoke to Mr. Hawkins, and we immediately turned
-the patient on his back. His face had already become livid, and his
-breathing was of a gasping character. Mouth to mouth insufflation of the
-lungs was performed, and between the insufflations there were
-spontaneous acts of inspiration, during which the air seemed to enter
-the lungs freely. In a minute or two, the lips became of a proper
-colour, and the countenance had altogether such a natural aspect that
-the patient seemed to be recovering. The pulse at the wrist, however,
-could not be felt. No one listened to the chest at this time, for fear
-of interrupting the process of artificial respiration. After two or
-three minutes, Dr. Marshall Hall’s method of artificial breathing was
-substituted for the insufflation, and it was continued very perfectly by
-the house surgeons and others for an hour and a half, with the exception
-of two short intermissions, which will be mentioned. During
-three-quarters of an hour of this time, there were spontaneous
-inspirations, during which air entered the lungs, in addition to that
-which entered during the turning process. Twenty minutes after the
-accident, the process of artificial respiration was suspended for about
-a quarter of a minute, to enable me to listen to the chest. I thought I
-could hear the heart beating regularly, but very feebly, and certainly
-there was a good vesicular murmur, and the air seemed to enter the lungs
-by the patient’s own breathing, almost as freely as in health. At the
-end of three-quarters of an hour, with the permission of Mr. Hawkins, I
-introduced two hare-lip pins which had been connected with the
-electro-magnetic battery, with the intention of performing
-galvano-puncture of the heart. The needles were introduced to the depth
-of about an inch and a half between the cartilages of the ribs, just to
-the left of the sternum, and on a level with the nipple. They were
-afterwards found to have penetrated the walls of the left ventricle,
-near the septum, but without reaching the cavity. There was a quivering
-contraction of the pectoral muscle when the needles were first applied,
-but no effect on the heart. The needles ought probably to have been
-coated with some non-conducting substance almost as far as their points.
-There were no further efforts of inspiration after this time, but this
-was probably only a coincidence. The electro-magnetic battery had been
-applied in the early part of the treatment by means of the wet sponges
-applied to each side of the chest, but it produced no effect.
-
-An examination of the body was made by Mr. Holmes, the Curator of the
-Hospital Museum, on the following day. A good deal of dark-coloured
-fluid blood flowed from the right cavities of the heart, and the left
-cavities contained but little blood. The heart was pale and somewhat
-friable; but a microscopic examination by Mr. Holmes did not show any
-fatty degeneration. The lungs were moderately vascular, and contained
-some small epithelial tumours of the same character as those removed
-from the back. There was a large cyst in one kidney; but, with these
-exceptions, the organs were healthy. The vessels of the brain were not
-distended, and that organ was altogether less vascular than is usual
-after sudden death. No smell of amylene was perceived in the body.
-
-The continuance of the respiration so long after the heart was paralyzed
-in these two cases, and especially in the second one, is a remarkably
-curious event. The respiration continued after the heart had ceased to
-act in several cases of death from chloroform, but not for so long a
-time as in these deaths from amylene. It is probable that there must
-have been some little circulation going on through the brain whilst the
-respiration lasted, and in fact, the slight fluttering pulse and feeble
-sounds of the heart, once or twice perceived, indicate that the
-circulation was not absolutely arrested. Under these circumstances, we
-may inquire why the action of the heart does not recover. If the
-circulation were going on in the coronary arteries, it might be expected
-that the blood from the lungs, which has been aerated by respiration,
-and freed from the narcotic vapour, would restore the action of the
-heart. But it is probable, for the reasons stated at page 262, when
-treating of accidents by chloroform, that the circulation through the
-coronary arteries is arrested.
-
-The accident clearly commenced at the heart in both these cases, and I
-believe that the brain was never more than partially under the influence
-of the amylene in either of them. In the _Medical Times and Gazette_ of
-July 25th, 1857, M. Devergie is related to have expressed an opinion in
-the Academy of Medicine of Paris, that the first of the above deaths
-from amylene was caused, in great part, under the influence of true
-asphyxia, using that term in its modern acceptation. Now that is
-altogether an error, arising, probably, from M. Devergie not having seen
-any original account of the case. There was no cause of asphyxia, either
-internal or external; the patient breathed well until after his heart
-had ceased to beat, unless in the most feeble and doubtful manner. The
-valve which was closed only altered the direction, but not the amount of
-air. In fact, the patient was throughout supplied with as much air as
-could enter through a tube twice the size of his windpipe.
-
-I had scarcely any hope of the patient in St. George’s Hospital from the
-very commencement of the accident; for I felt that if he could be
-recovered by artificial respiration, his own breathing would have
-remedied the accident, even before it was discovered. From what has been
-published respecting the pulse sometimes stopping and commencing again,
-during the inhalation of chloroform, it is probable that many accidents,
-in which the heart has been nearly paralysed, have happened, and
-rectified themselves, without attracting much notice.
-
-I have no doubt that in each of these accidents the patient must have
-taken into his lungs at one moment air containing upwards of thirty per
-cent. of vapour of amylene. And there is no doubt that the cause of this
-was the unsteady boiling point of the agent. If the amylene with which I
-was supplied had boiled steadily at the same temperature, there is no
-doubt that the means which I was employing, and which had enabled me for
-ten years, whilst exhibiting chloroform, to give four per cent. of the
-vapour, probably without ever allowing the quantity to exceed six per
-cent., would have enabled me to give fifteen per cent. of vapour of
-amylene without permitting the quantity to exceed twenty per cent.
-
-The alteration in the boiling point of a specimen of amylene from 86° to
-115° Fah. would cause it to give off more than twice as much vapour in
-the beginning of its evaporation as towards the end; and, moreover, the
-different specimens of it did not always possess the same amount of
-volatility.
-
-The temperature of the external air as it influenced that of the
-water-bath of the inhaler would have some influence over the evaporation
-of the amylene, but I altered the amount of evaporating surface of paper
-according to the season of the year for amylene, as I was in the habit
-of doing for chloroform. The highest temperature of April 7, the day on
-which the first accident happened, was at Greenwich, according to the
-Report of the Astronomer Royal, 62°; and on July 30, the day on which
-the second accident happened, was 78·7°. After the first accident, I had
-reduced the surface of bibulous paper in the inhaler to one-half of what
-it had previously been.
-
-The first of the above accidents happened in the 144th case in which I
-administered amylene, and the second in the 238th case. In the ninety
-cases and upwards in which I administered amylene between these two
-accidents, I never had occasion to feel a moment’s uneasiness about it.
-
-In the future cases in which I employ amylene, it is my intention to
-administer it from a bag or balloon, putting in so much of the liquid as
-will make fifteen per cent. of vapour when the bag is filled up with
-air. In this manner, the variability in the boiling point of the amylene
-can have no influence whatever on the amount of vapour which the patient
-breathes; and if the vapour be breathed over again, within certain
-limits, in the manner of nitrous oxide gas, there will be a great saving
-in the amount of amylene consumed.
-
-In my first paper on amylene, which was read on January 10th, 1857, I
-said: “While I cannot venture to predict for it the absolute safety
-which seems to attend sulphuric ether under all circumstances, I trust
-that it will be perfectly safe with careful management”[177] And I added
-further on, “It is my opinion that the cold produced during its
-evaporation would, in all the ordinary methods of inhalation, prevent
-the air from taking up a quantity of the vapour which would be
-dangerous.”
-
-Although amylene was largely used in Paris, Strasbourg, Montpelier, and
-Lyons, soon after I published my first account of it, and although I
-have lately heard that it is still employed in Paris and Berlin, nearly
-eighteen months after its first use in these places, I am happy that I
-have not heard of any accident from its use except the two which
-happened in my own hands.
-
-M. Giraldis, of Paris, who was present at the operating theatre of St.
-George’s Hospital when the accident happened at that institution, had
-already employed amylene in 100 cases in children, and I believe that he
-continues to use it. Given on a handkerchief or sponge, I believe that
-amylene is safer than chloroform, owing to the greater cold produced
-during its evaporation, and the limit thereby put to the amount of
-vapour which is given off; but I have seldom given it in this manner, as
-I do not think it would be certain and regular in its action, and any
-doubt on these points would, with me, have quite overbalanced its other
-advantages. In applying amylene on a sponge, M. Rigaud of Strasbourg
-used 100 grammes (between four and five fluid ounces) in making an adult
-patient insensible, although half a fluid ounce suffices with the
-inhaler I employed.
-
-Mr. Clarke, of Bristol, in a paper which he published on amylene,[178]
-says: “It seemed impossible to get too much into the system, and with
-this I have been greatly impressed; it is this fact that appears to me
-to promise an immunity from danger.... It requires to be given almost
-unintermittingly, and requires the same amount of attention to keep up
-its effects as chloroform does to keep the patient safe. The direction
-of the attention, however, is one less calculated to give anxiety.”
-
-Dr. Debout stated, as the result of some experiments on animals, in
-which he was assisted by M. Duroy, that if it sufficed to double the
-quantity of chloroform in order to transform the anæsthetic dose of that
-agent into a poisonous dose, it was necessary to quadruple that of
-ether, and to quintuple that of amylene, in order to arrive at the same
-result; and that, therefore, the innocuousness of the new agent was
-still greater than that of sulphuric ether.[179]
-
-In a paper which Professor Tourdes, of Strasbourg, read before the
-Academy of Medicine of Paris, he came also to the conclusion, from a
-series of experiments and observations, that “amylene was evidently much
-less dangerous than chloroform, perhaps even than ether.”[180]
-
-According to my experiments, amylene ought to be placed between
-chloroform and ether in respect to its comparative safety by the
-ordinary methods of administration; and by breathing it from a bag, in
-the manner previously mentioned, it would be absolutely safe, so long as
-the right quantity were put into the bag.
-
-Papers on amylene were read to the Academy of Medicine of Paris by Dr.
-Debout and M. Tourdes, and were reported on favourably. M. Giraldis
-afterwards presented a paper in which he stated the very favourable
-result of seventy-nine cases in which he had employed it. The Academy on
-this occasion recommended the disuse of amylene on account of the
-accidents which had happened in my hands, apparently overlooking the
-circumstance that M. Giraldis himself had been much more successful in
-the use of amylene than in that of chloroform. M. Jobert de Lamballe,
-the reporter of the Commission, stated that amylene deprived the blood
-of its red colour and that chloroform does not. But there is no
-difference between these agents in this respect; the blood retains its
-proper colour under the use of either of them, unless the effects are
-carried so far as to interfere with the breathing.
-
-
-
-
- THE MONOCHLORURRETTED
- CHLORIDE OF ETHYLE.
-
-
-This substance was discovered some few years ago by M. M. G. Regnault.
-It is made by exposing to the sun’s rays a mixture of the vapour of
-chloride of ethyle (muriatic ether) and chlorine gas. One equivalent of
-the hydrogen of the chloride of ethyle is replaced by an equivalent of
-chlorine. Its composition is four atoms carbon, four atoms hydrogen, and
-two atoms chlorine. It has the same composition as Dutch Liquid, which
-is made by the combination of olefiant gas and chlorine gas; the
-specific gravity of its vapour, 3·42, is also the same as that of Dutch
-liquid, which it resembles also in taste and smell. The boiling point is
-however different, and it differs from Dutch liquid in not being
-decomposed by an alcoholic solution of potassa.
-
-I tried several times to make the monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle
-in 1849 and 1850, but did not succeed in procuring more than a drachm or
-two at once, owing to the constant over-action of the chlorine and the
-production of other chlorurretted products. In 1851, however, these
-products which result from the decomposition of muriatic ether by
-chlorine gas were recommended in Paris as local applications in
-rheumatism and other painful affections, and Mr. Mason was kind enough
-to obtain for me from that capital a pint bottle of a liquid consisting
-chiefly of the monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle. It was mixed with a
-certain portion of the bichlorurretted and terchlorurretted products,
-but I was able to separate by distillation as much of the
-monochlorurretted product as enabled me to administer it to twenty-two
-patients. Mr. Mason was, however, not able to obtain any more liquid
-containing any of the monochlorurretted chloride. What he afterwards was
-able to obtain had a very high boiling point, and consisted chiefly of
-chloride of carbon; carbon four atoms, chlorine five atoms.
-
-The monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle resembles chloroform very much
-in taste and smell, and in its physiological properties. Its boiling
-point is 149°, whilst that of chloroform is 140°; the specific gravity
-of its vapour is also lower; for these reasons, it is considerably less
-volatile than chloroform, and it is therefore pretty certain that it
-would not be liable to cause the sudden deaths which have occasionally
-been produced by the administration of chloroform, even if it were given
-freely and with no great care. The difficulty of procuring it in a state
-of purity is, however, a barrier to its introduction into practice.
-
-I first administered this preparation in King’s College Hospital, on
-June 20th, 1851, to a young woman, whilst Mr. Wm. Hewett, the house
-surgeon, repeated the operation of paring off venereal warts and
-applying nitric acid. The patient breathed it very readily without
-appearing to suffer from the pungency. She was a little longer in
-becoming unconscious than on former occasions from the chloroform, but
-soon after becoming unconscious, the sensibility of the conjunctiva
-diminished, and the operation was commenced. There was some flinching,
-so that she required to be held, but there were no cries or other signs
-of sensation. Consciousness returned almost immediately, and she seemed
-more exhilarated than after chloroform. She had had her dinner just
-before the operation, and at one time, soon after recovering her
-consciousness, she said that she felt rather sick, but this feeling
-passed off without vomiting, and she did not remember it afterwards. She
-did not begin to cry out from the smarting till twenty minutes after the
-operation, when she had been quite conscious, collected, and rational
-for a quarter of an hour, although on the two former occasions, after
-chloroform had been inhaled, she began to cry immediately after the
-operation, and almost before consciousness had returned. Next day she
-was very well.
-
-On the following day I administered the same preparation to three
-patients on whom Mr. Fergusson operated in King’s College Hospital. The
-first was a boy seven years old, who had the forefinger removed,
-together with part of the metacarpal bone, on account of a large
-enchondroma. The second was an infant three months old, which was
-operated on for hare-lip; and the third was a woman about thirty-five,
-who had some venereal warts removed from the pudenda. There was no
-sickness in either of the cases, although the little boy and the woman
-had taken their dinners just before the operation.
-
-On June 25th, I administered the preparation with the chloroform
-inhaler, as in all the other cases, to a muscular young man, about 25,
-whilst Mr. Henry Lee removed some piles, and applied nitric acid to the
-raw surface. The patient was six feet three inches in height, and
-weighed fourteen stone. He became insensible rather slowly, with low
-muttering and a good deal of rigidity. The operation lasted about ten
-minutes, during which the inhalation was repeated two or three times.
-There was no pain. He recovered his consciousness in two or three
-minutes after the conclusion of the operation; he said that he felt
-drunk, and he appeared so for a few minutes. He was very cheerful, and
-had no sickness, although he had had his dinner just before coming to
-the hospital to have the operation performed. Half a fluid ounce of the
-monochlorurretted compound was inhaled, being about the same quantity as
-would have been consumed of chloroform.
-
-The other operations in which I administered this preparation, consisted
-of the removal of a tumour situated below the angle of the jaw in a
-young woman, by Mr. Fergusson; an operation on the tibia and fibula of a
-little boy, for ununited fracture, by Mr. Bowman; trephining the tibia
-of a young man, and giving exit to a collection of pus, by Mr. Henry
-Lee; an operation for necrosis of the tibia, by the late Mr. Avery; two
-operations for hare-lip; two operations for fistula _in ano_; one for
-nævus on the forehead; one for tenotomy; and one for removal of a fatty
-tumour, by Mr. Fergusson.[181]
-
-
-THE END.
-
-
-
-
- INDEX.
-
-
- A.
-
- Absorption of vapours by fluids, 59
-
- —— —— —— by the lungs, formula of, 59
-
- Academy of Medicine of Paris, reports by, 132–4
-
- Accidents from chloroform, treatment and prevention of, 248–62
-
- Age, influence of, on effects of chloroform, 49, 50
-
- Age in fatal cases from chloroform, 230–1;
- from amylene, 401–2
-
- Air, saturation of, with chloroform vapour, 68, 123;
- with amylene, 376
-
- —— amount of, in lungs, 108
-
- —— respired during chloroform, 108
-
- Allen, Mr., on a fatal case from chloroform, 195–6
-
- Alleged fatal cases from chloroform, 201–12
-
- Ammonia, use of, after chloroform, 104
-
- —— use of, during accidents from chloroform, 258
-
- Amputations under chloroform of thigh, 276–7;
- of leg, 277;
- of arm, 277–8;
- of the ankle, 278;
- of other parts, _ib._
-
- Amylene, first application of, by author, 23
-
- —— applications of, in Paris, Strasbourg, and Lyons, 24
-
- —— discovery of, 372;
- preparation of, _ib._
-
- —— chemical and physical characters of, 373–7
-
- —— volatility of different specimens of, 416
-
- —— experiments with, 378–86
-
- —— administration of, for operations, 386, 400
-
- —— administration of, in parturition, 394–7
-
- —— mode of administration of, 386–7, 405–6, 416
-
- —— symptoms produced by, 399, 400
-
- —— spasms and rigidity from, 401–2
-
- —— does not produce vomiting, 406–7
-
- —— effects of, on different persons, 401–2
-
- —— effects of, on author, 384
-
- —— amount of, required to produce insensibility, 384
-
- —— effects of, on the heart, 384
-
- —— time of inhalation of, to produce insensibility, 397
-
- —— effects of, on consciousness, 398–403
-
- —— promptitude of action of, 403
-
- —— effects of, on respiration and circulation, 400
-
- —— —— —— on the salivary glands, 400
-
- —— chloroform, and sulphuric ether, effects of, compared, 403–5
-
- —— after-effects of, 406–7
-
- —— fatal cases from inhalation of, 408–16
-
- —— amount of vapour of, inhaled in fatal cases, 415
-
- Amylene, author’s prediction regarding safety of, 417
-
- —— mode of administration of, by M. Rigaud, 417–18
-
- —— Mr. Clarke’s remarks on, 418;
-
- —— Dr. Debout’s remarks on, _ib._
-
- —— Professor Tourdes’ remarks on, _ib._
-
- —— author’s computation of safety of, _ib._
-
- —— M. Giraldis on use of, 419
-
- —— M. Jobert de Lamballe on use of, _ib._
-
- Anæsthesia, modes of production of, 40–1
-
- Anæsthetics, definition of, 34–5
-
- Ancients, views of the, 3
-
- Animals, various, experiments on, with narcotic vapours, 60 to 73
-
- Anus, operations on, under chloroform, 307, 308–9
-
- Animation suspended by chloroform, treatment of, 251–62
-
- Apuleius on effects of mandragora, 2
-
- Apoplexy, administration of chloroform after, 57
-
- Aretæus’ description of mandragora, 3
-
- Arnott, Dr. James, statistics of operations before and after
- introduction of etherisation, 265–7
-
- —— on pyæmia following chloroform, 267
-
- Arteries, coronary, circulation of the, 262
-
- Artificial respiration, value of, 121, 251–7, 260
-
- —— —— applied in cases of death from chloroform, 139, 144, 151, 156,
- 159, 163, 166, 167–8, 173, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187–8, 190–1, 194,
- 196–7, 207, 210
-
- Artificial respiration applied in case of death from amylene, 410–413
-
- Arteries, ligature of, under chloroform, 289–291
-
- Aschendorf, Dr., on alleged fatal case from chloroform, 204–5
-
- Asphyxia idiopathica, 226
-
- Asphyxia, death from, 235
-
- Asthma, treatment of, with chloroform, 331
-
- Athletics least susceptible of chloroform, 50
-
- Augustus of Poland, operation on, without pain, 8
-
- Aurelianus Cælius on mandragora, 3
-
-
- B.
-
- Balard, Professor, discovery of amylene, 372
-
- Balloon for inhalation of chloroform, 80
-
- Barlow, Mr. W. F., report on case of alleged death from chloroform, 208
-
- Barrière, M., case of alleged death from ether, 364
-
- Bath warm, use of, in fatal case from chloroform, 159
-
- Beddoes, Dr., administration of gases in disease, 14
-
- —— —— his pneumatic institution at Bristol, _ib._
-
- Bell, Mr. Jacob, on chloric ether, 20
-
- Belladonna, effects of, 4
-
- Berthé, M., discovery of amylene, 378
-
- Bickersteth, Mr., on supposed effect of surgeon’s knife on pulse, 240–3
-
- —— —— on the pulse during inhalation of chloroform, 249–50
-
- —— —— cases of resuscitation from over effects of chloroform, 253–6
-
- Bigelow, Dr., use of sulphuric ether as an anæsthetic, 18
-
- —— —— administration of chloric ether by, 20
-
- Birds quickly affected by chloroform, 70
-
- Black, Dr. Patrick, on asphyxia and syncope, 222
-
- —— —— on closure of the glottis by chloroform, 236
-
- —— —— on modes of inhaling chloroform, 236–7
-
- Blood, serum of, absorption of chloroform by, 69
-
- —— absorption of amylene by, 382–4
-
- —— quantity of, in body, 73;
- amount of serum, 74
-
- —— chemical examination of, in alleged case of death from chloroform,
- 211
-
- —— condition of, after death from chloroform, 247
-
- —— saturation of, with ether, 354–5
-
- Blood-letting in accidents from chloroform, 261
-
- —— from external jugular, tried in case of death from chloroform, 151,
- 159, 168, 174
-
- Body, temperature of, falls under chloroform, 70
-
- Bolton, Mr. Andrew, case of puerperal convulsions treated with
- chloroform, 338
-
- Bone, removal of tumours of, under chloroform, 291
-
- Boot, Dr., first operation in England without pain, 18
-
- Bouisson, M., on a case of supposed death from ether, 369
-
- Bowman, Professor, removal of pus from frontal sinus after inhalation
- by chloroform, 302
-
- Breathing modified by chloroform vapour, 69, 70
-
- —— conditions of, under chloroform, 89, 90, 91, 92
-
- Breast, tumours of, removal under chloroform, 285–7
-
- Breton, supposed death of, from chloroform, 199–200
-
- Brodie, Sir Benjamin, on use of chloroform in lithotrity, 274
-
- Buck, Mr. Gurdon, report of death from chloroform by, 136–8
-
- Bullock, Mr. Lloyd, manufacture of amylene by, 374–8
-
- Bursa, the, operations on, under chloroform, 311
-
-
- C.
-
- Cahours, M. Auguste, invention of name of amylene, 372
-
- Cancer of the lip, operation for, under chloroform, 294
-
- Cases dangerous from chloroform, 258–60
-
- —— of death from chloroform during labour, from neglect, 328
-
- Cases, fatal, from inhalation of chloroform, 120–200
-
- Case 1, of Hannah Greener, Winlaton, Newcastle, 123–7;
- 2, of Martha G. Simmons, Cincinnati, 127–30;
- 3, of Patrick Coyle, 130–1;
- 4, of Mdlle. Stock, Boulogne, 131–5;
- 5, of a woman at Hyderabad, 135;
- 6, of Charles Desnoyers, Hôtel-Dieu, Lyons, 135–6;
- 7, of a young gentleman at Govan, 136;
- 8, of John Griffith, New York, Hospital, 136–8;
- 9, of J. Verrier, Hôtel-Dieu, Lyons, 138–141;
- 10, of Samuel Bennett, Westminster, 141–2;
- 11, of Mdlle. Labrune, at Langres, 142–3;
- 12, of John Shorter, St. Thomas’s Hospital, 143–5;
- 13, of Mrs. Jones, at Shrewsbury, 145–6;
- 14, at Berlin, 146;
- 15, of William Bryan, Kingston, Jamaica, 147;
- 16, of an artilleryman, Mauritius, 147–8;
- 17, at Seraphim Hospital, Stockholm, 148–50;
- 18, of a boy of seven, Glasgow Infirmary, 150–1;
- 19, of Alexander Scott, Guy’s Hospital, 151–2;
- 20, of James Jones, Cavan Infirmary, 152–3;
- 21, of John Holden, Stepney Workhouse, 153–5;
- 22, of Mdme. Simon, Strasbourg, 154–5;
- 23, at Seaman’s Hospital, Greenwich, 155–7;
- 24, of Elizabeth Hollis, Chipping Norton, 157–8;
- 25, of Thomas Hayward, of Bartholomew’s Hospital, 158–61;
- 26, of Mdme. W., at Ulm, 161;
- 27, of Mr. John Atkinson, Melbourne, 162;
- 28, of Mr. Martin, at Melrose, 162–3;
- 29, of Henry Hollingsworth, Manchester Royal Infirmary, 163–4;
- 30, of Caroline Baker, of University College Hospital, 165;
- 31, of a French soldier, Hôtel
- Dieu., d’Orléans, 165–6;
- 32, of John Mitchell, at Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, 166–70;
- 33, of E. R., at University College Hospital, 170–2;
- 34, of Ann Smith, at St. Bartholomew’s, 172–4;
- 35, of a young man in Vienna, 174;
- 36, of a young girl at Neustedt, 174–5;
- 37, of Jane Morgan, Bristol Infirmary, 175–6;
- 38, of a woman, Hôpital St. Antoine, 176–7;
- 39, of Mrs. Harrup, Sheffield, 177–8;
- 40, of Walter Hollis, Lock Hospital, 178–80;
- 41, of a man, at Middlesex Hospital, 180–2;
- 42, of George Sands, University College Hospital, 182–4;
- 43, of a woman, in Guy’s Hospital, 185–7;
- 44, of John Cannon, Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, 187–8;
- 45, of a lady, London, 188–9;
- 46, of Mrs. H., Edinburgh, 189–90;
- 47, of a sailor, St. Thomas’s Hospital, 190–2;
- 48, of a boy, recorded by Mr. Paget, 192–4;
- 49, of a man, Liverpool Infirmary, 195–6;
- 50, of Ann Stoner, King’s College Hospital, 196–9;
- cases, supposed, of death from chloroform, 199, 200;
- case, fatal, during labour from neglect, 328
-
- Cases, alleged fatal, from inhalation of chloroform, 201–12;
- of Mr. Walter Badger, 201;
- case reported by M. Malgaigne, 204;
- of a woman, in Paris, _ib._;
- of a child, in the hospital, Madrid, _ib._;
- of a child, by Dr. Aschendorf, 204–5;
- case by the author, 205–9;
- case at St. George’s Hospital, 209–12
-
- Cases, alleged fatal, from ether, 362–8
-
- —— medical, inhalation of chloroform in, 329–44.
- _See Medical Cases_
-
- —— surgical, use of chloroform in different kinds of, 271–318.
- _See Operations_
-
- —— fatal, from inhalation of amylene, 408–16
-
- Cats, experiments on, with chloroform, 61, 66, 109, 110, 111
-
- Cat, experiment on, with amylene, 380–1
-
- Cataract, operations for, under chloroform, 296
-
- Cause and prevention of death from chloroform, 107–120
-
- Causes, supposed, of death from chloroform, 228–45.
- _See Death_
-
- Cerebral diseases and chloroform, 56
-
- —— —— treated by chloroform, 56–7
-
- Chaffinch, experiments on, with chloroform, 73
-
- Charrière, M., inhaler for chloroform by, 85
-
- Chassaignac, M., on tolerance of chloroform, 92
-
- Chevalier, M., on asphyxia idiopathica, 226
-
- Chinese, use of Indian hemp by, 5
-
- Chloroform, first experiments with, by Glover, 112;
- first experiments with, by Flourens, 21
-
- —— recommended by Dr. Simpson, 21
-
- —— rapid introduction of, 22
-
- —— first death from, 22
-
- —— disused in Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Naples, and Lyons,
- 23
-
- —— history and composition of, 27
-
- —— analysed by M. Soubeiran, and named bichloric ether, 27
-
- —— examined by Liebig, and named liquid chloride of carbon, 27
-
- —— examined by Dumas, and named chloroform, 27
-
- —— called chloroformyl in London Pharmacopœia, 28
-
- —— mode of preparation of, 28–9
-
- —— chemical and physical properties of, 29–30
-
- —— adulterations of, 30–2
-
- —— effects of, mixed with alcohol, 31
-
- Chloroform, how to be preserved, 32
-
- —— properties of vapour of, 32
-
- —— quantity of vapour of, taken up by air at various temperatures, 33,
- 68
-
- —— effects of inhalation of vapour of, at different temperatures, 34
-
- —— physiological effects of, 34
-
- —— a narcotico-irritant, 34
-
- —— degrees of narcotism from, 35–43
-
- —— symptoms during first degree, 35–37;
- second degree, 37–38;
- third degree, 38–42;
- fourth and fifth degrees, 42–43
-
- —— effects on the heart of a sudden overdose of, 43
-
- —— produces post-mortem rigidity, 43
-
- —— effects of, on pulse, 43, 44, 77, 89
-
- —— action of, on the nervous system, 44–45
-
- —— effects of, during an operation, 45
-
- —— varying effects of, on patients, 45–8
-
- —— circumstances which influence or modify its effects, 48
-
- —— influence of age in modifying effects of, 49–50
-
- —— effects of, as regards strength or debility, 50
-
- —— effects when given slowly, 50
-
- —— effects of, in hysteria, 50–2
-
- —— effects of, in epilepsy, 52
-
- —— effects of, during menstrual period, 53
-
- —— effects of, during pregnancy, 53
-
- —— effects of, in cases of disease of the lungs, 53–4
-
- —— effects of, in case of phthisis described, 53–54
-
- —— effects of, in cases of heart disease, 54–56
-
- —— effects of, in cerebral disease, 56–57
-
- —— effects of, on the insane, 57
-
- —— effects of, on hard drinkers, 57–58
-
- —— amount of vapour of, absorbed to cause the various degrees of
- narcotism, 58–74
-
- —— is absorbed into the circulation during inhalation, 58
-
- —— is exhaled in the secretions, 58
-
- —— experiments on inhalation of, 59–74.
- _See Experiments_
-
- —— absorption of, by blood serum, 69
-
- —— proportion of, required to arrest respiration, 69, 70, 74, 115, 116
-
- —— action of, on frogs, 71–73
-
- —— action of, on chaffinch, 73
-
- —— action of, on animals of warm and cold blood, 70–73
-
- —— preparations for administering the, 74
-
- —— should not be administered after a meal, 74
-
- —— vomiting in relation to administration of, 74–75
-
- —— position of patient during inhalation of, 75
-
- —— fears regarding the, 76–77
-
- —— and fear, relative effects of, 77
-
- —— removes fear as it destroys consciousness, 77
-
- —— prevents syncope from fear, 77–78
-
- —— mode of administering the, 78
-
- —— amount of, required to produce insensibility, 78, 107
-
- —— Dr. Simpson’s administration of the, 78
-
- —— objections to administration of, on handkerchief, 78–79
-
- —— may cause death without producing insensibility, 79, 133
-
- Chloroform, effects of, not modified by idiosyncracies, 79
-
- —— inhaled from a balloon, 80
-
- —— inhaler for, the author’s, described, 81–84
-
- —— diagram of, 82
-
- —— amount of, used for inhalation, 84
-
- —— how to be administered with inhaler, 86
-
- —— use of, in obstetric cases, 87
-
- —— use of, in surgical operations, 87
-
- —— signs of insensibility from, 87
-
- —— effects of, eyelid test, 88
-
- —— effect of, on breathing, 89–93
-
- —— effect of, on pupil, 93–94, 158
-
- —— on position of the eyes, 94
-
- —— accumulation of, in lungs, 91
-
- —— rigidity and struggling under, to be subdued by continued
- inhalation, 91, 92, 93
-
- —— on tolerance of, M. Chassaignac, 92
-
- —— how long to be inhaled by patients of different ages, 94
-
- —— always takes effect, 95–96
-
- —— repetition of, during operations, 97
-
- —— recovery from, 97–100
-
- —— sequelæ of inhalation of, 100–107
-
- —— cause and prevention of death from, 107–120
-
- —— effect of prolonged inhalation of, 109
-
- —— experiments illustrating mode of dying from, 109–120
-
- —— paralyzing effects on the heart from large doses of, 112
-
- —— fatal cases of inhalation from, 120–200
-
- —— alleged cases of death from inhalation of, 201–212
-
- —— danger of rapid inhalation of, 126, 127
-
- —— the mode of administration of, in fatal cases from, 124, 127, 130,
- 131, 135, 137, 138, 142, 143, 144–5, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151,
- 153, 154, 155, 158–9, 161, 162, 164, 165–6, 167, 170, 172, 174, 176,
- 177, 178, 180, 183–4, 185, 187, 189, 190–1, 193, 195, 197
-
- —— mode of inhalation of, in alleged cases of death from, 201, 205,
- 207, 209–10
-
- —— symptoms in the fatal cases of inhalation of, 212–17
-
- —— mode of death in accidents from, 217
-
- —— table of fatal cases of inhalation of, 218–22
-
- —— supposed causes of death from, 228–45,
- _see Death_
-
- —— state of the chief organs after death from, 245–8
-
- —— further remarks on the prevention of accidents from, 248–51
-
- —— rules in administration of, 250–1
-
- —— treatment of suspended animation from, 251–62
-
- —— the effect of, on the results of operations, 263–70
-
- —— benefits conferred by, in operations, 263–4
-
- —— administration of, in the different kinds of operations, 271–318,
- _see Operations_
-
- —— in parturition, 318–29
-
- —— introduced by Dr. Simpson into obstetric practice, 318
-
- —— need not produce unconsciousness during labour, 318
-
- —— cases of labour in which it may be employed, 319–20
-
- —— period for its administration in labour, 320
-
- —— mode of administration in labour, 320–21
-
- —— does not influence the duration of labour, 323
-
- Chloroform, its use in operations during labour, 324–6
-
- —— its use in peculiar cases of labour, 327–8
-
- —— death from, by neglect during labour, 328
-
- —— in relation to puerperal convulsions, 329
-
- —— inhalation of, in medical cases, 329–44
-
- —— frequent and long continued use of, 343–4
-
- —— and ether, analogous action of, 349
-
- —— and ether, combination of, 369–79
-
- —— sulphuric ether, and amylene, effects of, compared, 403–5
-
- Chowne, Dr., cases of hysteria treated with chloroform, 339–41
-
- Circumstances which influence or modify the effects of chloroform, 48
-
- Clarke, Mr., on amylene, 418
-
- Clement, Mr., on case of death from chloroform, 145–6
-
- Clover, Mr., his mode of administering chloroform, 184
-
- Cockle, Dr., on the circulation in the coronary arteries, 262
-
- Cocks, Mr. W. G. H., on treatment of laryngismus stridulus with
- chloroform, 332
-
- Colston, Mr. G. Q., administration of nitrous oxyde by, 14–15
-
- Combination of chloroform and ether, 369–71
-
- —— case of supposed death from inhalation of, 370
-
- Consciousness, recovery of, after chloroform, 98
-
- Consumption, treatment of, by ether, 14, 360
-
- Convulsions, epileptiform, in fatal case from chloroform, 191
-
- —— infantile, use of chloroform in, 332–3
-
- —— puerperal, use of chloroform in, 337–9
-
- —— treatment of, with ether, 359
-
- Corfe, Dr., report of a post-mortem after death from chloroform, 181–2
-
- Countenance, expression of, under amylene, 401
-
- Crockett, Dr., on a case of supposed death from combination of
- chloroform and ether, 370
-
- Croup, spasmodic, use of chloroform in, 331–2
-
-
- D.
-
- Davy, Sir Humphrey, experiments of, with nitrous oxyde, 14
-
- —— suggested use of nitrous oxyde by, to remove pain of operations, 14
-
- Death from chloroform without insensibility, 79–133
-
- —— cause and prevention of, from chloroform, 107–20
-
- —— under chloroform from paralysis of heart, 131, 138, 141, 143, 151,
- 156, 165, 178–9, 181, 186, 189, 196
-
- —— two modes of, from chloroform, 135
-
- —— from chloroform, cases of, 120–200,
- _see Operations, fatal_
-
- —— symptoms of, from chloroform, 124, 127–28, 130, 131, 135, 137,
- 139–41, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 153, 154, 155–6,
- 157–8, 159, 161, 162, 163–4, 165, 166, 167–8, 170–1, 172–3, 174–5,
- 175–6, 176–7, 177–8, 178–9, 180–1, 182–3, 185–6, 187–8, 189, 190,
- 191, 192–4, 195–6, 197
-
- —— from chloroform, cases of alleged, 201, 203, 204, 205, 209
-
- —— mode of, in accidents from chloroform, 217
-
- —— supposed causes of, from chloroform, 228–45;
- age, 230–31;
- idiosyncracy, 231–2;
- impurity of chloroform, 233;
- apparatus employed, 233;
- exclusion of air, 233–4;
- closure of the glottis, 234–8;
- exhaustion from struggling, 238–9;
- sitting posture, 239–40;
- effect of surgeon’s knife, 240–3;
- sudden death from other causes, 243–5;
- falling back of the tongue, 245
-
- Death, sudden, from other causes during inhalation of chloroform, 244–5
-
- —— during operations without anæsthetics, 245
-
- Debout, Dr., on amylene, 375, 406, 418
-
- Delarue, M., on titillation of the uvula during accidents from
- chloroform, 257–8
-
- Delirium cum tremore, treatment of, by chloroform, 333–4
-
- —— in fever, 334–5
-
- Delphos, Priestess of, intoxicated by narcotic fumes, 11
-
- Demarquay, M., on closure of the glottis by chloroform, 234
-
- Diagram of chloroform inhaler, 82
-
- —— of ether inhaler, 349
-
- Dinners, late, a cause of hæmorrhoids, 307
-
- Dioscorides, on decoction of mandragora, 1
-
- —— on symptoms from mandragora, 3
-
- Discovery of anæsthetics, importance of, 1–2
-
- Dislocations, reduction of, under chloroform, 302–3
-
- Devergie, M., on closure of the glottis by chloroform, 234
-
- —— on death from amylene, 415
-
- Dominus Hugo, his recipe for a narcotic, 5–6
-
- —— his prescription for a local application, 6
-
- Dumas, M., on analysis of chloroform and name, 27
-
- Duroy, M., anæthesimeter of, 85
-
- —— on amylene, 375–6
-
- Dutch liquid, nature of, 27
-
-
- E.
-
- Ear, operations on, under chloroform, 298
-
- Eastment, Mr., case by, of alleged death from ether, 368–9
-
- Effect of chloroform on the results of operations, 263–70
-
- Elbow, excision of, under chloroform, 279–80
-
- Electricity, use of, in a fatal case from chloroform, 166
-
- —— value of, during accidents from chloroform, 261–2
-
- —— use of, in case of death of from amylene, 413
-
- Emphysema, in a fatal case from chloroform, 148
-
- Epilepsy, influence of chloroform on, 52
-
- —— use of chloroform in, 336–7
-
- Esdaile, Dr., on hypnotism in the Hindoos, 10
-
- Ether, _sulphuric_, or ether, 15 to 27, 345 to 371
-
- —— effects of, vapour, described by Faraday, 15
-
- —— effects experimentally shewn by Professor Turner, 16
-
- —— vapour as an anæsthetic, discovery of, 15, 16, 17
-
- —— application of, summary, 17, 18
-
- —— treatment of diseases by, 19
-
- —— supposed death from, 20
-
- —— use of, in Massachusetts Hospital, Boston, Philadelphia, New York,
- Naples, and Lyons, 23
-
- —— action of, on nervous centres, 45
-
- —— administered for operation for removal of pus from frontal sinus,
- 302
-
- —— history and composition of, 345
-
- —— chemical and physical properties, 345–9
-
- —— physiological effects of, 349–55
-
- Ether, _sulphuric_, administration of, 356–8
-
- —— —— in medical cases, 358–61
-
- —— great safety of, 22–3, 362
-
- —— alleged deaths from, 362–9
-
- —— chloroform and amylene, effects of, compared, 403–5
-
- —— saturation of the blood with, 354;
- flavour of, 357;
-
- —— quantity of, inhaled to produce insensibility, 356–7
-
- —— operations under, 357–9
-
- —— and chloroform, combination of, 369–71
-
- —— —— analogous action of, 349–50
-
- —— _chloric_, composition of, 20
-
- —— chloric, introduction of, as an anæsthetic, _ib._
-
- —— its relation to chloroform, _ib._
-
- —— author’s experiments with, 21;
- named by Dr. Thompson, 27
-
- —— alcoholic solution of, made by Guthrie, 27
-
- —— known as a diffusible stimulant, 27
-
- Eupion, properties of, 377
-
- Excitement, muscular, under chloroform, 93
-
- Exhaustion from struggling, a supposed cause of death from chloroform,
- 238–9
-
- Experiments with chloroform, mode of conducting the, 59, 60
-
- —— on animals with chloroform, 60–74
-
- —— illustrating modes of dying from chloroform, 109
-
- —— with ether, 350–5;
- with amylene, 378–386
-
- Eye, operations on, under chloroform, 295–8
-
- Eyelids, sensibility of, under chloroform, a test, 88
-
-
- F.
-
- Face, division of nerves of, under chloroform, 294–5
-
- Faintness from chloroform, 103–4
-
- Faraday, Professor, description of effects of ether vapour, 16
-
- Farr, Dr. Arthur, on hysteria treated with chloroform, 341
-
- Fatal cases from inhalation of chloroform, 120–200
-
- —— alleged, from chloroform, 201–12
-
- —— alleged, from inhalation of ether, 362–8
-
- Fear, effects of, 77;
- subsides with unconsciousness, 77
-
- —— possible cause of death, cases of, 203, 209–12
-
- Femur, excision of head of, under chloroform, 279
-
- Fenwick, Dr., statistics of operations since the introduction of
- anæsthetics, 267–70, 278
-
- Fergusson, Mr., on utility of chloroform in lithotrity, 274
-
- —— improvement of operation by, for removal of jaw, 281–2
-
- —— operation by, for hare-lip, 292
-
- —— observations of, in case of death from amylene, 408–11
-
- Fibrine separated after application of galvanism, 181–2
-
- Fife, Sir John, on the _post-mortem_ appearances in a case of death
- from chloroform, 125
-
- Flourens, M., experiments by chloroform, 21
-
- —— on the action of sulphuric ether, 45
-
- Frogs, experiments on, with chloroform, 71, 72, 112
-
- —— mode of action of chloroform upon, 71–2
-
- —— modified by different temperatures, 72
-
- Further remarks on the prevention of accidents from chloroform, 248–51
-
-
- G.
-
- Galvanism applied in cases of death from chloroform, 144, 151, 167–8,
- 181, 183, 197
-
- Garner, Mr., on treatment of neuralgia with chloroform, 344
-
- Garrod, Dr., report of _post-mortem_ after a death from chloroform,
- 171–2
-
- Giraldis, M., on use of amylene, 419
-
- _Glasgow Herald_, report by, of case of death from chloroform, 136
-
- Glottis, closure of, during inhalation of chloroform, 234–38
-
- Glover, Dr., first experiments with chloroform, 112
-
- —— report of _post-mortem_, appearances after death from chloroform,
- 124, 125
-
- Gorré, M., on death from chloroform, 131–2
-
- Guineapigs, experiments on, with chloroform, 60–67
-
- —— experiments on, with amylene, 378–385
-
- Guthrie, Mr., method of obtaining chloric ether, 27
-
-
- H.
-
- Hall, Dr. Marshall, reference to the author, 109
-
- —— description of his “ready method”, 260–1
-
- —— his “ready method” of artificial respiration tried in fatal cases
- from chloroform, 194, 196, 197
-
- —— “ready method” applied in cases of death from amylene, 410–13
-
- Haller on influence of the blood in the heart, 223
-
- Hæmorrhage, a cause of death during inhalation of chloroform, 205,
- 282–4, 370–1
-
- —— death from, during removal of tumour from jaw, 284–5
-
- —— secondary, after operations, prevented by chloroform, 318
-
- Hæmorrhoids, operations for, under chloroform, 305–7
-
- —— why prevalent in the upper classes, 307
-
- Hard drinkers, effects of chloroform on, 57–8
-
- Hare-lip, operations for, under chloroform, 291–3
-
- Harlequin, a, note concerning, 50
-
- Harrison, Mr., observations by, in fatal case from chloroform, 175–6
-
- Hawkesley, Dr., invention of mouth-piece for an inhaler by, 83
-
- Hawkesworth, Mr. C. A., on tetanus treated with ether, 360–1
-
- Hayward, Dr., operation by, on a patient narcotized by ether, 16
-
- Head symptoms supposed as result of chloroform, 106–7
-
- —— condition of, after death by chloroform, 246
-
- Heart, diseases of, in relation to chloroform, 54
-
- —— symptoms during recovery from chloroform, 56
-
- —— fatal cases from chloroform inhalation during diseases of, 162, 165,
- 206
-
- Heart, special influence of chloroform on, in different animals,
- 112–13, 114, 117, 122
-
- —— human, special influence of chloroform upon, 115, 164
-
- —— sudden death from paralysis of, from chloroform, 131, 138, 141, 143,
- 151, 156, 165, 178–9, 181, 186, 189, 196
-
- —— condition of, during syncope, 223–5, 228
-
- —— condition of, after death, from chloroform, 246
-
- —— circulation in coronary vessels of, 262
-
- —— paralysis of, in case of death from amylene, 409, 413
-
- Hernia, strangulated, operations for, under chloroform, 304–5
-
- Herodotus on inhalation of narcotic vapours, 10, 11
-
- Hewitt, Mr. Prescott, report of fatal operation for removal of tumour
- from jaw, 282–4
-
- Hillier, Dr., report of a fatal case from chloroform, 170–2
-
- History of anæsthetics, 1, 24
-
- Hoa-tho, his use of Indian hemp for deadening pain, 4, 12
-
- Hoffberg, use of mandrake as a narcotic, 4
-
- Holmes, Mr. Thomas, on pyæmia and chloroform, 267
-
- Hooping-cough, treatment of, by chloroform, 332;
- by ether, 360
-
- Housz, Dr., oxygen inhaler of, 83
-
- Hunter, Mr. John, death of, 227
-
- Hydrocephalus, treatment of, by chloroform, 335
-
- Hysteria, influence of chloroform in, 51–2
-
- —— cases of, in which chloroform was administered, 51–2
-
- —— after chloroform, 104–7;
- after amylene, 406
-
- Hysterical paralysis and contractions treated by chloroform, 339–40
-
-
- I.
-
- Idiosyncrasy, supposed case of, 96
-
- —— supposed cause of death from chloroform, 231–2
-
- Indian hemp as a narcotic, 4
-
- —— fumes of, inhaled by Hindoos, 5
-
- Inhalation, definition of, 25;
- reasons for, 26
-
- —— agents administered by, 26;
- how to be performed, _ib._
-
- Inhalers for chloroform, description of, 81–86;
- diagram of, 82
-
- —— of M. Charrière and Duroy, 85
-
- —— of the author, use of, 86
-
- —— for ether, diagram of, 349
-
- Insanity, use of chloroform during, 57
-
- Insensibility by chloroform, a _process_, 80
-
- —— signs of, under chloroform, 87, 88
-
- —— eyelid test of, 88
-
-
- J.
-
- Jackson, Dr. Charles J., assertion of priority of application of ether
- as an anæsthetic, 16, 17
-
- Jaw, upper, removal of tumours of, under chloroform, 280–5
-
- —— lower, removal of tumours of, under chloroform, 285
-
- Jeffreys, Mr. Julius, inhaler of, 349
-
- Joints, stiff, forcible movement of, under chloroform, 303
-
- Jones, Mr., of Jersey, report of operation by, under amylene, 402–3
-
- Jorden, Mr., operation by, in fatal case from chloroform, 163
-
- Jugular, external, opened in deaths from chloroform, 151, 159, 168, 174
-
- —— value of opening the, during accidents from chloroform, 261
-
- Julien Stanislaus on Chinese medicine, 4
-
-
- K.
-
- Kittens, experiments on, with amylene, 385–6
-
- Knee, excision of, under chloroform, 280
-
- Kobelt, M., prosecution of, for fatal case from chloroform, 154
-
-
- L.
-
- Labour, cases of, in which chloroform may be used, 319–20
-
- —— consciousness need not be destroyed during, 318
-
- —— period of, for exhibition of chloroform, 320
-
- —— mode of administering chloroform during, 320–4
-
- —— use of chloroform during operations in, 324–6
-
- Labour, use of amylene during, 394–7;
- use of ether during, 359
-
- Lamballe, M. Jobert de, on use of amylene, 419
-
- Lansdown, Mr. W., on ether in midwifery, 359
-
- Laryngismus stridulus, treatment of, by chloroform, 332
-
- Laryngotomy, operation of, under chloroform, 312
-
- Lawrence, Mr., on chloric ether, 20
-
- Lefevre, Sir George, case of syncope, related by, 223
-
- Leg, amputation of, under chloroform, 277
-
- Letheon, Morton’s term for ether, 18
-
- Liebig, Dr. Justus, on analysis of chloroform or liquid chloride of
- carbon, 27
-
- —— proposed name of perchloride of formyle, 28
-
- Liégard, on deadening pain by compression, 9
-
- Ligature of arteries under chloroform, 289–91
-
- Limbs, state of, under chloroform, 89
-
- Linnets, experiments on, with ether, 352–3;
- with amylene, 381–2
-
- Lip, cancer of, operation for, under chloroform, 294
-
- Liston, Mr., first operations on patients etherized, 18
-
- —— case of fatal operation from hæmorrhage, 284
-
- Lithotomy, administration of chloroform for, 271–4
-
- Lithotrity, administration of chloroform for, 274–5
-
- Lonsdale, Miss, first patient who inhaled ether in England, 18
-
- Lopez, Dolorès, supposed death of, from ether, 369
-
- Lungs, diseases of, administration of chloroform during, 53
-
- —— condition of, after death from chloroform, 245–6
-
-
- M.
-
- Mackenzie, Dr., of Kelso, on a case of death from chloroform, 200
-
- Majer, Dr., on a fatal case from chloroform, 161
-
- Malgaigne, M., opinion of, on the case of Mdlle. Stock, 133
-
- —— case by, of death from chloroform with exhaustion, 204
-
- Mandragora, narcotic effects of, 1, 2;
- antidote for, 2
-
- Mandrake, once used as a narcotic, 4
-
- Mania, treatment of, with chloroform, 342
-
- Marshall, Mr. Peter, the author’s experiments with, 117–20
-
- —— on case of death from fright, 203
-
- Masson and Triquet, action brought against, for causing death by
- imprudent use of chloroform, 200
-
- Maygarth, Mr., on a case of death from chloroform, 147
-
- Meals, rules regarding the, before inhalation of chloroform, 75
-
- Medical cases, inhalation of chloroform in, 329–44;
- in neuralgia, 329–31;
- in spasmodic asthma, 331;
- in spasmodic croup, 331–2;
- in laryngismus stridulus, 332;
- in hooping-cough, _ib._;
- in infantile convulsions, 332–3;
- in delirium cum tremore, 333–4;
- in delirium in fever, 334–5;
- hydrocephalus, 335;
- in tetanus, 335–6;
- in epilepsy, 336–7;
- in puerperal convulsions, 337–8;
- in hysterical paralysis and contractions, 339–41;
- in mania, 342;
- in spasmodic pain, 342–3;
- in frequent and long continued use of chloroform, 343–4
-
- Medical cases, inhalation of ether in, 359–61;
- in convulsions, 359–60;
- in asthma, 360;
- in hooping-cough, 360;
- in consumption, 360;
- in tetanus, 360–1;
- in neuralgia, 361
-
- Meggison, Dr., on a case of death from chloroform, 124
-
- Meissner, A. G., sketches by, 8
-
- Menstruation, use of chloroform during, 53
-
- Mesmerism, presumed effects of, 9
-
- Mice, white, experiments on, with chloroform, 60, 61, 64, 65, 67, 68
-
- —— quickly affected by chloroform, 70
-
- —— experiments on, with ether, 350–1;
- with amylene, 386–7
-
- Miller, Prof., on modes of administering chloroform in Edinburgh, 79
-
- Modes of death in accidents from chloroform, 217
-
- Monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle, 420–3
-
- —— discovery and preparation of, 420
-
- —— chemical and physical characters of, 420–1
-
- —— supplied to author by Mr. Mason, _ib._
-
- —— administration of, by author, as an anæsthetic, 421–2;
- effects of, 421–3
-
- —— quantity inhaled to produce insensibility, 421–3
-
- Moore, Mr. James, on compression of nerves to deaden pain, 9
-
- Morbid appearances in cases of death from chloroform, 229–30
-
- Morton, Dr., first application of sulphuric ether by, for removal of
- pain; his dispute with Dr. Jackson; his claims for priority, 16–18,
- 78
-
- Morion, a kind of mandragora used before operations, 2
-
- Mouth, operations in, under chloroform, 299–300
-
-
- N.
-
- Nævi, operations on, under chloroform, 289
-
- Nails, evulsion of, under chloroform, 311
-
- Narcotics, nature of, 35
-
- Narcotism, degrees of, from chloroform, 35–43
-
- —— amount of vapour of chloroform absorbed to cause the various degrees
- of, 58–74
-
- Necrosis, operations for, under chloroform, 278–9
-
- Nerves of sensation, division of, under chloroform, 294–5
-
- Nervous system, action of chloroform upon, 44–8
-
- Neuralgia, inhalation of chloroform for relief of, 189, 329–30
-
- —— treatment of, by ether, 361
-
- Nose, operations on, under chloroform, 298–9
-
- Nunn, Mr. Roger, on case of alleged death from ether, 365
-
-
- O.
-
- Operations, surgical, author’s experience of chloroform during,
- 271–318;
- lithotomy 271–4;
- lithotrity, 274–5;
- stricture, 275–6;
- amputation of thigh, 276–7;
- amputation of leg, 277;
- amputation of arm, 277–8;
- amputation of ankle, 278;
- amputations, other, _ib._;
- for necrosis, 278–9;
- excision of head of femur, 279;
- excision of elbow, 279–30;
- excision of knee, 280;
- excision of wrist, _ib._;
- for tumours of jaw, 280–7;
- for other tumours, 287–9;
- for nævi, 289;
- ligature of arteries, 289–91;
- tumour of bone, 291;
- hare-lip, 291–3;
- cancer of lip, 294;
- division of nerves, 294–5;
- on the eye, 295–8;
- on the ear, 298;
- on the nose, 298–9;
- in the mouth, 299;
- plastic operations, 300–1;
- raising depressed skull, 301–2;
- for ununited fracture, 302;
- for dislocations, 303;
- extension of stiff joints, _ib._;
- tenotomy, _ib._;
- strangulated hernia, 304–5;
- hæmorrhoids and prolapsus, 305–7;
- fissure of anus, 307–8;
- fistula _in ano_, 308;
- ovarian tumours, 308–9;
- cancer of vagina, 310;
- rupture of perineum, _ib._;
- removal of testicle, 310–1;
- phymosis, 311;
- enlarged bursa, _ib._;
- evulsion of nails, _ib._;
- laryngotomy, 312;
- extraction of teeth, 313–18
-
- Operations, surgical, repetition of chloroform during, 97
-
- _Operations fatal_ under chloroform, 120–200
-
- —— of removing toe-nail, 123–7
-
- —— of tooth extraction, 127–30
-
- —— for fistula, 130, 132
-
- —— of opening a sinus, 131–35
-
- —— of removing middle finger, 135
-
- —— of transcurrent cauterization of wrist, 135–6
-
- —— intended, on great toe, 136
-
- —— on rectum, 136–8
-
- —— amputation of middle finger, 138–41
-
- —— amputation of a toe, 141–2
-
- —— for tooth extraction, 142–3
-
- —— for onychia of great toe, 143–5
-
- —— excision of eyeball, 145–6
-
- —— of extraction of tooth, 146–147
-
- —— intended, case not described, 147
-
- —— for removal of portion of middle finger, 147–8
-
- —— intended for hydrocele, 148–50
-
- —— detection of vesical calculus, 150–1
-
- —— for removal of portion of right hand, 151–2
-
- —— amputation below the knee, 152–3
-
- —— intended, on penis, 153–4
-
- —— for removal of testicle, _ib._
-
- —— of tooth extraction, 155–7
-
- —— for removal of fæces from rectum, 157–8
-
- —— on an aneurism, 158–60
-
- —— intended extraction of tooth, 161
-
- —— intended, for fistula _in ano_, 162–3
-
- —— application of caustic to an ulcer, 163
-
- —— removal of a tumour, 163–4
-
- —— application of nitric acid to an ulcer, 165
-
- —— removal of a tumour, _ib._;
- of perineal section, 166–70
-
- —— intended, for hernia, 170–72
-
- —— application of actual cautery, 172–4
-
- —— for extension of an anchylosed joint, 174
-
- —— to remove a lipoma, 174–5
-
- —— for reduction of a dislocation, 175–6
-
- —— removal of uterine polypus, ditto, 176–7
-
- —— removal of tumour, 177–8
-
- —— for phymosis, ditto, 178–80
-
- —— amputation of the thigh, 180–2
-
- —— intended catheterization, 182–4
-
- —— intended amputation of leg, 185–7
-
- —— intended excision of eyeball, 187–8
-
- —— for facial neuralgia, 188–9
-
- —— dental, 189–90
-
- —— removal of necrosed bone, 190–2
-
- —— removal of tumour, 192–4
-
- —— amputation of the thigh, 195–6
-
- —— application of nitric acid, 196–9
-
- —— various, details imperfect, 199–200
-
- Operations alleged fatal from chloroform, 201–212
-
- —— of intended tooth extraction, 201–3;
- on shoulder joint, 204;
- for removal of breast, _ib._;
- amputation of leg, _ib._
-
- —— for removal of tumour, 204–5
-
- Operation of lithotrity, 205–9
-
- —— for removal of tumour, 209–12
-
- Operations, the effect of chloroform on results of, 263–70
-
- —— statistics regarding, before and after chloroform, 264–9
-
- —— administration of chloroform in the different kinds of, 271–318
-
- —— performed under ether, 357–9
-
- —— in which ether is preferable to chloroform, 361
-
- —— attended with alleged death from ether, 362–9
-
- —— _under the influence of amylene_, 387–400
-
- —— of extraction of teeth, 387–9, 394
-
- —— for removal of tumours, 389–393
-
- —— for tenotomy, 389, 391–2
-
- —— for lithotomy, 389
-
- —— for resection of knee, 389–90
-
- —— for resection of head of femur, 390
-
- —— for amputation, 390–1
-
- —— on the eye, 391
-
- —— for lithotrity, 391
-
- —— for forcible extension of joints, 392
-
- —— for reduction of dislocation, 392–3
-
- —— for fistula, death from amylene during, 408–11
-
- —— for removal of tumour, death from amylene during, 411–15
-
- —— under the monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle, 421–3
-
- Oxygen gas, artificial respiration of, in case of death from
- chloroform, 144
-
-
- P.
-
- Paget, Professor, on a fatal case from chloroform, 172, 192
-
- Pain, effects of, on operations, 55
-
- Parkinson, Ann, death of, alleged from inhalation of ether, 365–8
-
- Partridge, Professor, performance of laryngotomy by, under chloroform,
- 312
-
- Parturition, use of chloroform in, 318–29
-
- —— use of amylene in, 394–7
-
- Patients, varying sensations of, under chloroform, 45–8
-
- —— susceptible to chloroform, 50
-
- —— fears of, regarding chloroform, 76
-
- Patients, treatment of, during recovery from chloroform, 99–100
-
- Pearson, Dr. Richard, use of ether by, in consumption, 14, 360
-
- Pearson, Mrs., description of a case of death from chloroform, 127–8
-
- Perinæum, operations on, under chloroform, 310
-
- Persian Pharmacopœia, recipe for a remedium odorativum somniferum, 13
-
- Phthisis pulmonalis, inhalation of chloroform during existence of, 53
-
- Phymosis, operation for, under chloroform, 311
-
- Pliny on use of mandragora in operations, 2
-
- Porta, John Baptista, on effects of the somniferous menstrua, 12
-
- Post-mortem rigidity produced by chloroform, 43
-
- —— appearances after death by chloroform, 110, 111, 124, 125, 128–9,
- 130, 132, 137, 140–41, 142, 146, 147, 148, 149–50, 152, 154–5,
- 156–7, 159–60, 161, 162, 164, 166, 168–9, 171–2, 173, 176, 177, 178,
- 179, 181, 183, 186, 188–90, 191–2, 197–8
-
- —— in cases of alleged death from chloroform, 203, 207–9, 210–12
-
- —— appearances after alleged death from ether, 363
-
- Post-mortem appearances after death from amylene, 410–11, 414
-
- Posture, sitting, supposed cause of death during inhalation of
- chloroform, 239–40
-
- Pregnancy, administration of chloroform during time of, 53
-
- Preparations for inhaling chloroform, 75
-
- Prevention of accidents from chloroform, further remarks on, 248–51
-
- Prolapsus ani, operations for, under chloroform, 305–7
-
- Propert, Mr., case of, where lithotrity was performed under chloroform
- after apoplexy, 56–7
-
- Pupils, state of, under chloroform, 93–4, 158
-
- Pulse, effect of chloroform on, 43–4, 77, 89
-
- —— before and after inhalation of chloroform, 77–8
-
-
- R.
-
- Rabbits, experiments on, with chloroform, 117
-
- Recovery from effects of chloroform, 97, 98, 99, 100
-
- Regnault, M. M. G., discovery of the monochlorurretted chloride of
- ethyle, 420
-
- Reichenbach, discovery of eupion, 377
-
- Respiration modified by chloroform vapour, 69–70
-
- —— quantity of chloroform sufficient to arrest the, 74, 115
-
- —— artificial, its use, 121
-
- —— artificial, applied in cases of death from chloroform, 139, 144,
- 150, 159, 163, 166, 167–8, 173, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187–8, 190, 191,
- 194, 196, 197, 207, 210
-
- —— artificial, value of, in accidents from chloroform, 251–7
-
- —— artificial, applied in case of death from amylene, 410, 413
-
- Richardson, Dr. B. W., on syncope, 223
-
- —— on the cause of the fluidity of the blood, 248
-
- Ricord, M., on artificial respiration in accidents from chloroform, 252
-
- Ridge, Dr. Joseph, on the death of John Hunter, 227
-
- Rigaud, M., mode of administration of amylene, 417–18
-
- Riggs, Dr., extraction of tooth for Horace Wells without pain, 15
-
- Robert, M., on a case of death from syncope, 203
-
- Roberts, Dr., reference to a death from chloroform, 200
-
- Robinson, Mr., first administered ether in England, 18
-
- —— case narrated by, 48
-
- —— on case of alleged death from chloroform, 201
-
- Robbs, Dr. William, on a case of alleged death from ether, 365–8
-
- Rudge, Mr. Henry, on treatment of puerperal convulsions with
- chloroform, 337–8
-
-
- S.
-
- Saliva, increased flow of, from chloroform, 95
-
- Sassard, Ambroise Tranquille, on narcotics before operations, 8
-
- Scythians inhaled narcotic vapours, 11
-
- Sequelæ of the inhalation of chloroform, 100–7;
- sickness, 100–3;
- faintness and depression, 103–4;
- hysteria, 104–6;
- head symptoms, 106–7
-
- Serum of blood, absorption of chloroform by, 69
-
- —— amount of, in blood, 74
-
- Sibson, Dr., experiments with, on dividing pneumogastric nerves, 58
-
- —— his mouth-piece for inhaler, 83
-
- —— treatment of neuralgia by inhalation of ether, 361
-
- —— experiments with chloroform, 119, 120
-
- Sibson, Dr., on cause of death from chloroform, 121, 122
-
- —— on blood in the heart after death, 134
-
- Sideration, 133
-
- Signs of insensibility under chloroform, 87
-
- Silliman on chloric ether as a stimulant, 27
-
- Simpson, Dr., on history of anæsthesia, 1
-
- —— his introduction of chloroform, 17
-
- —— on use of ether during parturition, 19, 359
-
- —— first administers and recommends chloroform, 21–2
-
- —— on the death of Hannah Greener, 126
-
- —— on a supposed death from chloroform, 199
-
- —— on sudden death during an operation without an anæsthetic, 245
-
- —— statistics of operations after chloroform, 264–5
-
- Sitting posture supposed cause of death during inhalation of
- chloroform, 239–40
-
- Skull, raising depressed, under chloroform, 301–2
-
- Society of Emulation of Paris, on death by chloroform, 122
-
- Solly, Mr., on a case of death from chloroform, 143–5
-
- Soubeiran, M., on analysis of chloroform, or chloric ether, 27
-
- Spasm as preceding death from chloroform, 129
-
- Spasmodic pain, treatment of, with chloroform, 342
-
- Squire, Mr., invention of an ether inhaler by, 18
-
- Stafford, Mr. Augustus, treatment of case of, 342–3
-
- Stertor under chloroform how to be met, 90
-
- St. Louis Hospital, surgeon of, on number of deaths from chloroform,
- 200
-
- Strabismus, operation for, under chloroform, 297
-
- Strength and debility in relation to effects of chloroform, 50
-
- Stricture, operations for, with chloroform, 276
-
- Struggling and rigidity under chloroform how to be met, 91, 92, 93
-
- —— and rigidity under amylene, 401–2
-
- —— exhaustion from, a supposed cause of death from chloroform, 238–9
-
- Supposed causes of death from chloroform, 228–45
-
- Surgeon’s knife, supposed effects of, during inhalation of chloroform,
- 240–3
-
- Sylvester, Dr., on anæsthetics, 7
-
- Symptoms in cases of death from chloroform, 124, 127–8, 130, 131, 135,
- 137, 139, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 153, 154, 155–6,
- 157–8, 159, 161, 162, 163, 163–4, 165, 166, 167–8, 170–1, 172–3,
- 174, 174–5, 175–6, 176–7, 177–8, 178–9, 180–1, 182–3, 185–6, 187–8,
- 189, 190, 191, 192–4, 195–6, 197
-
- —— in alleged cases of death from chloroform, 201–205, 206–7, 209–10
-
- Symptoms in fatal cases of inhalation, summary of, 212–17
-
- —— to be attended to during administration of chloroform, 249–50
-
- —— in cases of death from amylene, 409–10, 412–13
-
- Syncope sometimes prevented by chloroform, 77–8
-
- —— after chloroform, 104
-
- —— possible deaths from, independently of chloroform, 204–9, 211–12
-
- —— anæmic, distinguished from cardiac, 204;
- description of, 222–4
-
- —— the two kinds of, 222–8
-
- —— condition of heart during, 223–6
-
- —— does not commence at the brain, 223
-
- —— during disease of the heart, 227
-
- —— from mental emotion, 224–5;
- from anger, 227
-
- —— from muscular exertion, 228;
- from pain, _ib._
-
-
- T.
-
- Table of fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform, 218–22
-
- —— shewing ages of fatal cases from chloroform, 230
-
- —— Dr. Fenwick’s, on result of operations after chloroform, 270
-
- —— shewing quantity of chloroform vapour in air at various
- temperatures, 33
-
- —— relating to ether, 347–8
-
- —— shewing evaporation of amylene, 377
-
- Teeth, extraction of, under chloroform, 313–18
-
- —— number of, extracted under, 314
-
- —— extraction, mode of administering chloroform for, 315
-
- Tenotomy, performance of, under chloroform, 303–4
-
- Tetanus, use of chloroform in, 335–6
-
- —— treatment of, by inhalation of ether, 360–1
-
- Testicle, removal of, under chloroform, 310–11
-
- The administration of chloroform in the different kinds of operations,
- 271–318
-
- The inhalation of chloroform in medical cases, 329–44
-
- Theodoric on prevention of pain in operations, 5
-
- —— his directions for securing patients during operation, 7
-
- Thigh, amputation of, under chloroform, 276–7
-
- Thompson, Dr. Thomas, chloric ether, 27
-
- Tobacco smoke inhaled in Asia and Eastern parts of Europe, 12
-
- Tongue, falling back of, supposed cause of death during inhalation of
- chloroform, 245
-
- Tourdes, Professor, on amylene, 418
-
- Treatment of suspended animation from chloroform, 251–62
-
- Triquet and Masson, action brought against, for causing death by
- chloroform, 200
-
- Trismus, occurrence of, in fatal case from chloroform, 174
-
- Tumours, ovarian operations of, under chloroform, 308–10
-
- —— of upper jaw, removal of, under chloroform, 280–5
-
- —— of lower jaw under chloroform, 285
-
- —— of the female breast, removal of, under chloroform, 285–7
-
- —— other, removal of, under chloroform, 287–9
-
- —— of bone, removal of, under chloroform, 291
-
- Turner, Professor, experiments on inhalation of ether vapour, 16
-
-
- U.
-
- Uvula, titillation of, practised in an accident from chloroform, 257
-
-
- V.
-
- Vagina, cancer of, operations on, under chloroform, 310
-
- Valentin, M., on amount of blood in the body, 73
-
- Vapour of chloroform, amount of, absorbed to cause the various degrees
- of narcotism, 58–74
-
- —— absorption of, by fluids, laws which govern the, 59
-
- —— absorption of, in the lungs, formula for expressing quantity of, 59
-
- Venesection tried in fatal cases from chloroform, 151, 159, 168, 174
-
- —— value of, in accidents from chloroform, 261
-
- Vomiting caused by chloroform, 74, 100–3
-
- —— prevention of a treatment, 75, 101
-
- —— after inhalation of ether, 361
-
- —— rarity of, from amylene, 406–7
-
-
- W.
-
- Wakley, Mr. Thomas, experiments by, 122
-
- Waldie, Mr., on chloroform, 17, 21–2
-
- Warren, Dr. J. C., operation by, on a patient narcotized by ether, 16
-
- —— report of death of Patrick Coyle from chloroform, 130
-
- —— report of death of John Griffith from chloroform, 136–8
-
- Water, application of, during accidents from chloroform, 258
-
- —— bath of chloroform inhaler, uses of, 84
-
- Watson, Dr., on dentistry and longevity, 313
-
- Waugh, Mr., on a mouth-piece inhaler, 83
-
- Wells, Mr. Horace, on effects of nitrous oxyde, 14, 15
-
- Wilks, Dr., report of post-mortem after death from chloroform, 186
-
- Willis, Dr. Robert, on treatment of hooping-cough by inhalation of
- ether, 360
-
- Wilson, Dr., Lumleian lectures of, 73
-
- Wine of mandragora given before operations, 2
-
- Woodville, Dr., on use of mandragora, 3
-
- Wrist, excision of, under chloroform, 280
-
-
- T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN’S INN.
-
------
-
-Footnote 1:
-
- Messrs. Maule and Polyblank have an excellent photographic portrait of
- Dr. Snow in their “Scientific Portrait Gallery” series. Mr. Empson has
- also a bust, which has been greatly admired for its correctness and
- for its superiority as an artistic work.
-
-Footnote 2:
-
- Dr. Murchison, who with Dr. Budd rendered Dr. Snow all that able
- assistance which the best of medicine can offer, has kindly given me
- several particulars in regard to the fatal illness, which I embody in
- the text, with many thanks.
-
-Footnote 3:
-
- Dr. Murchison has also given me an outline of the _post-mortem_
- appearances, which is subjoined. “The _post-mortem_ examination
- revealed slight white softening, only detectable by the microscope, in
- the right corpus striatum and optic thalamus, and fatty degeneration
- of the minute cerebral vessels. The heart was slightly fatty, but
- there was no valvular disease, nor atheromatous disease of aorta. The
- lungs were congested, and showed marked evidence of old disease at the
- apices. Both the kidneys were much contracted and granular, with
- numerous cysts, the right organ being almost entirely converted into
- cysts; with the uriniferous tubes either denuded, or containing
- granular disintegrating epithelium. There was distinct cicatrix of an
- old ulcer in duodenum, and the stomach was much congested, with
- numerous hæmorrhagic spots.”
-
-Footnote 4:
-
- See Monthly Journal of Med. Sc., vol. viii, p. 452.
-
-Footnote 5:
-
- Liber iv, cap. 76.?
-
-Footnote 6:
-
- Loc. cit.
-
-Footnote 7:
-
- Natural. Hist., lib. xxv, cap. 13.
-
-Footnote 8:
-
- De Herbarum Virtutibus, cap. 131.
-
-Footnote 9:
-
- Medical Botany, p. 236.
-
-Footnote 10:
-
- De Causis Morb. Diut., lib. i, cap. 6.
-
-Footnote 11:
-
- De Morbis Acutis, lib. i, cap. 4.
-
-Footnote 12:
-
- Vet. Acad. Handl., 1763, vol. xxiv, p. 229.
-
-Footnote 13:
-
- Comptes Rendus de l’Acad. de Sc., t. xxviii, 1849, p. 195.
-
-Footnote 14:
-
- See Herodotus, book iv, 73–5.
-
-Footnote 15:
-
- Lib. iv, cap. 8.
-
-Footnote 16:
-
- Med. Gaz., vol. xli, p. 515.
-
-Footnote 17:
-
- Observations sur la Physique, tome xvi (1780), p. 256.
-
-Footnote 18:
-
- Method of preventing or diminishing Pain in several Operations of
- Surgery. Lond. 1784.
-
-Footnote 19:
-
- Gazette des Hôpitaux, 1st April, 1854.
-
-Footnote 20:
-
- Hypnotism is the term employed by Mr. Braid of Manchester for the
- peculiar sleep produced by the Mesmerists.
-
-Footnote 21:
-
- Record of Cases treated in the Mesmeric Hospital. Calcutta, 1848.
-
-Footnote 22:
-
- Cary’s Herodotus, book i, 202.
-
-Footnote 23:
-
- Book iv, 73–5.
-
-Footnote 24:
-
- Liber viii, cap. 1.
-
-Footnote 25:
-
- Translated into Latin by Father Angelus, Paris, 1681, p. 21.
-
-Footnote 26:
-
- P. 287.
-
-Footnote 27:
-
- P. 88.
-
-Footnote 28:
-
- See Medicinal Use of Different Kinds of Airs, by Dr. Pearson.
- Birmingham, 1795.
-
-Footnote 29:
-
- Researches concerning Nitrous Oxide, p. 556.
-
-Footnote 30:
-
- See 32nd Congress, 2nd Session [Senate] Rep. Com. No. 421, p. 17.
-
-Footnote 31:
-
- Vol. iv, p. 158.
-
-Footnote 32:
-
- A Defence of Dr. Charles T. Jackson’s Claims to the Discovery of
- Etherization. Boston, 1848.
-
-Footnote 33:
-
- The Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether in Surgical Operations. By John
- Snow, M.D. 1847.
-
-Footnote 34:
-
- Pharmaceutical Journal, Feb. 1847, p. 357; and Med. Gaz., 1847, vol.
- xl, p. 939.
-
-Footnote 35:
-
- Quoted in Med. Gaz., 1847, vol. xl, p. 1153.
-
-Footnote 36:
-
- Lancet, Nov. 27, 1847, p. 575; and Med. Gaz., 1847, vol. xl, p. 1031.
-
-Footnote 37:
-
- Dr. Pereira in Pharmaceutical Journal, March 1846, vol. v, No. 9.
-
-Footnote 38:
-
- Silliman’s American Journal of Science and Art, vol. xxi, p. 64, Jan.
- 1832.
-
-Footnote 39:
-
- Ann. de Chim. et de Physique, t. xlviii, p. 131.
-
-Footnote 40:
-
- Ibid., t. xlix, p. 146.
-
-Footnote 41:
-
- Ibid., t. lvi, p. 134.
-
-Footnote 42:
-
- Formic acid is so named because it was originally obtained from the
- red ant (_Formica rufa_). It is now made from starch.
-
-Footnote 43:
-
- Turner’s Chemistry, 8th ed., p. 1009.
-
-Footnote 44:
-
- Nearly all the chloroform used in Great Britain and her colonies is
- made in Edinburgh, where the spirit duty is lower than in England. The
- London druggists have almost ceased to make it, as they find it
- cheaper to get it from the trade in Edinburgh.
-
-Footnote 45:
-
- The Edinburgh druggists suffered a great loss in 1850 from purifying
- their chloroform in this way on the recommendation of Dr. Gregory, who
- was not aware of the consequences, although they had been stated by
- Dumas (_Ann. de Chim. et de Physique_, t. lvi, p. 117).
-
-Footnote 46:
-
- I have seen some specimens of chloroform that left a white,
- limy-looking stain on the hand, which I believe was a minute quantity
- of crystalline chloride of carbon. These specimens were
- unobjectionable for all practical purposes, and had the merit of
- keeping remarkably well.
-
-Footnote 47:
-
- See Med. Gaz., vol. xl, p. 1092.
-
-Footnote 48:
-
- Dr. Letheby in Med. Gaz., vol. xlvi, p. 1037.
-
-Footnote 49:
-
- Lancet, Feb. 12, 1848.
-
-Footnote 50:
-
- Since the above was written, I have met with an instance in which the
- pulse was only 40 in the minute, as the effects of the chloroform were
- subsiding. There was neither sickness nor loss of blood. The case was
- that of a gentleman in good general health, who inhaled chloroform
- whilst Mr. Brodhurst endeavoured to make forcible flexion of the femur
- on the pelvis. He woke without any unpleasant symptoms, and the pulse
- resumed its natural frequency.
-
-Footnote 51:
-
- Gazette des Hôpitaux, 20 Mars, 1847.
-
-Footnote 52:
-
- Medical Gazette, vol. xli-ii.
-
-Footnote 53:
-
- According to Professor Miller, chloroform was given, at one time, in
- the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, in a somewhat slovenly, and not very
- cleanly manner; he describes the means of applying it as, “anything
- that will admit of chloroform in vapour being brought fully in contact
- with the mouth and nostrils; a handkerchief, a towel, a piece of lint,
- a _worsted glove_, a _nightcap_, a sponge.” He says, “In the winter
- season, the _glove_ of a clerk, _dresser_, or onlooker, has been not
- unfrequently pressed into the service.... The object is to produce
- insensibility as completely and as _soon_ as we can; and there is no
- saying, _à priori_, whether this is to be accomplished by _fifty_
- drops or _five hundred_. We begin with generally two or three drachms
- _spilt_ on the handkerchief or lint; and we refresh that, or not, from
- time to time, as circumstances require.” _Surgical Experience of
- Chloroform_, Edin., 1848, pp. 16 and 17. The italics are not in the
- original.
-
-Footnote 54:
-
- Curious arguments are sometimes used in support of the idea of
- peculiarities and idiosyncrasies. A medical man informed me, one day,
- that he had seen a patient inhale an ounce of chloroform without any
- effect. I expressed my opinion that if she had taken the vapour of one
- drachm into her lungs within four minutes, or the vapour of a little
- more than half a drachm within two minutes, she would have been
- insensible; and that the chloroform had mostly evaporated into the
- room, without entering the patient’s lungs. Then, he said, it would
- have made all of us insensible. Now to charge the air of a moderate
- sized room of twenty feet square and ten feet high, uniformly with
- only a grain and a half of chloroform to each hundred cubic inches, so
- that, if all the crevices were closed, a person inside might, in
- course of time, absorb about eighteen minims of the medicine, and be
- rendered insensible, would require nearly fifteen pounds of
- chloroform.
-
-Footnote 55:
-
- The increase of effects of chloroform after the inhalation is
- discontinued, was pointed out by Prof. Sédillot of Strasbourg and
- myself almost simultaneously. I explained the circumstance in a paper
- read to the Westminster Medical Society, on January 8th, 1848, and M.
- Sédillot announced it to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, on January
- 10th. My remarks were published in the _Medical Gazette_ of January
- 14th, and those of M. Sédillot in the _Gazette Médicale_ of January
- 15th.
-
-Footnote 56:
-
- I have reason to conclude that the increased secretion of saliva is
- caused, not so much by the action of the chloroform on the mucous
- membrane of the mouth, and the extremities of the gland ducts, as by
- its action on the capillary circulation of the glands themselves; for
- on inhaling the vapour carefully by the nostrils, so that none enters
- the mouth, I still find that there is an increased secretion of
- saliva.
-
-Footnote 57:
-
- London Journal of Medicine, April 1852.
-
- In one of the latest communications of Dr. Marshall Hall to the
- _Lancet_, he did me the honour to quote the account of the three
- following experiments, together with some accompanying remarks from
- the _London Journal of Medicine_, and to make the following
- observation respecting the pages from which he quoted.
-
- “I have no hesitation in affirming that the first three pages of this
- paper are amongst the most able and valuable in physiology, and I beg
- to be allowed to reproduce them in the pages of the _Lancet_.”
- (_Lancet_, April 18th, 1857, p. 397.)
-
-Footnote 58:
-
- Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. lviii.
-
-Footnote 59:
-
- Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xlii, p. 414.
-
-Footnote 60:
-
- London Journal of Medicine, April, 1852.
-
-Footnote 61:
-
- London Medical Gazette, vol. xlii, 1848, p. 109.
-
-Footnote 62:
-
- On the Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether, p. 82.
-
-Footnote 63:
-
- Medical Gazette, vol. xlii, p. 415.
-
-Footnote 64:
-
- See l’Union Médicale, 1855, No. 13.
-
-Footnote 65:
-
- London Medical Gazette, vol. xli, p. 255.
-
-Footnote 66:
-
- Opus cit., p. 253.
-
-Footnote 67:
-
- Opus cit., p. 341.
-
-Footnote 68:
-
- London Medical Gazette, vol. xli, p. 75.
-
-Footnote 69:
-
- London Medical Gazette, vol. xlii, p. 80, from Western Lancet, and
- Phil. Med. Exam. April 1848.
-
-Footnote 70:
-
- Vol. xliii, p. 682.
-
-Footnote 71:
-
- Gazette Médicale, 8 Juillet, 1848; and London Medical Gazette, vol.
- xlii, p. 211.
-
-Footnote 72:
-
- Proceedings of Academy on Feb. 6th, 1849. See London Journal of Med.,
- 1849, p. 307.
-
-Footnote 73:
-
- London Journal of Medicine, 1849, p. 324.
-
-Footnote 74:
-
- Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xliii, p. 694.
-
-Footnote 75:
-
- London Med. Gaz., vol. xlii, p. 84.
-
-Footnote 76:
-
- Bouisson, Traité de la Méthode Anesthésique, p. 398.
-
-Footnote 77:
-
- London Med. Gaz., vol. xliii, p. 41.
-
-Footnote 78:
-
- Ibid., p. 712.
-
-Footnote 79:
-
- Ibid., p. 747, from l’Union Médicale.
-
-Footnote 80:
-
- Lancet, 1849, vol. i, p. 205.
-
-Footnote 81:
-
- L’Union Médicale, Sept. 8th, 1849; and Med. Gaz., vol. xliv, p. 478.
-
-Footnote 82:
-
- Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xliv, p. 757.
-
-Footnote 83:
-
- Journal of Prov. Med. and Surg. Assoc., 1849, p. 698.
-
-Footnote 84:
-
- Casper’s Wochenschrift, Jan. 12, 1850; and Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xlv,
- p. 483.
-
-Footnote 85:
-
- Edin. Monthly Journal, April 1850, p. 377.
-
-Footnote 86:
-
- Hygiea, October 1850, p. 602.
-
-Footnote 87:
-
- Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xlvi, p. 39.
-
-Footnote 88:
-
- Lancet, 1850, vol. ii, p. 21.
-
-Footnote 89:
-
- L’Union Médicale, January 29, 1852.
-
-Footnote 90:
-
- Medical Times, 1851, vol. ii, p. 98.
-
-Footnote 91:
-
- Medical Times, 1851, vol. ii, p. 620.
-
-Footnote 92:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, vol. i, p. 293.
-
-Footnote 93:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, p. 318.
-
-Footnote 94:
-
- See a clinical lecture by Mr. Stanley, Med. Times, Nov. 22, 1851.
-
-Footnote 95:
-
- Gaz. Médicale, 1852, p. 630, from Medicinisches Correspondenz Blatt.
-
-Footnote 96:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, 1852, vol. ii, p. 531.
-
-Footnote 97:
-
- Monthly Journal of Med., vol. xv, 1852, p. 377.
-
-Footnote 98:
-
- Lancet, 1853, vol. i, p. 21.
-
-Footnote 99:
-
- Lancet, 1853, vol. i, p. 307.
-
-Footnote 100:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 47.
-
-Footnote 101:
-
- Monthly Journal, Nov. 1853, p. 427.
-
-Footnote 102:
-
- Since writing the above, I have noted by the watch the time which a
- surgeon occupied in shaving the perinæum before the operation of
- lithotomy; it was twelve seconds.
-
-Footnote 103:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, 1853, vol. ii, p. 422.
-
-Footnote 104:
-
- Medical Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 449.
-
-Footnote 105:
-
- Ibid., p. 450.
-
-Footnote 106:
-
- Edin. Monthly Jour., vol. xix, 1854, p. 372.
-
-Footnote 107:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1854, vol. i, p. 19, from Med. Zeitung von den
- Vercine für Heilkunde in Preussen, No. 44, Berlin, Nov. 2, 1853.
-
-Footnote 108:
-
- Association Med. Jour., 1854, p. 109.
-
-Footnote 109:
-
- L’Union Médicale, 1854, p. 171.
-
-Footnote 110:
-
- Ibid., p. 187.
-
-Footnote 111:
-
- Association Medical Journal, 1854, p. 315.
-
-Footnote 112:
-
- Medical Times, 1854, vol. i, p. 572.
-
-Footnote 113:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, 1854, vol. ii, p. 86.
-
-Footnote 114:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1854, vol. ii, p. 390.
-
-Footnote 115:
-
- Ibid., p. 442.
-
-Footnote 116:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1854, vol. ii, p. 501.
-
-Footnote 117:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, 1855, vol. i, p. 363.
-
-Footnote 118:
-
- Edin. Med. Jour., 1855, p. 524.
-
-Footnote 119:
-
- 1855, vol. ii, p. 479.
-
-Footnote 120:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, 1856, vol. ii, p. 442.
-
-Footnote 121:
-
- Association Med. Jour., 1856, p. 903.
-
-Footnote 122:
-
- Medical Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. i, p. 236.
-
-Footnote 123:
-
- Lancet, 1857, vol. i, p. 429.
-
-Footnote 124:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1857, vol. ii, p. 171.
-
-Footnote 125:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1852, vol. i, p. 627.
-
-Footnote 126:
-
- Gaz. Médicale, 1853, p. 304.
-
-Footnote 127:
-
- Lancet, 1848, vol. ii, p. 47.
-
-Footnote 128:
-
- Bouisson, Méthode Anesthésique, p. 398.
-
-Footnote 129:
-
- Casper’s Wochenschrift, September 6, 1850; and London Med. Gaz. vol.
- xlvii, p. 261.
-
-Footnote 130:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, 1854, vol. i, p. 516.
-
-Footnote 131:
-
- Ibid., p. 517.
-
-Footnote 132:
-
- Chloroform: How shall we ensure Safety in its Administration?
- Pamphlet. London: 1855.
-
-Footnote 133:
-
- See some interesting papers on the value of recumbent position in
- syncope, by Dr. Richardson, in the _Association Medical Journal_ for
- 1854. I entirely agree with Dr. Richardson that no kind of syncope
- commences at the brain, and that, during recovery, the heart always
- resumes its functions before consciousness is restored. The
- restoration of the heart’s action in ordinary syncope by the re-supply
- of blood to its cavities, without any alteration in the condition of
- the brain, was well proved by Dr. Richardson by means of some
- interesting experiments on animals which I had the opportunity of
- witnessing.
-
-Footnote 134:
-
- Oration before the Hunterian Society. Pamphlet, 1855.
-
-Footnote 135:
-
- Hydrochloric acid gas and ammonia are no exceptions to this rule, for
- they cease to exist as gases so soon as they come in contact with the
- moist lining membrane of the air-passages. Carbonic acid gas will be
- treated of in another part of this work.
-
-Footnote 136:
-
- See Med. Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 562.
-
-Footnote 137:
-
- See above, p. 75.
-
-Footnote 138:
-
- Edin. Monthly Jour., 1853, vol. xvii, p. 220.
-
-Footnote 139:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1852, vol. i, p. 627.
-
-Footnote 140:
-
- L’Union Médicale, 1850, p. 411.
-
-Footnote 141:
-
- Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xliii, p. 230.
-
-Footnote 142:
-
- Medical Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. ii, p. 413.
-
-Footnote 143:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. ii, p. 478.
-
-Footnote 144:
-
- Ib., 1857, vol. i, p. 559.
-
-Footnote 145:
-
- Page 648.
-
-Footnote 146:
-
- Practical Surgery, 3rd ed., p. 682.
-
-Footnote 147:
-
- I never allow of a cork or any such substance being put into a
- patient’s mouth when insensible unless it is well tied to a string,
- lest it should be swallowed.
-
-Footnote 148:
-
- Fourth edit., vol. ii, p. 467.
-
-Footnote 149:
-
- It was made by Mr. Matthews, Portugal Street. It was not contrived by
- me.
-
-Footnote 150:
-
- London Journal of Medicine, vol. i, pp. 54, 976.
-
-Footnote 151:
-
- See Medical Times and Gaz., 1855, vol. i, p. 361.
-
-Footnote 152:
-
- Dr. Watson defends the original name of this complaint, delirium
- tremens. He says:—“But they who object to _delirium tremens_ appear to
- see no harm in delirium ferox: whereas it is just as incorrect to say
- _delirium_ is fierce, as to say that it trembles: it is the patient
- who is furious, even as it is the patient who trembles.” Now, in
- speaking of a patient, we may speak either of his mind or his body: we
- may say that a person is learned, or that he is fat. A patient may be
- fierce on account of the kind of delirium with which his mind is
- affected, and the term ferox applies both to him and the complaint;
- but the act of trembling affects only his body.
-
-Footnote 153:
-
- Med. Gaz., vol. xli, 1848, p. 102.
-
-Footnote 154:
-
- Association Med. Jour., 1853, p. 706.
-
-Footnote 155:
-
- See Med. Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 412.
-
-Footnote 156:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1857, vol. ii, p. 553, and 600.
-
-Footnote 157:
-
- Med. Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. ii, p. 528.
-
-Footnote 158:
-
- Brande’s Chemistry, 5th ed., p. 1274.
-
-Footnote 159:
-
- Lond. Med. Gaz., Feb. 1842.
-
-Footnote 160:
-
- On the Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether in Surgical Operations.
- London, 1847.
-
-Footnote 161:
-
- Papers on Narcotism by Inhalation. Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xli-ii.
-
-Footnote 162:
-
- Lancet, Jan. 1, 1848.
-
-Footnote 163:
-
- Vol. xxxix, p. 271.
-
-Footnote 164:
-
- Medical Gazette, vol. xxxix, p. 358.
-
-Footnote 165:
-
- Gaz. Médicale, Mars 4, 1848, p. 170.
-
-Footnote 166:
-
- Gaz. des Hôpitaux, Juin 18, 1853.
-
-Footnote 167:
-
- Medical Gazette, vol. xxxix, p. 414.
-
-Footnote 168:
-
- Ibid., vol. xxxix, p. 585.
-
-Footnote 169:
-
- Medical Gazette, vol. xxxix, p. 631.
-
-Footnote 170:
-
- Méthode Anesthésique, p. 394.
-
-Footnote 171:
-
- American Journal of Med. Science, July 1857, p. 284.
-
-Footnote 172:
-
- Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 3ème série, tom. xii, p. 320.
-
-Footnote 173:
-
- 15, Hanover Street, Hanover Square.
-
-Footnote 174:
-
- Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique, t. lii, p. 312.
-
-Footnote 175:
-
- L’Union Médicale, p. 175.
-
-Footnote 176:
-
- Less than an ounce of amylene was poured out, and it was not all used.
-
-Footnote 177:
-
- Medical Times and Gazette, 1857, vol. i, p. 84.
-
-Footnote 178:
-
- British Medical Journal, March 28th, 1857.
-
-Footnote 179:
-
- Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique, t. lii, p. 223.
-
-Footnote 180:
-
- Gazette Hebdomadaire, 1857, p. 164.
-
-Footnote 181:
-
- In the act of writing this last sentence, Dr. Snow was seized with his
- fatal illness. The sentence required, however, but the addition of a
- word or two, to render it complete.—[EDITOR.]
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- _London, New Burlington Street,
- September, 1858._
-
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-
- MR. CHURCHILL’S
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- IN
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- MEDICINE, SURGERY,
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-[Illustration]
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- by FORBES WINSLOW, M.D. Price 3_s._ 6_d._ Nos. I. to XI. _New Series._
-
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-
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-
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- Empire.
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-
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-
-
- A CLASSIFIED INDEX
-
- TO
-
- MR. CHURCHILL’S CATALOGUE.
-
-
- ANATOMY.
- PAGE
- Anatomical Remembrancer 1003
- Beale on Liver 1005
- Hassall’s Micros. Anatomy 1014
- Holden’s Human Osteology 1015
- Jones’ and Sieveking’s Pathological Anatomy 1017
- Maclise’s Surgical Anatomy 1019
- Paget’s Catalogue 1021
- Sibson’s Medical Anatomy 1025
- Toynbee’s Catalogue 1028
- Wheeler’s Handbook 1030
- Wilson’s Anatomy 1031
-
-
- CHEMISTRY.
-
- Abel & Bloxam’s Handbook 1004
- Bowman’s Practical Chemistry 1007
- Do. Medical do. 1007
- Chalmers’ Electro-Chemistry 1008
- Fownes’ Manual of Chemistry 1012
- Do. Actonian Prize 1012
- Do. Qualitative Analysis 1012
- Do. Chemical Tables 1012
- Fresenius’ Chemical Analysis 1012
- Galloway’s First Step 1012
- Do. Analysis 1012
- Do. Diagrams 1012
- Griffiths’ Four Seasons 1013
- Horsley’s Chem. Philosophy 1016
- Jones.—Mulder on Wine 1017
- Odling’s Practical Chemistry 1021
- Plattner on Blowpipe 1022
- Speer’s Pathol. Chemistry 1026
-
-
- CHOLERA.
-
- Acland on Cholera at Oxford 1003
- Baly and Gull—Reports 1004
- Snow on Cholera 1026
-
-
- CLIMATE.
-
- Francis on Change of Climate 1012
- Hall on Torquay 1014
- Haviland on Climate 1014
- Lee on Climate 1018
- Martin on the Undercliff 1019
- Martin (J. R.) on Tropical 1020
-
-
- DEFORMITIES, &c.
-
- Bigg on Deformities 1006
- Bishop on Deformities 1006
- Do. Articulate Sounds 1006
- Brodhurst on Spine 1007
- Do. on Clubfoot 1007
- Hare on Spine 1014
- Hugman on Hip-Joint 1016
- Inman on Spine 1016
- Tamplin on Spine 1027
-
-
- DENTISTRY.
-
- Blundell’s Painless Extraction 1007
- Clark’s Odontalgist 1009
- Gray on the Teeth 1013
- Odontological Soc. Transactions 1021
-
-
- DISEASES of the URINARY and GENERATIVE ORGANS, and
- SYPHILIS.
-
- Acton on Reproductive Organs 1003
- Coote on Syphilis 1009
- Coulson on Bladder 1010
- Do. on Lithotomy 1010
- Egan on Syphilis 1011
- Judd on Syphilis 1017
- Milton on Gonorrhœa 1020
- Parker on Syphilis 1022
- Todd on Urinary Organs 1028
- Wilson on Syphilis 1031
-
-
- DISEASES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
-
- Bennet on Uterus 1005
- Do. on Uterine Pathology 1005
- Bird on Children 1006
- Brown on Women 1007
- Do. on Scarlatina 1007
- Eyre’s Practical Remarks 1011
- Hood on Crowing 1016
- Lee’s Ovarian & Uterine Diseases 1018
- Lee on Diseases of Uterus 1018
- Do. on Speculum 1018
- Roberton on Women 1024
- Rowe on Females 1024
- Smith on Leucorrhœa 1025
- Tilt on Diseases of Women 1027
- Do. on Change of Life 1027
- Underwood on Children 1028
- West on Women 1029
- Whitehead on Abortion 1030
-
-
- HYGIENE.
-
- Armstrong on Naval Hygiene 1003
- Beale’s Laws of Health 1004
- Do. Health and Diseases 1004
- Blundell’s Medicina Mechanica 1006
- Carter on Training 1008
- Cornaro on Long Life 1009
- Hartwig on Sea Bathing 1014
- Do. Physical Education 1014
- Hufeland’s Art 1016
- Lee’s Watering Places of England 1018
- Do. do. Germany, France, and Switzerland 1018
- Lee’s Rhenish Watering Places 1018
- Pickford on Hygiene 1022
- Robertson on Diet 1024
- Roth on Movements 1024
- Rumsey’s State Medicine 1024
- Van Oven’s Decline of Life 1029
- Wilson on Healthy Skin 1031
- Do. on Mineral Waters 1031
-
-
- MATERIA MEDICA and PHARMACY.
-
- Bateman’s Magnacopia 1004
- Beasley’s Formulary 1005
- Do. Receipt-Book 1005
- Do. Book of Prescriptions 1005
- Lane’s Materia Medica 1017
- Pereira’s Selecta e Præscriptis 1022
- Pharmacopœia Londinensis 1022
- Prescriber’s Pharmacopœia 1023
- Royle’s Materia-Medica 1024
- Spurgin’s Materia Medica 1026
- Squire’s Pharmacopœia 1026
- Steggall’s Materia Medica 1026
- Do. First Lines for Chemists 1026
- Stowe’s Toxicological Chart 1027
- Taylor on Poisons 1027
- Wittstein’s Pharmacy 1031
-
-
- MEDICINE.
-
- Adams on Rheumatic Gout 1004
- Addison on Supra-Renal Capsules 1004
- Addison on Cells 1003
- Alexander on Rheumatism 1003
- Arnott on a Local Anæsthenic 1003
- Barclay on Diagnosis 1005
- Barlow’s Practice of Medicine 1004
- Beale on Urine 1005
- Billing’s First Principles 1005
- Bird’s Urinary Deposits 1006
- Bird on Charcoal 1006
- Brinton on Ulcer 1007
- Budd on the Liver 1007
- Do. on Stomach 1007
- Camplin on Diabetes 1008
- Chambers on Digestion 1008
- Davey’s Ganglionic 1010
- Eyre on Stomach 1011
- Fuller on Rheumatism 1012
- Gairdner on Gout 1012
- Garrett on E. and N. E. Winds 1012
- Granville on Sudden Death 1013
- Gully’s Simple Treatment 1013
- Habershon on Stomach 1013
- Hall on Apnœa 1014
- Hall’s Observations 1014
- Harrison on Lead in Water 1014
- Headland on Medicines 1015
- Hooper’s Medical Dictionary 1016
- Hooper’s Physician’s Vademecum 1013
- Jones’ Animal Chemistry 1017
- Lugol on Scrofula 1019
- Peacock on Influenza 1022
- Do. on Heart 1022
- Pym on Yellow Fever 1023
- Roberts on Palsy 1024
- Robertson on Gout 1024
- Savory’s Compendium 1024
- Semple on Cough 1025
- Shaw’s Remembrancer 1025
- Steggall’s Medical Manual 1026
- Do. Gregory’s Conspectus 1026
- Do. Celsus 1026
- Thomas’ Practice of Physic 1027
- Wegg’s Observations 1029
- Wells on Gout 1030
- What to Observe 1019
- Whitehead on Transmission 1030
- Williams’ Principles 1030
- Wright on Headaches 1030
-
-
- MICROSCOPE.
-
- Beale on Microscope in Medicine 1005
- Do. How to Work 1005
- Carpenter on Microscope 1008
- Schacht on do. 1025
-
-
- MISCELLANEOUS.
-
- Acton on Prostitution 1003
- Atkinson’s Bibliography 1004
- Bascome on Epidemics 1005
- Bryce on Sebastopol 1008
- Cooley’s Cyclopædia 1009
- Forbes’ Nature and Art in Disease 1011
- Gully on Water Cure 1013
- Guy’s Hospital Reports 1013
- Haycock’s Veterinary 1015
- Lane’s Hydropathy 1018
- Marcet on Food 1019
- Massy on Recruits 1020
- Oxford Editions 1021
- Part’s Case Book 1022
- Pettigrew on Superstitions 1022
-
-
- NERVOUS DISEASES AND INDIGESTION.
-
- Anderson on Nervous Affections 1004
- Arnott on Indigestion 1003
- Carter on Hysteria 1008
- Child on Indigestion 1008
- Downing on Neuralgia 1011
- Hunt on Heartburn 1016
- Lobb on Nervous Affections 1019
- Radcliffe on Epilepsy 1023
- Reynolds on the Brain 1023
- Rowe on Nervous Diseases 1024
- Sieveking on Epilepsy 1025
- Todd on Nervous System 1028
- Turnbull on Stomach 1028
-
-
- OBSTETRICS.
-
- Barnes on Placenta Prævia 1004
- Lee’s Clinical Midwifery 1018
- Pretty’s Aids during Labour 1023
- Ramsbotham’s Obstetrics 1023
- Do. Midwifery 1023
- Smellie’s Obstetric Plates 1025
- Smith’s Manual of Obstetrics 1025
- Do. Periodoscope 1025
- Swayne’s Aphorisms 1026
- Waller’s Midwifery 1029
-
-
- OPHTHALMOLOGY.
-
- Cooper on Near Sight 1009
- Dalrymple on Eye 1010
- Dixon on the Eye 1011
- Hogg on Ophthalmoscope 1015
- Holthouse on Strabismus 1015
- Do. on Impaired Vision 1015
- Jacob on Eye-ball 1016
- Jones’ Ophthalmic Medicine 1017
- Do. Defects of Sight 1017
- Do. Eye and Ear 1017
- Walton on Ophthalmic 1029
-
-
- PHYSIOLOGY.
-
- Carpenter’s Human 1008
- Do. Comparative 1008
- Do. Manual 1008
- Cottle’s Human 1010
- Hilton on the Cranium 1015
- Richardson on Coagulation 1023
-
-
- PSYCHOLOGY.
-
- Bucknill and Tuke’s Psychological Medicine 1007
- Burgess on Madness 1007
- Burnett on Insanity 1009
- Conolly on Asylums 1009
- Davey on Nature of Insanity 1010
- Dunn’s Physiological Psychology 1011
- Hood on Criminal Lunatics 1016
- Jacobi on Hospitals, by Tuke 1028
- Knaggs on Criminal Lunatics 1017
- Millingen on Treatment of Insane 1020
- Monro on Insanity 1020
- Do. Private Asylums 1020
- Noble on Psychology 1020
- Do. on Mind 1020
- Williams (J.) on Insanity 1030
- Williams (J. H.) Unsoundness of Mind 1030
- Winslow’s Lettsomian 1031
- Do. Law of Lunacy 1031
-
-
- PULMONARY and CHEST DISEASES, &c.
-
- Addison on Healthy and Diseased Structure 1003
- Billing on Lungs and Heart 1005
- Blakiston on the Chest 1006
- Bright on the Chest 1007
- Cotton on Consumption 1010
- Do. on Stethoscope 1010
- Davies on Lungs and Heart 1011
- Fenwick on Consumption 1011
- Laennec on Auscultation 1017
- Madden on Consumption 1019
- Markham on Heart 1020
- Richardson on Consumption 1023
- Skoda on Auscultation 1019
- Thompson on Consumption 1027
- Wardrop on the Heart 1029
- Weber on Auscultation 1029
-
-
- SCIENCE.
-
- Bird’s Natural Philosophy 1006
- Burnett’s Philosophy of Spirits 1008
- Garner’s Eutherapeia 1013
- Hardwich’s Photography 1014
- Hinds’ Harmonies 1015
- Holland on Appendages 1015
- Jago on Ocular Spectres 1016
- Jones on Vision 1017
- Do. on Body, Sense, and Mind 1017
- Mayne’s Lexicon 1019
- Price’s Photographic Manipulation 1023
- Nourse’s Students’ Tables 1021
- Reymond’s Animal Electricity 1023
- Taylor’s Medical Jurisprudence 1027
- Vestiges of Creation 1028
- Sequel to ditto 1028
- Unger’s Botanical Letters 1028
-
-
- SURGERY.
-
- Arnott on Urethra 1003
- Ashton on Rectum 1004
- Bellingham on Aneurism 1006
- Bigg on Artificial Limbs 1006
- Bishop on Bones 1006
- Chapman on Ulcers 1009
- Do. Varicose Veins 1009
- Cooper (Sir A.) on Testis 1010
- Cooper’s (B.) Surgery 1009
- Do. (S.) Surg. Dictionary 1009
- Curling on Rectum 1010
- Do. on Testis 1010
- Druitt’s Surgery 1011
- Fergusson’s Surgery 1011
- Gay on Femoral Rupture 1013
- Do. on Ulcers 1013
- Harrison on Stricture 1014
- Higginbottom on Nitrate of Silver 1015
- Hodgson on Prostate 1015
- Hunt on Skin 1016
- Laurence on Cancer 1018
- Lawrence on Ruptures 1018
- Lee on Hæmorrhoids 1018
- Liston’s Surgery 1018
- Macleod’s Surgery of the Crimea 1019
- Maclise on Fractures 1019
- Nottingham on the Ear 1020
- Nunneley on Erysipelas 1021
- Pirrie on Surgery 1022
- Skey’s Operative Surgery 1025
- Smith on Stricture 1025
- Steggall’s Surgical Manual 1026
- Thompson on Stricture 1027
- Wade on Stricture 1029
- Watson on the Larynx 1029
- Wilson on the Skin 1031
- Do. Portraits of Skin Diseases 1031
- Yearsley on Deafness 1031
- Do. on Throat 1031
-
-
- DR. ACLAND.
-
- MEMOIR ON THE CHOLERA AT OXFORD IN THE YEAR 1854; with Considerations
- suggested by the Epidemic. 4to. cloth, with Maps, 12_s._
-
-
- MR. ACTON, M.R.C.S.
-
- I.
-
- THE FUNCTIONS AND DISORDERS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS IN YOUTH, IN
- ADULT AGE, AND IN ADVANCED LIFE. Considered in their Physiological,
- Social, and Psychological Relations. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth,
- 7_s._
-
- II.
-
- PROSTITUTION: Considered in its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Bearings,
- with a View to its Amelioration and Regulation. 8vo. cloth, 10_s._
- 6_d._
-
-
- DR. WILLIAM ADDISON, F.R.S.
-
- I.
-
- CELL THERAPEUTICS. 8vo. doth, 4_s._
-
- II.
-
- ON HEALTHY AND DISEASED STRUCTURE, AND THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF
- TREATMENT FOR THE CURE OF DISEASE, ESPECIALLY CONSUMPTION AND
- SCROFULA, founded on MICROSCOPICAL ANALYSIS. 8vo. cloth, 12_s._
-
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- DR. ALEXANDER, F.R.C.S. BY EXAM.
-
- RHEUMATISM: its Nature, Causes, and Cure.
-
- GOUT: its Nature, Causes, Cure, and Prevention.
-
- Post 8vo. cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._
-
- THE ANATOMICAL REMEMBRANCER; OR, COMPLETE POCKET ANATOMIST. Fifth
- Edition, carefully Revised. 32mo. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
-
-
- DR. ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG, R.N.
-
- OBSERVATIONS ON NAVAL HYGIENE AND SCURVY. More particularly as the
- latter appeared during a Polar Voyage. 8vo. cloth, 5_s._
-
-
- DR. JAMES ARNOTT.
-
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- in various painful and inflammatory Diseases. 8vo. cloth, 4_s._
- 6_d._
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- A TREATISE ON RHEUMATIC GOUT; OR, CHRONIC RHEUMATIC ARTHRITIS. 8vo.
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- ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LOCAL EFFECTS OF DISEASE OF THE SUPRA-RENAL
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- 8vo. cloth, 5_s._
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- Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 8_s._
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- Cholera Committee of the Royal College of Physicians. With Maps,
- 8vo. cloth, 16_s._
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- from the Practice of the most eminent Physicians and Surgeons,
- English and Foreign. 24mo. cloth, 6_s._
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- Memoranda and Tables. Fourth Edition. 24mo. cloth, 6_s._
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- A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON INFLAMMATION AND OTHER DISEASES OF THE UTERUS.
- Third Edition, revised, with Additions. 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._
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- II.
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- A REVIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF UTERINE PATHOLOGY. 8vo. cloth, 4_s._
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- I.
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- ON DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART. 8vo. cloth, 6_s._
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- 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._
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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of On chloroform and other anæsthetics:, by John Snow</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: On chloroform and other anæsthetics:</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>their action and administration</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: John Snow</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Benjamin W. Richardson</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 14, 2022 [eBook #68315]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
- <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON CHLOROFORM AND OTHER ANÆSTHETICS: ***</div>
-
-<div class='tnotes covernote'>
-
-<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p>
-
-<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='titlepage'>
-
-<div>
- <h1 class='c001'><span class='small'>ON</span><br /> CHLOROFORM<br /> <span class='small'>AND</span><br /> <span class='xlarge'>OTHER ANÆSTHETICS:</span><br /> <span class='small'>THEIR</span><br /> <span class='large'>ACTION AND ADMINISTRATION.</span></h1>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='small'>BY</span></div>
- <div class='c003'><span class='xlarge'>JOHN SNOW, M.D.</span></div>
- <div><span class='small'>LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.</span></div>
- <div class='c003'><span class='small'>EDITED,</span></div>
- <div class='c003'><span class='large'>WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR,</span></div>
- <div class='c003'><span class='small'>BY</span></div>
- <div>BENJAMIN W. RICHARDSON, M.D.,</div>
- <div><span class='small'>LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.</span></div>
- <div class='c002'>LONDON:</div>
- <div>JOHN CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.</div>
- <div>MDCCCLVIII.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c004'>PREFACE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'>The book here presented to the reader is the legacy
-to science of Dr. <span class='sc'>John Snow</span>. The completion of
-the work was his last act and deed. In editing the
-book, therefore, all that remained to be done consisted
-in the construction of the index, and in this
-a plan suggested by the author himself has been
-followed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In contributing the memoir, I have performed a
-painful and unexpected duty: the fulfilment of a
-promise given at a moment when two friends who
-often enjoyed close companionship met at one of their
-happiest meetings. The promise was given with the
-idea of fulfilment far distant, or improbable altogether,
-and, as connected with a more extended biographical
-survey, reserved for the work of years long
-in the future; it is called for now hastily and in
-deep sorrow.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Writing with the fact of my late friend’s death
-not as yet fully realized; with the sensation still on
-me at intervals (like one who has lost a part of his
-own body, and yet at times conceives the lost present),
-that he cannot possibly be so far away; I may,
-perchance be pardoned for any deficiencies in style
-or matter. I have done my best, and leave it so.</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>B. W. RICHARDSON.</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-l'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><em>12, Hinde Street, Manchester Square.</em></div>
- <div class='line in4'><em>August 6th, 1858.</em></div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c004'>CONTENTS.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table class='table0'>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'>HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a> to 24</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>General Remarks on Inhalation</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_25'>25</a>–26</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c008'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'>CHLOROFORM</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a>–344</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>History and composition of</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Mode of preparation</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Chemical and physical properties</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_29'>29</a>–30</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Adulterations</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_30'>30</a>–32</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Vapour of</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_32'>32</a>–34</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Physiological Effects of Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a>–48</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Degrees of narcotism</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_35'>35</a>–43</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Effect of chloroform on the pulse</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_43'>43</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Action of chloroform on the nervous system</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_44'>44</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Circumstances which influence or modify the Effects of Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_48'>48</a>–58</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Age</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_49'>49</a>–50</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Strength or debility</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Hysteria</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_50'>50</a>–2</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Epilepsy</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_52'>52</a>–3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Pregnancy</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>The menstrual period</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Diseases of lungs</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— heart</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a>–6</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Cerebral disease</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_56'>56</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Insanity</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_57'>57</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Hard drinking</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_57'>57</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Amount of Vapour of Chloroform absorbed to cause the Various Degrees of Narcotism</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_58'>58</a>–74</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Experiments</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_60'>60</a>–73</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Preparations for inhaling Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_74'>74</a>–78</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Mode of administering Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_78'>78</a>–97</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Signs of insensibility</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_87'>87</a>–97</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Repetition of chloroform during an operation</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Recovery from the Effects of Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a>–100</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Occasional Sequelæ of the Inhalation of Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a>–107</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Sickness</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a>–3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Faintness and depression</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_103'>103</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Hysteria</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Cause and Prevention of Death from Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_107'>107</a>–120</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Fatal Cases of Inhalation of Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_120'>120</a>–200</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Alleged fatal Cases of Inhalation of Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–212</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Symptoms in fatal Cases of Inhalation of Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_212'>212</a>–217</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Mode of Death in the Accidents from Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_217'>217</a>–222</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>The Two Kinds of Syncope</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_222'>222</a>–228</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Supposed Causes of Death from Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_228'>228</a>–245</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Idiosyncrasy</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_231'>231</a>–2</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Alleged impunity of chloroform</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_233'>233</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Apparatus employed</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_233'>233</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Alleged exclusion of air</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_233'>233</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Alleged closure of glottis</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_234'>234</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Alleged exhaustion from struggling</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_238'>238</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Sitting posture</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_239'>239</a>–40</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Effect of surgeon’s knife</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_240'>240</a>–3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Sudden death from other causes</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_243'>243</a>–5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Falling back of the tongue</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_245'>245</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>State of the chief Organs after Death from Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_245'>245</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Further Remarks on the Prevention of Accidents from Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_248'>248</a>–251</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Treatment of suspended Animation from Chloroform</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_251'>251</a>–262</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Effect of Chloroform on the Results of Operations</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_263'>263</a>–270</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Administration of Chloroform in the different Kinds of Operations</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–318</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Lithotomy</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Lithotrity</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_274'>274</a>–5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Perinæal section</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_275'>275</a>–6</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Stricture</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_276'>276</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Amputation of thigh</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_276'>276</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— leg</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_277'>277</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— arm</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_277'>277</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— ankle</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_278'>278</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Other amputations</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_278'>278</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Operations for necrosis</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_278'>278</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Excision of head of femur</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_279'>279</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Excision of elbow</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_279'>279</a>–80</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— knee</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_280'>280</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— wrist</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_280'>280</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Removal of tumours of upper jaw</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_280'>280</a>–5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— —— of lower jaw</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_285'>285</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Tumours of female breast</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_285'>285</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Other tumours</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_287'>287</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Nævi</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_289'>289</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Ligature of arteries</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_289'>289</a>–91</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Tumours of bone</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_291'>291</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Hare-lip</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_291'>291</a>–3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Cancer of the lip</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_294'>294</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Division of nerves</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_294'>294</a>–6</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Operations on the eye</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_295'>295</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— —— ear</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_298'>298</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— —— nose</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_298'>298</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— —— mouth</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_299'>299</a>–300</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Plastic operations</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_300'>300</a>–1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Raising depressed skull</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_301'>301</a>–2</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Operations for ununited fracture</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_302'>302</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Reduction of dislocations</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_302'>302</a>–3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Forcible movement of joints</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_303'>303</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Tenotomy</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_303'>303</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Operations for hernia</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_304'>304</a>–5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— —— hæmorrhoids and prolapsus</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_305'>305</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Fissure of anus</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_307'>307</a>–8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Fistula in ano</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_308'>308</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Operations on ovarian tumours</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_308'>308</a>–10</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Operations for cancer of vagina</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_310'>310</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>—— —— —— rupture of perinæum</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_310'>310</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Removal of testicle</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_310'>310</a>–1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Operations for phymosis</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_311'>311</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Removal of bursa</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_311'>311</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Evulsion of nails</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_311'>311</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Laryngotomy</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_312'>312</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Extraction of teeth</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_313'>313</a>–18</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Secondary hæmorrhage after operations</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_318'>318</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>Chloroform in Parturition</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_318'>318</a>–329</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>The Inhalation of Chloroform in Medical Cases</span></td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–344</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Neuralgia</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–31</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Spasmodic asthma</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_331'>331</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Spasmodic croup</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_331'>331</a>–2</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Hooping-cough</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_332'>332</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Infantile convulsions</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_332'>332</a>–3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Delirium cum tremore</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_333'>333</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Delirium in fever</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_334'>334</a>–5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Hydrocephalus</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_335'>335</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Tetanus</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_335'>335</a>–6</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Epilepsy</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_336'>336</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Puerperal Convulsions</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_337'>337</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Hysterical paralysis and contractions</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_339'>339</a>–41</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Mania</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_342'>342</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Spasmodic pain</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_342'>342</a>–3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Frequent and long continued use of chloroform</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_343'>343</a>–4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c008'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'>SULPHURIC ETHER, OR ETHER</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_345'>345</a>–371</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>History and composition</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_345'>345</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Chemical and physical properties</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_345'>345</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Physiological effects</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_349'>349</a>–55</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Administration of ether</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_356'>356</a>–61</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Great safety of</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_362'>362</a>–9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>The combination of chloroform and ether</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_369'>369</a>–71</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c008'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'>AMYLENE</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_372'>372</a>–410</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Preparation and properties</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_372'>372</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Physiological effects</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_378'>378</a>–86</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Use in surgical operations</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_386'>386</a>–94</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Use in parturition</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_394'>394</a>–7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Its effects</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_397'>397</a>–419</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c008'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007' colspan='2'>THE MONOCHLORURRETTED CHLORIDE OF ETHYLE</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_420'>420</a>–23</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c008'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c008'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='3'>ILLUSTRATIONS.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Chloroform inhaler</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c007'>Ether inhaler</td>
- <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_349'>349</a></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_i'>i</span>
- <h2 class='c004'><span class='large'>THE</span><br /> LIFE OF JOHN SNOW, M.D.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'>There is not much credit in the mere acts of living
-and dying; in being driven by unavoidable fate
-through the common journey, with shoulders uncovered
-and the whip over them; in doing nothing
-save the drudgery of existence; in enjoying, in an
-approach to the recognition of enjoyment, the brief
-dreams of childhood; in struggling into manhood;
-in battling through the after-strife obedient to the
-castigator behind; and in dying at last, as though
-life had never been; dead to-day, wept for tomorrow,
-and forgotten by the morrow’s succeeding
-sun. There is not much credit in this surely, for
-credit must be earned by something done beyond
-that which all must perforce do. But, in the face of
-all the struggles incidental to the existence, so to
-have managed as to have stolen out of time hours
-which other men knew not in their calendar—so to
-have defied the inexorable taskmaster as to perform
-more than is included in his demands; so to
-have willed and acted as to live on when death has
-done his worst; to assist all coming wayfarers in
-their conflict wherever they may meet it; to prove
-that there is something more in life than labour lost,
-and nothing more in death than an idea—<em>Hoc opus
-hic labor est</em>—in this there is achieved the grand
-attainment; the perpetual life.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He whom I, with poor biographer’s pencil, put
-forward now in brief sketch, is one amongst the few
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_ii'>ii</span>who have thus realized the ideality of death. It
-were but little matter, therefore, though no biography
-should appear at all; it is of but little count
-that such biography, as the recollections of friends
-and intimates shall call forth, be scanty in its details;
-it is of but little count that the life of him
-who is to be shadowed forth is destitute of incident
-fitted for the taste of wonder-loving, passion-courting,
-romance-devouring, readers. Biographies for these
-are common. Good men are scarce.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>John Snow</span>, the subject of the present memoir,
-was born at York, on the fifteenth day of June,
-1813. He was the eldest son of his parents. His
-father was a farmer. His mother, who is living,
-resides still at York. As a child, he showed his love
-of industry; and increasing years added only to the
-intensity with which he applied himself to any work
-that was before him. He occasionally assisted his
-father in agricultural pursuits, and often in later life
-spoke with great <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">naïveté</span></i> of the recollections of
-those early winter mornings when his boy’s fingers
-were too intimately to be pleasantly acquainted with
-the effects of benumbing cold. He was first sent to
-a private school at York, where he learned all that
-he could learn there. He was fond of the study of
-mathematics, and in arithmetic became very proficient.
-At the age of fourteen, he went to Newcastle-on-Tyne,
-as an apprentice to Mr. William
-Hardcastle, surgeon, of that place. He had also the
-opportunities of studying at the Newcastle Infirmary.
-During the third year of his apprenticeship, viz.,
-when he was seventeen years old, he formed an idea
-that the vegetarian body-feeding faith was the true
-and the old; and with that consistency which
-throughout life attended him, tried the system rigidly
-for more than eight years. He was a noted swimmer
-at this time, and could make head against the tide
-longer than any of his omnivorous friends. I have
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_iii'>iii</span>heard him tell that so long as he continued to qualify
-his vegetables with milk and butter, the vegetarian
-plan supported him fairly. But on one unfortunate
-morning, when taking his milk breakfast, some quizzical
-friend, learned in botany, cross-examined him as
-to the vegetable on which he was then feeding. The
-joke went home; and the use of milk, as food for a
-pure vegetarian, became too absurd for consistency.
-The milk, therefore, must be put aside, and the
-butter and the eggs. The experiment did not answer;
-the health of our pure vegetarian gave way
-under the ordeal, and although in after life he maintained
-that an approach to the vegetarian practice was
-commendable, in that it kept the body in better tone
-for the exercise of the mind, he admitted that in his
-own case his health paid the forfeit of his extreme
-adherence to an hypothesis. Amongst his earlier
-scientific readings was a book in defence of the vegetable
-regimen by John Frank Newton. This book
-is annotated by himself, 1833. It is an useful book,
-full of curious arguments, facts and suggestions,
-many of which, as his own after writings indicate,
-he had carefully studied and applied.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At or about the same time that he adopted his
-vegetarian views, he also took the extremity of view
-and of action, in reference to the temperance cause.
-He not only joined the ranks of the total abstinence
-reformers, but became a powerful advocate of their
-principles for many succeeding years. In the latter
-part of his life, he occasionally and by necessity took
-a little wine, but his views on the subject remained
-to the end unchanged; he had strong faith in the
-temperance cause, and a belief that it must ultimately
-become an universal system.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In 1831–32, cholera visited Newcastle and its
-neighbourhood, and proved terribly fatal. In the
-emergency, Mr. Snow was sent by Mr. Hardcastle to
-the Killingworth Colliery, to attend the sufferers from
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_iv'>iv</span>the disease there. In this labour he was indefatigable,
-and his exertions were crowned with great success.
-He made also on this occasion many observations
-relating to this disease, which proved to him
-of immense account in after years.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He left Newcastle in 1833, and engaged himself
-as assistant to Mr. Watson of Burnop Field, near
-Newcastle. Here he resided for twelve months, fulfilling
-the assistant duties; regarding which it can
-only be said, and that from analogy, that they were
-neither without their anxiety nor their reward.
-Leaving Burnop Field in 1834–5, he revisited his
-native place, York; made a short stay, and thence,
-to a certain half-inaccessible village called Pately
-Bridge, in Yorkshire, to assistant it with Mr. Warburton,
-surgeon there. Some few years ago a friend
-of mine went to the same village, by the recommendation
-of Dr. Snow, as assistant to the present Mr.
-Warburton of that place, a son of Dr. Snow’s “old
-master”. The circumstance of this recommendation
-often led Dr. Snow to refer to his life at Pately
-Bridge in our conversations. He invariably, on such
-occasions, spoke of Mr. Warburton, his “old master”,
-in terms of sincere respect, and depicted his own life
-there with great liveliness. He was a vegetarian
-then, and his habits puzzled the housewives, shocked
-the cooks, and astonished the children. His culinary
-peculiarities were, however, attended to with great
-kindliness. Eighteen months at Pately Bridge, with
-many rough rides, a fair share of night work, a good
-gleaning of experience, and this sojourn was over.
-Now back again went our student to York, to stay
-this time a few months, and—not to be idle—to
-take an active share in the formation of temperance
-societies. In leisure days during this period it was
-his grand amusement to make long walking explorations
-into the country. In these peregrinations he
-collected all kinds of information, geological, social,
-sanitary, and architectural.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span>At last York must be again left; the London
-student life was in view. In the summer of the year
-at which we have arrived, 1836, he set off from York
-to Liverpool, and, trudging it afoot from Liverpool
-through the whole of North and South Wales, turned
-London-ward, calling at Bath by the way, on a visit
-to his uncle, Mr. Empson, to whom, to the end of his
-life, he was devotedly attached. October 1836—eventful
-October—brought him to the “great city”,
-and placed him on the benches of the Hunterian
-School of Medicine in Windmill-street: a school long
-since closed, and now almost a myth; like the mill
-which gave the name to the locality.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Joshua Parsons
-of Beckington, near Bath, for an insight into
-the life and manners of my beloved friend during
-his student career. Mr. Parsons had the happiness
-to be the special fellow-student of Snow. Their
-friendship, cemented early in life, never declined,
-but had added to it, “on my part,” says Mr. Parsons,
-“respect and admiration for the solid talents and industry
-of my old colleague.” Speaking of their common
-labours, Mr. Parsons writes as follows:</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Our acquaintance commenced in 1836, at the
-Hunterian School of Medicine in Windmill-street,
-where we were both dissecting at that time. It happened
-that we usually overstayed our fellows, and
-often worked far on into the evening. The acquaintance
-thus grew into intimacy, which ended by our
-lodging and reading together. We were constant
-companions from that time till I left town, in October
-1837. During that period Dr. Snow was, as a
-student, characterized by the same mental qualities
-which have marked him ever since. Not particularly
-quick of apprehension, or ready in invention, he yet
-always kept in the foreground by his indomitable
-perseverance and determination in following up
-whatever line of investigation was open to him. The
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>object of this steady pursuit with him was always
-<em>truth</em>: the naked truth, for its own sake, was what
-he sought and loved. No consideration of honour or
-profit seemed to have power to bias his opinions on
-any subject. At the period of our co-residence he
-was a strict vegetarian, and many and great were
-the controversies held between us on the subject.
-These led to trials of our comparative strength and
-endurance, in one of which, on Easter Monday 1837,
-we walked to St. Alban’s, and back to town through
-Harrow,—a distance, I believe, of rather more than
-fifty miles. On reaching the Edgeware Road, my
-companion was fairly beaten, and obliged to reach
-home in an omnibus. But though this, you will say,
-shows a fair amount of strength, yet it was my impression
-that my friend’s constitutional powers were
-impaired by his mode of living, for I observed that
-he suffered from an amount of physical excitability
-not to be looked for in a man of his bodily powers
-and placid mental organization. I remember, on
-two or three occasions, so slight an injury as a cut
-of the finger with a dinner knife, or a graze of the
-skin, producing such an amount of fever, attended
-by so rapid a pulse, and so intense a flush upon the
-cheeks, that I once asked the opinion of an experienced
-medical friend about him, and was by that
-opinion alone restrained from summoning his uncle
-to his bedside. He also was subject to great drowsiness,
-so that he was obliged often to close his books,
-and retire to bed long before his inclination would
-have led him to do so.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In October 1837, Mr. Snow took out his hospital
-practice at the Westminster Hospital. On May 2nd,
-1838, he passed his examination, and was entered
-duly as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons
-of England. He lived at this time at 11, Bateman’s
-Buildings, Soho-square.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In July 1838, Mr. Thurnham having resigned his
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span>post of apothecary to the Westminster Hospital, Mr.
-Snow, with much promise of support from the medical
-staff, competed for the vacant post. He presented
-excellent testimonials from Mr. Hardcastle, Mr.
-James Allen of York, Dr. Conquest, Mr. W. B. Lynn,
-Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital, Mr. Anthony
-White, Sir Anthony Carlisle, Mr. Warburton, and
-Dr. Hunter Lane. His canvass was very satisfactory;
-but he was compelled to resign his claims
-from a cause which he did not expect. By the
-laws of the hospital, the office of apothecary could
-only be held by a member of the Apothecaries’ Company.
-In those days the worshipful Company were
-sometimes lenient in admitting students to examination.
-The leniency, however, clearly extended to
-those only who had friends at court. To render
-himself eligible, Mr. Snow addressed a very simple,
-earnest, and gentlemanly request to the Court of
-Examiners of the Apothecaries’ Company, begging to
-be allowed to go up to his examination at the second
-court in July instead of the first in October, at which
-he was legally admissible. The request, under the
-circumstances, was not very great; but for some
-reason it met with refusal. After the refusal he
-addressed a second note to the Court, equal in tone
-with the first. In this note he urged the simple
-character of the request; he reminded the sapient
-body that they had allowed a similar extension of
-privilege to that asked by himself to others, and even
-for less important reasons. He explained that he
-had attended the practice of the Newcastle Infirmary;
-and promised that if he could be admitted, he
-would fulfil the required term of hospital curriculum
-rigidly. Lastly, he stated the expenses into which
-the canvass had led him, and once more prayed for
-leniency of the examiners, from “confidence in their
-kindness”. The confidence was misplaced. The
-Blackfriars Shylocks demanded the pound of flesh;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>and our disappointed student, on the very eve of
-success, was compelled to relate his discomfiture in
-the following address:</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c010'>
- <div>“<em>To the Governors of Westminster Hospital.</em></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen</span>,</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c011'>“I became a candidate for the vacant office of Apothecary
-to the Hospital a little before my term of study
-was completed, expecting that the Court of Examiners of
-the Apothecaries’ Company would admit me for examination
-in time for the election, knowing that they had granted
-a similar boon to my fellow-students on less important
-occasions. I have asked the favour of that Court with all
-due respect and ceremony, showing them that my course of
-study had already been twice as long as they require; and
-they have refused to examine me till my last item of study
-was completed according to their own peculiar curriculum,
-without stating any reason for their refusal. I must therefore
-necessarily resign, which I beg most respectfully to do,
-and to offer my sincere thanks to all those who have taken
-trouble in my behalf,”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On the first Court of October 1838, held on October
-4th of that year, Mr. Snow met the Blackfriars
-Shylocks by legal right. They had not forgotten
-him, and gave him good proof of their remembrances.
-He passed, however, safe and sound; and, having the
-double qualification, laid himself out for the duties
-of a general practitioner in medicine in the great
-city.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At this time there existed in London a society
-(now sunken into the “Medical Society of London”)
-called the “Westminster Medical Society.” It was a
-society which had long given encouragement to those
-junior members of the medical profession who might
-wish for a hearing at its meetings and debates. Mr.
-Snow was not the man to lose an opportunity such as
-this. I have often heard him say, both privately and
-publicly, that, upon this early connexion with the
-“Westminster Medical,” his continuance in London
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>depended, and all his succeeding scientific success.
-When he first attended the meetings of the “Westminster
-Medical,” he was very timid; and although
-he always spoke to the point, found it difficult to
-obtain a favourable notice. At first, as he told me,
-nobody ever replied to what he said. After a long
-time some grave counsellor condescended to refer to
-him as the “last speaker”. “In reference to an observation
-made by the last speaker, Mr. President,
-I could bring forward many practical objections; but
-I prefer to observe on the admirable, and, I have no
-hesitation in saying profound, remarks which Dr.
-Goldstick” (a very great gun, of course) “has done us
-the favour to lay before the society.” A little later
-and somebody ventured to name the “last speaker”
-even by his name. Then some one, bolder still, concurred
-with Mr. Snow; and ultimately Mr. Snow
-became recognized more and more, until, as we shall
-see in the sequel, the presidential honours were his own.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Frith-street, Soho-square, No. 54, was the house at
-which Mr. Snow, to use his own words, first “nailed up
-his colours”. He removed from Bateman’s Buildings
-in the beginning of September 1838, and became, in
-Frith-street, the tenant of Mrs. Williamson, widow
-of Captain Williamson, known as the author of several
-works on India. He bought no practice, nor
-exhibited any pretence. Like mighty Columbus, his
-caravel was very insignificant when compared with
-the voyage on which he embarked, and through which
-he sailed so successfully. He did not find the voyage
-very smooth either at first. How could he? A
-man cast at large in the modern Babylon, with few
-introductions, no plethora of purse, and great purposes
-in hand, need never ignore the necessities from
-the idea of rising to the crest of the wave by three
-cheers and a long pull. Snow was too foreseeing to
-be ignorant of this, and he prepared accordingly.
-A more thoroughly girded man for the world’s encounter
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>could hardly be conceived than he at this
-time. He took no wine nor strong drink; he lived
-simply of the simple, on anchorite’s fare, with more
-than anchorite resolution, with the temptations of
-the world always before him; he clothed plainly, and
-made the best of everything; he kept no company,
-and found every amusement in his science books, his
-experiments, in his business, and in simple exercise.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To fill up time till the money patients should
-come, he became one of the visitors of the out-patients
-of Charing Cross Hospital; and to many a poor
-representative of the great half-starved, extended a
-skill which would have been a blessing to a duke.
-The Librarian of the College of Surgeons’ Library
-knew him as a quiet man, who read closely, and was
-not too proud to ask for a translation when an original
-bothered him. All who knew him said he was
-a quiet man, very reserved and peculiar—a clever
-man at bottom perchance, but not easy to be understood
-and very peculiar.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The connection with the “Westminster Medical”
-led to Mr. Snow’s first attempts at authorship. On
-October the 16th, 1841, he read at the Society a
-paper on “Asphyxia and on the Resuscitation of
-new-born Children.” The paper in full will be found
-in the <em>London Medical Gazette</em> for November the
-5th of the same year. The paper is remarkable for
-the soundness of its reasonings, and the advanced
-knowledge which it displays. The object of the
-paper was to introduce to the Society a double air-pump,
-for supporting artificial respiration, invented
-by a Mr. Read, of Regent Circus. The instrument
-was so devised that by one action of the piston, the
-air in the lungs could be drawn into one of the
-cylinders, and by the reverse action, the said air
-could be driven away, and the lungs supplied with a
-stream of pure air from the second cylinder. There
-was also advanced, in the concluding part of the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span>communication, a sentence or two on the cause of
-the first inspiration, which is well worthy of note.
-The cause of the first inspiration, he explained, is
-probably the same as the second or the last, viz., a
-sensation or impression arising from a want of oxygen
-in the system. So long as the placenta performs
-its functions, the fœtus is perfectly at ease, and feels
-no need of respiration; but whenever this communication
-between the child and its mother is interrupted,
-at least in the later months of pregnancy,
-the child makes convulsive efforts at respiration
-similar to those made by a drowning animal.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On December the 18th, 1841, Mr. Snow was again
-before the “Westminster Medical” with a very ingenious
-instrument which he had invented for performing
-the operation of paracentesis of the thorax.
-The description of the instrument will be found in
-the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite> of January 28th, 1842.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite> for November 11th, 1842,
-Mr. Snow published a note on a new mode for securing
-the removal of the placenta in cases of retention
-with hæmorrhage; and in the same journal for
-March 3rd, 1843, he communicated an essay on the
-circulation in the capillary vessels. The essay was
-selected and rearranged from papers read before the
-“Westminster Medical” on January 21 and February
-the 4th. We have in this essay an admirable sketch
-of the capillary circulation. He advanced, on this
-occasion, the idea that the force of the heart is not
-alone sufficient to carry on the circulation, but that
-there is a force generated in the capillary system
-which assists the motion. He explained also the great
-importance of the cutaneous exhalation, and reasoned
-that in febrile states, accompanied with hot skin,
-the transpiration from the skin is in reality greater
-than is normal, and that the good effect of poultices
-and similar applications to inflamed skin is due to
-their influence in checking the transpiration from
-the affected part.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>But what of practice during all this work at the
-purer science of medicine? The story to be told is
-an old one. Practice did not come, at least not
-from the wealthy. He had plenty of practice in so
-far as seeing patients was concerned certainly, for
-he was encumbered with four sick clubs; and his
-club practice, together with the out-patient work at
-the Charing Cross Hospital, kept the bell ringing all
-day, and not unfrequently enlivened the night with
-the clamorous music. But the patients with the fees
-in their hands kept at a respectful distance. Why?
-The answer gives another old story—because the
-practitioner at 54, Frith Street, Soho, was an earnest
-man, with not the least element of quackery in all
-his composition, with a retiring manner and a solid
-scepticism in relation to that routine malpractice
-which the people love. I have heard many reasons
-alleged for the want of success which attended Mr.
-Snow’s first labours as a claimant on the public confidence.
-These reasons have all had one reading, in
-that they refer to every cause but the true one. The
-true cause was, that a young man having no personal
-introduction to the bedsides of dowagers of the pillmania
-dynasty, sought to establish his fame on the
-basis of a sound and rational medicine—because impressed
-with the knowledge of the external origin of
-disease, he went in for the removal of external causes,
-and studied nature in preference to the Pharmacopœia.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Pushing on in the higher branches of his profession,
-and aiming always at the best, the degree of the
-University of London became a temptation, and <em>Mr.</em>
-became <em>Dr.</em> Snow on the 23rd of November, 1843, by
-passing the M.B. examination. He was enrolled in
-the second division on this occasion. On the 20th of
-December in the following year, he passed the M.D.
-examination, and came out in the first division of
-candidates.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The harass of London life by this time commenced
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span>to tell on Dr. Snow. He had suffered a few years
-previously from threatened symptoms of phthisis
-pulmonalis, but took plenty of fresh air, and recovered.
-He again became slowly unhinged for work,
-and in the summer of 1845, was attacked with
-acute and alarming symptoms of renal disorder.
-His friend and neighbour, Mr. Peter Marshall,
-then of Greek Street, now of Bedford Square,
-gave him his able assistance, and the advice of Dr.
-Prout, and, I believe, of Dr. Bright, was obtained.
-He was induced by their general opinion to change
-his mode of living, and even to take wine in small
-quantities. In the autumn of 1845, he paid a visit
-to his friend and old colleague, Mr. Joshua Parsons,
-at Beckington, with whom he stayed a fortnight,
-enjoying himself very much. The friends resumed
-their old controversies, and the Doctor admitted that
-he had been obliged to relinquish his vegetable diet
-in favour of a mixed regimen. He improved greatly,
-says Mr. Parsons, during his stay; but it was obvious
-that London life and hard study had hold of
-him. From Beckington he went to the Isle of Wight,
-but soon returned to London and to his work. A
-little after this, he was elected Lecturer on Forensic
-Medicine at the Aldersgate School of Medicine, and
-held the appointment till the establishment dissolved
-in 1849. I have often heard from him, in his quiet
-droll way, many laughable stories in relation to his
-duties in the forensic chair. When he left off teaching,
-he found that, in addition to the labour implied
-and the cost of experiments, he had to pay, with the
-rest of his colleagues, a ransom for his release.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'>There is no night without its morning. The eventful
-medical year of 1846 proved the turn of tide
-season with our struggling Esculapian. In this year,
-the news came over from America that operations
-could be performed without pain under the influence
-of sulphuric ether.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xiv'>xiv</span>The fact was just such an one as would at once
-attract the earnest attention of Dr. Snow. It was a
-physiological, as well as a practical fact. It was
-rational in its meaning, and marvellously humane in
-its application. The question once before him, was
-in a scientific sense his own. His previous experimental
-studies on respiration and asphyxia had prepared
-him for this new inquiry. He lost no time,
-therefore, in investigating the new fact; he took it
-up for its own sake, however, not from any thought,
-at the time, of a harvest of gold.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The first inhalations of ether in this country were
-not so successful as to astonish all the surgeons, or
-to recommend etherization as a common practice.
-The distrust arose from the manner in which the
-agent was administered. Dr. Snow at once detected
-this circumstance; and, as he explains in the pages
-of the work now in the hands of the reader, remedied
-the mistake by making an improved inhaler.
-He next carried out many experiments
-on animals and on himself, and brought the administration
-to great perfection. One day, on
-coming out of one of the hospitals (I am giving
-the narrative as he gave it to me), he met Mr.
-—— (a druggist whom he knew) bustling along
-with a large ether apparatus under his arm. “Good
-morning!” said Dr. Snow. “Good morning to you,
-doctor!” said the friend; “but, don’t detain me, I am
-giving ether here and there and everywhere, and am
-getting quite into an ether practice. Good morning,
-doctor!” “Good morning to you!” Rather peculiar!
-said the doctor to himself; rather peculiar, certainly!
-for the man has not the remotest chemical
-or physiological idea on the subject. An “ether practice!
-If he can get an ether practice, perchance
-some scraps of the same thing might fall to a scientific
-unfortunate.” Consequently, with his improved
-inhaler, Dr. Snow lost no time in asking to be allowed
-to give ether at St. George’s Hospital. He got permission
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xv'>xv</span>to give it there to the out-patients, in cases
-of tooth-drawing. Dr. Fuller, of Manchester-square,
-standing by, was surprised to see with what happy
-effects ether was administered when administered
-properly. A day or two afterwards, an operation
-having to be performed, and the surgeon (I believe,
-Mr. Cutler) not approving of the ether in the way
-in which it had previously acted, Dr. Fuller remarked
-on the superiority of Dr. Snow’s mode of administering
-it; and the result was, that he was asked to give
-it on operating days. He did so with great success.
-He administered it at University College with the
-same success. Liston, then the leading operator,
-struck with the new man who came before him in
-such an able and unaffected way, took him by the
-hand; and from that time the ether practice in London
-came almost exclusively to him. Science for
-once put assumption in its right place.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The new field once open, it were impossible but
-that he should cultivate it diligently. The Westminster
-Medical Society was often favoured with
-his communications and experiments on etherization;
-and in the September of 1847, he embodied, in his
-first work, the whole of his experience up to that
-time. The work was remarkable for the care with
-which it was written, the science which it displayed,
-and the complete mastery of the subject which it
-everywhere conveyed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>What had been a mere accidental discovery, I
-had almost said a lucky adventure, was turned by the
-touch of the master into a veritable science. The
-book was readily appreciated by the profession, and
-was just beginning to sell, when the discovery of
-the application of chloroform threw ether into the
-shade and the book with it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Snow, though a man of great firmness when
-once his mind was made up, was always ready
-for new inquiry. Chloroform, therefore, was no
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvi'>xvi</span>sooner brought before the profession by Dr. Simpson,
-than he began to institute a series of independent
-researches, and having satisfied himself personally
-as to the effects and greater practicability of
-chloroform, he at once commenced its use, and forgot
-sooner almost than others all predilections for
-ether. In 1848, he commenced a series of experimental
-papers on narcotic vapours in the <cite>Medical
-Gazette</cite>, and continued them until 1851, when
-the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite> virtually ceased to exist. The
-papers on narcotics, in accordance with his other
-and earlier productions, were stamped with the evidences
-of profound and careful research, and still
-more careful deduction. I infer that they have been
-more talked about than read, for few people seem
-to be aware of the enlarged and positive physiological
-arguments which they contain. Chloroform
-and ether are not alone discussed, but all narcotics.
-Narcotics are not alone considered, but
-various of the great functions of life. The records
-of a vast number and variety of experiments are
-here related, and an amount of information, original
-in kind, collected, which will always remain as a
-memorable record in the history of medical literature.
-But the great points in these papers are those
-in which the author enters on the physiological action
-of narcotics. Here appear the generalizations
-and insights into the relations of allied phenomena
-which mark the man of true power. His greatest
-deduction on these matters, and the proofs on which
-it is based, are to be found in his observations,
-where he explains that the action of the volatile
-narcotics is that of arresting or limiting those combinations
-between the oxygen of the arterial blood
-and the tissues of the body, which are essential to
-sensation, volition, and all the animal functions. He
-demonstrated that these substances modify and, in
-large quantities, arrest the animal functions in the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xvii'>xvii</span>same way, and by the same power as that by which
-they modify and arrest combustion, the slow oxidation
-of phosphorus and other kinds of oxidation unconnected
-with the living body when they (the narcotics)
-are mixed with the atmospheric air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In his modest way, he often spoke to me, with
-honest pride, on this observation. He himself
-thought it the best observation he had ever made,
-and believed that it would not be lost as an historical
-truth. Placing a taper, during one of our
-experiments, in a bottle through which chloroform
-vapour was diffused, and watching the declining
-flame, he once said, “There, now, is all that occurs
-in narcotism; but to submit the candle to the action
-of the narcotic without extinguishing it altogether,
-you must neither expose it to much vapour at once,
-nor subject it to the vapour too long; and this is
-all you can provide against in subjecting a man to
-the same influence. I could illustrate all the meaning
-of this great practical discovery of narcotism on
-a farthing candle, but I fear the experiment would
-be thought rather too commonplace.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The year of the world’s fair in London, 1851, may
-be considered a fortunate one for Dr. Snow. His
-affairs had taken a new turn, and the tide was fairly
-in his favour. He had a positive holiday, physical
-and mental. The harass of the professional struggle
-was over, the world was opening its eyes to his intrinsic
-merits; old friends flocked around him, brought
-to the grand show in town, and all was well. He
-did but little this year, except to write a characteristic
-letter to Lord Campbell, who was pushing on a
-bill in the House of Lords, called the “Prevention of
-Offences Bill,” in which a clause was introduced to
-prevent, by severe punishment, any attempt that
-might be made by any person to administer chloroform
-or other stupifying drug for unlawful purposes.
-Dr. Snow, believing that Lord Campbell was actuated
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xviii'>xviii</span>in introducing this clause by the fact of certain
-trials having recently occurred for the offence of
-using chloroform unlawfully, and being himself convinced
-that, in two of the cases (the one the case of
-a robbery in Thrale-street; the other, of a robbery
-attempted on London Bridge), the evidence against
-the prisoners, of attempting to produce insensibility
-by chloroform, was without any reason or possibility,
-he opposed the afore named clause in the bill on the
-ground that if it became law numerous frivolous and
-false charges would be constantly brought up against
-innocent people, or against guilty persons, but persons
-not guilty of the special charge laid against
-them, that, namely, of administering a volatile narcotic
-by inhalation. Knowing that weakness of human
-nature which leads a man, in the presence of all evidence,
-never to admit intoxication as possible in his
-own proper person, Dr. Snow felt that, in any case
-where an intoxicated person had been robbed, such
-person might allege that he had been made insensible
-by narcotic vapour. The two cases specially
-noticed in his letter admitted readily of such interpretation,
-and were clearly not cases in which chloroform
-had been administered. Lord Campbell, on
-the receipt of Dr. Snow’s letter, referred to it in very
-complimentary terms in the Lords’, but intimated
-that the reasoning of the letter did not alter his determination.
-The editor of the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite>, Dr.
-Alfred Taylor, opened fire on Dr. Snow; and for two
-or three weeks a sharp contest occurred between the
-two doctors; but the matter soon rested, each author
-retaining his own opinions, and both agreeing to
-differ.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Snow’s amiable but firm nature led him often
-to this ultimatum. Freedom of expression was a
-right he always claimed; but for this reason he extended
-the same privilege to others. He was never
-stirred into provocation by any difference of opinion.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xix'>xix</span>It was enough for him to form carefully his own opinions,
-and then to hold to what he had said, so long
-as he felt, from his internal convictions, that he was
-right.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the year 1848, Dr. Snow, in the midst of his
-other occupations, turned his thoughts to the questions
-of the cause and propagation of cholera. He
-argued in his own mind that the poison of cholera
-must be a poison acting on the alimentary canal by
-being brought into direct contact with the alimentary
-mucous surface, and not by the inhalation of any
-effluvium. In all known diseases, so he reasoned, in
-which the blood is poisoned in the first instance,
-there are developed certain general symptoms, such
-as rigors, headache, and quickened pulse; and these
-symptoms all precede any local demonstration of
-disease. But in cholera this rule is broken; the
-symptoms are primarily seated in the alimentary
-canal, and all the after symptoms of a general kind
-are the results of the flux from the canal. His inference
-from this was, that the poison of cholera is
-taken direct into the canal by the mouth. This view
-led him to consider the mediums through which the
-poison is conveyed, and the nature of the poison
-itself. Several circumstances lent their aid in referring
-him to water as the chief, though not the
-only, medium, and to the excreted matters from the
-patient already stricken with cholera, as the poison.
-He first broached these ideas to Drs. Garrod and
-Parkes, early in 1848; but feeling that his data
-were not sufficiently clear, he waited for several
-months, and having in 1849 obtained more reliable
-data, he published his views <em>in extenso</em> in a pamphlet
-entitled “The Mode of Communication of
-Cholera”. During subsequent years, but specially
-during the great epidemic outbreak of the disease in
-London in 1854, intent to follow out his grand idea,
-he went systematically to his work. He laboured
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xx'>xx</span>personally with untiring zeal. No one but those
-who knew him intimately can conceive how he laboured,
-at what cost, and at what risk. Wherever
-cholera was visitant, there was he in the midst.
-For the time, he laid aside as much as possible the
-emoluments of practice; and when even, by early
-rising and late taking rest, he found that all that
-might be learned was not, from the physical labour
-implied, within the grasp of one man, he paid for
-qualified labour. The result of his endeavours, in so
-far as scientific satisfaction is a realization, was truly
-realized, in the discovery of the statistical fact, that
-of 286 fatal attacks of cholera, in 1854, occurring in
-the south districts of the metropolis, where one
-water company, the Southwark and Vauxhall, supplied
-water charged with the London fæcal impurities,
-and another company, the Lambeth, supplied
-a pure water, the proportion of fatal cases
-to each 10,000 houses supplied by these waters, was
-to the Southwark and Vauxhall Company’s water
-71, to the Lambeth 5.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There was, however, another fact during this epidemic,
-which more than the rest drew attention to
-Dr. Snow’s labours and deductions. In the latter
-part of August 1854, a terrific outbreak of cholera
-commenced in and about the neighbourhood of
-Broad-street, Golden-square. Within two hundred
-and fifty yards of the spot where Cambridge-street
-joins Broad-street, there were upwards of five hundred
-fatal attacks of cholera in ten days. To investigate
-this fearful epidemic was at once the selfimposed
-task of Dr. Snow. On the evening of Thursday,
-the 7th of September, the vestrymen of St.
-James’s were sitting in solemn consultation on the
-causes of the visitation. They might well be solemn,
-for such a panic possibly never existed in London
-since the days of the great plague. People fled from
-their homes as from instant death, leaving behind
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxi'>xxi</span>them, in their haste, all the mere matter which before
-they valued most. While, then, the vestrymen were
-in solemn deliberation, they were called to consider
-a new suggestion. A stranger had asked, in modest
-speech, for a brief hearing. Dr. Snow, the stranger
-in question, was admitted, and in few words explained
-his view of the “head and front of the offending”.
-He had fixed his attention on the Broad-street
-pump as the source and centre of the calamity. He advised
-the removal of the pump-handle as the grand
-prescription. The vestry was incredulous, but had
-the good sense to carry out the advice. The pump-handle
-was removed, and the plague was stayed.
-There arose hereupon much discussion amongst the
-learned, much sneering and jeering even; for the
-pump-handle removal was a fact too great for the
-abstruse science men who wanted to discover the
-cause of a great natural phenomenon in some overwhelming
-scientific problem. But it matters little.
-Men with great thoughts in their heads, think of little
-things which little men cover with their wide-spread
-feet. It matters little, for the plague was stayed;
-and whoever will now read dispassionately the report
-of a committee, afterwards published by the vestry,
-and the demonstrative evidence of the Rev. Mr.
-Whitehead, will find that the labours and suggestion
-of Dr. Snow, in reference to the Broad-street epidemic
-of cholera, must become each day better and better
-appreciated, as time, which never yet told a lie, tells
-the tale and points the moral of the event which is
-here so imperfectly described. Some who, at first,
-were amongst those who held up the labours of our
-friend to ridicule, or passed them over in contemptuous
-silence, have, indeed, since modified their opinions,
-and have either tacitly accepted his facts, or have
-done far worse by attempting to put them forward
-as though they were the work of no single man, or
-of some one unknown, or as though their connection
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxii'>xxii</span>with a theory destroyed the originality of the facts
-themselves. It was my privilege, during the life of
-Dr. Snow, to stand on his side. It is now my duty,
-in his death, as a biographer who feels that his work
-will not be lost, to claim for him not only the entire
-originality of the theory of the communication of
-cholera by the direct introduction of the excreted
-cholera poison into the alimentary system; but, independently
-of that theory, the entire originality of
-the discovery of a connection between impure water
-supply and choleraic disease. The whole of his inquiries
-in regard to cholera were published in 1855,
-in the second edition of his work on the “Mode of
-Communication of Cholera”—a work in the preparation
-and publication of which he spent more
-than £200 in hard cash, and realized in return
-scarcely so many shillings.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In 1856, he made a visit to Paris in company
-with his uncle, Mr. Empson, who having personally
-known the present Emperor many years, had on this
-occasion special imperial favours shown to him, in
-which the nephew participated. During the visit,
-Dr. Snow lodged a copy of his work on Cholera at the
-“Institute”, in competition for the prize of £1,200
-offered for the discovery of a means for preventing
-or curing the disease. The decision of the judges
-has since been published, but no note seems to have
-been made of Dr. Snow’s researches.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The Medical Society of London, reformed under
-that name in 1849–50, by amalgamation with the
-Westminster Medical, was at this time the principal
-scene of Dr. Snow’s scientific exertions. In 1852, the
-Society elected him as Orator for the ensuing year;
-and at the eightieth anniversary of the Society, held
-on March the 8th, at the Thatched House Tavern, he
-delivered an admirable oration on “Continuous Molecular
-Changes, more particularly in their Relation to
-Epidemic Diseases.” He made no claim to the orator’s
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxiii'>xxiii</span>gown; but the address was too forcible and first
-class not to call forth the enthusiasm of the audience.
-It was admirably received; and few of us who were
-present on that interesting occasion will forget the
-simple and genuine earnestness of our beloved
-associate, as in the twinkling twilight he carried us
-along with the smooth current of his thoughts. He
-spent nearly twelve months in the preparation of this
-oration. It was intended to convey, in the most
-pleasing manner at his command, a broad view of his
-observations on the communication of certain spreading
-diseases. He advanced, on this occasion, the idea
-that intermittent fever, and perhaps yellow fever,
-are, like cholera, carried by their poisons direct into
-the alimentary system.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Two years after this event, having, meantime,
-passed the office of vice-president, the Society elected
-him to the highest honour it can confer,—to the presidential
-chair. He took his place as President, in
-his unassuming manner, on March 10th, 1855, delivering
-a short but pleasing address. Throughout the
-year he carried out the duties of his office with great
-success. One of his presidential acts was peculiarly
-graceful. One evening, while presiding, Dr. Clutterbuck
-(then the father, or oldest member of the Society)
-came into the meeting. The venerable and distinguished
-old man, then long past his eightieth year,
-had lately been a stranger to the assembly, and was
-known but to few of the members. The President,
-as Dr. Clutterbuck entered the room, himself rose,
-and in a way that was irresistible in its simple courtesy
-resigned his chair to the veteran Esculapian.
-“It is near fifty years,” said Dr. Clutterbuck with
-emotion, as he took the proffered seat, “since I last
-occupied this honourable position.” At the next anniversary
-meeting, held on March the 8th, 1856, Dr.
-Clutterbuck came to his last meeting, and to see (so
-the fates willed it) his friend the President play also
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxiv'>xxiv</span>his last part in presidential duties. At the anniversary
-dinner on that same day, the President reviewed,
-in feeling terms, his own career in the professional
-strife, and expressed that his success in life had
-originated in his acquaintance with the Society over
-which he then governed by the general will.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In addition to the fellowship of the Medical Society,
-Dr. Snow belonged to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical,
-Pathological, and Epidemiological societies. He
-was also a member of the British Medical Association.
-The Medical Society, from its old associations, was,
-however, that in which he took the most active part.
-Next to this, the Epidemiological Society claimed his
-regard. When Mr. Tucker first contemplated the
-formation of the Epidemiological Society, Dr. Snow
-was one of the first with whom he held consultation,
-and from whom he received that able support which
-enabled him to found that excellent institution.
-From the first of the Society, Dr. Snow was an active
-member. He was on many of its committees; he
-was a member of council, and a frequent contributor
-to its <cite>Transactions</cite>. He used often to meet with
-opponents to his peculiar opinions at the meetings of
-this Society, but he always retained friendships.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The position which he took as an epidemiologist
-was original, and in opposition to the views of many
-eminent men who had in the matters relating to
-public health considerable influence, scientific and
-political. He could not consequently, and did not,
-expect to go on his way unopposed. But he did
-sometimes expect a more deliberate and considerate
-attention to his hard wrought labours than he received
-or deserved. He used constantly, though no
-great professor of Shakespearian lore, to deplore the
-long admitted fact, that nothing so inevitably tends
-to transform an earnest inquiring and enthusiastic
-man, into a supercilious, superficial, and cold-hearted
-egotist, as translation from the stool of self-reliance
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxv'>xxv</span>and independence, into the gilded chair of office and
-brief authority.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It must be admitted that Dr. Snow’s views on the
-spread of epidemics were extreme in character; but
-from the slight which they too hastily received, they
-were not, I believe, properly understood. It has
-often been said that he encouraged by his arguments
-the perpetuation of certain offensive arts and occupations
-which are injurious to the public health; and
-in 1855, several journalists commented on him severely
-for this supposed error. But the fact is, he
-never presumed that any man could breathe with
-impunity other gaseous mixture than oxygen and
-nitrogen in atmospheric proportion. He knew too
-well the effect of inhaling chemical substances to
-allow of such supposition to enter his mind. But he
-contended, in regard to pure epidemic disorders, distinguished
-by specific symptoms, that these have a
-specific poison, which is propagated by certain fixed
-laws, which attains its progression and increase in
-and through animal bodies; which is communicated
-from one animal body to another, and which is the
-same in its essence from first to last. This was his
-position, and he adhered to it. No mere emanation
-arising from evolution of foul smelling gas can, per
-se, according to his views, originate a specific disease,
-such as small-pox or scarlet-fever; as well expect that
-the evolution of such gas should plant a plain with
-oaks or a garden with crocuses. True, small-pox
-may occur over a cesspool as an oak may spring up
-from a manure heap; but the small-pox would never
-appear over the cesspool in the absence of its specific
-poison; nor the oak rise from the manure heap in
-the absence of the acorn which seeded it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In 1855, Dr. Snow gave evidence before the select
-committee on the “Public Health and Nuisances
-Removal Bill,” in which evidence he strove to convey
-the impressions which are condensed above. Feeling
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxvi'>xxvi</span>that he had not been correctly understood, he
-afterwards wrote a letter to Sir Benjamin Hall, in
-which he set forth the whole of his argument very
-distinctly and sensibly. He indicated in this letter
-that he was no defender of nuisances, but that
-whereas a bad smell cannot simply because it is a
-bad smell give rise to specific disease, so an offensive
-business conducted in a place where it ought not be
-should be proceeded against by ordinary law as a
-nuisance, without using in regard to it the word
-pestiferous, or otherwise dragging in and distorting
-the science of medicine. As time rolls on, it will probably
-be elicited that the groundwork of Dr. Snow’s
-theory is sound. That if he committed error, it was
-in adhering too closely to the abstract fact, and in
-not allowing sufficient importance to the favouring
-influence of impure conditions in the propagation
-and distribution of the specific poisons of the specific
-diseases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At all events, the view he had maintained originally,
-he maintained to the end, and throughout conscientiously;
-and the aspersions that the object of his
-argument was to support his special theory regarding
-the communication of cholera, are utterly unfounded.
-In the present year, 1858, he read at the Epidemiological
-Society, and published in the <cite>Medical Times
-and Gazette</cite>, a repetition of his previous opinions,
-strengthening them by a statistical record, showing
-that the mortality of persons working at so-called
-offensive occupations is at certain ages lower, and at
-certain ages slightly higher, than in the general population.
-When the paper was read at the Epidemiological
-Society, Mr. Edwin Chadwick made a
-long series of objections to the paper, and complained
-that the argument was illogical. It was so, doubtless,
-on Mr. Chadwick’s premises; but on the premises
-advanced by Dr. Snow, as to the specific propagation
-of specific diseases by specific poisons, physiological
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxvii'>xxvii</span>problems on which, from his experimental
-researches and knowledge, he was far the best authority,
-his arguments were perfectly logical, and
-perfectly consistent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In relation to public health, Dr. Snow contributed
-many other observations. In the first number of
-the <cite>Sanitary Review</cite>, he communicated a valuable
-paper, previously read at the Epidemiological Society,
-on the “Comparative Mortality of Town and
-Rural Districts”; and, previous to his decease, he
-was busily occupied in investigating the question of
-adulteration of bread with alum. He made several
-analyses of different specimens of bread, but his
-papers merely leave a brief record of the fact, without
-any comments or results.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>We return for a few moments to some further
-points connected with his researches on inhalation.
-In addition to his experiments with volatile narcotics,
-he carried out for a long time a series of inquiries
-with other medicinal substances, and administered
-many remedies by inhalation at the Brompton
-Hospital, during a period of twenty months. In
-1851, he recorded the result of this experience at
-the Medical Society of London, and explained the
-modes of administering various agents. Some, as
-morphia and stramonium, were inhaled with the aid
-of heat; others, as hydrocyanic acid and conia, were
-inhaled at the ordinary temperature. The particulars
-of these experiments will be found in a short
-paper in the <cite>London Journal of Medicine</cite> for January
-1851.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He continued steadily to investigate the effects of
-various volatile agents for the production of insensibility,
-and arrived by frequent experiment to such a
-degree of positive knowledge regarding agents of
-this class, that the composition and boiling point of
-any new chemical body having been supplied, he
-could predict whether or not its vapour would produce
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxviii'>xxviii</span>narcotism by inhalation. Other than the volatile
-narcotics referred to in his present essay, he
-performed a variety of experiments with carbonic
-acid, carbonic oxide, cyanogen, hydrocyanic acid,
-Dutch liquid, ammonia, nitrogen, amylovinic ether,
-puff-ball smoke, allyle, cyanide of ethyle, chloride of
-amyle, a carbo-hydrogen from Rangoon tar, a carbo-hydrogen
-coming over with amylene, and various
-combinations of these. His grand search was for a
-narcotic vapour which, having the physical properties
-and practicability of chloroform, should, in
-its physiological effects, resemble ether in not producing,
-by any accident of administration, paralysis
-of the heart. The fact that in almost every fatal
-case from chloroform the result had occurred from
-the action of the narcotic on the central organ of
-the circulation, was never absent from his thoughts.
-An agent having this effect, however intrinsically
-valuable, was not to be put in the hands of every
-person for administration. “There would be a great
-uproar,” he remarked on one occasion, “if a student
-were to undertake on the operating table to tie the
-femoral artery, and were to open the femoral vein.
-Yet at some of our hospitals, the administration of
-chloroform has been entrusted to the porter, who
-would only grin in ignorance, if informed that each
-time his services were required, he performed the
-grand act of suspending for a time the oxidation of
-the whole body, and of inducing a temporary death;
-and who would tell you, if you asked him the composition
-of chloroform, that it was smelling stuff.”
-He spoke this from no selfish feeling, but with that
-kind of regret which an educated engineer would feel,
-on referring to the fact of a railway porter who,
-knowing nothing of steam, how to put it on, when to
-take it off, or why it propelled, had mounted an
-engine and driven a host of confiding passengers to
-their destruction. This is the way in which he expressed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxix'>xxix</span>himself, and it would be difficult to show
-that he was not correct.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Intent on the discovery of some new anæsthetic,
-which might be more safely entrusted to general use,
-Dr. Snow began, in 1856, to experiment with amylene.
-As usual, he went to work cautiously and with
-precision. First he ascertained the boiling point of
-the specimen supplied to him; then the point of saturation
-of air with the vapour at different temperatures;
-then the effects of inhalation of the vapour by
-inferior animals, and the quantity required to be inspired,
-with the air breathed, to produce insensibility.
-These were the usual steps in all his inquiries
-of this kind. When he had obtained any substance
-which would produce insensibility favourably on animals,
-he pushed it, in one or two experiments, to its
-extreme in animals of different kinds; and having
-produced death by the inhalation, both by giving
-rapidly a large dose, and by giving a small dose for
-a long period, he observed the mode of death, whether
-it occurred by cessation of the heart, or by cessation
-of the respiration primarily. If the agent seemed
-to promise favourably from these inquiries, he commenced
-to try it on man; and the first man was invariably
-his own self. His friends, knowing his unflinching
-courage in the ardour of his inquiries, often
-expostulated with him in regard to the risks he ran.
-It was of no avail. He felt the personal trial a duty,
-and he did it. I do not believe, as some have supposed,
-that these personal experiments had any effect
-in producing his early death; but it is certain that
-he underwent many risks in the performance of his
-investigations, and that he held his own life of least
-consideration when the lives or well-being of others
-were under consideration.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There is yet another trait in his character which I
-cannot but notice, and which I would respectfully
-commend to all physiological inquirers. While he
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxx'>xxx</span>held it as a necessity to use inferior animals for the
-purpose of experiment, he never touched living thing
-with the physiologist’s finger without having before
-him some definite object; and never performed experiment
-on any animal without providing with scrupulous
-care against the infliction of all unnecessary
-suffering. The interests of humanity were, according
-to his rule, best advanced by the practice of a humanity
-that was universal.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He paid considerable attention to the subject of
-local anæsthesia, and tried numerous methods for
-attaining to a knowledge of a perfect local anæsthetic.
-He performed experiments with freezing mixtures,
-with chloroform; and for the production of rapid and
-efficient benumbing by cold, he tried, in 1854, the effects
-of applying solid carbonic acid to the skin. At
-one of the meetings of the Medical Society, he reported
-at length the results he had arrived at; but he was
-never satisfied with them, and soon relinquished the
-inquiry, in order to concentrate his energies on the
-discovery of what he felt sure must be discovered
-ultimately,—an anæsthetic which might be inhaled
-with absolute safety, and which would destroy common
-sensation without destroying consciousness.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To some extent he succeeded in this latter direction,
-in his discovery of the physiological effects of
-amylene; and for some time he was sanguine as to
-the great safety of the new agent. But the deaths
-which he has so faithfully recorded as occurring in
-his own hands from amylene, removed his expectations,
-and he discontinued its use as soon as he
-learned the risks which might follow its administration.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>By his earnest labours Dr. Snow soon acquired a
-professional reputation, in relation to his knowledge
-of the action of anæsthetics, which spread far and
-wide; and the people, through the profession, looked
-up to him from all ranks, as the guide to whom to entrust
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxi'>xxxi</span>themselves in “Lethe’s walk”. On April the 7th,
-1853, he administered chloroform to Her Majesty at
-the birth of the Prince Leopold. A note in his diary
-records the event. The inhalation lasted fifty-three
-minutes. The chloroform was given on a handkerchief,
-in fifteen minim doses; and the Queen expressed
-herself as greatly relieved by the administration.
-He had previously been consulted on the
-occasion of the birth of Prince Arthur, in 1850, but
-had not been called in to render his services. Previous
-to the birth of Prince Leopold, he had been
-honoured with an interview with His Royal Highness
-the Prince Albert, and returned much overjoyed
-with the Prince’s kindness and great intelligence
-on the scientific points which had formed the
-subject of their conversation. On April 14th, 1857,
-another note in the diary records the fact of the
-second administration of chloroform to Her Majesty,
-at the birth of the Princess Beatrice. The chloroform
-again exerted its beneficent influence; and Her
-Majesty once more expressed herself as much satisfied
-with the result.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Inquisitive folk often overburthened Snow, after
-these events, with a multitude of questions of an unmeaning
-kind. He answered them all with goodnatured
-reserve. “Her Majesty is a model patient,”
-was his usual reply: a reply which, he once told me,
-seemed to answer every purpose, and was very true.
-One lady of an inquiring mind, to whom he was administering
-chloroform, got very loquacious during
-the period of excitement, and declared she would inhale
-no more of the vapour unless she were told what
-the Queen said, word for word, when she was taking
-it. Her Majesty, replied the dry doctor, asked no
-questions until she had breathed very much longer
-than you have; and if you will only go on in loyal
-imitation, I will tell you everything. The patient
-could not but follow the example held out to her. In
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxii'>xxxii</span>a few seconds she forget all about Queen, Lords, and
-Commons; and when the time came for a renewal of
-hostilities, found that her clever witness had gone
-home to his dinner, leaving her with the thirst for
-knowledge still on her tongue.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'>From the literary and general history of Dr. Snow,
-let us turn for a few pages to his history personal.
-I will take the mean of the last eight years of his
-life,—the period in which I knew him,—as the period
-from which to draw particulars. He was of middle
-size, and, some years since, slender; but of late
-he had become of slightly fuller build. His long life
-in comparative student loneliness had made him reserved
-in manner to strangers; but with private
-friends he was always open, and of sweet companionship.
-With his increased popularity he became less
-reserved to strangers; and within the last few years
-he so far threw off restraint as to visit the opera
-occasionally. But he moderated every enjoyment,
-and let nothing personal stand in the way of his
-scientific pursuits. He was the impersonation of
-order. He had his time and place for everything; he
-kept a diary, in which he recorded the particulars of
-every case in which he administered chloroform or
-other anæsthetic, with comments on the results of the
-administration, and hints as to dangers avoided or
-chanced. He kept a record of all his experiments,
-and short notes of observations made by his friends.
-He rose early, and retired early to rest,—at eleven
-o’clock. He seemed, whenever he was waited on, as
-though he had nothing in hand, and were always
-open to an engagement.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Anything and everything of scientific interest arrested
-his attention, and his kindliness of heart was
-at all times in the foreground. When I was living
-at Mortlake, he would run down, on request, after
-his day’s duties were over, to a <em>post-mortem</em>, to see a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxiii'>xxxiii</span>poor patient, or to take part in an experiment, returning
-as cheerily as though he had been to receive
-the heaviest fee. I name this as but one example
-of his kindly nature; there are many who could corroborate
-the example in like personal manner.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He laid no claim to eloquence, nor had he that
-gift. A peculiar huskiness of voice, indeed, rendered
-first hearings from him painful; but this was
-soon felt less on acquaintance, and the ear once
-accustomed to the peculiarity, the mind was quickly
-interested in the matter of his discourse, for he
-always spoke earnestly, clearly, and to the point.
-In the societies he spoke very often, and gave expression
-to views, on which he had spent great
-thought, with a generous freedom which, in so far
-as the fame of his originality was concerned, had
-been better held in reserve. It had been better,
-that is to say, for him to have carefully elaborated
-some of his views in the closet, and published them
-fully, than to have sent them forth in the hurry of
-debate. Had he lived, he would possibly have collected
-many stray labours thus put forward, and
-have given to them the matured consideration which
-they deserved. One of his views, on which he would
-have bestowed great attention, refers to the origin of
-various morbid growths, as cancer. He believed that
-these morbid formations are all of local origin; that
-they arise in the parts of the body where they are
-found, from some perversion of nutrition; and that
-the constitutional effects are secondary to and dependent
-on the local disorder. He had made many
-observations on this important subject, notices of
-which are to be found scattered, here and there, in
-the proceedings of the Medical Society of London,
-but no connected record was ever completed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>His private conversation was both instructive and
-amusing; he was full of humorous anecdotes, which
-he told in a quiet, and irresistibly droll style;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxiv'>xxxiv</span>and when he laughed, his goodnatured face laughed
-in every feature.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c012'><sup>[1]</sup></a> His anecdotes were never given
-in set form, but were elicited by some circumstance
-or other which might happen to suggest them. Once,
-when a friend of ours related at dinner some of
-the economical measures of an odd old doctor who
-was known to some of the company, he gave us an
-anecdote, showing how a man may work too hard
-for his money. “When I was a very young man,”
-he said, “I went for a brief period to assist a gentleman
-who had a large parochial practice. I found
-his surgery in a very disorderly state, and thinking on
-my first day with him that I would enhance myself in
-his opinion by my industry, I set to work, as soon as
-his back was turned, to cleanse the Augean stable.
-I took off my coat, cleared out every drawer, relieved
-the counter of its unnecessary covering, relabelled
-the bottles, and got everything as clean as a new
-pin. When the doctor returned, he was quite taken
-by storm with the change, and commenced to prescribe
-in his day book. There was a patient who
-required a blister, and the worthy doctor, to make
-dispensing short, put his hand into a drawer to produce
-one. To his horror, the drawer was cleansed.
-Goodness! cried he, why where are all the blisters?
-The blisters, I replied, the blisters in that drawer?
-I burnt them all; they were old ones. Nay, my good
-fellow, was the answer, that is, the most extravagant
-act I ever heard of; such proceedings would ruin a
-parish doctor. Why, I make all my parochial people
-return their blisters when they have done with them.
-One good blister is enough for at least half a dozen
-patients. You must never do such a thing again,
-indeed you must not. I did not, for he and I soon
-found a good many miles of ground between us,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxv'>xxxv</span>though we never had any more serious misunderstanding.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>His replies, when under the fire of cross-question,
-were ready and commonsense. Once, he observed
-that in his opinion sulphuric ether was a safer narcotic
-than chloroform. Why, then, said a listener,
-do you not use ether? I use chloroform, he resumed,
-for the same reason that you use phosphorus
-matches instead of the tinder box. An occasional
-risk never stands in the way of ready applicability.
-On another occasion, after one of the meetings of the
-“Medical Society,” when the subject of a specific
-cholera cell had been under debate, some one asked
-him, as a poser and rather ironically, where he thought
-the first cholera cell came from? “Exactly,” he replied,
-with a droll face. “But to begin, do you tell
-me where the first tiger or the first upas tree came
-from; nay, tell me where you came from yourself,
-and I will then tell you the origin of the first cholera
-cell, and give you the full history of the first
-case; but I want a model before I venture on the
-description of ultimate facts.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As an author, his style was plain, clear, and
-smoothly elegant. His argument was always carefully
-studied and as carefully rendered. He sent
-manuscript to the printer which required scarcely a
-letter of correction. Both in writing and speaking,
-he made the expression of truth his first business.
-Neither provocation nor temptation could ever lead
-him aside from that principle. His readings were
-select. He chiefly read scientific works, old and
-new. He had great relish for some of the old medical
-writers—the masters in physic. He had read
-Bacon, but agreed with Harvey’s criticism that
-Bacon wrote science like a lord chancellor. He had
-a notion that there had been a history long previous
-to any we know of from existing records, in which
-the sciences generally had risen to a greater perfection
-than they are at this present. His conversance
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxvi'>xxxvi</span>with Sprengel’s <cite>History of Medicine</cite> had possibly
-led him to this opinion. He was fond of general
-history also, but studied it little. He never read
-novels, because the hours devoted to them were, he
-felt, hours thrown away. At the same time, he enjoyed
-as much as any man ridiculous life-pictures
-naturally cast. When he came to see me, and leisure
-was with us, I used often to read to him some of the
-more amusing passages from Dickens and Thackeray,
-or from one of the older writers, as Swift. It was a
-new world to him, and provoked great fun. He
-would ask to have passages read over again, that he
-might better realize the conception. He enjoyed
-vastly any anecdotes about the old men in physic,
-the Cullens and Meads and Arbuthnotts and Harveys.
-Any such anecdotes he took into his memory
-and never forgot them.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On such occasions I would, in ridiculous mood,
-sing him absurd songs to any tune, two or three
-tunes, or to no tune at all, and without any pretence
-at voice. At first he would listen with his hands
-flat together and with a perfect melancholy on his
-face, as if he could hear it no longer. Bit by bit he
-would relax, and at last get into a continued laughter.
-Then I would stop, and he would begin to
-open out his list of anecdotes, professional and general,
-upon which the laughter came over to me
-with compound interest, for of men enriched with
-stores of droll stories, few could equal him. Nor
-was he inventive in these narrations; he had simply
-observed character shrewdly, and described it in its
-humorous phases. If he had written as he related,
-he would have ranked as one of the humorists of the
-age of no second order.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He thought severely of the reviewer’s art, and
-would never of late review any book critically. If
-a book were good, it carried the review of its own
-merits. If it were bad, it were better left untouched.
-He, at all events, with so much original work before
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxvii'>xxxvii</span>him, could not stop to criticize his compeers or their
-transactions. Let the dead bury their dead; he
-must march with the living while life gave power.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Notwithstanding, he was fond of controversy and
-courted it. I expressed to him once some surprise
-that he with such an even temper should write so
-often in controversial style; and that surely it were
-better to follow Harvey’s and old Sam Johnson’s
-plan, to do the best oneself, and leave the controversy
-altogether to others less personally influenced.
-He agreed that this was by far the best system, but
-did not think it practicable generally, and feared that
-silence might often be misinterpreted.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Men who have something in them take different
-courses in the way of accepting the world’s recognition
-of their labours. The beginning, in most cases,
-is after a given pattern; the end is modified and
-turned about variously, according to the stamp of
-the man. All start with an exaggerated appreciation
-of their own doings, and with exaggerated feelings
-respecting the critics who first notice them.
-The critic is Jove the all wise, or Pluto the all black.
-There was never middleman critic yet. Some men
-stop at the first, either too elated with the pleasure
-of the first reception to venture more, or too cast down
-from the pain of a sharp reception to tempt fortune
-further. Cowards these both, in one word. Others enter
-into violent controversies; in the heat of the same,
-drop one or two contradictions, and, wishing every
-month that Cadmus had been still born, go on always
-at controversy, boring everybody, and especially
-those who would believe if not bored. Others,
-again, soon find their own level, and not only their
-own, but the level of their critics. Surfeited with
-commendation, or hardened by attacks, these care
-little for either, and make no retorts save such as
-are by ambuscade and go right home. A fourth
-class, of immovable temper and self-reliant, fall into
-what seems, superficially, indifference, but which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxviii'>xxxviii</span>means, deeply, the soul of earnestness. These do always
-the best thing at the time, and, when it is done
-to their own satisfaction, put it forward, with no
-anxiety whatever as to what may be said of it, with
-no intention of entering into any defence of it, and
-with no intention of doing anything less than themselves
-correct all such errors in it as after knowledge
-may indicate, or commit it to the flames, if
-destruction be its best fate. Fatalists in letters, men
-of this class, if it be pleasure to call them so; but
-great fatalists too—honest reviewers of their own
-works, who fear their own criticisms, and none
-other; who offer immense labours, and die to them
-as they offer. Dr. Snow, as we have seen, was the
-representative rather of the controversial class of
-workers. But he had his own way of doing the
-controversy business, which saved friendships, and
-exhibited a firm principle and an exact knowledge.
-It is not to be denied, however, that, had he put his
-labours before the world, and trusted in them and on
-the world’s justice, never replying a syllable, he
-would have avoided an extremity of argument which
-was often not merely unnecessary in relation to his
-propositions, but injurious to them, as reasonings
-overstrained.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He admired art, and felt real pleasure in advancing
-it. He enjoyed innocent recreations, and was
-ever at home in the family circle. He had his regrets
-that he had never married, the fates had been
-against him permanently on that score. He loved
-the prattle of children. When he went to court
-during last season, and had arrayed himself in his
-court suit, nothing connected with the event amused
-him so much as the saying of the child of a friend,
-who, on seeing him start, with his sword and flattened
-hat, held up her hands, and exclaimed: “Oh! isn’t
-Dr. Snow <em>pretty</em>, mamma.” The idea of being considered
-pretty roused in him quite a new and droll
-sensation, which he could not help telling about as
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xxxix'>xxxix</span>a rare incident in a courtier’s career. The anecdote
-is simple, but it gives a good idea of the simple
-and genial nature of the man.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It has been shown that the tendency of Dr. Snow’s
-mind for philosophical pursuits led him away in
-some measure from the practical drudgery of professional
-life. From this fact, it has been too hastily
-inferred that he was therefore, in the common
-parlance, “not a practitioner.” Those who knew him
-as a practitioner, who had had the advantage of his
-assistance in cases of doubt or difficulty, have a very
-different opinion. These speak of him, with one
-accord, as having been, without any ostentation, one
-of the soundest and most acute of our modern physicians.
-He had great tact in diagnosis; an observant
-eye, a ready ear, a sound judgment, a memory
-admirably stored with the recollection of cases
-bearing on the one in point, and a faculty of grouping
-together symptoms and foreshadowing results,
-which very few men possess. Mr. Peter Marshall, of
-Bedford Square, who often called in Dr. Snow in consultation,
-has remarked to me in nearly the same
-terms as I have expressed, his independent appreciation
-of Dr. Snow’s practical knowledge. For my part,
-I never had the good fortune to put many fees into
-his pocket; but as I had often the pleasure of meeting
-him on pure scientific grounds in cases of interest, I
-can bear truthful testimony to his eminent qualities
-as a practitioner, and to the fact that his philosophical
-labours only served to render him more intelligent
-and profound in matters relating to diseases
-and their treatment. He did not become the
-idol of the people in common practice, far from it: but
-the failure arose not from deficiency of knowledge,
-but from a more perfect knowledge with assumption
-whipped out of it. It is no discredit to his memory
-that he was not the idol of the people in common practice,
-though it cost him much suffering to feel himself
-kept down, by that wisdom which is the oil
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xl'>xl</span>to the water of popular ignorance concerning life
-and its laws. For, to be the idol of the people in
-physic, is too often to be the Juggernaut of physic,—an
-idol of wood or of stone in showy gold and
-tinsel. This idol has neither sense nor force; if it
-had, it were not an idol; it would walk off, or tell
-the worshippers no longer to shake hands constantly
-with themselves in its presence.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>But, when the opportunity offered for obtaining remunerative
-practice by the exercise of his scientific
-skill, Snow showed himself, both in act and industry,
-competent for success. He soon overcame all difficulties,
-and managed by his frugality to lay in store for
-a rainy day for himself, and to help such friends as
-needed. Many rumours as to the extent of his gains
-abound which it is right to correct. His income of late
-years was near £1,000 a year, but it never exceeded
-that sum. For this, he exhibited chloroform or one
-or other anæsthetic about four hundred and fifty
-times annually, taking an average of the ten years
-preceding his death. In a large number of these
-cases, however, his services were gratuitously supplied.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In his private relations, Dr. Snow was a man of
-the strictest integrity and purest honour. The experiences
-of life, instead of entwining about him the
-vices of the world, had weaned him from the world.
-Without any pretence, maintaining no connection
-with sect or party, living by the rules of the eternal
-laws which, according to the best of his abilities, he
-could read from the universe, he carried out a practical
-religion, independently of any hypothesis or
-abstruse profession, which few professors could approach.
-A child of nature, he knew no way of
-recognizing the Divine influences so purely as in
-silent and inexpressible admiration of those grand
-external phenomena which pharisees see not, but
-which each moment convey to men of his character,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xli'>xli</span>the direct impression of a Power all present and
-revealing itself for ever.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>We approach the end. In the midst of his success,
-when medicine most needed him and his hand
-was most powerful, he stood one day in his mental
-strength, and the next day fell. Death found him
-at his work, and the stern enemy came on him suddenly,
-though not without forewarnings.<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c012'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>His health had long been indifferent; he had
-suffered from hæmatemesis several times in the last
-few years, for which Dr. Budd had attended him,
-and he had his own forebodings that his life was not
-of the longest. In the month of December 1857 he
-was suddenly seized one evening with vertigo and
-sickness, which compelled him to keep the recumbent
-position for more than twenty-four hours. At
-the end of this time he felt better, and went about
-his usual avocations. He had no convulsions at this
-time, nor did he lose his consciousness. After this
-attack, he complained on many different occasions,
-both to his housekeeper and to several of his medical
-friends, of numbness in his extremities. Some
-of these to whom he mentioned this circumstance,
-do not recollect whether this symptom was greater
-on one side of the body than on the other; while
-others distinctly state that it was referred to the left
-side only. His housekeeper was certain that he
-never complained of this numbness before the attack
-in December; and even afterwards, it would appear
-to have been only an occasional symptom. For six
-weeks before his final seizure he had made no mention
-of it. About three weeks before his last attack,
-he had complained, for some days, of a severe pain
-in the back of his head, which he himself considered
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xlii'>xlii</span>neuralgic, and for which he treated himself. This
-pain quite left him, and for about a fortnight he had
-been enjoying excellent health.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On the evening of Tuesday, June the 8th, 1858,
-he attended a meeting of the Royal Medical and
-Chirurgical Society. On the following evening there
-was a meeting of a private society for the study of
-chest diseases, held at Dr. Quain’s. The subject discussed
-was the cause of the first sound of the heart.
-On this, the last occasion of the kind at which he
-was present, he was in unusual spirits, and looked
-exceedingly well. He entered into the debate with
-great earnestness, agreed to form one of a committee
-to inquire into the cause of the first sound by experiment,
-and left his friends with enthusiastic expression
-as to the success of the proposed undertaking.
-We exchanged our last farewells that night.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He went to bed at half-past eleven o’clock on
-June 9th, and on the following morning he came
-down stairs at 8 <span class='fss'>A.M.</span> When he came down, he complained
-to his housekeeper of slight giddiness, and
-she thought he did not walk very steadily. He reclined
-on the sofa, and said that he should be well
-again in a few minutes, but that he did not think
-he could eat any breakfast. Soon after, however,
-he got up, said he felt very hungry, and ate a very
-hearty breakfast. When this was done, he proceeded
-to write a portion of the manuscript of the
-work on anæsthetics now published. He had written
-to the last printed sentence, when his housekeeper,
-who had scarcely left him, heard a great
-noise, as if some one had fallen. She ran up
-again and found her master on the floor, making
-vain endeavours to regain his chair. He does
-not appear to have had any convulsions, and his
-consciousness was unimpaired, for he remarked
-when his housekeeper came into the room, that
-though he did not quite understand the nature of his
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xliii'>xliii</span>complaint, he was very sure he never had had any
-such symptoms before. His housekeeper observed
-that he had quite lost all power over his left arm
-and leg, and that his mouth appeared drawn to the
-right side. She had him lifted on the sofa; and
-here he remained for twenty-four hours before any
-medical assistance was sent for. This was his own
-wish, as he said he should soon be better, and that he
-did not wish to trouble any one. During this period
-he complained much of pain over the lower end of
-the sternum, which he endeavoured to relieve by
-frequent inhalations of sulphuric ether, but he neither
-ate nor slept the whole time. At 6 <span class='fss'>A.M.</span> on the
-morning of Friday, June 11th, retching came on, and
-he vomited a considerable quantity of blood. Upon
-this his housekeeper sent for Dr. Budd, who, along
-with Dr. Murchison, continued to attend him to the
-last. His symptoms, when seen by these gentlemen,
-were briefly as follows:—Complete paralysis of
-motion over the whole of the left side of the body,
-but without loss of sensibility; the left angle of the
-mouth falling down, and the apex of the tongue
-deviating to the left; memory and consciousness
-were unimpaired; there was pain and great tenderness
-in the epigastrium, with urgent hiccup and
-hæmatemesis; there were slight indications of albuminuria,
-but there were no dropsical symptoms.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The hæmatemesis ceased after about twenty-four
-hours, but the vomiting and hiccup continued. By
-Monday, the 14th, these symptoms also had subsided,
-but others of a more alarming nature began
-to show themselves. The pulse and respiration became
-accelerated, the countenance and extremities
-became livid, and there was occasional wandering
-delirium. These symptoms gradually increased in
-severity; but he retained his consciousness until
-11 <span class='fss'>A.M.</span> of Wednesday, June 16th, when the breathing
-became stertorous, and deglutition impossible.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_xliv'>xliv</span>Throughout his illness, he had been sanguine of recovery,
-and expressed his belief frequently that he
-should soon be at his professional work again. On
-this, the last morning of his life, the fact of the
-danger in which he was placed was explained. He
-met the intelligence with calmness, but felt a wish
-to see Dr. Todd. Soon he sank into a somnolent
-state approaching to dissolution, and at 3 <span class='fss'>P.M.</span> death
-took him.<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c012'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On the Monday following, Dr. Snow was buried
-at the Brompton Cemetery. It was the wish
-of many of his medical friends to follow him to
-his last home. But his relations, recalling his own
-unostentatious feelings, laid him in the grave in
-simple ceremony; and there, ingenuous friend, in
-the sleep that knows no waking, he sleeps on and
-takes his rest; the rest he has earned. The old
-changes of the world live after him, women mourning
-for their children; youths exulting on the marriage
-day; the inanimate returning to the elements;
-the animate returning to the infinite. But in the
-gaping time shall it chance rarely, for another science-man
-to come and go, who, taking him all in all, may
-call him “brother”!</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span>
- <h2 class='c004'>HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'>The most important discovery that has been made in the
-practice of medicine since the introduction of vaccination,
-is, undoubtedly, the power of making persons perfectly insensible
-to the most painful surgical operations, by the
-inhalation of the vapours of ether, chloroform, and other
-agents of the same kind.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In giving a brief outline of this discovery, it is necessary
-to inquire into the attempts of every kind which had previously
-been made to prevent severe pain; and also to notice
-the history of medicinal inhalations, whether undertaken
-with the view of preventing pain, or of relieving or curing
-disease.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The practice of taking opium and other vegetable narcotics,
-to relieve pain or procure sleep, was common in the
-most remote periods to which history extends; but the
-earliest notices which remain of any attempts to prevent
-the pain of surgical operations were written at the period of
-the Roman Empire. They were alluded to by Dr. Simpson
-at the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh in November,
-1847.<a id='r4'></a><a href='#f4' class='c012'><sup>[4]</sup></a> Dioscorides,<a id='r5'></a><a href='#f5' class='c012'><sup>[5]</sup></a> speaking of mandragora, says,
-“Some persons boil the root in wine down to a third part,
-and preserve the decoction, of which they administer a cyathus
-(rather more than an ounce and a half) in want of sleep and
-severe pains of any part, and also before operations with the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>knife or the actual cautery, that they may not be felt.”
-(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Ante sectiones ustionesve, ut ne sentiantur.</span>) Further on
-he says: “A wine is prepared from the bark of the root
-without boiling, and three pounds of it are put into a <em>cadus</em>
-(about eighteen gallons) of sweet wine, and three cyathi of
-this are given to those who require to be cut or cauterized:
-when being thrown into a deep sleep they do not feel any
-pain.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The same author also adds,<a id='r6'></a><a href='#f6' class='c012'><sup>[6]</sup></a> in speaking of a kind of
-mandragora called morion, “They relate that a drachm of it
-being taken as a draught, or eaten in a cake or other food,
-causes infatuation, and takes away the use of the reason.
-The person sleeps without sense, in the attitude in which he
-ate it, for three or four hours afterwards. Medical men
-also use it when they have to resort to cutting or burning.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In treating of mandragora, Pliny<a id='r7'></a><a href='#f7' class='c012'><sup>[7]</sup></a> remarks that the juice
-of the leaves is more powerful than the preparations made
-from the root. He says, “Some persons even die from a
-considerable draught. It has the power of causing sleep in
-those who take it. The dose is half a cyathus (six drachms).
-It is taken against serpents, and before cuttings and puncturings,
-lest they be felt. For these purposes it is sufficient
-for some persons to have sought sleep from the smell (of the
-medicine).”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Apuleius,<a id='r8'></a><a href='#f8' class='c012'><sup>[8]</sup></a> under the head mandragora, says, “If any one
-eat it he will immediately die, unless he be treated with
-butter and honey, and vomit quickly. Further, if any one
-is to have a limb mutilated, burnt, or sawn, he may drink
-half an ounce with wine, and whilst he sleeps the member
-may be cut off without any pain or sense.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>After reading the above passages from such well-known
-authors, it may be asked how it was that the practice of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>preventing the pain of surgical operations was entirely unknown
-just prior to 1846.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The reason, no doubt, was that the statement these passages
-contain was looked upon as a vulgar error of the
-period, which had imposed on the credulity of the authors.
-Dr. Woodville,<a id='r9'></a><a href='#f9' class='c012'><sup>[9]</sup></a> speaking of the use of mandragora by the
-ancients, says, “They employed it principally in continued
-watchings, and in those more painful and obstinate affections
-which were found to resist less powerful medicines.” He
-gives, in a foot note, a reference to the place in Dioscorides
-from which the passages above quoted are taken, and had
-he believed in the performance of operations without pain,
-we may conclude he would not have passed over so important
-a fact in silence.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>With the knowledge we at present possess, however, a
-different view must be taken of the subject; and it must at
-least be allowed that the statements of the ancients had
-some foundation in truth. This is rendered more certain by
-the circumstance that atropa mandragora belongs to the same
-genus as belladonna, which has a greater power in annulling
-the common sensibility than any plant in present use,
-unless it be aconite. The loss of reason, described by
-Dioscorides as caused by mandragora, is a striking symptom
-of poisoning by the class of plants (the solanaceæ) to
-which it belongs. It appears from some remarks of
-Aretæus<a id='r10'></a><a href='#f10' class='c012'><sup>[10]</sup></a> and Cælius Aurelianus<a id='r11'></a><a href='#f11' class='c012'><sup>[11]</sup></a> that people were in the
-habit of taking mandragora as an inebriating agent in the
-time of the ancients, as an allied plant, the datura, is used at
-present by the natives of India. This practice would lead
-to a correct knowledge of the quantity which might be
-taken with impunity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The mandrake is scarcely used in medicine at present, but
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>its narcotic properties are well established. Hoffberg<a id='r12'></a><a href='#f12' class='c012'><sup>[12]</sup></a>
-administered the root in doses of three grains in some cases
-of gout, with the effect of relieving the pain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Cases of poisoning by belladonna end, with very few exceptions,
-in recovery, however large the dose, and however
-alarming the symptoms may be; and, taking all the above
-circumstances into account, it is probable, that after ascertaining
-the right quantity to be administered for the purpose,
-this medicine or mandragora might be used, with considerable
-success, and no great danger, to prevent the pain of
-operations, if chemistry had not supplied us with agents
-much more convenient.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Not many ages after the Greek and Roman authors above
-quoted were describing the effects of mandrake in preventing
-the pain of operations, another plant, the Indian hemp,
-was employed for the same purpose in a more remote part
-of the world. M. Stanislas Julien, in an article on Chinese
-Medicine,<a id='r13'></a><a href='#f13' class='c012'><sup>[13]</sup></a> gives a notice of a work entitled “Koukin-i-tong,
-or a General Collection of Ancient and Modern Medicine,”
-in fifty volumes, 4to., and makes an extract from it respecting
-Hoa-tho, a practitioner, who flourished under the dynasty
-of Wei, between 220 and 230 of our era. Respecting Hoa-tho,
-it is stated that—“When he found that it was necessary
-to employ acupuncture, he applied it in two or three
-places; he did the same with the moxa, if it was indicated
-by the nature of the affection which he had to treat. But
-if the malady was situated in parts on which the needle,
-the moxa, or liquid medicines could not act—for example, in
-the bones, in the medulla of the bones, in the stomach, or
-the intestines, he gave to the patient a preparation of hemp
-(Ma-yo), and, at the end of some instants, he became as insensible
-as if he had been drunk, or deprived of life. Then,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>according to the case, he made openings and incisions, performed
-amputations, and removed the cause of mischief; he
-then brought together the tissues with points of suture, and
-applied liniments. After a certain number of days (at the
-end of a month, according to the annals of the later Hân)
-the patient found himself reestablished, without having
-experienced the slightest pain during the operation.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>We are not informed of the way in which the hemp was
-administered. If insensibility was caused so quickly, as is
-stated, it must have been by inhaling the fumes of the
-hemp when exposed to heat, and not by taking it into the
-stomach. This view of the matter is rendered more probable
-by the circumstance that the ancient Scythians were
-in the habit of inhaling the fumes of hemp,<a id='r14'></a><a href='#f14' class='c012'><sup>[14]</sup></a> several centuries
-before the time of Hoa-tho, and also by the practice
-of the Hindoos at present, who inhale the fumes of hemp
-from a pipe. The remark that the patient became reestablished
-at the end of a certain number of days, must refer to
-his recovery from the wound caused by the operation, and
-we are not informed how long the state of insensibility
-continued.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The next notice of any attempt to prevent the pain of
-operations, that I am aware of, occurs in the work on Surgery
-of Theodoric, an author who lived in Italy in the latter
-half of the thirteenth century. He writes as follows:<a id='r15'></a><a href='#f15' class='c012'><sup>[15]</sup></a>
-“The making of a flavour for performing surgical operations
-according to Dominus Hugo. It is thus made:—take of
-opium, of the juice of the unripe mulberry, of hyoscyamus,
-of the juice of hemlock, of the juice of the leaves of mandragora,
-of the juice of the woody ivy, of the juice of the forest
-mulberry, of the seeds of lettuce, of the seeds of the dock,
-which has large round apples, and of the water hemlock
-[cicuta]—each an ounce; mix all these in a brazen vessel,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>and then place in it a new sponge; let the whole boil, as
-long as the sun lasts on the dog days, until the sponge consumes
-it all, and it is boiled away in it (the sponge). As
-oft as there shall be need of it, place this sponge in hot
-water for an hour, and let it be applied to the nostrils of him
-who is to be operated on, until he has fallen asleep; and so
-let the surgery be performed. This being finished, in order
-to awaken him, apply another sponge, dipped in vinegar,
-frequently to the nose, or throw the juice of the root of
-fenugrek into the nostrils; shortly he awakes.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I altogether disbelieve that a sponge, prepared as above,
-would, after being placed in hot water, give off any odour
-or vapour which would cause insensibility. The active ingredients,
-as they exist in the various plants, are not sufficiently
-volatile to be given off at a heat below that of
-boiling water. Hemlock, indeed, contains a volatile principle,
-which can be liberated by an alkali; but, even if it
-were set free by any chance during the preparation of the
-sponge, it would all be dissipated by the long boiling.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>If sleep were really caused in this way, it must have
-been by some of the moisture from the sponge reaching the
-mouth or throat, and being swallowed; and it may be remarked
-that the author speaks of the preparation of a taste
-or flavour (confectio saporis), rather than an odour, although
-the sponge is certainly directed to be applied to the nostrils.
-It must be remarked, also, that if the patient were made so
-insensible, as not to feel the surgeon’s knife, he would be
-little affected by vinegar, or the juice of fenugrek, in his
-nostrils.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Immediately after the prescription quoted above, and in
-the same paragraph with it, Theodoric gives another recipe
-from Master Hugo, directing antimony, quicksilver, soap,
-quick lime, and a little arsenic, to be sublimed together.
-A portion of the resulting compound, the size of a nut, is
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>directed to be placed over a hernia, or whatever else is to
-be operated on. Then follows a rather lengthy direction
-for subliming arsenic, also from Dominus Hugo. The
-arsenic so sublimed is described as rendering surgical operations
-extremely pleasant. The words are—“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">hæc acus fiat
-mitis et suavis: sicut sudor beatæ virginis quum peperit
-Christum</span>.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have applied arsenic to the skin for twenty-four hours,
-with no other effect than irritation, and an eruption of
-pimples, the sensibility of the part being increased; and in
-my opinion, arsenic would not cause insensibility, unless it
-were applied so long that the inflammation caused by it
-should end in gangrene. I consider that the statement of
-Theodoric, respecting arsenic, strengthens the doubts I have
-expressed concerning his spongia somnifera. There is another
-reason for disputing the efficiency of the above mentioned
-recipes. Theodoric directs the patients about to
-undergo operations to be tied, or held by strong men. In
-the operation for hernia, for instance, he directs the patient
-to be tied to the bench, or table, with three bands, one
-round the ankles, another round the thighs, and a third
-across the chest, holding the arms and hands. This circumstance
-is the more significant, since Theodoric had lived
-some time with Hugo, and seen his practice, as he states in
-the dedication to his work.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is reasonable also to conclude that if any successful
-plan of preventing the pain of surgical operations had been
-introduced after the revival of literature, it would not have
-fallen into disuse and been forgotten.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In an interesting paper by Dr. Silvester,<a id='r16'></a><a href='#f16' class='c012'><sup>[16]</sup></a> an anecdote is
-quoted, with an intention to show that anæsthetics were
-commonly had recourse to in severe operations as late as
-the end of the seventeenth century. The quotation is from
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>a German work by A. G. Meissner, called <cite><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Skizzen</span></cite>, or
-Sketches, and published at Carlsruhe in 1782. It is as
-follows:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Augustus, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, suffered
-from a wound in his foot, which threatened to mortify.
-The court medical men were opposed to the operation of
-amputation; but during sleep, induced by a certain potion
-surreptitiously administered, his favourite surgeon, Weiss, a
-pupil of Petit, of Paris, cut off the decaying parts. The royal
-patient was disturbed by the proceeding, and inquired what
-was being done, but on receiving a soothing answer he
-again fell asleep, and did not discover till the following
-morning, after his usual examination, that the operation of
-amputation had really been performed.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is most probable that the potion surreptitiously administered
-in this case, was an ordinary sleeping draught,
-and that only the “decaying parts” were cut off, as in fact
-is stated. The decaying parts of course would be without
-feeling.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The mind of surgeons seems now and then to have turned
-spontaneously towards preventing or alleviating the pain of
-operations, and certain attempts and suggestions were made
-with this object during the later part of the last century,
-in apparent ignorance of what had been done by the ancients
-in this direction.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Ambroise Tranquille Sassard, principal surgeon of the
-Hospital la Charité at Paris, recommended the employment
-of a narcotic previous to serious and painful operations, the
-dose to be proportioned to the age and strength of the
-patient.<a id='r17'></a><a href='#f17' class='c012'><sup>[17]</sup></a> He does not state whether the plan was actually
-tried.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. James Moore, surgeon,<a id='r18'></a><a href='#f18' class='c012'><sup>[18]</sup></a> recommended compression
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>of the large nerves, and tried it on a patient in St. George’s
-Hospital, whose leg Mr. John Hunter amputated below
-the knee. The crural and sciatic nerves were compressed
-for nearly an hour by an instrument contrived for the purpose,
-and Mr. Moore considered that the greater part of the
-pain was prevented. The patient complained more of the
-sawing of the bone than of the cutting part of the operation.
-I am not aware whether this plan was tried in other instances,
-but it is certain that it did not come into general
-use.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. le docteur Liégard (de Caen) has stated,<a id='r19'></a><a href='#f19' class='c012'><sup>[19]</sup></a> that the
-peasants in his part of France are in the habit of tying a
-band very tightly round the arm or leg before operations on
-the extremities. He had himself removed a toe-nail in two
-cases, without pain, after a handkerchief had been tied very
-tightly round the lower part of the leg. By this measure
-both the nerves and blood vessels are, of course, more or
-less compressed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The persons who believe in the existence of a force or
-power, which they call Mesmerism, or animal magnetism,
-made many and persevering efforts in recent times to cause
-insensibility to the surgeon’s knife. In some cases they
-were imposed on by dishonest and designing patients, who
-afterwards confessed they had suffered the pain to which
-they had pretended to be insensible, but in other cases I
-have no doubt of the operations having really been performed
-without pain. Absence of consciousness and sensation
-is a common symptom in many cases of hysteria and
-catalepsy, and in certain susceptible persons, hysteria and
-catalepsy, or conditions nearly resembling them, can be
-induced by acting on the imagination, or by exhausting the
-attention by means of the fixed stare and monotonous
-“passes” of the so-called Mesmerisers.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>Dr. Esdaile was more successful in putting Hindoos to
-sleep, and operating on them in the hypnotized<a id='r20'></a><a href='#f20' class='c012'><sup>[20]</sup></a> state, than
-any one has been with Europeans: yet it was only in a
-portion of the cases in which it was tried that the alleged
-agent took effect. In many instances, efforts continued for
-two or three months had no effect on the patient; and in
-many of the operations, which were reported as successful,
-“there was much convulsive movement of the limbs, corrugation
-of the brows, and even loud cries and sobs,” although
-the patients afterwards denied all knowledge of what had
-passed.<a id='r21'></a><a href='#f21' class='c012'><sup>[21]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The discovery of the means of preventing pain, which will
-occupy the greater number of the following pages, did not
-arise out of any of the attempts either in ancient or modern
-times above enumerated. It sprung directly from the practice
-of inhaling chemical and medicinal substances.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The custom of inhaling the fumes of narcotic plants existed
-at the very commencement of the historic period, as
-appears by the following passages from Herodotus. Speaking
-of the people who inhabited some small islands on the
-river Araxes, which flows into the Caspian Sea, he says,<a id='r22'></a><a href='#f22' class='c012'><sup>[22]</sup></a>
-“They add that they have discovered other trees that produce
-fruit of a peculiar kind, which the inhabitants, when
-they meet together in companies, and have lit a fire, throw
-on the fire as they sit round in a circle; and that by inhaling
-the fumes of the burning fruit that has been thrown
-on, they become intoxicated by the odour, just as the Greeks
-do by wine; and that the more fruit is thrown on, the
-more intoxicated they become, until they rise up to dance
-and betake themselves to singing.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>Again, when treating of the funeral ceremonies of the
-Scythians, he says,<a id='r23'></a><a href='#f23' class='c012'><sup>[23]</sup></a> “When they have set up three pieces
-of wood, leaning against each other, they extend round them
-woollen cloths; and having joined them together as closely
-as possible, they throw red-hot stones into a vessel placed in
-the middle of the pieces of wood and the cloths. They have
-a sort of hemp growing in this country very like flax, except
-in thickness and height; in this respect the hemp is
-far superior: it grows both spontaneously and from cultivation;
-and from it the Thracians make garments very like
-linen, nor would any one who is not well skilled in such
-matters distinguish whether they are made of flax or hemp,
-but a person who has never seen this hemp would think the
-garment was made of flax. When, therefore, the Scythians
-have taken some seed of this hemp, they creep under the
-cloths, and then put the seed on the red-hot stones; but
-this, being put on, smokes, and produces such a steam, that
-no Grecian vapour-bath would surpass it. The Scythians,
-transported with the vapour, shout aloud; and this serves
-them instead of washing, for they never bathe the body in
-water.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mental illusions of all kinds have frequently been looked
-on as divine revelations, not only by savages, but even by
-nations having a considerable amount of civilization. The
-priestess at Delphos became intoxicated with the fumes of
-narcotic plants before delivering her oracular responses, and
-it is a curious circumstance that when America was discovered
-by Columbus, it was the custom of the Indians to
-throw tobacco on the fire during their religious ceremonies,
-when the piaches, or priests, who officiated, were thrown
-into a state of ecstatic inebriation by the smoke they
-inhaled.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have already stated my belief that the Indian hemp administered,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>previous to surgical operations, in China, by
-Hoa-tho, in the beginning of the third century of our era,
-was exhibited by inhalation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The fumes of various narcotic plants are inhaled by eastern
-nations at present, for smoking in the east is an entirely
-different process from smoking in the west of Europe, where
-the fumes of tobacco are merely drawn into the mouth and
-then puffed out again. In Asia and some of the eastern
-parts of Europe, the fumes of opium, tobacco, datura, Indian
-hemp, or whatever else is smoked, are always inhaled into
-the lungs.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>John Baptista Porta of Naples makes the following statement
-in his work on Natural Magic,<a id='r24'></a><a href='#f24' class='c012'><sup>[24]</sup></a> published in 1597:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“At last shall be related a wonderful method by which
-any sleeping person may inhale a soporific medicine. From
-what we have said, any one will easily know that he is liable
-to suffer severely after sleep caused by medicine, and to have
-his suspicions aroused.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“But the quintessence is extracted from a number of the
-above named medicines by somniferous menstrua. This is
-put into leaden vessels perfectly closed, lest the least aura
-should escape, for the medicine would vanish away. When
-it is used, the cover being removed, it is applied to the nostrils
-of the sleeping person, he draws in the most subtile
-power of the vapour by smellings, and so blocks up the fortress
-of the senses that he is plunged into the most profound
-sleep, and cannot be roused without the greatest
-effort. After the sleep, no heaviness of the head remains,
-nor any suspicion of trick or fraud. These things are plain
-to the skilful physician, but unintelligible to the wicked.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The author does not make known what the “somniferis
-menstruis” were, with which the “quinta essentia” were extracted.
-As sulphuric ether had been described more than fifty
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>years before he published his work, it is not improbable that
-this was the evanescent substance which required to be so
-carefully closed up, and that the profound sleep was simply
-caused by this, as the narcotic principles dissolved in it
-would remain in the bottle in the form of extracts. The
-benefit of inhalation has been frequently attributed to medicines
-which were supposed to be inhaled, when it was
-really due to the menstruum in which the medicines were
-dissolved. This often happens at present when the menstruum
-is merely water. Baptista Porta does not say that
-operations were performed under the influence of the inhalation,
-or, in fact, that it was applied to any useful purpose
-whatever.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The Persian Pharmacopœia<a id='r25'></a><a href='#f25' class='c012'><sup>[25]</sup></a> contains some recipes for
-fumigation, called bouc-houri, that were inhaled, for the
-medicines are directed to be made up into balls or cubes
-which are to be placed on the live coals, and the head is to
-be held over them. Some of the prescriptions contain
-myrrh, camphor, mace, and storax, and are for the cure of coryza
-and catarrh; one containing musk, camphor, guaiacum,
-etc., is said to comfort the brain and intellect, and to be
-useful in palpitation of the heart, faintness, and debility of
-the senses. This Pharmacopœia also contains<a id='r26'></a><a href='#f26' class='c012'><sup>[26]</sup></a> a “remedium
-odorativum somniferum”, which consists of opium and camphor,
-besides the seeds of roses and the root of mandragora.
-The ingredients are to be powdered and put in a box, for
-the purpose of being smelt at. There is also<a id='r27'></a><a href='#f27' class='c012'><sup>[27]</sup></a> a stupifying
-remedy prepared with five drachms of opium and ten
-drachms of black poppy, which are directed to be boiled to
-dryness in water with a pound of wheat, and then powdered.
-It is added that whoever shall take a drachm and a half of
-this wheat will be alienated from his senses. With regard
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>to the last but one of the above prescriptions—that to be
-put in a box for smelling, it may be observed that, as heat
-was not applied, the only ingredient which would produce
-any effect is the camphor.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The discoveries of Cavendish, Priestley, Lavoisier, and
-others respecting the nature of atmospheric air and the more
-important gases, gave an impetus to medicinal inhalations,
-at the latter part of the last century. Dr. Beddoes, in particular,
-distinguished himself by the administration of
-oxygen, hydrogen, carbonic acid, and other gases, in consumption
-and various diseases. Dr. Richard Pearson exhibited
-the vapour of ether in consumption with some
-advantage in the year 1795.<a id='r28'></a><a href='#f28' class='c012'><sup>[28]</sup></a> Three years afterwards, a
-medical pneumatic institution was established at Bristol, by
-the exertions of Dr. Beddoes and others. The celebrated
-Humphrey Davy was the superintendent. This establishment
-was not very successful in the immediate objects for
-which it was instituted, but Davy made at this place his
-masterly researches concerning nitrous oxide gas. In the
-course of his experiments, he found that severe pain arising
-from inflammation of his gums was relieved by breathing
-this gas, and he published the following opinion:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation seems capable
-of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used
-with advantage during surgical operations in which no great
-effusion of blood takes place.”<a id='r29'></a><a href='#f29' class='c012'><sup>[29]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This suggestion of Sir Humphrey Davy was not acted on
-either by himself or any other person for nearly half a century,
-when the late Mr. Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist of
-Hartford, Connecticut, having witnessed the exhibition of
-nitrous oxide gas by a public lecturer, named G. Q. Colston,
-was induced, in consequence of what he saw of its effects, to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>request Mr. Colston to accompany him to his office and
-exhibit the gas to him, whilst another dentist, named Dr.
-Riggs, extracted a tooth for him which was troublesome.
-The tooth was extracted without pain, and Mr. Wells, after
-the effect of the gas had subsided, exclaimed, “A new era
-in tooth pulling.” This took place on December 11th,
-1844.<a id='r30'></a><a href='#f30' class='c012'><sup>[30]</sup></a> Mr. Wells administered the nitrous oxide in thirteen
-or fourteen cases of tooth-drawing in Hartford with a
-success more or less complete, and before the end of the
-year he repaired to Boston to introduce his discovery to the
-professors at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He called
-on Drs. Warren and Hayward, who invited him to exhibit
-the gas to one of the patients, who was expecting to have a
-limb amputated. He remained two or three days in Boston,
-but the patient decided not to have the operation performed
-at that time. The nitrous oxide was consequently tried on
-an individual who required to have a tooth extracted. This
-patient felt some pain, and the application was considered to
-be a failure. It is worthy of remark that Drs. Charles
-T. Jackson, and W. T. G. Morton, were present on this occasion.
-Mr. Wells returned to Hartford in disappointment.
-He expressed his opinion to his friends that the nitrous
-oxide gas was uncertain in its action, and not to be relied
-on; and he altogether abandoned the use of it until some
-time after Dr. Morton’s discovery of the effects of sulphuric
-ether in preventing pain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As long ago as 1818 an article, which is believed to have
-been written by Mr. Faraday, appeared in the <cite>Quarterly
-Journal of Science and Arts</cite>,<a id='r31'></a><a href='#f31' class='c012'><sup>[31]</sup></a> describing the great resemblance
-between the effects of the vapour of ether and nitrous
-oxide gas. This circumstance has since been published in
-all the standard works on chemistry; and it was the annual
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>custom of the late Professor Turner, of University College,
-London, to pour a little ether into a bladder of air, and
-allow some of the students to inhale the vapour. The same
-practice prevailed, more or less, in other colleges, both in
-Europe and America, when the lecture on ether was delivered.
-The resemblance between the action of nitrous
-oxide and that of vapour of ether was therefore extensively
-known.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Morton, surgeon dentist of Boston, in America, administered
-sulphuric ether, by inhalation, to a man in his
-office, on the 30th of September, 1846, and extracted a
-tooth without causing any pain. He applied the ether in
-several cases of a similar kind during the next few days.
-Having obtained the permission of Dr. J. C. Warren, he
-administered it to a patient in the Massachusetts General
-Hospital, on whom that surgeon performed an operation on
-the neck. On the following day, Dr. Morton exhibited
-ether to a woman in the same hospital, whilst Dr. Hayward
-removed a large fatty tumour from the arm, and after this
-date it was frequently administered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Morton was well acquainted with Mr. Horace Wells,
-before alluded to, and had been in partnership with him.
-Before administering the ether to his patient in September
-30th, Dr. Morton had a conversation with Dr. Charles J.
-Jackson, Professor of Chemistry, respecting the safety and
-propriety of the application, and the names of these gentlemen
-were associated in a patent which they took out for
-the discovery. Dr. Jackson asserts that Dr. Morton knew
-nothing of the effects of the vapour of ether till he gave
-him the information; whilst the latter says it was his intention
-to use the ether before he went into Dr. Jackson’s
-laboratory. It seems impossible to arrive at the exact
-truth on this point, but it is admitted on all hands, that
-Morton was the first who administered ether to prevent
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>the pain of an operation. Dr. Jackson<a id='r32'></a><a href='#f32' class='c012'><sup>[32]</sup></a> has indeed claimed
-the whole merit of the discovery, on the ground of the
-alleged information he gave to Dr. Morton; but, if every
-word Dr. Jackson says be admitted, it only appears that he
-suggested the use of ether to Dr. Morton, just as Sir Humphrey
-Davy had suggested the use of nitrous oxide to all the
-world in the year 1800. Dr. Jackson had inhaled ether as
-hundreds of others had done, and being aware of Davy’s
-suggestion of nitrous oxide for preventing the pain of operations,
-he concluded that ether might also have that effect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It will be shown further on that Mr. Waldie, of Liverpool,
-had a greater share in the introduction of chloroform
-than Dr. Jackson had in the introduction of ether—even
-supposing that Dr. Morton was previously quite ignorant
-of that medicine; for when he informed Dr. Simpson of the
-existence and nature of chloroform, he was able to give
-him, not merely an opinion, but an almost certain knowledge
-of its effects; yet Dr. Simpson is justly considered to
-be the person who discovered and introduced the use of
-undiluted chloroform as a substitute for ether.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The practice of the ancients in giving mandragora and
-Indian hemp has no connection with the recent discovery for
-preventing the pain of operations, which may be briefly related
-as follows:—Sir Humphrey Davy made the suggestion
-that nitrous oxide gas might be employed for this purpose,
-and, at the end of forty-four years, Mr. Horace Wells carried
-this suggestion into practice, but failed to bring the nitrous
-oxide into general use, and gave the matter up. Two years
-later, Dr. Morton, who was well acquainted with the efforts
-of Mr. Wells, applied the vapour of ether, which was already
-known to resemble nitrous oxide in its action. He succeeded
-completely in preventing the pain of operations, and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>in bringing his discovery into general use throughout the
-civilized world. In a short time the inhalation of ether
-was found to be so safe and certain in its action, and to
-prevent the pain of operations so entirely, that the most
-ardent imagination could scarcely conceive that anything
-further could be desired in this direction.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Morton withheld at first the name of the agent he was
-employing, but its strong and peculiar odour revealed it so
-plainly that concealment was impossible. Dr. Bigelow, of Boston,
-having tried sulphuric ether, and found it to produce all
-the effects of the so-called letheon, he made the subject known,
-not only to his own countrymen, but also by letter to Dr.
-Boot of London. The first operation under the influence of
-ether on this side of the Atlantic, was the extraction of a
-tooth, at the house of Dr. Boot, on Dec. 19th, 1846. Mr.
-Robinson, of Gower Street, administered the ether and performed
-the operation. The patient was a lady, named Miss
-Lonsdale. The ether was quite successful in preventing
-the pain in this case, as well as in two operations performed
-at University College two days afterwards, by the late Mr.
-Liston. These operations were amputation of the thigh,
-and evulsion on both sides of the great toe-nail. The ether
-was given by Mr. Squire, of Oxford Street, with an apparatus
-which he contrived for the occasion.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Considerable opposition was made to the inhalation of
-ether in America, soon after its introduction, and it seemed
-likely to fall into disuse, when the news of its successful
-employment in the operations of Mr. Liston, and others in
-London, caused the practice of etherization to revive. Mr.
-Robinson, dentist, gave much time and attention to the exhibition
-of ether in London on its first introduction, and
-was on the whole very successful. This was not generally
-the case, however, with other operators during the first six
-weeks of the new practice. Owing to imperfections in the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>inhalers employed and in the method of using them, the
-ether often either failed altogether or only made the patient
-partly insensible; and Mr. Liston, and some other surgeons,
-were inclined to discountenance the use of it, in consequence
-of the struggles and cries of patients to whom it had been
-administered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It soon became apparent, however, that the vapour of
-ether was capable of inducing a state of perfect quietude,
-with entire absence of pain, during all kinds of surgical
-operations. From the 28th of January the ether produced
-the desired effect in every operation that was performed in
-St. George’s Hospital, until the time when chloroform was
-introduced as a substitute for this agent.<a id='r33'></a><a href='#f33' class='c012'><sup>[33]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Ether was employed in Paris a few days after its first
-application in London, and in a short time it was in use
-nearly all over the world.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On the 19th of January 1847, just a month after the
-first application of ether for the prevention of pain on this
-side of the Atlantic, Dr. Simpson of Edinburgh administered
-the vapour in a case of labour, and ascertained that it
-was capable of removing the sufferings of the patient without
-interfering with the process of parturition. Etherization
-was soon afterwards employed in the reduction of
-strangulated hernia and dislocations of the femur and
-humerus, some of them of long standing. It was also used
-with advantage in neuralgia, tetanus, and the convulsions of
-infants, and it became more and more general in surgical
-operations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>No great improvement in the practice of medicine was
-probably ever established so readily as the inhalation of
-ether for the prevention of pain. Yet it met with stout
-opposition in certain quarters, and when a serious operation
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>in which ether had been used terminated unfavourably,
-there were those who attributed the patient’s death to the
-new practice, although numerous other patients had sunk
-in exactly the same manner long before ether was used.
-In one of these cases a coroner’s inquest was held, and the
-jury returned a verdict that the death of the deceased was
-caused by the inhalation of ether, although the patient had
-not even been made insensible by it, had felt all the pain of
-the operation, which was retarded by her struggles, and did
-not die till the third day. Notwithstanding a certain
-amount of opposition and mistrust, the inhalation of ether
-was becoming more general in the course of the year 1847,
-and there is every reason to conclude that it would very
-soon have obtained the complete confidence of the medical
-profession and the public, had it not been for circumstances
-which must next be considered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A medicine called chloric ether has been in use since
-1831. It consists of a solution of chloroform in spirits of
-wine. It is somewhat variable in strength, but usually
-contains about twelve per cent. of its volume of chloroform.
-Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow of Boston tried this by inhalation,
-as well as other substances, when Dr. Morton first used
-sulphuric ether, but he did not succeed with it in causing
-insensibility to pain. Mr. Jacob Bell of London tried the
-chloric ether in the beginning of 1847, and succeeded in
-causing insensibility with it in some cases.<a id='r34'></a><a href='#f34' class='c012'><sup>[34]</sup></a> After this
-time the chloric ether was exhibited occasionally in St. Bartholomew’s
-and the Middlesex hospitals, and in the private
-practice of Mr. Lawrence, but it did not come into general
-use, owing to its expense, and its frequently failing to cause
-insensibility.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The relation of chloroform to chloric ether is exactly the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>same as that of opium to laudanum, and no one acquainted
-with this circumstance could doubt for a moment that chloroform
-inhaled alone would produce the effects which it did
-when inhaled from its solution in spirit; the only uncertainty
-about the matter that could possibly exist would be
-whether it might not be too strong for use in its undiluted
-state.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The true nature of the so-called chloric ether was, however,
-known to very few persons. It did not enter into the
-pharmacopœias, and it was mentioned in very few of the
-works on materia medica. I examined a specimen of it,
-and found that its properties when inhaled were due to a
-volatile body containing chlorine, which evaporated first,
-leaving a great quantity of spirits of wine behind. I concluded
-that the volatile body was hydrochloric ether, and as
-this article is so volatile that it exists in the form of gas
-except in comparatively cold weather, and consequently
-could not be conveniently used for inhalation, I did not consider
-the matter any further. M. Flourens had indeed experimented
-on animals with undiluted chloroform, but was
-so struck with its great and dangerous power, that he was
-far from recommending its use in surgical practice.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was left for Dr. Simpson of Edinburgh, who had already
-the merit of having discovered the use of inhalation
-in midwifery, to be the first to administer chloroform in an
-undiluted state, and to recommend it successfully for general
-use. Mr. Waldie, of the Apothecaries’ Hall of Liverpool,
-first mentioned chloroform to Dr. Simpson, as the
-latter states in a foot-note to his first pamphlet on the subject.
-Mr. Waldie has given the following account of the
-circumstance in a pamphlet on chloroform.<a id='r35'></a><a href='#f35' class='c012'><sup>[35]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“When in Scotland, in October last, Dr. Simpson introduced
-the subject to me, inquiring if I knew anything likely
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>to answer. Chloric ether was mentioned during the conversation;
-and, being well acquainted with its composition,
-and with the volatility, agreeable flavour, and medicinal
-properties of the chloroform, I recommended him to try <em>it</em>,
-promising to prepare some after my return to Liverpool, and
-to send it to him. Other engagements and various impediments
-prevented me from doing this so soon as I should
-have wished; and in the meantime Dr. Simpson, having
-procured some in Edinburgh, obtained the results which he
-communicated to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh
-on the 10th of November, and which he published in
-a pamphlet entitled—‘Notice of a New Anæsthetic Agent
-as a Substitute for Sulphuric Ether in Surgery and Midwifery.’”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Simpson’s first experiments with chloroform were
-made in the early part of November 1847, and his pamphlet
-on the subject, which was published on the 15th of that
-month, had a wide circulation, and created great interest.
-Chloroform was immediately used everywhere to a greater
-extent than ether had been. An impression became very
-prevalent that chloroform was safer than ether. This impression
-arose rather from the general tenour of Dr. Simpson’s
-essay than from any direct statement, for he had not
-treated on this point.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The great strength of chloroform as compared with ether,
-and the extreme care required in its use, were indeed soon
-pointed out;<a id='r36'></a><a href='#f36' class='c012'><sup>[36]</sup></a> these precautions, however, attracted but
-little attention till the first death from chloroform occurred
-near Newcastle on the 28th January, 1848. Ether was
-exhibited by inhalation during eleven months in Europe,
-and about sixteen months in America, before chloroform
-was introduced. During all this time no death was occasioned
-by its use, if we except one at Auxerre in France,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>which appeared to be occasioned by want of air, owing to
-an imperfect inhaler, and not to the effect of ether. Chloroform
-had only been employed between two and three
-months when the above mentioned death occurred, and this
-was soon followed by others in nearly all parts of the
-world. These accidents have prevented many persons from
-inhaling chloroform, and they have prevented a still greater
-number from enjoying that freedom from anxiety and apprehension
-before an operation, which ought to be one of
-the greatest advantages of any plan for preventing pain.
-As chloroform possesses advantages over ether, in being
-more convenient and less disagreeable, it continues to be
-used, to the exclusion of the latter agent, in most parts of
-the world. In the Massachusetts General Hospital, however,
-where sulphuric ether was first employed, it was resumed
-three or four years ago, and the use of chloroform
-was prohibited by the governors, on account of two accidents
-from it. Ether is also employed out of the hospital, both in
-surgical and obstetric practice, in Boston and the neighbourhood;
-and I have been informed that this is also the
-case in Philadelphia, whilst in the state of New York both
-chloroform and ether are employed. I learned last year
-that ether was the agent employed for causing insensibility
-at Naples and at Lyons.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Several volatile substances have been tried in a few cases
-with the effect of causing insensibility, since the introduction
-of chloroform, but none of them came into use except
-amylene, which was first employed by me in King’s College
-Hospital in November 1856, after I had made several experiments
-on animals with it, and inhaled small quantities
-of it myself. I have administered it in a great number of
-operations already, and find it to possess certain advantages
-over chloroform in the greater number of cases. Although
-it has not yet been generally employed in this country, it
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>has been used extensively in Paris, Strasbourg, Lyons, and
-other places on the continent, with very favourable results.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is not improbable that, amongst the multitudes of new
-bodies which chemistry makes known every year, some
-agent may be found superior to those hitherto used; and
-besides the great practical advantages which are directly
-derived from the discovery of inhalation for the prevention
-of pain, the method of breathing medicinal substances in
-the gaseous state offers great facilities for the investigation
-of their effects, and cannot fail to hasten the time when the
-mode of action of medicines will be a branch of exact
-knowledge.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>
- <h2 class='c004'><span class='large'>ON THE</span><br /> INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM, ETC.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<h3 class='c013'>GENERAL REMARKS ON INHALATION.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>Inhalation is simply the act of breathing, or at least so
-much of it as consists of inspiring, or drawing the air into
-the lungs. The term is usually applied when any medicinal
-substance is added to the air which the patient breathes,
-and the process is altogether different from that called
-“smoking,” as practised by the nations of western Europe
-and of America, where the fumes of tobacco are merely
-drawn into the mouth and puffed out again. The eastern
-nations, however, always inhale when they smoke, as was
-stated before (page 12). This process of inhaling smoke, as
-I first witnessed it in a gentleman connected with one of
-the eastern embassies to this metropolis, is very instructive,
-as showing that the lungs become emptied of their contents
-by three rather full expirations and inspirations. When
-this gentleman took the cigar from his mouth to speak, the
-smoke could be seen issuing thickly with each word till
-there was a momentary pause as he took a fresh inspiration,
-then the smoke could be seen issuing with each word as
-before, only not so thick, and after another inspiration, the
-smoke could be still perceived in the expired air, but in a
-very diluted state; but after a third inspiration, it could no
-longer be seen till he had resumed the cigar.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following are the chief reasons for resorting to inhalation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>1. Certain agents, as nitrous oxide and oxygen, being
-permanently in the gaseous form, cannot be administered in
-any other way.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>2. By taking advantage of the immense surface of the air-cells of the lungs for absorption, a more sudden and profound
-effect may be produced by medicine than it would be
-safe, or, in some cases, even possible to produce in any
-other way. It is to this circumstance, and to the rapidity
-with which certain volatile medicines exhale in the breath,
-and leave the patient free from their effects, that the power
-of preventing the pain of surgical operations is due.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>3. Many medicines which have a disagreeable taste—as
-turpentine, creasote, and camphor—are not unpleasant when
-inhaled in the form of vapour; and the process of digestion
-is less interfered with than by taking them into the
-stomach.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>4. Medicines, such as benzoic acid, and some of the gum-resins,
-which are believed to exert a local action on the
-mucous membrane of the air-passages, may be expected to
-have a greater effect when inhaled, than when they are
-taken into the stomach in the same doses, and reach the
-lungs only through the circulation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>5. Some agents, as chlorine and ammonia, have a local
-action when inhaled, which they could not exert if exhibited
-in any other way.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In every kind of inhalation, the breathing should be
-allowed to go on freely, and in the natural way.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Medicines may be inhaled either at the ordinary temperature,
-or with the aid of artificial heat; and in the latter
-case they may be breathed with the addition of vapour of
-water, or with only so much of it as is naturally present in
-the atmosphere. The medicines in use for the prevention
-of severe pain, are always inhaled at the ordinary temperature.</p>
-
-<div>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>
- <h3 class='c015'>CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c014'><em>History and Composition.</em> Chloroform was first made in
-1831 by two chemists who operated independently of each
-other. The liquid, which is formed by the union of equal
-volumes of chlorine and olefiant gas, and which is usually
-called Dutch liquid, was named chloric ether by Dr. Thos.
-Thomson (<cite>System of Chemistry</cite>, 6th ed., 1820). In consequence
-of a statement in Silliman’s <cite>Elements of Chemistry</cite>,
-that the alcoholic solution of this chloric ether was useful
-in medicine as a diffusible stimulant, Mr. Guthrie, an American
-chemist, attempted an easy method of obtaining it.<a id='r37'></a><a href='#f37' class='c012'><sup>[37]</sup></a>
-He distilled together chloride of lime and alcohol, and he
-considered that the product he had obtained was an alcoholic
-solution of the chloric ether of Dr. Thomson,<a id='r38'></a><a href='#f38' class='c012'><sup>[38]</sup></a> and it
-is still used in medicine under that name. About the same
-time, M. Soubeiran distilled together the above ingredients
-in France, and analysed the chloroform which he obtained.
-His analysis, which was incorrect, led him to name the
-liquid bichloric ether.<a id='r39'></a><a href='#f39' class='c012'><sup>[39]</sup></a> In 1832, Liebig examined the
-liquid which has been since named chloroform, but as he
-failed to detect the hydrogen which it contains, he called
-the liquid chloride of carbon,<a id='r40'></a><a href='#f40' class='c012'><sup>[40]</sup></a> a name which its alcoholic
-solution occasionally bore afterwards when used as a medicine.
-In 1831, Dumas examined this liquid. He proved
-that Soubeiran and Liebig had not obtained it pure, or had
-been incorrect in their analysis.<a id='r41'></a><a href='#f41' class='c012'><sup>[41]</sup></a> He showed that it consists
-of two atoms carbon, one atom hydrogen, and three
-atoms chlorine.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dumas gave the name of chloroform to the liquid, on
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>account of the relation it bears in composition to formic
-acid, which consists of two atoms carbon, one hydrogen, and
-three oxygen.<a id='r42'></a><a href='#f42' class='c012'><sup>[42]</sup></a> Liebig, who, in common with other chemists,
-admits the accuracy of Dumas’ analysis, has proposed
-the name of perchloride of formyle.<a id='r43'></a><a href='#f43' class='c012'><sup>[43]</sup></a> He supposes
-that the carbon and hydrogen which enter, in the same
-definite proportion, into numerous compounds, form a base
-which he calls formyle; and although this base has never
-been obtained in a separate form, its existence is well supported
-by analogy, and the term formyle is useful in assisting
-the memory to retain the composition of a number of
-substances. For all practical purposes, however, the medicine
-we are considering is likely to go by the name of chloroform.
-In the last edition of the London Pharmacopœia,
-the article has received a name intermediate between the
-other two. It is called chloroformyl, a name which departs
-from the brevity of the word chloroform, without having
-the merit of expressing the chemical constitution of the
-substance. I believe that no one uses the word chloroformyl;
-not even the Fellows of the College of Physicians
-in their individual capacity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Mode of Preparation.</em> Chloroform can be obtained in
-various ways, but the most convenient process, and the one
-which yields it in greatest purity, is that alluded to above,
-by which it was first procured. The following are the
-directions in the London Pharmacopœia for making it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Take of chlorinated lime, lb. iv; rectified spirit, Oss;
-water, Ox; chloride of calcium, broken in pieces, ʒj. Put
-the lime first mixed with the water into a retort, and add
-the spirit to them, so that the mixture may fill only the
-third part of the retort. Then heat them in a sand-bath,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>and as soon as ebullition begins, withdraw the heat as
-quickly as possible, lest the retort should be broken by the
-sudden increase of heat. Let the liquid distil into the receiver
-so long that there may be nothing which subsides,
-the heat being reapplied if necessary. To the distilled
-liquid add a quarter of the water, and shake them all well
-together. Carefully separate the heavier portion which
-subsides, and add the chloride to it, and frequently shake
-them for an hour. Lastly, let the liquid distil again from a
-glass retort into a glass receiver.”<a id='r44'></a><a href='#f44' class='c012'><sup>[44]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Some manufacturers of chloroform prefer to rectify it
-from dry carbonate of potassa, since they consider that it is
-liable to get an acid reaction from decomposition of the
-chloride of calcium, when it is distilled from that substance.
-The truth is, however, that there is very little occasion to
-use either of these substances; for the small quantity of
-water which chloroform can hold in solution is of no consequence.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Chemical and Physical Properties.</em> Chloroform is a
-clear colourless liquid, having a hot and intensely sweet
-taste. It is not inflammable, but when paper moistened
-with it is introduced into the flame of a candle, it is destroyed
-with the evolution of smoke and chlorine gas. It is
-just half as heavy again as distilled water. Its specific
-gravity was formerly stated to be 1·483, but the liquid
-used for inhalation of late years has been heavier than this.
-I find that pure chloroform, when saturated with water, has
-a specific gravity of 1·500 at 60° Fah.; and after agitating
-it with sulphuric acid, to deprive it of the water, the specific
-gravity is 1·503. The amount of water that chloroform
-can hold in solution is only one part in from 200 to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>300; and when this is separated by oil of vitriol, the chloroform
-is liable to undergo spontaneous decomposition.<a id='r45'></a><a href='#f45' class='c012'><sup>[45]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Chloroform is soluble in alcohol and ether in all proportions,
-but it is very sparingly soluble in water. It has been
-said to require 2000 parts of water for its solution, but this
-is an error. As the solubility of this and similar medicines
-in watery fluids has a very important connexion with their
-physiological action, I took great pains to ascertain the
-solubility of chloroform correctly. By admitting small
-quantities of water into graduated jars containing chloroform
-vapour, I was able to ascertain that chloroform is
-soluble in about 288 times its volume of water. Chloroform
-is itself an active solvent of many bodies; dissolving camphor,
-caoutchouc, gutta percha, wax, resin, iodine, and some
-other substances very readily. It is a very mobile liquid,
-and when dropped from the lip of a small phial, the drops
-are very small. There are three drops to a grain of the
-liquid, and as a minim of it weighs a grain and a half, there
-are nine drops in two minims. Consequently persons
-should not speak indiscriminately of drops and minims, as
-they sometimes do, when talking of chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Adulterations.</em> The odour of chloroform is by no means
-disagreeable. The only liquids that resemble it in smell are
-Dutch liquid and the chlorinated products of hydrochloric
-ether, but as they are much more difficult to prepare than
-chloroform, they are not likely to be substituted for it, or used
-for its adulteration. The smell of chloroform is therefore a
-good criterion of its purity and identity. When dropped on
-the hand, it should quickly evaporate, leaving not the least
-moisture or smell behind. If a disagreeable odour remains
-on the hand after the evaporation of the chloroform, it has
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>probably been made from impure spirit, or even from wood
-spirit or acetone, and is unfit for medicinal use.<a id='r46'></a><a href='#f46' class='c012'><sup>[46]</sup></a> When
-chloroform becomes decomposed from any cause, it acquires
-a greenish-yellow colour, and gives off chlorine and hydrochloric
-acid, so that the alteration is at once apparent.
-When chloroform is pure it has no reaction on test-paper,
-but is quite neutral. The best way to detect a small quantity
-of hydrochloric acid in it, is to moisten a slip of blue
-litmus paper with distilled water, and hold it just within
-the neck of the bottle exposed to the vapour. If sulphuric
-acid should be present, it may be discovered by agitating
-the chloroform with distilled water, and adding nitrate of
-baryta.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The only article that can be mixed with chloroform without
-altering its appearance and smell is alcohol. This can
-be detected by the reduction it occasions in the specific
-gravity of the chloroform; or, if it be present in any considerable
-quantity, it may be discovered by adding water to
-a little of the chloroform in a graduated tube or measure,
-when a diminution of its volume takes place, owing to the
-water abstracting the alcohol. The chloroform also acquires
-a milky opacity under these circumstances. M. Miahle<a id='r47'></a><a href='#f47' class='c012'><sup>[47]</sup></a>
-speaks of the milky opacity of the chloroform on the addition
-of water as a very delicate test of the presence of alcohol;
-but I find that it requires upwards of two per cent. of
-alcohol to cause this appearance on the addition of water.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It has been asserted, and often repeated, that the presence
-of alcohol in chloroform causes it to have caustic properties,
-and makes its vapour unusually irritating. I have never
-seen any evidence of this, although I have had hundreds of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>opportunities of witnessing the action of chloroform mixed
-with spirit. Under certain circumstances, it is advisable
-to dilute chloroform with alcohol previous to its administration,
-as will be explained hereafter.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The chloroform I have met with in London has always
-been sufficiently pure for inhalation, except in a few cases
-where a small quantity had become decomposed, probably
-from having been left a long time exposed to strong daylight.
-In these instances, its altered appearance generally
-prevented its being used. I am not aware of serious consequences
-having arisen anywhere from the impurity or adulteration
-of chloroform. A case occurred in the London
-Hospital, where cough and a feeling of suffocation were
-caused by hydrochloric acid with which the chloroform was
-contaminated, but the inhalation was discontinued, and no
-ill consequences resulted.<a id='r48'></a><a href='#f48' class='c012'><sup>[48]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Chloroform should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, and
-protected from the light. It boils at 140 Fah. under the
-ordinary pressure of the atmosphere. It is consequently
-one of the most volatile liquids employed in medicine, with
-the exception of sulphuric ether and amylene.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>The Vapour of Chloroform</em> is more than four times as
-heavy as atmospheric air. It has a specific gravity of 4·2 at
-60° Fah. Under ordinary circumstances, the vapour of
-chloroform has of course no separate existence, but is always
-mixed with air. It can exist in a pure state only when the
-temperature is raised to 140° or upwards; or when the
-pressure of the atmosphere is in a great measure removed by
-the air-pump. The quantity of vapour of chloroform that
-the air will hold in solution at different temperatures,
-under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, depends on
-the elastic force of the vapour at these temperatures. It is
-governed by a law precisely analogous to that which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>determines the amount of watery vapour which air will
-hold in solution.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following table shows the result of experiments I
-made to determine the quantity of vapour of chloroform
-that 100 cubic inches of air will take up, and retain in
-solution, at various temperatures.</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <th class='c016'><span class='small'>Temp. Fah.</span></th>
- <th class='c017'><span class='small'>Cubic inches.</span></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>40°</td>
- <td class='c017'>7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>45</td>
- <td class='c017'>8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>50</td>
- <td class='c017'>9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>55</td>
- <td class='c017'>11</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>60</td>
- <td class='c017'>14</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>65</td>
- <td class='c017'>19</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>70</td>
- <td class='c017'>24</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>75</td>
- <td class='c017'>29</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>80</td>
- <td class='c017'>36</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>85</td>
- <td class='c017'>44</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>90</td>
- <td class='c017'>55</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the above table, the air is a constant quantity of 100
-cubic inches which becomes expanded to 107, and so on;
-but it may be convenient to be able to view at a glance the
-quantity of vapour in 100 cubic inches of the saturated
-mixture of vapour and air, at different temperatures, and in
-the table which follows the figures are so arranged as to
-show this.</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <th class='c016'><span class='small'>Temp. Fah.</span></th>
- <th class='c016'><span class='small'>Air.</span></th>
- <th class='c017'><span class='small'>Vapour.</span></th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>40°</td>
- <td class='c016'>94</td>
- <td class='c017'>6</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>45</td>
- <td class='c016'>93</td>
- <td class='c017'>7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>50</td>
- <td class='c016'>92</td>
- <td class='c017'>8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>55</td>
- <td class='c016'>90</td>
- <td class='c017'>10</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>60</td>
- <td class='c016'>88</td>
- <td class='c017'>12</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>65</td>
- <td class='c016'>85</td>
- <td class='c017'>15</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>70</td>
- <td class='c016'>81</td>
- <td class='c017'>19</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>75</td>
- <td class='c016'>78</td>
- <td class='c017'>22</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>80</td>
- <td class='c016'>74</td>
- <td class='c017'>26</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>85</td>
- <td class='c016'>70</td>
- <td class='c017'>30</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>90</td>
- <td class='c016'>65</td>
- <td class='c017'>35</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>As the effects of chloroform when inhaled depend entirely
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>on the quantity of vapour present in the air which
-the patient breathes, the effect of temperature on its volatility
-is of great practical importance. The air, it is true,
-does not become fully saturated with vapour during the
-process of inhalation, but the effects of temperature are
-relatively as great. If, for instance, a person inhales chloroform
-from a handkerchief or an inhaler, in such a way that
-the air he breathes shall be half saturated with the vapour,
-then supposing the temperature of the apartment, the handkerchief,
-etc., to be 50°, the air he breathes will contain
-4 per cent.; but if the temperature be 70°, the air will contain
-9·5 per cent. of the vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A considerable amount of caloric becomes latent during
-the evaporation of chloroform, and the temperature of the
-vapour and air which the patient breathes are generally
-reduced a good deal, but not to the same extent as during
-the inhalation of ether. In giving chloroform from a small
-sponge which had been squeezed out of water, I have sometimes
-observed, after laying it down, that it became covered
-with a kind of hoar frost; the minute particles of frozen
-water having a slight taste of chloroform. The cold produced
-by the evaporation of a liquid like chloroform is often
-the means of checking the evaporation to a certain extent,
-and limiting the amount of vapour which is taken up by
-the air.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>Chloroform belongs to the large class of medicines known
-as narcotico-irritants. This and some other agents which
-have been inhaled for the prevention of pain are often called
-anæsthetics; a name to which there is no objection, so long
-as it does not lead to the idea that they have a different
-action from other narcotics, or more precisely speaking,
-narcotico-irritants; there being no such medicines as pure
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>narcotics. The term anæsthesia has been frequently employed
-to designate the insensibility and suspension of consciousness
-caused by chloroform and ether; but, in describing
-the effects of these agents, I shall confine this term to
-its original meaning, privation of feeling, and I shall employ
-the term narcotism to designate the entire effects of
-these agents on the nervous system. This is the sense in
-which the term narcotism has always been employed. It
-has been the custom, however, to restrict the use of the
-word very much to cases in which stupor existed, but I
-shall apply it to designate the slighter, as well as the more
-profound effects of a narcotic, as I am entitled to do by
-strict etymology.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In order to facilitate the description of the effects of
-chloroform, I have been in the habit of dividing them into
-degrees. I use the term degree in preference to stage, as,
-in administering chloroform, the slighter degrees of narcotism
-occur in the later stages of the process, during the
-recovery of the patient, as well as in the beginning. The
-division into degrees is made according to symptoms, which,
-I believe, depend entirely on the state of the nervous centres,
-and not according to the amount of anæsthesia, which
-there is good reason to conclude, depends, in a great measure,
-on the local action of the chloroform on the nerves.
-The different degrees of narcotism glide insensibly into
-each other.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the first degree, I include all the effects of chloroform
-that exist while the patient retains a perfect consciousness
-of where he is, and what is occurring around him. This
-degree constitutes all that a person remembers of the effects
-of the vapour, except when he happens to dream, and recollect
-it afterwards. The sensations caused by inhaling chloroform
-are usually agreeable, when it is taken merely for
-curiosity; and individuals who have inhaled nitrous oxide
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>at some previous time of their lives, often describe their
-feelings as being very much the same from both agents.
-Patients who are about to undergo a surgical operation are,
-however, not always in a state for receiving agreeable impressions,
-and they sometimes complain of palpitation of
-the heart, and a feeling of fulness in the head. There is
-generally a sense of dizziness, with singing in the ears and
-tingling in the limbs. Many persons have a feeling like
-that of rapid travelling, and as an appearance of darkness
-sometimes comes on from the failure of the sight, whilst
-there is also a loud noise in the ears, it not unfrequently
-happens that a person feels as if he were entering a railway
-tunnel, just when he is becoming unconscious.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Those persons whose mental faculties are most cultivated
-appear usually to retain their consciousness longest whilst
-inhaling chloroform; and, on the other hand, certain navigators
-and other labourers, whom one occasionally meets
-with in the hospital, having the smallest possible amount of
-intelligence, often lose their consciousness, and get into a
-riotous drunken condition, almost as soon as they have
-begun to inhale. There is a widely different class of persons
-who also yield up their consciousness very readily, and
-get very soon into a dreaming condition when inhaling
-chloroform. I allude to hysterical females.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There is often a considerable diminution of the common
-sensibility during the first degree of narcotism by chloroform,
-more especially when it is inhaled very slowly, so
-that the patient is kept some minutes partially under its
-influence. In this way neuralgia can often be relieved,
-without removing the consciousness, when it is not extremely
-severe, and the suffering of labour may often be
-removed in the same manner, when the pains are not very
-sharp. In a few cases, the extraction of a tooth and other
-minor operations have been performed without pain, whilst
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>consciousness has been retained; but as a general rule, it is
-better not to operate under these circumstances, for failure
-is more likely than success; and this plan does not succeed
-in any case without inhaling longer, and consuming more
-chloroform, than would be necessary in the usual way.
-The complete recovery of the patient from the effects of the
-vapour, after a protracted inhalation of this kind, is also
-more tardy.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The first degree of narcotism recurs when consciousness
-returns as the effect of the chloroform is subsiding. At this
-time, there is generally a greater amount of anæsthesia than
-at the commencement of inhalation, just before consciousness
-is removed. I have many times known the introduction
-of sutures, and such like measures, performed at the
-concluding part of an operation, after the patient had recovered
-his consciousness, without his feeling what was being
-done. As a general rule also, the smarting of the wound
-does not commence till some time after consciousness has
-returned.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the second degree of narcotism, there is no longer correct
-consciousness. The mental functions are impaired, but
-not necessarily suspended. When a patient inhales chloroform
-quietly for a medical or surgical purpose, he usually
-appears as if asleep in this degree; but if his eyelid be
-raised, he will move his eyes in a voluntary manner. There
-are occasionally voluntary movements of the limbs; and
-although the patient is generally silent, he may nevertheless
-laugh, talk, or sing. Persons sometimes remember what
-occurs whilst they are in this state, but generally they do
-not. Any dreams that the patient has, occur whilst he is
-in this degree, or just going into, or emerging from it, as I
-have satisfied myself by comparing the expressions of patients
-with what they have related afterwards. There is
-sometimes a little trouble with the patient in this degree of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>narcotism. He feels the inconvenience of the vapour he is
-breathing, and having become unconscious of the object for
-which it is inhaled, he endeavours to push away the inhaler.
-As a person in this condition can generally hear and
-partly understand what is said, a few kind words will often
-render him tractable. This is generally true of all those
-who have been brought up with care and kindness, more
-especially patients of the female sex; but the man who has
-been roughly treated from the time of his birth, can often
-be made insensible only by means of a little restraint.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There is generally a considerable amount of anæsthesia
-connected with this degree of narcotism, and I believe that
-it is scarcely ever necessary to proceed beyond it in obstetric
-practice, not even in artificial delivery, unless for the
-purpose of arresting powerful uterine action, in order to
-facilitate turning the fœtus. The loss of sensation is indeed
-sometimes so complete in this degree, especially in children,
-that the surgeon’s knife may be used without pain; I have
-indeed seen a child unconsciously handling its toys all the
-time that the operation of lithotomy was performed on it.
-Commonly, however, the use of the knife, when the narcotism
-has not proceeded further than this degree, occasions
-expressions indicative of pain, which are either not remembered,
-or are recollected as having occurred in a dream.
-The patient is generally in this degree during the greater
-part of the time occupied in protracted operations; for
-although, in most cases, it is necessary to induce a further
-amount of narcotism before the operation is commenced, it
-is not usually necessary to maintain it at a point beyond
-this.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the third degree of narcotism, there are no longer any
-voluntary motions. The eyes, for instance, are not directed
-towards any object; and although the limbs may move,
-they are not directed to any purpose. The pupils are generally
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>inclined upwards in this degree, and are at the same
-time usually somewhat contracted. The bloodvessels of the
-conjunctiva are generally somewhat enlarged in this degree
-in all persons who are well nourished and not deficient in
-blood. It is in this degree of narcotism that rigidity and
-spasms of the muscles occur in certain cases. These phenomena
-occur most frequently in cases where the muscles
-have been much exercised, and are consequently well nourished.
-They are never met with in infancy, and rarely before
-puberty. They are much more common in the male than
-the female sex. The rigidity and spasm are greatest and
-most constant in labourers and persons accustomed to athletic
-exercises, and they are usually absent in patients who
-have been long confined to the room, or are much reduced
-in strength from any cause. They are less marked in old
-age than in the middle period of life, and they are not by
-any means so frequent or strong in fat, as in thin, muscular
-persons. I have seen the spasms take an epileptiform character
-in a few cases; but by gently continuing the chloroform,
-they have always been subdued. In a great number
-of cases, the patient mutters in an almost inarticulate and a
-perfectly unintelligible manner, just as the muscular rigidity
-and spasm are subdued. Under these circumstances,
-I have never heard a single word pronounced so that it
-could be understood. If articulate language is uttered just
-after the muscular rigidity, it is evidence that the effects of
-the chloroform are being allowed to diminish, and that the
-patient is going back into the second degree of narcotism.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the third degree of narcotism, a person is quite incapable
-of having any perception or consciousness of pain, but
-anæsthesia is not a necessary part of this amount of narcotism
-when it is first induced, and in some cases a patient
-may flinch, and put on an expression of countenance which
-seems indicative of pain. He may also cry out, but not in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>an articulate manner. By continuing the chloroform gently
-for a minute or so, a state of complete anæsthesia can be
-induced in nearly every case, without carrying the narcotism
-of the nervous centres further than this degree.
-The loss of sensibility of the conjunctiva, as shown by the
-absence of winking when the edges of the eyelids are gently
-touched, is the best criterion that the patient will bear the
-knife without flinching or crying.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The circumstance of the anæsthesia, or loss of common
-sensibility, not keeping pace with the degree of narcotism
-of the brain, as shown by the presence or absence of consciousness
-and volition, appears to depend on the chloroform
-acting on the peripheral distribution of the nerves, as well
-as on the nervous centres.<a id='r49'></a><a href='#f49' class='c012'><sup>[49]</sup></a> The following considerations
-support this view. 1. Chloroform has the effect of diminishing
-the sensibility of a part to which it is applied
-locally, even to the sound cuticle. When the cuticle is
-removed, the local anæsthesia of the surface is complete;
-and in frogs, which have a thin permeable skin, and a languid
-circulation, one limb can be rendered insensible, by the
-local application of this agent, before the remainder of the
-animal is much affected. 2. Chloroform when inhaled immediately
-circulates throughout the body, in all parts of
-which it can be detected by chemical means. 3. Chloroform
-and other narcotics suspend the function of the nerves,
-when locally applied to them. 4. When inhaled, the local
-effect of chloroform must be greatest when it has had time
-to exude through the coats of the vessels, into the extra
-vascular liquor sanguinis, and come into immediate contact
-with the nervous fibrillæ; and it must take some little time
-after the chief part of the chloroform has escaped from the
-blood during its passage through the lungs, before that
-which is in the lymph external to the vessels can pass back
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>again into them, by endosmosis. The brain, on the other
-hand, is without lymph and lymphatics. The blood in this
-organ is all contained within the vessels, in which, moreover,
-it circulates with more velocity than in the external
-parts of the body. It can be easily understood, therefore,
-how the brain may escape from the effects of the vapour
-whilst the nerves of sensation throughout the body still
-remain partially under its influence. 5. It is in young subjects,
-in whom, connected with the more active process of
-nutrition, the quantity of lymph external to the vessels is
-greatest, that the general insensibility most frequently remains,
-whilst the cerebral hemispheres are resuming their
-functions; whilst in persons of spare habit, approaching
-the middle or later periods of life, there is little anæsthesia
-except in the unconscious state.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The co-operation of the brain with the nerves is, of
-course, necessary to sensation; and it is possible by a large
-dose of chloroform to produce complete anæsthesia very
-suddenly, before there is time for the nerves to be acted on
-locally to any extent; and if the chloroform is not continued,
-the anæsthesia may subside as quickly as it was induced.
-The large ganglia of sensation, the optic thalami,
-seem to require a greater quantity of chloroform to suspend
-their function than is necessary to suspend that of the
-cerebral hemispheres, but, by occupying three or four minutes
-in giving chloroform, one is enabled to add its local
-action on the nerves to its influence on the brain, and thus
-to induce anæsthesia with less narcotism of the nervous
-centres than would otherwise be required.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It must not be supposed that the difference of the action
-of chloroform on the cerebral hemispheres, and on the optic
-thalami, will of itself explain the want of uniformity between
-the loss of consciousness and loss of feeling. If it were a
-mere difference of degree, it might be so explained; but the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>absence of all regular relation between these phenomena can
-only be satisfactorily accounted for when the circumstances
-connected with the circulation and the liquor sanguinis,
-that I have endeavoured to explain above, are taken into
-account.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the fourth degree of narcotism, the breathing is stertorous,
-the pupils are dilated, and the muscles completely
-relaxed. The patient is always perfectly insensible. It is
-very seldom necessary to carry the effects of chloroform as
-far as this degree. It is, however, sometimes requisite to
-do so, in attempting to reduce dislocations of long standing
-in muscular persons, and whilst the surgeon is dissecting
-in the neighbourhood of important vessels and nerves, in
-certain robust subjects and others who seem to have acquired
-an excess of sensibility by hard drinking, and who
-can hardly be kept quiet under the knife, except when the
-breathing is stertorous.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There are some further effects of chloroform with which
-one becomes acquainted in experiments on the lower animals.
-If the inhalation is continued after the symptoms
-just described are produced, the breathing is rendered difficult,
-feeble, or irregular, and is sometimes performed only
-by the diaphragm, whilst the intercostal muscles are paralysed.
-If the dose of chloroform is gradually increased
-after these effects are produced, the breathing entirely ceases,
-but the heart continues to pulsate very distinctly, till its
-action becomes arrested by the absence of respiration, as in
-asphyxia. This interval, including the embarrassment and
-cessation of the breathing, I call the fifth degree of narcotism.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Although the respiration may be suspended by an amount
-of chloroform that has very little direct effect in the motion
-of the heart, it is quite possible to stop the heart’s action by
-the immediate effect of this agent. When frogs are exposed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>to the action of the vapour, they go on absorbing it by the
-skin, after the respiratory movements have ceased; and in
-this way the pulsations of the heart are arrested, when a
-certain amount of chloroform has been absorbed into the
-blood. And when animals of warm blood are made to
-breathe air containing as much as eight or ten per cent. of
-the vapour of chloroform, the blood which is passing
-through the lungs becomes so charged with it as to stop the
-action of the heart, when it reaches that organ through the
-coronary arteries. It is in this way that accidents from
-chloroform have happened. The power of this agent to
-arrest the pulsations of the heart can also be shewn, by
-blowing a stream of the vapour on its surface, when the
-chest is opened immediately after the breathing has ceased,
-and whilst it is still beating.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The ultimate and greatest effect that chloroform is capable
-of producing on the animal body is to destroy the irritability
-of the muscles, and produce the post-mortem rigidity.
-Either the whole body or a single limb can be rendered
-instantly rigid by injecting the arteries with a little chloroform
-shaken up with water. The rigidity remains for
-weeks in the dead body, and would probably be permanent
-if the chloroform were prevented from evaporating. Whilst
-it lasts, putrefaction is of course prevented.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Effect of Chloroform on the Pulse.</em> I have not mentioned
-the state of the pulse in the above description of the effects
-of chloroform, for it affords no criterion of the amount of
-narcotism, and it was better therefore to reserve it for a
-separate notice. It is nearly always increased both in force
-and frequency, more especially at the early part of the inhalation.
-After the patient has become quite insensible,
-the pulse indeed generally settles down nearly to the natural
-standard, and in the middle of the most formidable operations,
-it is often beating with natural volume and force, not
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>more than sixty or seventy times a minute. The pulse
-rarely becomes weaker or slower than natural under the influence
-of chloroform, except from considerable loss of blood,
-or where the patient is about to be sick. I have twice
-found the pulse as slow as 44 in the minute at the conclusion
-of an operation attended with great loss of blood. One
-of the cases was the removal of a large tumour of the labium
-pudendi, in a woman, aged forty-five, on the 28th of April,
-1849, at King’s College Hospital, by Mr. Fergusson. The
-pulse was, however, not small or weak, and there was no
-faintness. In a few minutes, the patient vomited, and the
-pulse immediately resumed its natural frequency.<a id='r50'></a><a href='#f50' class='c012'><sup>[50]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There is occasionally a feeble state of pulse with a feeling
-of faintness as the effects of the chloroform subside, and in
-two or three cases in which the patient was in a sitting
-posture, positive syncope occurred, which, however, was
-promptly removed by the horizontal position. The persons
-most liable to a feeling of faintness after chloroform, are
-those who are subject to syncope from slight causes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Action of Chloroform on the Nervous System.</em> Chloroform,
-when inhaled, immediately reaches every part of the
-nervous system through the circulation, and it acts on
-every part of that system from the first, as a careful observation
-of the symptoms proves. It does not, however, act
-equally on all parts of the nervous system, according to the
-quantity which is absorbed; some parts of that system
-have their functions entirely, or almost, suspended, whilst
-others are but little under the influence of the vapour, and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>it is owing to this fact that the most severe pain may be
-prevented without danger. M. Flourens made the following
-remarks respecting the action of sulphuric ether, and
-they apply equally well to the effects of chloroform, when
-it is inhaled gradually: “Under the action of ether, the
-nervous centres lose their powers in regular succession—first,
-the cerebral lobes lose theirs, viz., the intellect; next,
-the cerebellum loses its, viz., the power of regulating locomotion;
-thirdly, the spinal marrow loses the principle of
-sensitiveness and of motion; the medulla oblongata still
-retains its functions, and the animal continues to live:
-with loss of power in the medulla oblongata, life is lost.”<a id='r51'></a><a href='#f51' class='c012'><sup>[51]</sup></a>
-I may add, that after the breathing has ceased, from the
-loss of power of the medulla oblongata, the ganglionic
-nerves still perform their functions, and the heart and intestines
-continue to move for a time, often with vigour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Owing to the unequal effects of a given quantity of
-chloroform on different parts of the nervous centres, and
-owing to its acting also on the nerves, a variety of states
-may be met with during a surgical operation, some of
-which have often been thought curious, or anomalous. The
-most usual state of the patient during an operation, when
-chloroform is successfully administered, is one of perfect
-quietude, without any sign of consciousness or sensation.
-The patient under chloroform may, however, moan, or cry,
-or flinch, or show other symptoms which are usually thought
-indicative of pain, but without using any articulate language,
-or remembering anything of the operation afterwards.
-If his flinching or crying out has neither interfered with
-the surgeon, nor distressed the friends who may be present,
-a case of this kind may be considered satisfactory. A third
-condition of the patient under the influence of chloroform is
-that in which he talks, or laughs, or sings during the operation,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>his words having no reference to what is being done. If
-he is sufficiently quiet for the proceedings of the surgeon, the
-application of the chloroform must be considered successful,
-and this condition proves the absence of pain even more completely
-than that in which there is neither sign nor sound,
-except the breathing and pulsation of the heart and blood
-vessels. A fourth condition of the patient is that in which
-he is conscious, and can look on whilst the surgeon is
-performing some small operation, or the minor part of a
-large one, without feeling it, or whilst feeling it in a manner
-which is not painful. This condition, when it occurs, is
-the most satisfactory proof of the power of chloroform to
-prevent pain. It happens but rarely, however, and cannot
-be induced at will, and it is usually at the concluding
-part of an operation, during which the patient has been
-unconscious, that this condition is met with. He wakes
-whilst there is still a vessel to tie, or a suture to be introduced,
-and does not feel it, owing, as was stated before, to
-some of the chloroform being detained in the extra vascular
-liquor sanguinis, whilst the brain has become almost free
-from the medicine. When the knife, or the needle, is felt
-without being painful, it is because the common sensibility,
-without being entirely abolished, is so much reduced, that
-what would otherwise cause acute pain only occasions an
-ordinary sensation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A fifth state of the patient is met with when an insufficient
-quantity of chloroform has been administered, or when
-its effects have been allowed to subside too soon. The
-patient may call out or complain in articulate words, such
-as “Oh, you are hurting me,” and yet may assert afterwards
-that he had no pain, and knew nothing whatever of
-the operation. His own language at the time must, however,
-be held to decide that there was some pain, which
-made so slight an impression on the disordered mind as not
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>to remain in the memory. Pain which is not remembered
-is of very little consequence, and probably is but slight in
-degree. It should not be judged of by the expressions of
-the patient when he is but partially conscious, and using no
-self-control. Chloroform may, lastly, be administered so
-badly, that the patient simply falls asleep under the soothing
-influence of a very gentle dose, as he might sleep from
-an ordinary dose of opium, without being insensible, and,
-when the operation is commenced he wakes to full consciousness,
-and both feels pain and remembers it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Patients, when insensible, sometimes moan or groan from
-the effects of the chloroform, and quite independently of the
-operation. The groaning or moaning comes on sometimes
-and even leaves off again, before the operation is commenced.
-When symptoms like those of pain are present
-during an operation, one may generally know whether they
-are the consequences of it, by observing whether or not
-they are connected with each cut of the knife. But even
-when a flinch or a groan follows each manipulation of the
-surgeon, it does not necessarily follow, provided the patient
-does not speak, that he is suffering pain. Some amount of
-consciousness is essential to the presence of pain, but many
-of the lower animals execute movements like those caused
-by pain, after the head is cut off, and when, of course, there
-can be no consciousness. Although the mind, under ordinary
-circumstances, is conscious of the attitude, gestures,
-and cries, which accompany pain, neither the intellect nor
-the will have any share in their production. On the contrary,
-they usually take place in spite of the efforts of the
-will to prevent them, and one may understand that, when
-consciousness and volition are suspended, the actions usually
-indicative of pain may, for want of control, be excited
-by slighter causes, and to a greater degree, than in the
-waking state.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>It is certain that chloroform may prevent pain in two
-ways, either by rendering the mind unconscious of external
-impressions, or by removing the sensibility to these impressions,
-that is, by a true anæsthetic action, but usually, and
-always when breathed in a full dose, it acts in both ways
-at once.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient sometimes supposes that he remembers all
-the particulars of the operation, although he did not feel
-the pain, but on questioning him it is usually found that it
-is a dream which he remembers, and not the actual facts.
-It is extremely rare for a patient to assert that he has felt
-pain from the operation, when he has not felt it, but I have
-known this to happen once or twice, and a circumstance
-which was related to me by Mr. Robinson proves the possibility
-of it. He administered chloroform, or ether, to a
-lady, with the intention of extracting some teeth, but could
-not succeed in getting the mouth open, and the lady woke
-before anything had been done, and asserted that she had
-felt the operation. She inhaled again, and awoke, and repeated
-the same statement once or twice before the teeth
-were actually extracted.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have heard it stated that patients have felt the pain of
-the operation, but have been unable to make any sign of
-feeling it. Such an occurrence may possibly take place
-when the chloroform is inhaled too slowly, or not in sufficient
-quantity; but I have not witnessed it, and it evidently
-cannot happen with a sufficient dose.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH INFLUENCE OR MODIFY THE EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>I arrived at the conclusion, after much careful observation,
-that chloroform might be given with safety and advantage
-in every case in which the patient requires, and is
-in a condition to undergo, a surgical operation; and having
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>acted on this conclusion for several years, I have found no
-reason to change it. It is desirable, however, to pay attention
-to every circumstance connected with the health and
-constitution of the patient before exhibiting chloroform, as
-many of these circumstances influence its effects.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Age.</em> The age of the patient has considerable influence in
-modifying the effects of chloroform. It acts very favourably
-on children: they sometimes oppose the inhalation of
-it as long as they are conscious, but it does not occasion the
-rigidity and struggling after loss of consciousness, which
-are sometimes met with in the adult. Anæsthesia is generally
-induced with a less amount of narcotism of the nervous
-centres in children than in grown up persons. The effects
-of chloroform are more quickly produced and also subside
-more quickly in children than in adults, owing no doubt to
-the quicker breathing and circulation. It often happens,
-however, that when the insensibility has been kept up for
-some time, say twenty minutes or half an hour, in a child,
-it is followed by a natural sleep of a few hours duration,
-provided there is no painful wound, or other cause, to prevent
-the sleep. I have given chloroform in a few cases as
-early as the ages of eight and ten days, and in a considerable
-number before the age of two months; and I have at this
-time, June 30th, 1857, memoranda of the cases of 186 infants
-under a year old to whom I have administered this
-agent. There have been no ill effects from it either in these
-cases, or in those of children more advanced in life; and it
-is worthy of remark that none of the accidents from chloroform
-which have been recorded, have occurred to young
-children.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There is nothing peculiar in the effects of chloroform on
-people advanced in years, except that its influence subsides
-rather slowly, on account of the slower breathing and circulation.
-I have given chloroform to many patients over
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>seventy-five years of age, and to one as old as ninety
-years.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Strength or Debility.</em> The comparative strength or debility
-of the patient has considerable influence on the way
-in which chloroform acts. Usually the more feeble the
-patient is, whether from illness, or any other cause, the
-more quietly does he become insensible; whilst if he is
-strong and robust, there is very likely to be mental excitement
-in the second degree, and rigidity of the muscles, and
-probably struggling in the third degree of narcotism. Patients
-in a state of debility resemble children, not only in
-coming quietly and easily under the influence of chloroform,
-but also in the circumstance, that the common sensibility is
-suspended with less narcotism of the nervous centres than
-is generally required in robust persons. Children and persons
-in a state of debility have usually an acute sensibility
-which causes them to suffer pain from very slight injuries,
-but this sensibility is more easily suspended by chloroform
-than the less acute sensibility of robust persons. It is in
-strong men, accustomed to hard work or athletic sports,
-that the rigidity and struggling previously alluded to in describing
-the effects of chloroform, most frequently occur
-after the loss of consciousness. Some of the patients in
-whom the struggling and rigidity have been greatest were
-gentlemen belonging to boating clubs; but I think the
-patient, in whom these symptoms were most violent, was a
-celebrated harlequin of one of the London theatres, on whom
-Mr. Fergusson operated a few years ago.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The persons in whom the rigidity and struggling are well
-marked are often lean and wiry, and these symptoms rarely
-occur in fat people. The rigidity and struggling are less
-marked when the chloroform is given slowly than when
-quickly given.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Hysteria.</em> Patients who are subject to hysteria sometimes
-have symptoms of the complaint, such as sobbing, crying,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>or laughing, as soon as consciousness is suspended, or even
-impaired, by the chloroform; but these symptoms can always
-be subdued by proceeding with the inhalation. In a
-very few instances the hysterical state returns, and becomes
-troublesome as the effect of the vapour subsides. In two or
-three cases that I have met with, it continued for three or
-four hours, but it usually subsides in a much shorter time.
-The inhalation should not be suspended on account of the
-hysteria, but should be continued till it is subdued before
-an operation is performed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have rarely seen a decided fit of hysteria from the
-effects of chloroform, but in the case of a young married
-lady, to whom I gave this agent to prevent the pain of an
-operation on the rectum, a somewhat violent paroxysm of
-hysteria came on directly after the inhalation was commenced.
-The surgeon would not permit me to continue the
-chloroform, and expressed his intention of operating without
-it. After waiting for about half an hour, however, for the
-hysteria to subside, and finding that it continued the same
-as at first, the inhalation was resumed. The patient was
-soon rendered insensible, and lay perfectly still whilst the
-operation was performed. There was a little hysteria as
-the effects of the chloroform subsided, but not so severe as
-before.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have several times seen hysterical symptoms in the
-male, either during the administration of chloroform, or
-whilst the patient was recovering from its effects. But in
-all these cases, the patients informed me afterwards that
-they were subject to hysterics when under the influence of
-mental emotion.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In some persons who are subject to hysteria, the breathing
-becomes excessively deep and rapid whilst inhaling
-chloroform. This usually occurs just as the patient is becoming
-unconscious, but in a few cases even earlier, and the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>patient is aware of the impulse to breathe in this manner.
-After this kind of hysterical breathing has lasted a minute,
-the patient generally rests nearly a minute without breathing
-at all, after which the respiration generally becomes
-nearly natural. I give the chloroform very sparingly during
-this violent breathing, or else withdraw it altogether for a
-minute or two.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I do not consider that the hysterical diathesis forms any
-objection to the use of chloroform in operations, as the patients
-would be generally quite as liable to suffer an attack
-of hysteria from the pain, if chloroform were not used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Epilepsy.</em> Chloroform occasionally brings on a fit of
-epilepsy in persons who are subject to this disease. It was
-stated in one of the foreign medical journals, in 1848, that
-this agent was so certain to cause a fit in epileptic persons,
-that it might be used to detect impostors pretending to be
-subject to this disease; but if this assertion has been acted
-on, it must have led to great injustice, for I have many
-times administered chloroform to the extent of causing
-complete insensibility in epileptic patients who required to
-undergo operations, without its inducing the least approach
-to a fit.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the few cases in which epileptic convulsions are occasioned
-by chloroform, they do not appear till the third
-degree of narcotism is induced, in this respect differing from
-hysteria, which comes on in the second degree, or even earlier,
-as was stated above. The course to pursue, when epileptic
-convulsions appear, is to continue the chloroform
-steadily and gently, till they subside. I have never seen the
-chloroform fail to subdue the convulsions in a very few minutes,
-and I have never seen them recur after the operation,
-as the effects of the vapour subsided. In medical and obstetric
-practice, and for slight operations, it is not requisite
-to carry the effects of chloroform so far as that stage in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>which an epileptic fit would occur, so that under these circumstances
-the fact of a patient being subject to epilepsy
-hardly requires to be taken into account.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Pregnancy.</em> I have repeatedly given chloroform at all
-periods of pregnancy, both for tooth-drawing and more important
-operations, and I have not met with any ill effects
-from it in any of the cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>The Menstrual Period.</em> It is customary to avoid the
-menstrual period in fixing the time for a surgical operation,
-when it can be so arranged. There are, however, often
-reasons for not waiting over this period, and under such
-circumstances, I do not know any objection to the inhalation
-of chloroform. I have administered it frequently during
-the menstrual period, and have seen no ill effects from it.
-I have observed that there is a little more tendency to
-slight hysterical symptoms, during its inhalation at this
-period, than when the same patients inhale it at other
-times, which is what we might expect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Diseases of the Lungs.</em> Affections of the lungs sometimes
-cause a little difficulty and delay in the administration of
-chloroform, as the vapour is liable to excite coughing when
-the mucous membrane of the air-passages is irritable. The
-inconvenience is, however, confined to the time of inhalation,
-for the cough is generally relieved afterwards.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have given chloroform for surgical operations in many
-cases where phthisis was present, and in several patients
-who had suffered from hæmoptysis, and have not seen any
-ill effects from its use in these cases. Chloroform has indeed
-often been inhaled with advantage to relieve the cough
-in consumption. The cases of chronic bronchitis in which
-chloroform is administered for surgical operations are still
-more numerous. The effects I have observed have been
-coughing at the time of inhalation, and very often a relief of
-the cough afterwards. Some of the patients had emphysema
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>of the lungs. It is scarcely necessary to allude, in
-this place, to acute diseases of the lungs, as surgical operations
-are not performed during their continuance, but from
-the fact of chloroform being inhaled occasionally in the
-treatment of these affections, it is evident that they would
-cause no obstacle to its employment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Disease of the Heart.</em> There is a very general impression
-that the use of chloroform is unsafe when disease of the
-heart exists, more particularly, fatty degeneration of that
-organ. This belief has been encouraged by the circumstance
-that this affection has been present in a few of both the
-real and alleged deaths from chloroform; and also by the
-fact that, in the accidents that have been really due to
-chloroform, the heart has been the organ on which it has
-exerted its fatal influence. When we come to investigate
-these cases, however, we shall find reason to conclude that
-the heart has probably been diseased in quite as great a
-proportion of the patients who have taken chloroform without
-ill effects, as in those who have succumbed under its
-influence. As regards my own practice, indeed, the only
-case in which death could in any degree be attributed to
-the chloroform, was one in which there was extreme fatty
-degeneration of the heart; but, on the other hand, I have
-given chloroform in numerous cases without ill effects where
-the symptoms of this, as well as other affections of the heart,
-were present in a very marked degree. Indeed, I have
-never declined to give chloroform to a patient requiring a
-surgical operation, whatever might be his condition, as I
-early arrived at the conclusion that this agent, when carefully
-administered, causes less disturbance of the heart and
-circulation than does severe pain. Whenever I have had an
-opportunity of seeing an operation performed without chloroform,
-I have carefully observed the pulse, and although
-none of these operations have been of a very severe nature,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>I have found the circulation to be much more disturbed
-than it would have been by chloroform carefully administered.
-The pulse in most of these cases has been excessively
-frequent during the operation, and in some instances
-it has intermitted to an unusual extent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In one instance, I had an opportunity of witnessing a
-similar operation on the same patient, first without chloroform,
-and afterwards under the influence of this agent. On
-January the 6th, 1855, Mr. Fergusson performed lithotrity,
-in King’s College Hospital, on a man, aged fifty-one. He
-generally directs chloroform to be administered in lithotrity,
-but in this instance he omitted to do so, as he thought that
-the bladder was not very irritable, and that the patient
-would not suffer much. I began to feel the pulse just when
-the patient saw the lithotrite about to be introduced. It
-was 120 in the minute. As soon as the instrument was introduced,
-the pulse increased to 144, and immediately afterwards
-it became uneven, irregular, and intermitting. I
-could not count more than three or four beats at a time;
-and, occasionally, when the pain seemed greatest, and the
-man was straining and holding his breath, the pulse was
-altogether absent for four or five seconds. In order to
-ascertain whether the absence of pulse at the wrist might
-not depend on the pressure of the muscles of the arms,
-caused by grasping the table, I applied my ear to the chest,
-and found that there was no sound whatever to be heard
-during the intervals when the pulse was imperceptible.
-It was evident that the patient held his breath till the right
-cavities of the heart became so distended as to stop the
-action of that organ till the respiration returned. The man
-did not complain or cry out during the operation. A week
-afterwards the lithotrity was repeated, but on this occasion
-I administered chloroform. The pulse was about 120 in the
-minute when the patient began to inhale the chloroform,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>but it became slower as he was made unconscious, and it
-was regular and natural during the operation. It was only
-towards the end of the operation, when the effect of the
-chloroform was allowed to diminish, and when the man
-began to strain a little, though not yet conscious, that the
-pulse intermitted slightly, passing over a single beat occasionally.
-There were none of the long intermissions of the
-pulse observed on the former occasion.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is very evident that if the above mentioned patient had
-been the subject of any affection of the heart which weakened
-or embarrassed its action, he would have run a much
-greater risk from the pain of the first operation, than from
-the inhalation of chloroform in the second one.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In a few of the patients having the arcus senilis of the
-cornea, a weak, intermitting, or irregular pulse, and other
-signs of fatty degeneration of the heart, there have been a
-feeling of faintness and a tendency to syncope, as the effects
-of the chloroform were subsiding, especially when the operation
-had been performed in the sitting posture; but these
-symptoms have soon subsided, in all the cases I have met
-with, on placing the patient horizontally, with or without
-the help of a little ammonia to the nostrils.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Cerebral Disease.</em> Affections of the head offer no obstacle
-to the administration of chloroform. I have given it to
-several patients who had suffered previously from an attack
-of apoplexy. Some of them still retained the paralysis resulting
-from their attack, but the chloroform has not been
-attended or followed by ill effects in any of these cases.
-The following case, in which alarming head symptoms had
-existed a few hours before the inhalation of chloroform, cannot
-fail to be interesting.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The 31st of October, 1854, was appointed by Mr. Fergusson
-to perform lithotrity on a gentleman, seventy-eight
-years of age, who had a phosphatic calculus in his bladder.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>He was a patient of Mr. Propert, and Mr. Fergusson had
-removed a similar calculus by lithotrity, and I had given
-him chloroform at each of the operations, and it was arranged
-that he should have chloroform on the present occasion.
-Mr. Propert informed Mr. Fergusson and me, on our
-arrival, that his patient had had an attack the night before
-resembling apoplexy; he had been insensible, the breathing
-had been stertorous, the pupils dilated, and the face very
-red and congested. Mr. Propert had caused him to be
-cupped to fourteen ounces, and had given him twenty grains
-of calomel in the course of the night, and in the morning he
-was as well as usual, and remained so at the time of our
-visit. We considered the case with Mr. Propert, and as
-there were reasons for not postponing the operation, it was
-determined that he should inhale the chloroform rather than
-be subjected to the pain. The vapour acted very favourably;
-he recovered his consciousness a few minutes after
-the operation, and expressed himself as feeling quite well.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Fergusson crushed another calculus in this patient in
-March 1855, when I again administered chloroform, and in
-1856 I understood that he was free from the complaint.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Insanity.</em> Chloroform acts on insane patients just as it
-does on others, that is to say, they are made insensible by
-it, and, when its effects completely subside, it leaves them
-in the same state of mind as before. Insane people are,
-however, often so suspicious that they cannot be persuaded
-to inhale chloroform, and it can only be given to them by
-force. When once under its influence, however, I have seen
-teeth extracted, and other operations performed, which it
-would have been impossible to accomplish in the same individuals
-without resorting to inhalation. The use of chloroform
-in the treatment of mania will be alluded to in another
-part of this work.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Hard Drinkers.</em> It was at one time alleged that hard
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>drinkers of spirituous liquors were not susceptible of the
-influence of ether or chloroform, and for a long time there
-remained an impression that these persons were difficult to
-render insensible. I have always found that hard drinkers
-were rendered unconscious, and even comatose, by the same
-amount of ether or chloroform as other persons; but they
-sometimes have a morbid excess of sensibility in the nerves
-of common sensation, and do not lie still under the surgeon’s
-knife except when the nervous centres are deeply narcotised,
-and the breathing almost stertorous. On this account,
-they sometimes inhale much more chloroform during
-a protracted operation than other persons.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>AMOUNT OF VAPOUR OF CHLOROFORM ABSORBED TO CAUSE THE VARIOUS DEGREES OF NARCOTISM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>Before proceeding to describe the mode of administering
-chloroform, it is desirable to treat of the quantity of it
-which produces its different effects. Without alluding to
-the facts and experiments which prove that all narcotics
-produce their effects by being absorbed into the circulating
-fluid, and so reaching the nervous system on which they act,
-it is only necessary to mention the following circumstances
-to show that this is the case as regards chloroform. In
-some experiments in which I assisted Dr. Sibson, we found
-that the vapour of chloroform produced its effects after
-both the pneumogastric nerves had been divided, exactly the
-same as before. Chloroform can be detected by means of
-chemical tests exhaling in the breath of those who have just
-previously inhaled it. It can also be detected in the urine
-after inhalation, and very readily in all the tissues of animals
-that have been killed by it, for several days after
-death.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The quantity of chloroform in the blood in the different
-degrees of narcotism might be estimated approximatively
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>from the amount used in inhalation, but I devised some experiments
-in 1848 for ascertaining the quantity with accuracy.<a id='r52'></a><a href='#f52' class='c012'><sup>[52]</sup></a>
-The experiments were based on the following circumstances.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>When air containing vapour is brought in contact with a
-liquid, as water or serum of blood, absorption of the vapour
-takes place, and continues till an equilibrium is established;
-when the quantity of vapour in both the liquid and air,
-bears the same relative proportion to the quantity which
-would be required to saturate them at the temperature and
-pressure to which they are exposed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This is only what would be expected to occur; but I
-verified it by numerous experiments in graduated jars over
-mercury. The intervention of a thin animal membrane may
-alter the rapidity of absorption, but cannot cause more
-vapour to be transmitted than the liquid with which it is
-imbued can dissolve. The temperature of the air in the
-cells of the lungs and that of the blood circulating over their
-parietes is the same; and, therefore, when the vapour is too
-dilute to cause death, and is breathed till no increased effect
-is produced, the following formula will express the quantity
-of any substance absorbed:—As the proportion of vapour in
-the air breathed is to the proportion that the air, or the
-space occupied by it, would contain if saturated at the temperature
-of the blood, so is the proportion of vapour absorbed
-into the blood to the proportion the blood would dissolve.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The manner in which the experiments were performed,
-was to place a small animal in a glass jar, so large that it
-formed a capacious apartment for it, and held much more
-air than it could require in the course of the experiment.
-The jar was covered with a closely fitting lid, and a carefully
-weighed portion of chloroform was allowed to diffuse itself
-through the air of the jar. The experiments were continued
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>till the chloroform produced no further effect. I shall pass
-over a number of tentative experiments, and adduce only a
-few of those which were made after I had ascertained the
-quantities requisite to produce the desired effect. The results
-obtained in these experiments were entirely due to the
-degree of dilution of the vapour; for the quantity of chloroform
-employed was, in every instance, more than would have
-killed the animal in a much shorter time than the experiment
-lasted, if it had been conducted in a smaller jar. It is
-assumed that the proportions of vapour and air remain unaltered
-during the experiment; for the quantity absorbed
-must be limited to what the animal can breathe in the time,
-which is so small a part of the whole that it may be disregarded.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 1.</em> A guineapig and a white mouse were
-placed in a jar holding 3,000 cubic inches, and fifteen grains
-of chloroform were introduced by a tube in the lid of the
-jar, which was closed immediately by a screw. The chloroform
-fell on some blotting paper suspended in the jar, and
-in a minute or two was converted into vapour and diffused
-through the air in the jar. The animals were allowed to
-remain half an hour, and were unaffected by the chloroform,
-except that they appeared to be a little less brisk than usual,
-during the first two or three minutes after their removal.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 2.</em> A guineapig was placed in the same jar,
-and twenty-two and a half grains of chloroform were introduced
-in the same manner as before, being three-quarters of
-a grain to each hundred cubic inches of air. In two or three
-minutes the chloroform was converted into vapour and diffused
-through the air in the jar. Six minutes afterwards
-the guineapig began to stagger, and soon afterwards was
-unable to keep on its legs. It was kept for half an hour in
-the jar, but did not become further affected. It was occasionally
-quiet, but always tried to walk when disturbed by
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>moving the jar. When taken out, it flinched on being
-pricked, and it tried to walk, although unable to support
-itself on its legs. It recovered from the effects of the chloroform
-in three or four minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 3.</em> Another guineapig was placed in the
-same jar, and thirty grains of chloroform were introduced.
-In three or four minutes the chloroform had evaporated and
-diffused itself through the air in the jar. In two minutes
-afterwards the guineapig lay down, but stirred when the jar
-was moved. It was allowed to remain in the jar for half an
-hour, being asleep except when disturbed. When taken
-out it awoke and endeavoured to walk, but was unable to
-support itself at first. It flinched on being pricked. Recovered
-in three or four minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 4.</em> A cat was placed in the same jar, and
-the same quantity of chloroform was introduced. In three
-minutes it had evaporated, and, when ten minutes had
-elapsed, the cat began to stagger. Soon afterwards it was
-unable to support itself on its legs; and, when a quarter of
-an hour had elapsed, it seemed asleep, but raised its head
-when the jar was inclined. It remained apparently sleeping
-till the end of an hour, when it was taken out. It was unable
-to stand, but was sensible to the slightest pinch. It
-recovered gradually in the course of twenty minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 5.</em> Sixteen grains of chloroform were put
-into a jar holding 1,600 cubic inches, being one grain to
-each 100 cubic inches of air, as in the two last experiments.
-When it was converted into vapour, a white mouse was introduced,
-by moving the lid a little to one side for a moment.
-After running about for a minute and a half, it
-began to stagger and to lose power, but it continued to run
-with little intermission till three minutes had expired. After
-this it lay still, except when the jar was inclined, when it
-always endeavoured to maintain its balance and to walk. It
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>also moved its limbs now and then, when not disturbed. It
-was removed at the end of ten minutes, when it tried to
-walk, but was unable. It did not flinch when its tail was
-pinched, but flinched, half a minute after its removal, on one
-of its toes being pinched. It recovered in two or three
-minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 6.</em> A guineapig was placed in the jar holding
-3,000 cubic inches, and 37·5 grains of chloroform were
-introduced in the same manner as in the former experiments,
-being a grain and a quarter to each 100 cubic inches of air.
-The chloroform took three or four minutes to evaporate and
-diffuse itself in the jar; and by the end of this time the
-guineapig, which had been excited and running about, began
-to stagger, and in two minutes longer it was unable to walk,
-but endeavoured to keep its balance when the jar was inclined.
-At the end of a quarter of an hour it was lying
-still, but moved its limbs when it was rolled over by inclining
-the jar; but it made no voluntary effort. It was taken
-out when thirty-three minutes had elapsed. It moved its
-limbs as it was removed, though apparently not in a voluntary
-manner. Its limbs were not relaxed. It was quite
-insensible to pricking. It recovered in about ten minutes.
-The temperature in the axilla before it was put into the jar
-was 100° Fah., and immediately after its removal 96°.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 7.</em> A guineapig was placed in the same jar,
-and forty-five grains of chloroform were introduced, being a
-grain and a half to each 100 cubic inches of air. In four
-minutes after the chloroform had evaporated, the guineapig
-was unable to walk. In half a minute more it seemed asleep,
-but there was a tremulous motion of the hind legs, which
-continued till ten minutes had elapsed. Afterwards it lay
-still, but winked now and then spontaneously. When rolled
-over by moving the jar, it made no voluntary effort. It was
-taken out twenty minutes after the chloroform had evaporated.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>It winked spontaneously, and also when the eyes
-were touched. It did not flinch when the ear was pricked,
-but flinched when the paw was pricked. The temperature in
-the axilla before the experiment was 100°, and immediately
-afterwards it was 96°. The guineapig recovered from the
-effects of the chloroform in ten minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 8.</em> A guineapig was put into the same jar,
-and 52·5 grains of chloroform were introduced, being a grain
-and three-quarters to each 100 cubic inches of air. The
-chloroform evaporated in the course of four minutes, at the
-end of which time the guineapig was altered in its manner,
-as if partially inebriated. In two minutes more it was becoming
-drowsy. A little while afterwards it was lying
-down. Six minutes after the evaporation of the chloroform
-was complete, the guineapig made no effort when turned
-over by inclining the jar, but only moved its feet, as it were
-automatically. At the end of nine minutes, it was lying
-quietly and breathing naturally. When fifteen minutes had
-elapsed it was in the same condition, and was removed from
-the jar. It cried and flinched on the foot being pricked. The
-temperature in the axilla was 97°. In five minutes after its
-removal it was fast recovering, and in ten minutes was quite
-recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 9.</em> A guineapig was placed in the jar used
-in the last three experiments, and sixty grains of chloroform
-were introduced in the same manner, being two grains to
-each 100 cubic inches of air. In four minutes it was all
-converted into vapour, and the guineapig was beginning to
-be affected by it. In two minutes more it was unable to
-stand or walk. In five minutes from the time when the
-evaporation was complete, the guineapig showed no sign of
-sensibility when turned over by inclining the jar; the
-breathing was natural. At the end of ten minutes it was
-lying still, breathing gently forty times in the minute. At
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>the end of fifteen minutes it was in the same condition.
-From seventeen to twenty minutes, it stretched out one of
-its hind legs several times, and was doing so when taken
-out, at the end of twenty minutes. It showed no sign of
-sensibility when pricked. The temperature in the axilla
-was 96°. It began to recover gradually in a minute or two,
-and recovered completely in from ten to fifteen minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 10.</em> A cat was placed in the same jar, and
-the same quantity of chloroform was introduced in the same
-manner. It became quite insensible in a few minutes after
-the chloroform was introduced; and it was allowed to remain
-for twenty-five minutes, when it was taken out. It
-was perfectly insensible to pricking, and its muscles were
-quite relaxed; it was breathing gently, and the pulsations
-of the heart were between sixty and seventy in the minute.
-It was immediately made the subject of another experiment
-of drowning whilst insensible, which need not be related in
-this place.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 11.</em> Four grains of chloroform were put into
-a glass jar holding 200 cubic inches, and when it had evaporated
-and was diffused through the air in the jar, a white
-mouse was introduced, by momentarily removing the cover
-a little to one side. A minute after its introduction the
-mouse was lying, but it moved its legs for a quarter of a
-minute longer. When four minutes had elapsed, the breathing
-became slow, and it was taken out. It was totally insensible
-for the first three minutes after its removal, and
-recovered during the two following minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 12.</em> Thirty-two grains of chloroform were
-diffused through the air of a jar holding 1,600 cubic inches,
-being two grains to each 100 cubic inches, as in the last
-three experiments. A white mouse was introduced by
-moving the cover a little to one side for a moment. In one
-minute it was insensible, and did not make any effort on
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>being rolled about by inclining the jar, but it moved its
-paws for half a minute longer. It remained insensible,
-breathing 160 times in the minute, till it was taken out at
-the end of five minutes. It was quite insensible to pinching.
-It began to walk in a minute or two. Its temperature
-before the experiment was 98°, and immediately afterwards
-was 92°. The temperature of the room was 68°.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 13.</em> A guineapig was put into a jar holding
-3,000 cubic inches, and 67·5 grains of chloroform were introduced
-on blotting paper suspended within the jar, being
-2¼ grains to each 100 cubic inches. In four minutes, the
-chloroform had all evaporated, and the guineapig was becoming
-affected. In two minutes more, it was quite insensible.
-Eight minutes after the chloroform had evaporated,
-it was lying still, breathing forty times in the minute.
-During the next three or four minutes, it moved one or
-other of its legs occasionally. At the end of seventeen minutes,
-it was lying still, and the breathing was twenty-six
-in the minute. It was taken out at the end of twenty minutes
-quite insensible; in three or four minutes it began to
-try to walk, and in ten minutes, was quite recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 14.</em> Two white mice, one being full grown,
-and the other about three-quarters grown, were placed in
-the jar holding 1,600 cubic inches, and forty grains of chloroform
-were introduced on blotting paper, being two grains
-and a half to each hundred cubic inches. In two minutes,
-the chloroform had evaporated, and the mice were much excited.
-In another minute, they were unsteady in walking;
-and in a minute more, the old mouse was lying insensible,
-and breathing deeply and laboriously. In four minutes
-more, <em>i. e.</em>, six minutes after the chloroform had evaporated,
-the young mouse was insensible also, but was moving one
-of its hind legs. In other four minutes, the young mouse
-was breathing by slow gasps, whilst the old one continued
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>to breathe deeply as before. Three minutes later, i. e., thirteen
-minutes after the chloroform had evaporated, the old
-mouse had begun to gasp, and the young one was gasping
-only at intervals. They were removed, and recovered completely
-in ten minutes. The young one recovered most
-quickly. Their temperature, on being removed, was about 90°.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 15.</em> A cat was put into the jar holding 3,000
-cubic inches, and 82·5 grains of chloroform were introduced,
-being two grains and three-quarters to each hundred cubic
-inches. In five minutes, it had evaporated, and the cat
-began to stagger in its walk. In two minutes more, it was
-unable to stand. Five minutes after the chloroform had
-evaporated, the cat was breathing deeply, seventy-five times
-in the minute. At eight minutes, it was breathing less
-deeply, one hundred and seventeen times in the minute.
-Ten minutes after the chloroform had evaporated, the cat
-was quite insensible, and breathing one hundred and twenty-six
-times in the minute. It was now taken out. The temperature
-in the axilla was 98°. In half an hour after its
-removal from the jar, it had recovered its consciousness, but
-was still drowsy.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was now put into the jar again, and the same quantity
-of chloroform was introduced in the same manner as before.
-In five minutes, it had evaporated, and the cat was again
-insensible. In other five minutes, it was breathing rather
-deeply, forty-eight times in the minute. Twelve minutes
-after the chloroform had evaporated, the cat was breathing
-in the same manner, but sixty-eight times in the minute.
-The breathing afterwards became shallow and feeble, and
-half an hour after the chloroform had evaporated, it was
-eighty-eight in the minute. In five minutes more, the
-breathing ceased. The cat was taken out of the jar, and
-the stethoscope was applied to the chest. The heart could
-not be heard to beat at first, but in a short time, the cat
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>gave a gasp, and the heart’s action returned, and the breathing
-became reestablished.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 16.</em> Forty-eight grains of chloroform were
-put into a jar holding 1,600 cubic inches, being three grains
-to each hundred cubic inches, and when it was converted
-into vapour and diffused through the air in the jar, a white
-mouse was introduced. It ran about for a minute and a
-half, and then it was unable to move any longer. In nine
-minutes and a half, the breathing was getting very slow, and
-the mouse was immediately removed. Before it could be
-got out, it appeared to have entirely ceased to breathe, but
-it immediately began to gasp at intervals. In a minute, the
-breathing improved, and soon became natural. Three minutes
-after its removal, the mouse began to walk in a ring,
-and in seven minutes, it had quite recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 17.</em> A guineapig was placed in a jar holding
-1,600 cubic inches, and fifty-four grains of chloroform were
-introduced on blotting paper, in the manner previously explained;
-being three grains and three-eighths to each hundred
-cubic inches of air. In four minutes, the chloroform
-had evaporated, and become diffused through the air in the
-jar, and the guineapig was drowsy. In three minutes
-more, it was lying apparently insensible, and breathing
-feebly, thirty times in the minute. After this, it kicked
-occasionally for a few minutes. When six minutes had
-elapsed from the time when the chloroform had evaporated,
-the breathing was very feeble, and apparently performed
-only by the diaphragm. From fifteen to eighteen minutes,
-I could hardly see whether the animal was breathing or
-not, and it was taken out of the glass at eighteen minutes,
-when the breathing appeared to have ceased. The stethoscope
-was applied to the chest, and the sounds of the
-heart could scarcely be heard at first, but the breathing returned
-in a few seconds, and the action of the heart improved.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>The guineapig gradually recovered, but it was not
-able to walk for twenty-five minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 18.</em> Sixty grains of chloroform were introduced
-into the jar employed in the last experiment, being
-three grains and three-quarters to each hundred cubic
-inches of air contained in the jar. When it had evaporated,
-and was diffused through the air, a white mouse was introduced,
-whilst the lid of the jar was moved a little to one
-side for a moment. It ran about at first, but suddenly
-ceased to run, and became insensible, at the end of three-quarters
-of a minute. It lay breathing deeply and rapidly
-till two minutes had elapsed, when the respiration became
-slow, and it ceased at two minutes and three-quarters after
-the mouse was introduced. It was removed at this time,
-and it gasped a few seconds afterwards; this gasp was soon
-followed by another; the gaspings became more frequent,
-and in a short time, the natural breathing was resumed. In
-five minutes, the mouse was able to walk.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The third, fourth, and fifth of the above experiments
-show that one grain of chloroform to each hundred cubic
-inches of air suffices to induce the second degree of narcotism,
-or that state in which consciousness and voluntary
-motion are disturbed, but not entirely abolished. Now one
-grain of chloroform produces 0·767 of a cubic inch of vapour
-at 60°, when its specific gravity is 4·2; and, when the vapour
-is inhaled, it expands somewhat, as it is warmed to
-the temperature of the lungs; but it expands only to the
-same extent as the air with which it is mixed, and therefore
-the proportions remain unaltered. But air, when saturated
-with vapour of chloroform at 100°, contains 43·3 cubic
-inches in 100; and</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>As 0·767 : 43·3 :: 0·0177 : 1.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c006'>So that if the point of complete saturation be considered
-as unity, 0·0177 or 1–56th, will express the degree of saturation
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>of the air from which the vapour is immediately
-absorbed into the blood; and, consequently, also the degree
-of saturation of the blood itself.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I find that serum of blood at 100°, and at the ordinary
-pressure of the atmosphere, will dissolve about its own volume
-of vapour of chloroform; and since chloroform of specific
-gravity 1·483 is 288 times as heavy as its own vapour,
-0·0177 ÷ 288 gives 0·0000614, or one part in 16,285, as
-the average proportion of chloroform by measure in the
-blood, in the second degree of narcotism.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is evident, from the experiments numbered 9 to 12 inclusive,
-that two grains of chloroform to each hundred cubic
-inches of the inspired air cause a state of very complete insensibility,
-corresponding with what I have designated the
-fourth degree of narcotism; and by the method of calculation
-employed above we get 0·0354, or 1–28th, as representing
-the degree of saturation of the blood, and 0·0001228
-the proportion by measure in the blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In experiments 6, 7, and 8, in which quantities of chloroform
-were employed intermediate between one and two
-grains to each hundred cubic inches of air, a moderate
-amount of insensibility was induced, corresponding very
-much with the state of patients during operations under
-chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The experiments from 13 to 18 show that quantities of
-chloroform, exceeding two grains to 100 cubic inches of air,
-have a tendency to embarrass and arrest the function of
-respiration, if the inhalation is continued. I have not yet
-been able to determine satisfactorily the exact proportion
-of chloroform which requires to be absorbed to arrest the
-respiration of animals of warm blood. I believe there is a
-definite proportion which has this effect, but there are two
-reasons why it is not so easy to ascertain it, as to ascertain
-the proportion which causes the minor degrees of narcotism.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>In the first place, the breathing often becomes very feeble
-before it ceases, so that the animal inhales and absorbs but
-very little chloroform, and remains on the brink of dying
-for some time. In the next place, the temperature of the
-body falls in a deep state of narcotism, especially in small
-animals; and, as the temperature falls, the amount of chloroform
-which the blood can dissolve from any given mixture
-of air and vapour increases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Judging from the experiments numbered 14 to 18, three
-grains of chloroform to each hundred cubic inches of air
-must be very nearly the quantity which has the power of
-arresting the breathing when the temperature of the body is
-100°; and as three grains of chloroform produce 2·3 cubic
-inches of vapour, and air at 100° is capable of taking up
-43·3 per cent. of its volume, it follows that the blood must
-contain between 1–18th and 1–19th as much chloroform as
-it is capable of dissolving, at the time when the respiration
-is arrested. In the 14th experiment, the breathing of the
-two mice was on the point of being stopped by two and a
-half grains of chloroform in each hundred cubic inches of
-air, but during the thirteen minutes which the mice breathed
-the vapour, their temperature fell to about 90°. Air, when
-saturated with the vapour of chloroform at this temperature,
-contains 35 per cent., and two grains and a half of chloroform
-yield 1·917 cubic inches of vapour; so by a calculation
-similar to that made at page 68, the mice at the time when
-the breathing was about to cease must have absorbed 1–18th
-part as much chloroform as their circulating fluids were
-capable of dissolving.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The reader will have observed that, in the experiments
-related above, the mice became much more quickly affected
-than the guineapigs and cats. The reason of this is their
-quicker respiration and circulation, and much more diminutive
-size. Little birds, such as linnets and sparrows, are
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>also very quickly affected by chloroform. Frogs are more
-slowly affected, owing to their languid respiration, unless
-the vapour to which they are exposed is very strong.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>They can, however, owing to their low temperature, be
-rendered insensible by proportions of vapour too small to
-affect animals of warm blood; and as they have no proper
-temperature of their own, the amount of vapour (in proportion
-to the air in which they are placed) that will affect
-them, depends entirely on the temperature of that air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following experiment was several times performed on
-frogs with the same result, the temperature of the room
-being about 55°, as it was in winter.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 19.</em> 4·6 grains of chloroform were diffused
-through the air of a jar of the capacity of 920 cubic inches,
-and a frog was introduced. In a few minutes, it became
-affected, and at the end of ten minutes, was quite motionless
-and flaccid; but the respiration was still going on. Being
-now taken out, it was found to be insensible to pricking:
-it recovered in a quarter of an hour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In a repetition of this experiment, in which the frog continued
-a few minutes longer in the vapour, the respiration
-ceased, and the recovery was more tardy. On one occasion,
-the frog was left in the jar for an hour, but when taken out,
-and turned on its back, the pulsations of the heart could be
-seen. In an hour after its removal, it was found to be completely
-recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The first of the experiments related above (page 60),
-showed that an atmosphere containing half a grain of chloroform
-to each hundred cubic inches, produced scarcely any
-appreciable effect on animals of warm blood; but the following
-calculation explains why this quantity acts so energetically
-on the frog, and proves that this creature is
-affected by chloroform according to the same law as animals
-of warm blood. The vapour is absorbed into the blood and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>lymph of the frog at the temperature of the external air,
-whose point of relative saturation therefore remains unaltered,
-both in the lungs and in contact with the skin of the
-animal; and as half a grain of chloroform produces 0·383
-cubic inches of vapour, and air at 55° contains, when saturated,
-10 per cent. of vapour; 0·0383, or 1–26th, expresses
-the degree of saturation of the air, and also of the blood of
-the frog. And this is a very little more than the quantity
-(0·0354 or 1–28th) which was calculated above to be the
-greatest amount which could be absorbed with safety into
-the blood of the mammalia. It must be observed, however,
-that the pulmonary respiration of the frog was arrested by
-this proportion of 1–26th as much chloroform as the blood
-would dissolve, whilst we calculated that it required about
-as much as 1–18th to arrest the breathing of animals of
-warm blood. It must be remembered, however, that the
-pulmonary respiration of frogs is a process of swallowing
-air, which only goes on when the creature is comparatively
-active. In the torpid state, the respiration takes place only
-by the skin, and the frog never breathes with the aid of the
-same muscles and nerves as mammalia and birds.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>By warming a frog, together with the air in which it is
-placed, it is, in accordance with the law explained above,
-rendered comparatively proof against an amount of chloroform
-which would otherwise render it insensible.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 20.</em> A frog, which had been a few days previously
-subjected to the experiment just narrated, was put
-into the same jar, which was placed near the fire, till a
-thermometer inside marked 75° Fah.; 4·6 grains of chloroform
-were then introduced, and diffused through the air in
-the jar. The jar was kept for twenty minutes, with the
-thermometer indicating the same temperature within one
-degree. For the first seventeen minutes, the frog was unaffected;
-and only was dull and sluggish, but not insensible,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>when taken out. Air at 75°, when saturated with vapour
-of chloroform, contains 22 per cent., and therefore the 0·383
-per cent. of vapour, which at 55° was capable of saturating
-the fluids of the frog to the extent of 1–26th of what they
-would dissolve, was, at 75°, capable of saturating them only
-to the extent of 1–57th.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At one of Dr. Wilson’s Lumleian Lectures, at the College
-of Physicians, on March 29th, 1848, I had the honour of
-performing some experiments, and making some remarks,
-on chloroform, and I combined together two experiments on
-frogs and small birds, in a way which shows how entirely
-the effects of a narcotic vapour depend on the quantity of
-air with which it is mixed, and on other physical conditions.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 21.</em> I introduced a chaffinch, in a very small
-cage, into a glass jar holding nearly 1,000 cubic inches, and
-put a frog into the same jar, covered it with a plate of
-glass, and dropped five grains of chloroform on a piece of
-blotting paper suspended within. In less than ten minutes,
-the frog was insensible, but the bird was not affected.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 22.</em> I then placed another frog and another
-small bird in a jar containing but 200 cubic inches, with
-exactly the same quantity of chloroform. In about a minute
-and a half, they were both taken out,—the bird totally insensible,
-but the frog not appreciably affected, as from its
-less active respiration it had not had time to absorb much
-of the vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The blood in the human adult is estimated by M. Valentin
-to average about thirty pounds. M. Valentin’s experiments
-were so conducted that this quantity must include
-the extra vascular liquor sanguinis, as well as the blood
-actually contained within the vessels. On this account, his
-estimate is all the better fitted for calculating the amount of
-chloroform absorbed, since this medicine, when inhaled gradually,
-passes by exosmosis through the coats of the bloodvessels
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>into the fluid in which the tissues are immediately
-bathed. The above quantity of blood would contain 26
-pounds 5 ounces of serum, which, allowing for its specific
-gravity, would measure 410 fluid ounces. This being reduced
-to minims, and multiplied by 0·0000614, the proportion
-of chloroform in the blood required to produce narcotism
-to the second degree (see page 68), gives 12 minims
-as the whole quantity in the blood. More than this is used
-in practice, because a considerable portion is not absorbed,
-being thrown out again when it has proceeded no further
-than the trachea, the mouth and nostrils, or even the face-piece.
-But I find that if I put twelve minims into a bladder
-containing a little air, and breathe it over and over again,
-in the manner of taking nitrous oxide, it suffices to remove
-consciousness, producing the second degree of its effects.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To induce the third degree of narcotism, or the condition
-in which surgical operations are usually commenced, would
-require that about 18 minims should be absorbed by an
-adult of average size and health, according to the above
-method of calculation; and to induce the deep state of insensibility,
-which I have termed the fourth degree of narcotism,
-would require 24 minims; whilst to arrest the function
-of respiration would require that about 36 minims
-should be absorbed.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>PREPARATIONS FOR INHALING CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>The only direction which it is usually requisite to give
-beforehand, to the patient who is to inhale chloroform, is to
-avoid taking a meal previous to the inhalation; for chloroform
-is very apt to cause vomiting, if inhaled whilst there
-is a quantity of food in the stomach. The sickness is not
-attended with any danger, but it constitutes an unpleasantness
-and inconvenience which it is desirable to avoid. The
-best time of all for an operation under chloroform is before
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>breakfast, but the customs and arrangements of this country
-do not often admit of that time being chosen, and it is
-unadvisable to make the patient fast beyond his usual hour.
-It answers very well to perform an operation about the
-time when the patient would be ready for another meal, or,
-if the time of operation fall two or three hours after the
-usual time of eating, to request the patient to make only a
-slender repast at that time, so as just to prevent the feeling
-of hunger. It is impossible to prevent vomiting in some
-cases with the best precautions, for the stomach occasionally
-will not digest when the patient is expecting a surgical
-operation, and the breakfast may be rejected in an unaltered
-state hours after it has been taken. In other cases the
-patient does not vomit, even when he inhales chloroform
-shortly after a full meal.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The most convenient position in which the patient can
-be placed whilst taking chloroform is lying on the back, or
-side, as he is then duly supported in the state of insensibility,
-and can be more easily restrained if he struggle whilst
-becoming insensible. The semi-recumbent posture on a
-sofa does very well, and there is no objection to the sitting
-posture, when that is most convenient to the operator. In
-that case, however, the patient should be placed in a large
-easy chair with a high back, so that the head as well as the
-trunk may be supported without any effort, otherwise he
-would have a tendency to slide or fall when insensible. It
-has been said that it is unsafe to give chloroform in the
-sitting posture, on the supposition that it would in some
-cases so weaken the power of the heart, as to render it
-unable to send the blood to the brain. Observation has
-proved, however, that chloroform usually increases the force
-of the circulation; and although the horizontal position is
-certainly the best for the patient under an operation in all
-circumstances, I consider that the sitting posture is by no
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>means a source of danger, when chloroform is given, if the
-ordinary precaution be used, which would be used without
-chloroform—that of placing the patient horizontally if
-symptoms of faintness come on. I have preserved notes of
-nine hundred and forty-nine cases in which I have given
-chloroform to patients in the sitting posture, and no ill
-effects have arisen in any of these cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The person who is about to inhale chloroform is occasionally
-in a state of alarm, either about that agent itself
-or the operation which calls for its use. It is desirable to
-allay the patient’s fears, if possible, before he begins to inhale,
-as he will then be able to breathe in a more regular
-and tranquil manner. In a few cases, however, the apprehensions
-of the patient cannot be removed, and they subside
-only as he becomes unconscious from the inhalation.
-It has been said that chloroform ought not to be administered
-if the patient is very much afraid, on the supposition
-that fear makes the chloroform dangerous. This is, however,
-a mistake; the danger, if any, lies in the fear itself.
-Two cases will be related hereafter in which the patients
-died suddenly from fear, whilst they were beginning to
-inhale chloroform, and before they were affected by it; but
-the probability is that, if they had lived till the chloroform
-took effect, they would have been as safe as other patients
-who inhaled it. If chloroform were denied to the patients
-who are much afraid, the nervous and feeble, who most
-require it, would often be deprived of its benefits. Moreover,
-the patients would either be prevented altogether from
-having the advantage of surgery, or they would be subjected
-to the still greater fear of the pain, as well as the
-pain itself; for whatever undefined and unreasoning fears
-a patient may have when the moment comes for inhaling
-chloroform, he has only chosen to inhale it on account of a
-still greater fear of pain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>Fear and chloroform are each of them capable of causing
-death, just as infancy and old age both predispose to bronchitis,
-but it seems impossible that fear should combine
-with the effects of chloroform to cause danger, when that
-agent is administered with the usual precautions. Fear is
-an affection of the mind, and can no longer exist when the
-patient is unconscious; but the action of that amount of
-chloroform which is consistent even with disordered consciousness
-is stimulating, and increases the force and frequency
-of the pulse, in the same way as alcohol. I believe
-that no one would assert that a person would die the sooner
-of fright for having taken a few glasses of wine, or a small
-amount of distilled spirits, whatever might be the state of
-his health. When chloroform has been absorbed in sufficient
-quantity to cause unconsciousness, fear subsides, and
-with the fear its effects on the circulation. It is a subject
-of almost daily observation with me that the pulse, which is
-extremely rapid from some ill defined apprehension, when
-certain patients begin to inhale chloroform, settles down to
-its natural frequency after they become unconscious.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The practice I have always followed has been to try to
-calm the patient, by the assurance that there was nothing
-to apprehend from the chloroform, and that it would be
-sure to prevent all pain; but where it has been impossible
-to remove the fears of the patient in this way, I have always
-proceeded to remove them by causing a state of unconsciousness.
-It would of course be wrong to choose a moment
-for beginning the inhalation, when fear was producing a
-very marked depression of the circulation. On feeling the
-pulse of a gentleman, about twenty-one years of age, in
-March 1855, who had just seated himself in the chair to
-take chloroform, previous to having some teeth extracted,
-by Mr. Thos. A. Rogers, I found it to be small, weak, and
-intermitting, and it became more feeble as I was feeling it.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>I told the patient that he would feel no pain, and that he
-had nothing whatever to apprehend. His pulse immediately
-improved. He inhaled the chloroform, had his teeth extracted,
-woke up, and recovered without any feeling of
-depression. Now if the inhalation had been commenced in
-this case, without inquiry or explanation, the syncope which
-seemed approaching would probably have taken place, and
-it would have had the appearance of being caused by the
-chloroform, although not so in reality.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>MODE OF ADMINISTERING CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>The experiments previously related show that air containing
-rather less than two grains of chloroform, in one
-hundred cubic inches, is capable of causing a state of insensibility,
-sufficiently deep for surgical operations; but in a
-creature the size of the human being, an inconvenient length
-of time would be occupied in causing insensibility with vapour
-so much diluted. About four cubic inches of vapour,
-or rather more than five grains of chloroform to each hundred
-cubic inches of air, is the proportion which I have
-found most suitable in practice for causing insensibility to
-surgical operations. In medical and obstetric cases, it
-should be inhaled in a more diluted form.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Simpson recommended chloroform to be administered
-on a handkerchief—the method in which sulphuric ether
-was administered by Dr. Morton, in the first case in which
-he exhibited that medicine. The objection to giving chloroform
-on a handkerchief, especially in surgical operations,
-where it is necessary to cause insensibility, is that the proportions
-of vapour and of air which the patient breathes
-cannot be properly regulated. Indeed, the advocates of this
-plan proceed on the supposition that there is no occasion to
-regulate these proportions, and that it is only requisite that
-the patient should have sufficient air for the purposes of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>respiration, and sufficient chloroform to induce insensibility,
-and all will be right.<a id='r53'></a><a href='#f53' class='c012'><sup>[53]</sup></a> The truth is, however, that if there
-be too much vapour of chloroform in the air the patient
-breathes, it may cause sudden death, even without previous
-insensibility, and whilst the blood in the lungs is of a florid
-colour. Chloroform may indeed be inhaled freely from a
-handkerchief without danger, when it is diluted with one or
-two parts by measure of spirits of wine, but the chloroform
-evaporates in largest quantity at first, and less afterwards,
-until a portion of the spirit is left behind by itself. The
-process, however, of inhaling chloroform from a handkerchief
-is always uncertain and irregular, and is apt to confirm
-the belief in peculiarities of constitution, idiosyncrasies and
-predispositions, which have no existence in the patient.<a id='r54'></a><a href='#f54' class='c012'><sup>[54]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>The most exact way in which it is practicable to exhibit
-chloroform to a patient about to undergo an operation, is to
-introduce a measured quantity into a bag or balloon of
-known size, then to fill it up by means of the bellows, and
-allow the patient to inhale from it; the expired air being
-prevented from returning into the balloon, by one of the
-valves of the face-piece to which it is attached. I tried this
-plan in a few cases, in 1849, with so much chloroform in the
-balloon as produced four per cent. of vapour in proportion
-to the air. The effects were extremely uniform, the patients
-becoming insensible in three or four minutes, according to
-the greater or less freedom of respiration; and the vapour
-was easily breathed, owing to its being so equally mixed
-with the air. I did not try, however, to introduce this plan
-into general use, as the balloon would sometimes have been
-in the way of the surgeon, and filling it with the bellows
-would have occasioned a little trouble. It seemed necessary
-to sacrifice a little of absolute perfection to convenience,
-and I therefore continued the plan which I had already
-followed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The great point to be observed in causing insensibility by
-any narcotic vapour, is to present to the patient such a
-mixture of vapour and air as will produce its effects gradually,
-and enable the medical man to stop at the right moment.
-Insensibility is not caused so much by giving a
-dose as by performing a process. Nature supplies but one
-mixture of diluted oxygen, from which each creature draws
-as much as it requires, and so, in causing narcotism by
-inhalation, if a proper mixture of air and vapour is supplied,
-each patient will gradually inhale the requisite quantity of
-the latter to cause insensibility, according to his size and
-strength. It is indeed desirable to vary the proportions of
-vapour and air, but rather according to the purpose one has
-in view, whether medicinal, obstetric, or surgical, than on
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>account of the age or strength of the patient; for the respiratory
-process bears such a relation to the latter circumstances,
-as to cause each person to draw his own proper
-dose from a similar atmosphere in a suitable time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The inhaler represented in the adjoining engraving is,
-with some slight alterations, the same that I have employed
-since the latter part of 1847. It is made of metal, and consists
-of a double cylinder, the outer space of which contains
-cold water, and the inner serves for the evaporation of the
-chloroform which the patient is to breathe. Into the inner
-part of the cylinder there is screwed a frame, having numerous
-openings for the admission of air, and four stout
-wires which descend nearly to the bottom of the space, and
-are intended to support two coils of stout bibulous paper,
-which are tied round them, and reach to the bottom of the
-inhaler. In the lower part of this paper four notches are
-cut, to allow the air to pass in the direction indicated by
-the arrows. As the quantity of chloroform which is put in
-should never fill the apertures or notches, the air which
-passes through the inhaler meets with no obstruction whatever.
-There is a glass tube communicating with the interior
-of the inhaler, and passing to the outside, to enable
-the operator to see when the chloroform requires to be
-renewed. The elastic tube which connects the inhaler to
-the face-piece is three-quarters of an inch in internal diameter,
-to allow of the passage of as much air as the patient
-can possibly breathe. On the introduction of the practice
-of inhaling sulphuric ether there was no tubing in this
-country fit to be breathed through; that in ordinary use
-was only about one-third, or three-eighths of an inch in
-diameter,—not more than a quarter of the proper calibre.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>
-<img src='images/i_082.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>The face-piece, to include both the mouth and nostrils, of
-which that shown in the engraving is one of the modifications,
-is one of the greatest mechanical aids to the process
-of inhalation which has been contrived in modern times.
-Dr. Francis Sibson is its inventor. Dr. Hawkesley did indeed
-contrive a very similar one about the same time as
-Dr. Sibson,—early in 1847,—but he did not make it known.
-Dr. Ingen Housz made patients inhale oxygen through the
-nostrils by means of a bottle of India rubber with the bottom
-cut off; and Mr. Waugh, of Regent Street, had more recently
-contrived a mouth-piece to be adapted outside the
-lips, but the usual practice of inhalation previous to 1847,
-was for the patient to draw in the medicated air by means
-of a tube placed in the mouth. This led generally to great
-awkwardness at first, as the patient usually began to puff as
-if he were smoking a pipe; and it had the further inconvenience,
-in the administration of ether, that the tube dropped
-from the mouth, and the patient began to breathe by the
-nostrils, just as he was getting unconscious. The sides of
-the face-piece delineated in the engraving are made of thin
-sheet lead, which is pliable, and enables it to be adapted
-exactly to the inequalities of the face, and the patient can
-breathe either by the nostrils or mouth, just as his will, or
-instinct, or other nervous functions, determine.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have introduced two valves into this face-piece, one
-which rises on inspiration, to admit the air and vapour
-from the inhaler, and closes again on expiration, and the
-other which rises to allow the expired air to escape. I contrived
-the latter valve to turn more or less to one side, as
-indicated by the additional line in the engraving, and thus
-admit more or less of the external air to dilute still further
-that which has passed through the inhaler, and become
-charged with vapour. By this means the patient can begin
-by breathing air containing very little vapour, and more
-and more of the air which has passed over the moistened
-bibulous paper can be admitted, as the air-passages become
-blunted to the pungency of the vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>The object of the water-bath is to supply the caloric
-which is rendered latent, and carried off, as the chloroform
-is converted into vapour, and thus to render the process of
-inhalation steady and uniform. Without the water-bath,
-the evaporation of the chloroform would soon reduce the
-temperature of the inhaler below the freezing point of
-water, and limit very much the amount of vapour the patient
-would inhale; and if the apparatus were warmed by
-the hand, the temperature would be too high, and the
-amount of vapour too great. A medical author of great
-reputation in Paris sent to inquire at what temperature I
-used the water-bath, and being informed, at the ordinary
-temperature, published his opinion that it had no effect, and
-might as well be left off. He appeared not to have
-considered the relations of heat, either to liquids or vapours.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In arranging the bibulous paper in the inhaler, it is my
-object to contrive that the air passing through, in the ordinary
-process of inhalation, and at the ordinary temperature
-of about 60°, shall take up about five per cent. of vapour.
-This quantity can be diminished, as much as is desired, by
-turning the expiratory valve of the face-piece a little to one
-side; and in winter I usually place a short coil of bibulous
-paper against the outer circumference of the inside of the
-inhaler, in addition to the central coils which are delineated.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I commonly put two, or two and a half, fluid drachms of
-chloroform into the inhaler at first. About a drachm of
-this is absorbed by the filtering paper, and the rest remains
-at the bottom of the inhaler; and in a protracted operation,
-when it is seen, by means of the glass tube, that the latter
-part of the chloroform has disappeared, more is added, by a
-drachm or so at a time, to prevent the paper ever becoming
-dry. Mr. Matthews, 8, Portugal Street, Lincoln’s Inn
-Fields, makes the inhaler. There are smaller face-pieces for
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>children. The patient never inhales in so upright a posture
-as the artist has represented.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There are several other kinds of apparatus in use for the
-inhalation of chloroform. The most usual consist of Dr.
-Sibson’s face-piece more or less altered, and with a small
-piece of sponge placed inside. The apparatus which is in
-most reputation on the continent is that of M. Charrière; it
-consists of a glass vase with suitable valves, and a fabric
-for exposing a surface wetted with chloroform to the air
-which passes through it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Duroy, of Paris, has contrived an ingenious, but very
-complicated, apparatus, which he calls an anæsthesimeter.
-The object of it is to regulate the amount of chloroform
-which is inhaled in a given time, and this can be varied
-from four to sixty drops in the minute; but the experiments
-which I have related show that the quantity of chloroform
-employed is not so important as the proportion of it in the
-inspired air; and although each of these circumstances has
-considerable influence over the other, in many cases there
-are conditions in which no regular relation exists between
-them. For instance, if the inhaler were supplied with sixty
-drops of chloroform per minute, these sixty drops weigh
-twenty grains, and produce 15·3 cubic inches of vapour;
-and if an adult patient were breathing the average quantity
-of four hundred cubic inches per minute, the air he would
-breathe would contain nearly four per cent. of vapour, which
-would answer extremely well; but if the breathing were
-slow or feeble, or if he should hold his breath for an interval
-and commence again, he might breathe air much more
-highly charged with vapour. Indeed it would depend on
-the amount of surface moistened with chloroform, the temperature
-of the air, and other physical conditions, whether
-or not the air he inhaled might not be charged with chloroform
-to a dangerous degree; whilst, on the other hand, if
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>the breathing were deep and rapid, as often happens whilst
-the patient is getting slightly under the influence of the
-chloroform;—if, for instance, the patient were to breathe at
-the rate of 1,600 cubic inches, instead of 400, the air he
-would inhale would contain less than one per cent. of vapour,
-and he would not become insensible with the utmost
-supply of the anæsthesimeter, till his breathing should be
-moderated. M. Duroy also follows the rude and objectionable
-plan of using a nose clasp, and thus compelling the patient
-to breathe by the mouth alone.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is advisable to request the patient to breathe gently
-and quietly, when he commences to inhale chloroform; in
-other words, to do nothing but conduct himself as if he
-were about to fall asleep naturally; for, if he breathes
-deeply, the vapour feels much more pungent than it otherwise
-would do, and is apt to excite coughing, or a feeling of
-suffocation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In using the inhaler described above, the patient should
-commence to inhale with the expiratory valve of the face-piece
-turned on one side, and it should be gradually advanced
-to the required extent, over the opening it is intended
-to cover, as the sensibility of the lungs becomes
-diminished. Not only patients with phthisis or bronchitis,
-but many sensitive and irritable persons with sound lungs,
-have a great intolerance of the vapour of chloroform at
-first, on account of its pungency; and it is necessary to
-occupy two or three minutes in gradually commencing the
-inhalation, before the patient makes any appreciable progress
-towards insensibility. In administering chloroform
-to children also, it is desirable to begin very gently; by this
-means, and with a little persuasion, one generally succeeds
-in getting them to inhale voluntarily; although, occasionally,
-it is necessary to use a little force to accomplish one’s
-purpose.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>In certain cases of the medicinal application of chloroform,
-and also in obstetric cases, where the pains are not
-severe, it is unnecessary to render the patient unconscious,
-but for surgical operations this is nearly always requisite.
-No force should ever be employed so long as the patient is
-conscious, unless it be to children or lunatics; but some
-patients become excited as soon as they are unconscious,
-and attempt to leave the couch, or push away the chloroform;
-under such circumstances, if they cannot be calmed
-by what is said to them, they should be held, and the vapour
-should be steadily and gently continued, for a minute
-or two, till a state of quietude is produced. By far the
-greater number of patients remain quiet as they become unconscious,
-but there is no difficulty in ascertaining whether
-a patient is unconscious or not. If the eyelids remain open,
-the countenance shows whether the patient is conscious or
-not; and, if they are closed, it is only necessary to touch
-them gently, to ascertain this circumstance. If he is still
-conscious, he will look at his medical man, and probably
-speak, or, at all events, show intelligence in his countenance.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Signs of Insensibility.</em> The absence of consciousness, and
-a state of quietude, are both requisite before the commencement
-of a surgical operation, and they go a good way
-towards the preparation of a patient for it, but these symptoms
-may be present and the patient not be ready for an
-operation. The surgeon wishes to know whether he will
-lie still under the knife, or whether he will make a resistance
-and outcry which he would probably not make in his
-waking state. Some surgeons have recommended that the
-patient should be pricked with the point of a knife or
-some other instrument. This is not a good or satisfactory
-plan, however, for a person will often show no sign of feeling
-a slight prick, when a severe incision would rouse him
-to resistance. A more elegant and successful plan is to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>raise the eyelid gently, by placing one finger just below the
-eyebrow, and then to touch its ciliary border very lightly
-with another finger. This should not be done roughly nor
-too frequently, for fear of exhausting the sensibility when it
-is slight. Just after unconsciousness is induced, the eyelids
-are often closed very strongly when their margins are
-touched, especially in females, and there seems to be a positive
-hyperæsthesia; this, however, is only apparent, and
-arises from the control of the will being removed, whilst
-sensibility remains. By continuing the chloroform, the sensibility
-of the edges of the eyelids diminishes until, at last,
-they may be touched without causing winking. Under
-these circumstances, the most severe operation may, in
-almost every case, be commenced without sign of pain. I
-have employed this test of the sensibility or insensibility of
-the patient ever since chloroform has been in use, and also
-in the employment of ether in 1847, and I am satisfied that
-it affords more reliable information on this point than any
-other single symptom. It even indicates the amount of
-sensibility where a little remains; when, for instance, touching
-the margin of the eyelids causes very slight and languid
-winking, the patient will commonly flinch a little if the
-knife is used, but only in a manner that can be easily restrained,
-and will not interfere with the majority of operations.
-The cases, in which the indication afforded by the
-eyelids is not always to be depended on, are those of hysterical
-patients, in whom there is sometimes no winking on
-touching the eyelids, even when unconsciousness is scarcely
-induced. In such cases, one must judge by the other symptoms,
-and also by the length of time the patient has inhaled,
-the strength of the vapour, and depth and activity
-of the breathing. Indeed, these conditions should be observed
-and taken into account in every case; and all the
-symptoms exhibited by the patient should be watched, such
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>as the expression of the face, the state of the breathing, and
-the condition of the limbs with regard to their tension or
-relaxation. The last is indeed sometimes relied on as the
-chief or sole sign whether the operation may be commenced,
-but it is of itself very insufficient, and even fallacious. The
-patient may allow his limbs to lie relaxed when he is scarcely
-unconscious, and not at all insensible, merely because he is
-not exerting his will upon them; if the arm is lifted, it may
-fall listlessly down again, at a time when the knife of the
-surgeon would rouse the patient to active resistance. Indeed,
-the limbs, which have been lying relaxed, may become
-tense as the effect of the chloroform increases, and may
-remain so during a short operation, in which there is no
-sign of pain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Although the pulse of itself gives no indication as to how
-far a patient is under the influence of chloroform, it is
-proper to pay attention to it, not only during the first administration
-of the chloroform, but also throughout the
-operation, especially if it be attended with much bleeding.
-The pulse sometimes becomes intermittent or irregular
-during the administration of chloroform, more especially in
-elderly persons. This more commonly happens in the first
-exhibition of it, than when it is repeated during the course
-of an operation. I have not seen any harm from either of
-these conditions, but it is well to intermit the chloroform
-for ten or fifteen seconds, and let the patient have a few
-inspirations without it, if the pulse is not in a satisfactory
-condition. If the precaution be taken to ensure that the
-air the patient breathes shall never contain more than five
-per cent. of vapour, the pulse can never be seriously affected
-by the direct action of the chloroform, and the state of the
-breathing affords the best warning against continuing the
-inhalation too long at a time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The breathing is fortunately also a sign that cannot be
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>overlooked. It is by the breath that the chloroform enters,
-and it is extremely improbable that any one would go on
-giving the vapour after the breathing became stertorous and
-laboured.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient sometimes holds his breath after he is unconscious,
-and before he is insensible; this occurs under two
-conditions: first, after deep and rapid breathing, during
-which the patient seems to absorb more oxygen than is immediately
-required, under the circumstances; and in this
-condition, I have known him hold his breath for a whole
-minute, whilst the pulse was unaffected. The other condition
-in which the breathing is suspended, is when there is
-rigidity in the third degree of narcotism, and the respiratory
-muscles seem to partake of the general rigidity; the holding
-of the breath in these cases seldom continues so long as
-under the former circumstances. I do not consider that
-there is any danger from either of these kinds of suspension
-of breathing. I believe it always returns as soon as there is
-a want of oxygen in the system. Of course the inhaler
-need not be applied to the face when the patient is not
-breathing, and he may as well have an inspiration or two
-without chloroform when the breathing is renewed. It is
-seldom requisite to carry the effects of chloroform so far
-that the breathing becomes stertorous, and whenever stertor
-is observed, the inhalation should be suspended; under
-these circumstances, the patient is always insensible. In
-some cases, in which a little more chloroform has been inhaled
-than is necessary, the patient breathes for half a minute
-or so by the diaphragm only, and breathes in fact
-hardly at all. The abdomen rises and falls freely, but, from
-the muscles of the chest not fixing the ribs, hardly any air
-enters the lungs, and the face becomes rather livid; meanwhile
-the pulse goes on very well, and at last the patient
-draws a deep, sonorous inspiration, the face resumes its
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>proper colour, and all is right again. I have not heard of
-any accident from chloroform commencing in this manner.
-This state of breathing, when it does occur, usually takes
-place a few seconds after the inhalation has been left off, and
-arises from the accumulation of the effects of the chloroform,
-owing to the absorption into the system of the vapour
-which was contained in the lungs at the time when the inhalation
-was discontinued.<a id='r55'></a><a href='#f55' class='c012'><sup>[55]</sup></a> This accumulation or increase
-of the effects of chloroform lasts for about twenty seconds;
-it is not dangerous unless the vapour is inhaled of too great
-strength, but it should be borne in mind in all cases. It
-may be prevented altogether, by reducing the strength of
-the vapour, just as the patient is getting insensible, or by
-giving it with intermissions of a few seconds, at this time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The rigidity and struggling previously mentioned (pages
-39 and 50) as occurring occasionally in the third degree of
-narcotism, more particularly in robust persons, often form a
-very prominent feature in the effects of chloroform; and
-have sometimes caused the medical man to discontinue the
-exhibition of chloroform, under the belief that it did not
-agree with the constitution of the patient, and that its
-further exhibition would be unsafe. The proper course to
-pursue is to continue the inhalation gently, till the struggling
-and rigidity are subdued. The patient is often insensible
-before these symptoms are subdued, but it is necessary
-to have him quiet, in order to enable the surgeon to operate
-with convenience and safety. I have always succeeded in
-subduing the involuntary struggling and rigidity, but have
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>occasionally occupied five or six minutes in doing so. It is
-desirable to proceed slowly and cautiously, because, when
-these symptoms occur, the patient has already absorbed
-nearly the usual quantity of chloroform, and he often holds
-his breath, and then takes a sudden and deep inspiration,
-when he might inhale an overdose of vapour, unless it were
-presented to him in a well diluted state.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>When the rigidity and struggling are subdued, the
-breathing, in some cases, becomes stertorous, and relaxation
-of the muscles takes place, the limbs appearing quite
-flaccid; but by proceeding gently, these effects may generally
-be avoided, and the patient becomes quiet, whilst the
-breathing is natural, and the muscles are in a moderate
-state of tension. If the operator should be afraid to proceed
-with the exhibition of chloroform, on account of the violence
-of the muscular spasm and rigidity, it will be satisfactory to
-him to know that, if the inhalation is resumed in a few minutes,
-these symptoms will be less violent than at first.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Struggling and rigidity are less likely to occur, when
-chloroform is administered slowly, than under opposite circumstances;
-but it is impossible to prevent these phenomena
-altogether in certain patients. After they are once subdued,
-they but very rarely recur during the operation; the patient,
-in most cases, seems to take on, when he is subdued by the
-chloroform, the same relation to it that women, children,
-and persons in a state of debility have from the first. M.
-Chassaignac has called this condition one of tolerance of the
-chloroform. It is a condition in which the patient bears
-both the chloroform and the operation very comfortably;
-but tolerance of a medicine is generally meant to imply that
-the patient can take it in larger quantity than before. But
-this is the reverse of what occurs when the patient is in a
-tranquil state from chloroform; he has already absorbed a
-considerable quantity, which has most likely penetrated
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>deeply into the tissues, and he certainly does not require,
-and could not bear, so much as in the earlier stage of inhalation,
-where he is restless and breathing more quickly,
-and thus exhaling and getting rid of the chloroform at a
-greater rate.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It might be a question whether the absence of muscular
-excitement, in a number of cases, does not arise from the
-circumstance that anæsthesia, or absence of common sensibility,
-is obtained, and the operation performed, at a stage
-of narcotism anterior to that in which the muscular rigidity
-and spasm occur. This is true in a few cases, but I am
-satisfied by careful observation that, in the greater number
-of instances in which muscular excitement is absent, it
-would not occur at all, though the inhalation should be
-pushed to the most extreme degree. Many animals also are
-killed by chloroform without the least excitement of the
-muscular system occurring at any part of the process.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The pupils of the eyes are dilated in the deep state of insensibility
-which I have called the fourth degree of narcotism,
-but it is desirable to avoid carrying the effects of
-chloroform to this extent. They are occasionally dilated,
-however, under the slighter effects of chloroform, and even
-as the patient is recovering from its effects. In the third
-degree of narcotism, when the eyes are turned upwards, the
-pupils are usually, if not always, contracted; there seems to
-be a consentaneous action in the iris and the muscles which
-turn up the eye. The pupils seem also to be less sensitive
-to light, when the patient is insensible from chloroform,
-than at other times. This is all the information I am able
-to give about the pupils. Some writers have entered into a
-good deal of detail about the pupils, but their statements
-are very conflicting. The pupils are acted on by other
-causes, both external and internal, as well as the chloroform.
-The amount of light has great effect on them; and I have
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>seen them remain dilated for some time after the chloroform
-was discontinued, and then suddenly contract, as the patient
-began to use his eyes. Even if definite laws could be ascertained
-with regard to the action of chloroform on the pupils,
-in different doses, and under different conditions, there
-would be some difficulty in applying them during the administration
-of the vapour, as the patient cannot be made to
-direct his eyes to or from the light. There is also some
-difficulty in making correct observations on the pupils.
-Very often, when I am exhibiting chloroform, one of the
-bystanders lifts the patient’s eyelid and makes a remark on
-the state of the pupil, and, on my looking in the face of the
-speaker, I often have occasion to tell him that his own
-pupils are quite as much dilated, or contracted, as the case
-may be.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>With regard to the position of the eyes, they are usually
-turned upwards in the third degree of narcotism, as I have
-already said, but in a considerable number of instances they
-retain their usual position all through the inhalation. In a
-few cases, they are turned downwards, the pupils being
-almost hid under the lower eyelids, and causing a curious
-expression. I have noticed this most frequently in children
-of ten to fourteen years of age. I have scarcely ever seen
-temporary strabismus under the influence of chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The length of time which it is most desirable to occupy
-in the administration of chloroform, before the commencement
-of an operation, is about two minutes in infants, three
-minutes in children, and four or five minutes in adults.
-Circumstances occasionally occur, however, to lengthen
-these periods. The time during which the adult patient
-usually remains conscious whilst inhaling, is about two and
-a half minutes, but this period is sometimes prolonged from
-the nervousness of the patient, or his intolerance of the
-pungency of the vapour. Again, when unconsciousness is
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>induced, there is, in many cases, an increased flow of saliva;
-and although this usually causes no impediment, the patient
-sometimes keeps making efforts of deglutition which very
-much retard the inhalation; and, at other times, he holds
-his breath, with his mouth full of saliva, as if he had some
-obscure idea of disposing of it in a suitable manner.<a id='r56'></a><a href='#f56' class='c012'><sup>[56]</sup></a> The
-delay which often arises from the struggling and rigidity
-has been already mentioned; but notwithstanding all these
-circumstances, it hardly ever takes more than seven or eight
-minutes to make a patient sufficiently insensible.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have indeed met with a few cases in which a longer
-time has been occupied, but there has always been a physical
-reason for it. I have never had occasion to attribute
-the delay to any idiosyncracy, or great peculiarity in the
-patient, but only to the circumstance that the vapour did
-not enter the lungs in sufficient quantity within a given
-time. I have had under my care several patients who, it
-was supposed, were not susceptible of the effects of chloroform,
-or were, at least, very difficult to bring under its influence,
-as previous attempts had failed. It so happens,
-however, that I have had no difficulty whatever with any of
-these cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Two or three female patients who were about to undergo
-some trifling operation, preferred to leave off before they
-were unconscious, on account of unpleasant sensations in
-the head or chest, and to have the operation performed
-without the full effects of the chloroform; but there is no
-doubt the agent would have acted well enough if it had
-been continued.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following case will show that chloroform may be inhaled
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>with advantage in cases which at first seem very unfavourable.
-I received a note in 1849 from a medical man
-in the country, in which he says:—“I have now a young
-lady under my charge, from whom I am about to remove a
-tumour attached to the ear. She is anxious to take chloroform,
-and by the desire of herself and mother, I yesterday
-administered it by way of trial, but only to what would be
-termed the second, and perhaps you would say, the first
-degree. She lost some sensation, but was quite conscious,
-and spoke. She felt giddy; there was tumultuous beating
-of the heart, and a much accelerated pulse, with a dilated
-pupil; a perfect coldness over the whole skin, with an
-equally cold perspiration; and, during recovery from this
-slight effect, severe tremors of the whole body, so much so
-as to shake the couch on which she was lying. From this
-state she did not recover for nearly an hour. She complained
-of great giddiness and oppression at her chest. She
-is a healthy-looking, florid girl, but not strong, and has had,
-from time to time, severe spasm affecting her chest, so much
-so as to take away her breath. I have thus endeavoured to
-give you an outline of the constitution of my patient, how
-she had suffered, and what were the effects of the small dose
-of chloroform given by an inhaler. I never witnessed such
-extreme cold, tremor, or such tumultuous action of the
-heart; and am therefore anxious for the opinion of one who
-has administered chloroform under a greater variety of circumstances
-than myself, and to learn whether the symptoms
-I have described are sufficient to deter one from giving a
-sufficient dose to cause entire suspension of consciousness.
-My own impression is that they are sufficient to deter, but
-the patient and her friends being both anxious it should be
-inhaled if possible, I shall only be too glad to hear that you
-have witnessed like symptoms, and that you do not consider
-them sufficient indications of danger to deter me from its
-careful administration in the case.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>I advised that the chloroform should be administered
-again, and continued steadily till the patient should become
-insensible; expressing my belief that the unpleasant
-symptoms would subside as unconsciousness was induced.
-I received a reply to the effect that the operation had been
-performed very successfully under the influence of chloroform,
-although the vapour had an exciting effect for some
-time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Repetition of Chloroform during an Operation.</em> The
-first application of chloroform often suffices for an operation,
-if it be of short duration, without repeating the inhalation.
-In a few cases the patient remains insensible to the knife
-for three minutes after the inhalation is left off, but this is
-an exception; and one cannot, at all events, make sure of
-this prolonged effect of chloroform, without producing a
-deeper state of narcotism than is desirable. More usually,
-if the operation lasts more than a minute or two, it is necessary
-to repeat the inhalation; it is, indeed, generally desirable
-to let the patient have a few inspirations of air charged
-with chloroform vapour every half minute or so, whilst the
-operation continues, in order to keep up the insensibility.
-When the surgeon is cutting in the neighbourhood of important
-parts, it is desirable to prevent any sign of sensibility,
-and to keep repeating the chloroform so as to keep
-up the coma, without, however, causing embarrassment of
-the breathing, or wide dilatation of the pupil. In the
-greater number of operations, however, it is better to wait
-till there is some sign of sensibility, such as a slight cry or
-tendency to flinch, before the inhalation is resumed; and
-then a few inspirations of well diluted vapour make the
-patient quiet again.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>RECOVERY FROM THE EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>As soon as a patient has ceased to inhale, the chloroform
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>begins to exhale in the form of vapour from the blood as it
-passes through the lungs. It cannot be detected by the
-sense of smell, after the lungs have been emptied, by two
-or three expirations, of the vapour they contained at the
-moment when the inhalation was discontinued; but I have
-detected it by chemical means, after consciousness had returned.
-The chloroform exhales in greatest quantity at
-first, and the patient usually recovers his sensibility and
-consciousness in the time which it ought to take for the
-chief part of the chloroform to be exhaled, according to
-mechanical principles; as will be explained in treating of
-the <em>modus operandi</em> of this agent. The last traces of the
-chloroform of course exhale more slowly, and a very minute
-and insignificant quantity may remain for a considerable
-period in the system, not only of the patient, but of anyone
-who was standing by whilst he inhaled.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is probable that a small portion of chloroform passes
-out by other channels than that of the expired air: the
-latter, however, offers such a ready and expeditious outlet,
-that the quantity excreted in any other way is, most likely,
-very minute. I have on four occasions examined urine
-passed after the inhalation of chloroform, by boiling it in a
-flask, and passing the vapour, first through a red-hot tube,
-and afterwards through a tube moistened inside with solution
-of nitrate of silver, and I only on one occasion obtained
-a very slight precipitate of chloride of silver.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient usually becomes conscious within five minutes
-after the inhalation has been discontinued. After a short
-inhalation, for a very brief operation, consciousness sometimes
-returns immediately, and after a prolonged inhalation
-the recovery of consciousness is sometimes retarded till ten
-minutes have elapsed. Old people are often longer than
-others in awaking from the effects of chloroform, owing,
-no doubt, to their slower breathing and circulation. Children,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>on the other hand, usually recover very quickly from
-its direct effects; but they often lapse into a natural sleep
-which lasts a considerable time—even for hours if they are
-not disturbed, and if the operation has left no painful
-wound or other cause of uneasiness.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is desirable not to talk to the patient as he is recovering
-from the effects of chloroform, but to leave him to collect
-his ideas, and not speak to him till he is quite conscious,
-or makes some remark or inquiry himself. If not
-prevented by the medical attendant, the friends of the
-patient often address him the moment he opens his eyes;
-and the words they generally use are of a very equivocal
-meaning to one who cannot understand their application.
-They usually say “It’s all over”, which very often has the
-effect of raising an indefinite feeling of alarm in the patient;
-for, until he has had time to recover his memory, the operation
-he was to undergo is generally the farthest thing from
-his mind. When left to himself the patient usually recovers
-from the insensibility in a very tranquil manner. If
-he has not been moved whilst insensible, and awakes in the
-position in which he fell asleep, he supposes, very commonly,
-that he has not been asleep at all; and in a great
-number of instances will contend this point very stoutly,
-even after a protracted operation, and assert that the chloroform
-has not taken effect. It is as well to let him remain
-in this conceit for a while, or even till he finds out the
-mistake himself; for, if reminded of the pain they have
-been spared, just on waking after an operation, persons
-are liable to be excited by emotions of pleasure and gratitude;
-but a few minutes later, when the effects of the
-chloroform have more completely subsided, they are better
-able to control their emotions. A few persons wake with
-a full recollection of the preceding circumstances, and inquire
-if the operation is done; whilst others, on first
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>awaking, are still entirely occupied with the subject of their
-dreams.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The greater number of patients who inhale chloroform
-have to remain in bed on account of the operation which
-has been performed, but after minor operations, the patient
-is sometimes able to walk away within five minutes; although
-more frequently there is a little languor or feeling
-of fatigue for half an hour or so; and it is desirable in all
-cases for the patient to sit or lie quietly for this space of
-time, if not longer, before he makes any mental or bodily
-exertion, even if he feels quite well.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>OCCASIONAL SEQUELÆ OF THE INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'><em>Sickness.</em> The chief drawback to the benefits conferred
-by chloroform is the sickness which in many cases follows
-its use. It is most frequent when the inhalation takes
-place soon after a meal, and some of the precautions which
-are requisite in order to avoid this symptom, or render it
-as rare as possible, have already been described (p. 74);
-but it occurs in certain cases, notwithstanding the best
-measures which may be used for its prevention. Moving
-the patient as the effects of the chloroform are subsiding is
-very apt to excite vomiting when it might not otherwise
-occur; it is therefore desirable, when convenient, to allow
-the patient to lie for half an hour or so, without moving
-his head from the pillow. By this means, even when a
-feeling of nausea is present, it often subsides without the
-occurrence of vomiting. It is advisable also not to give
-the patient anything to eat or drink till about an hour after
-the inhalation, and, as a general rule, not even then, unless
-there is some inclination for it; for if anything is taken into
-the stomach before the effects of the chloroform have entirely
-subsided, it is apt to excite vomiting. Even medicine, such
-as an opiate, is better delayed for an hour or upwards,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>unless there is an urgent necessity for giving it sooner.
-Severe faintness from loss of blood during an operation of
-course forms an exception to this rule; in such a case
-brandy and water should be given, and repeated if it should
-be vomited.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>These rules respecting food are, moreover, meant to apply
-only to the use of chloroform in surgical operations, and not
-to its employment during labour. Under the latter circumstances,
-one allows the patient all the nourishment that is
-desirable, intermitting the inhalation now and then for the
-purpose. And chloroform, given in the moderate way in
-which it is employed in labour, hardly ever causes sickness,
-but often alleviates it when present from physiological
-causes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The sickness induced by chloroform usually subsides of
-itself in the course of an hour, or even less; I, therefore,
-think it advisable not to do anything for it during this
-space of time. When it has continued beyond this period,
-I have found a little cold brandy and water to remove it in
-most cases; and when the tendency to vomit still remained
-after a few hours, I have seen it removed by a dose of
-opium. Effervescing draughts have not appeared to be of
-service in the sickness from chloroform, and sal volatile and
-draughts of warm water seem injurious. It is desirable for
-the patient to make no effort, but only to vomit if obliged
-to do so.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Several cases have come within my knowledge, in which
-the sickness has continued for two or three days after every
-thing that was taken into the stomach. These cases have
-not been under my care, but under that of the surgeon. I
-have been informed, however, that all the usual remedies
-for sickness were applied for the time mentioned above
-without success. The cases in which the sickness lasts so
-long form but a very small portion of the whole number in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>which chloroform is administered, and they chiefly occur in
-persons who are subject to attacks of vomiting from slight
-causes, or, as they say, to bilious attacks.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The most usual time for the vomiting to commence is
-when the inhalation has been discontinued, and the effects
-of the chloroform are passing of. In many cases, it occurs
-before the patient has become quite conscious, and he does
-not know that it has occurred unless he is told. In a few
-cases, especially where there is a good deal of food in the
-stomach, the vomiting comes on before the operation is
-finished, or even before it is commenced. When vomiting
-comes on during an operation, it is apt to interfere with the
-inhalation, and it is sometimes difficult to prevent the
-patient from waking; but this can be accomplished by
-wiping the patient’s mouth, and reapplying the chloroform,
-the moment the act of vomiting ceases. In many cases,
-however, the sickness does not come on till the patient is
-quite awake, and perhaps, even then, not until he moves.
-I believe that the sickness which is due to chloroform always
-commences within an hour or two, or at the farthest,
-just after the first food which is taken. I have known
-vomiting attributed to the chloroform which did not occur
-till the following day, but I ascertained that a dose of
-opium had been taken at night, and it was to this that the
-sickness was probably owing. In those cases where the
-chloroform does cause sickness in the first instance, it is not
-always the cause of all the vomiting which the patient may
-suffer. If the patient becomes infected or is inoculated
-with the poison of erysipelas or hospital gangrene at the
-time of the operation, he will probably be attacked with
-vomiting a day or two afterwards; and if sickness has
-already been caused by the chloroform, that which is due to
-disease may appear to be a continuation of it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Soon after the introduction of chloroform, I administered
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>it to a gentleman, aged about 55, whilst a fatty tumour was
-removed from the nape of the neck. It did not turn out as
-fatty tumours usually do, but required to be dissected out.
-The patient had taken a meal before the operation, and
-vomited freely afterwards. On his visit the next morning,
-the surgeon thought his patient going on well. Vomiting
-returned, however, and the patient became affected with
-partial stupor and delirium, which his friends attributed to
-the chloroform. He became covered with an eruption of
-erysipelas over a great part of the body, had a very rapid
-pulse with great depression, and died on the fifth day. An
-examination after death showed that there had been diffuse
-cellular inflammation around the seat of the operation. A
-surgeon who assisted at the operation on the above patient,
-and also at the post-mortem examination, removed an encysted
-tumour from the scalp of an old lady the day following
-the latter event. This operation was performed without
-chloroform, but the patient was attacked with erysipelas
-and diffuse cellular information, and died in three or
-four days.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Faintness and Depression.</em> Although chloroform acts as
-a stimulant to the circulation, increasing the force and frequency
-of the pulse whilst it is being inhaled, it is occasionally
-followed by a feeling of faintness, especially if the
-patient remains in the sitting posture. At one period in
-the history of medical opinion, it would have been said that
-the depression was a consequence of the previous excitement.
-The facts, however, would not agree with such a
-doctrine. The subjects who are most stimulated by chloroform
-are the strong and robust, and they do not suffer from
-depression afterwards; whilst the feeble and debilitated,
-who are most liable to subsequent depression, are but little
-stimulated by it at the time of inhaling. Some amount of
-faintness and depression usually accompanies the sickness
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>caused by chloroform, and is in fact a consequence of it,
-being, like the sickness, most frequent after a full meal.
-This depression is usually relieved by vomiting. I have
-met with a few cases in which there has been more decided
-faintness, and once or twice absolute syncope after chloroform,
-which was not attributable to loss of blood. In these
-cases, however, the patients were in the sitting posture, and
-they recovered from the syncope immediately, on being
-placed horizontally. The patients most subject to faintness
-after chloroform are those who are subject to this affection
-at other times, being often persons in a state of anæmia, or
-having the symptoms of fatty degeneration of the heart.
-Faintness is, however, very much more rare after operations
-with chloroform than without it. The only cases in which
-I have seen it follow the use of chloroform in the horizontal
-position, and where there was no considerable loss of blood,
-have been two or three of operations on the rectum, performed
-before breakfast, and after a brisk purgative had
-been taken the previous night. It might be advisable,
-where persons in a state of debility have taken a purgative,
-to make an exception to the usual rule of prohibiting the
-breakfast, and to risk the inconvenience of vomiting rather
-than the more formidable symptoms of faintness from
-inanition.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The faintness which now and then follows an operation
-under chloroform should be treated on ordinary principles,
-as the horizontal posture, the application of the vapour of
-ammonia to the nostrils, and the exhibition of brandy or
-wine, if the other measures do not suffice. I never give
-ammonia internally where a patient is sick or faint, but the
-spirit of sal volatile, when at hand, serves very well to pour
-on the corner of a towel and apply to the nostrils.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Hysteria.</em> I have already stated (p. 51) that chloroform
-occasionally excites hysteria in those who are subject to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>that complaint; and that, in a few cases, the hysteria, which
-has been subdued by the chloroform, reappears as the
-effects of the vapour subside. It is nearly always in the
-female sex that one meets with these phenomena, although
-I have two or three times seen hysterical symptoms in the
-male for half an hour or so after the inhalation. The
-hysteria commonly takes the form of laughing or crying,
-but the patient sometimes remains quiet, and simply in an
-unconscious state. The hysterical symptoms usually pass
-off spontaneously, in half an hour or less, without any remedies;
-if they last longer, the ordinary remedies for
-hysteria may be applied. I am not aware that the hysteria
-has lasted longer than three or four hours in any of the
-cases in which I have administered chloroform, but it may
-have done so without my being informed of the circumstance.
-I was informed of the case of a young woman in
-King’s College Hospital, who remained unconscious, or at
-least apparently so, for three days after chloroform had been
-administered for an operation, the nature of which I have
-forgotten. She recovered without ill effects. When the
-patient does not wake spontaneously, and cannot be roused
-to the waking state, within twenty minutes or half an hour
-after the inhalation of chloroform has been left off, we may
-rest assured that the patient is affected with hysteria—at
-least this has been the case in every instance with which I
-have become acquainted. The physical properties of this
-agent do not permit it to remain long in the system, if the
-circulation and respiration are going on properly, and this
-circumstance ought to prevent unnecessary alarm, in the
-absence of other symptoms except the state of unconsciousness.
-I have, however, known great alarm to exist where
-the properties of chloroform were not well understood.
-Soon after its introduction, a medical man administered it
-to a young woman in domestic service, for the extraction of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>a tooth. He became alarmed, in the first instance, from the
-impression that he had given an overdose. In a few minutes,
-however, the patient burst out in a loud fit of
-laughter, but again became unconscious, and various measures
-were used to restore her, including even artificial
-respiration, in the idea that she was still under the influence
-of chloroform. I was sent for thirty-six hours after the
-inhalation, and found the patient apparently in a profound
-state of insensibility, and breathing very feebly. Guided by
-the considerations mentioned above, I concluded that she
-was only labouring under hysteria, and that the anxiety of
-those about her tended very much to keep up the complaint.
-The anxious attendance on her was discontinued, she took
-some medicine containing valerian, and became quite conscious
-in few hours. I was told, however, that she did not
-seem quite well for some time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I am not aware of any permanent ill effects having been
-produced by chloroform, although, amongst the multitudes
-of persons who have inhaled it, some have not failed to
-blame it for symptoms that have occurred afterwards.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A clergyman from the country called on me, in 1852,
-and the following are some notes I made when he left my
-room. He is 63 years of age. He said that he had inhaled
-chloroform about a year ago to have four teeth extracted.
-He felt very well for about a week afterwards, but on his
-pupils returning, and his beginning to apply himself to
-teaching, he became affected with flushings of the face and
-a rushing noise in his head, which lasted occasionally for a
-day or two, and have troubled him ever since. An eminent
-physician, whom he named, prescribed quinine, under the
-use of which he became worse. An eminent surgeon prescribed
-infusion of hops, etc., and he has tried other medicines
-without good effect. He had been recommended
-to travel, and had been to Switzerland; but the complaint
-troubled him when at leisure, as well as when applying
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>himself mentally. He could not sleep at night,
-when affected with the attacks. He is rather deaf, and has
-been so for three or four years; he was also occasionally
-troubled with a rushing sound behind the ears before he
-inhaled the chloroform. He is rather short and rather stout,
-and has a florid complexion. The pulse was rather feeble.
-The second sound of the heart was rather louder than the
-first. In other respects its sounds were natural, but its
-impulse was not strong. In every respect, except the symptoms
-above named, the health of the patient was good, and
-he felt quite well between the attacks.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was my opinion that the complaint of this gentleman
-was coming on long before he inhaled the chloroform, and
-that it depended on a much less transient cause. I have
-not heard from him since.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>CAUSE AND PREVENTION OF DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>All narcotics are capable of causing death, and the discovery
-of preventing pain by inhalation consists essentially
-in carrying the effects of a narcotic much further than had
-previously been the custom; there was, therefore, every
-reason to apprehend that accidents might occur in the new
-practice, unless the effects of the medicines employed could
-be very effectually controlled. There are certain circumstances
-connected with the physiological properties of chloroform,
-as ascertained in the experiments previously related,
-which indicate how accidents may very easily happen with
-this agent, if not carefully and systematically managed. It
-was calculated (p. 74) that 18 minims of chloroform is
-the average quantity in the system of an adult, when sufficiently
-insensible for a surgical operation, and that this
-amount might be absorbed by the use of 36 minims, allowing
-one-half of the quantity breathed to be exhaled again,
-without being absorbed; but 36 minims of chloroform
-make only 37·5 cubic inches of vapour, which, at the temperature
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>of 60° Fah., may exist in combination with 257
-cubic inches of air, making it expand to not quite 300 cubic
-inches; the whole of which might be breathed in twelve
-ordinary inspirations of 25 cubic inches each. If the inhalation
-of vapour of this strength were continued till insensibility
-was induced, the lungs would still contain a great quantity
-of unabsorbed vapour. The amount of air usually present
-in the lungs is about 250 cubic inches, and if saturated with
-chloroform at the temperature of 60° it would contain the
-vapour of 30 minims. About half of this might be absorbed,
-the remaining half passing off in the expired air;
-but the addition of 15 minims to the 18 minims already
-absorbed would almost double the quantity of chloroform in
-the system, and bring the patient necessarily to the brink
-of death. It is true that, in the ordinary methods of inhalation,
-the air seldom becomes quite saturated with vapour,
-and usually is not more than half saturated, or accidents
-might be of much more frequent occurrence; but the above
-considerations are sufficient to show that the amount of
-vapour contained in the air breathed by the patient should
-not be left to mere accident, such as the varying temperature
-of the handkerchief from which the chloroform is
-breathed, or the greater or less extent of wetted surface
-over which the air passes. It should be recollected also that
-the patient sometimes draws a deep and sudden inspiration
-by which he may inspire 100 cubic inches of air, which
-would contain, if strongly charged with vapour, ten or
-twelve minims of chloroform—a large quantity to be suddenly
-added to that already in the circulation, when the
-patient is insensible, or nearly so.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is, however, only by a knowledge of the different modes
-in which chloroform is capable of causing death, that the
-exact nature of the accidents from this agent can be understood,
-together with the means of preventing them, and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>the reason why they are usually irremediable when they
-happen. If animals are kept for a very long time under
-the deep influence of chloroform, they become ultimately
-exhausted, the circulation and respiration are gradually
-weakened, and cease nearly together. Such a mode of
-death from this agent is never likely to occur to the human
-subject, and therefore need not engage our further attention.
-The following experiments illustrate the different
-modes of dying, when death is caused more suddenly by
-this agent.<a id='r57'></a><a href='#f57' class='c012'><sup>[57]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 23.</em> A young but full grown cat was placed
-in a glass jar, of the capacity of 1,600 cubic inches, and a
-fluid drachm of chloroform was introduced, by a portion at
-a time, through a tube in the cover of the jar. As twenty-five
-minims of chloroform produce twenty-six cubic inches
-of vapour, the atmosphere which the cat had to breathe
-contained nearly four per cent. of vapour, and the jar was
-moved about, to ensure the uniform mixture of the vapour
-with the air. In five minutes, the cat became insensible,
-and lay breathing naturally. In about ten minutes more,
-the breathing became very feeble, and it ceased altogether
-in about another minute, or sixteen minutes after the cat
-commenced to breathe the chloroform. It was immediately
-taken out and laid on a table, and the stethoscope was
-applied to the chest. The heart could be heard beating
-distinctly at first, but the pulsations became slower and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>feebler, and in about a minute they could be no longer
-heard. Just at this time, however, the cat took a gasping
-inspiration, and immediately the heart was heard to beat
-in a most rapid manner. The gasps were repeated, and the
-action of the heart became less rapid, but stronger. In a
-little time, both the breathing and the action of the heart
-became natural, the cat remaining, however, insensible for
-some minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 24.</em> A cat, about the same size as the last,
-was put into the same jar, and the same quantity of chloroform
-was introduced. It was removed at the end of four
-minutes, when it was so far insensible as to offer no resistance.
-Being laid on the table, it was made to breathe air
-charged with ten per cent. of vapour of chloroform from a
-bladder. Twenty-five minims of chloroform were put into
-the bladder, which held 250 cubic inches, and it was filled
-up with the bellows. A portion of another bladder which
-was attached to the stop-cock, was made to surround the
-head of the cat, which consequently breathed to and from the
-bladder. In half a minute it was quite insensible: in about
-half a minute more the breathing became difficult, and the
-sounds of the heart less distinct. The breathing became
-gradually slower, and ceased altogether between three and
-four minutes after the respiration from the bladder commenced.
-The sounds of the heart were rather frequent, and
-scarcely audible, just before the breathing ceased, and they
-could not be heard afterwards. The chest was opened
-three-quarters of an hour after death. The lungs were of a
-pale red colour, everywhere permeated with air; and a
-small quantity of fluid blood flowed from them on making
-an incision. The right cavities of the heart were quite full
-of blood, and the left cavities contained a small quantity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 25.</em> A cat was made insensible in the same
-manner as the two previous ones. As it made strong efforts
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>to get out of the jar, and consequently breathed more
-deeply, the chloroform took effect sooner; and it was removed
-and laid on the table, in a passive state, at the end
-of two minutes and a half. The respiration and sounds of
-the heart were quite natural. The nose of the animal was
-placed in the mouth of a metal vessel, lined with bibulous
-paper, and used as a chloroform inhaler. The inhaler contained
-chloroform, and was surrounded with water of the
-temperature of 110° Fahr. The stethoscope was kept applied
-to the chest whilst the chloroform was exhibited.
-After four or five inspirations from the inhaler, the heart
-suddenly ceased to beat, the breathing still going on. The
-inhaler was removed as soon as I was satisfied that the
-action of the heart had ceased, and there were two or three
-rather convulsive respirations afterwards, and then the
-breathing stopped; but, between one and two minutes
-later, there were two or three feeble inspirations, accompanied
-with motion of the nostrils, but no returning action
-of the heart could be heard. The chest was opened ten
-minutes after death. The lungs were quite pale throughout.
-There was a little clear serum in the pericardium.
-The heart appeared quite motionless when first observed;
-but, after exposure to the air for a short time, there were
-some slight contractions of a few fibres of the right ventricle.
-The right auricle and ventricle were filled with blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The air which this cat breathed must have contained
-much more than ten per cent. of vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In experiment 23 the breathing was arrested by the influence
-of the chloroform on the nervous centres, but the
-action of the heart continued, until it was stopped, or very
-nearly so, for want of respiration, as in asphyxia from privation
-of air. In experiments 24 and 25 the action of the
-heart was arrested by the direct effect of the chloroform; in
-one instance at the same moment as the respiration, and in
-the other instance, even before it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>The paralysing effect on the heart of large doses of chloroform
-was shown in the first experiments which were
-made with this substance, viz., those by Dr. R. M. Glover
-in 1842.<a id='r58'></a><a href='#f58' class='c012'><sup>[58]</sup></a> In animals which were killed by injecting it
-into the jugular vein, the irritability of the heart was found
-to be destroyed, whilst this organ retained its irritability in
-those that were killed by the injection of chloroform into
-the arteries, stomach, or peritoneum. I have frequently
-arrested the action of the heart remaining in animals which
-were opened immediately after death, by blowing the vapour
-of chloroform on it; and I ascertained by some experiments
-on frogs, that the motion of the heart can be arrested by an
-amount of chloroform somewhat greater than suffices to
-suspend the respiration. As absorption of chloroform vapour
-is continued by the skin of these animals after the
-respiratory movements have ceased, they can be exposed to
-the vapour till the action of the heart is suspended by its
-direct influence.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 26.</em> Four and a half grains of chloroform
-were introduced into a jar containing 600 cubic inches,
-being three-quarters of a grain to each 100 cubic inches,
-and, the vapour having been equally diffused, two frogs
-were put in. They tried to climb up the side of the jar,
-as if wishing to make their escape, and one or the other
-occasionally ceased to breathe for a minute or two, probably
-from disliking the vapour, but commenced to breathe again.
-In about five minutes the efforts to escape ceased, and they
-only moved to adjust their equilibrium when the jar was
-disturbed. They were now breathing regularly, and continued
-to do so till about ten minutes after their introduction,
-when all voluntary power ceased, and the breathing
-began to be performed only at intervals. They were allowed
-to remain till half an hour had elapsed, during the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>last ten minutes of which time no respiratory movement
-was observed in either of them. On taking them out, and
-laying them on their backs, the pulsations of the heart were
-observed on each side of the sternum. These pulsations
-were the more distinct, from the lungs being apparently
-empty. I continued the experiment on these frogs, placing
-one of them back again, in the course of two or three minutes,
-in the same jar, with three grains of chloroform, and
-the other in a jar of 400 cubic inches capacity, with five
-grains. They were laid on their backs, and the heart of the
-former one, in air containing half a grain of chloroform to
-each 100 cubic inches, continued to beat distinctly and
-regularly, 45 times in the minute, for four hours that it
-remained in the jar, and it was not observed to breathe
-during the whole time, although it was watched almost constantly.
-The respiration commenced again within half an
-hour after its removal. In about an hour, it recovered its
-power of voluntary motion, and it was not injured by the
-long narcotism.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The pulsations of the heart of the other frog, in air containing
-a grain and a quarter of chloroform to each 100
-cubic inches of air, became slower and more feeble, and in a
-quarter of an hour could not be observed. The frog was
-left in the jar a quarter of an hour longer, and removed
-when it had been in half an hour. The under part of the
-thorax was immediately opened sufficiently to expose the
-heart. It was moderately full of blood, but not contracting
-at all, and it did not evince the least irritability on being
-pricked, either at first or after exposure to the air for some
-time. It is evident that the heart of this last frog became
-paralysed by the absorption into the blood of more vapour,
-in addition to the quantity that was sufficient to arrest the
-respiration. The temperature of the room during this experiment
-was 65° Fah.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>The effect of chloroform on the heart of the frog is further
-shewn by the next experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 27.</em> A frog was placed in the jar containing
-600 cubic inches, with six grains of chloroform. In twenty
-minutes the respiration had ceased, but the heart continued
-to pulsate strongly. At the end of three-quarters of an
-hour, the pulsations were more feeble, and had diminished
-from 40 to 30 in the minute. An hour and five minutes
-from the commencement of the experiment, no movement of
-the heart could be observed. The frog was taken out of the
-vapour, and a portion of the sternum and integuments removed,
-so as partly to expose the heart, when it was found
-to be still contracting, with a very feeble undulatory motion.
-This motion increased in force, and, in a quarter of
-an hour after its removal, the heart was pulsating regularly
-and strongly, the ventricle apparently emptying itself perfectly.
-When the frog had been out twenty minutes, it was
-placed again in the same jar, with the same quantity of
-chloroform. In about ten minutes, the heart’s action began
-to fail again; and in about twenty minutes, the slightest
-movement could no longer be perceived in it. The frog was
-immediately taken out, and the ventricle of the heart was
-pricked with a needle. In a few seconds, a slight quivering
-was observed,—whether the result of the prick is not certain,—and
-the action of the heart became gradually reestablished
-as before. It was arrested a third time by
-exposure to the vapour; and although, in its third removal,
-the anterior extremities of the frog had become rigid, the
-heart resumed its action partially, and continued to contract
-feebly for three or four hours after the rigidity of death had
-invaded the body and limbs of the animal. The temperature
-of the room was 62° during this experiment.<a id='r59'></a><a href='#f59' class='c012'><sup>[59]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the human being and all other creatures of warm
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>blood, any vapour which is inhaled and absorbed in the
-lungs passes at once to the left side of the heart, and as the
-coronary arteries are the first branches given off from the
-aorta, the heart must, during the process of inhalation, be
-always a very little in advance of the rest of the body, as
-regards the amount of vapour to which it is subjected.
-This, however, is no source of danger, as regards chloroform,
-if the inhalation takes place in a gradual and uniform
-manner; for the heart being able, as shown by the above
-experiments on frogs, to bear a greater amount of this narcotic
-than the brain, its action continues even after respiration
-has ceased, if the vapour is added only by a little at
-once to the blood, as it passes through the lungs. But if
-the air which the patient breathes be too highly charged
-with vapour, it is easy to understand how the sensibility of
-the nerves of the heart may be paralysed, notwithstanding
-their power to bear somewhat more of this agent than the
-brain and nerves of respiration. I calculated (p. 74) the
-quantity of chloroform which would suffice to arrest respiration
-in the adult of average size to be thirty-six minims,
-provided it were equally diffused through the circulation;
-but supposing a patient breathes, at any time, air containing
-ten per cent. of vapour of chloroform, a considerable part of
-this might enter the lungs at a very few inspirations, for
-thirty-six minims of chloroform occupy only 37·5 cubic
-inches, and would be contained in 375 cubic inches of air,
-and might be breathed in less than a minute; but for the
-whole of the blood to pass through the lungs occupies a
-considerable time—I believe about four minutes in the
-adult—and therefore the portion of blood which is passing
-through the lungs, at the time when vapour of the above
-strength is inhaled, must become much overcharged with
-chloroform, making every allowance for the portion of vapour
-which is expired again, without being absorbed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>I have observed the manner in which the breathing and
-circulation ceased in a great number of instances, with the
-stethoscope applied to the chest of the animal, when the
-quantity of chloroform contained in the air it breathed was
-known, and have notes of the result. The animals were
-chiefly cats, which would otherwise have been killed by
-prussic acid, or in some other way. In every instance in
-which the quantity of vapour in the air breathed by the
-animals was from three to six per cent., the respiration
-ceased whilst the sounds of the heart were still very distinct,
-as in Experiment 23, related above; in many instances
-the heart continued to beat from two to three minutes
-after the breathing had ceased, and, in a great number
-of instances, there were one or more gasping inspirations
-just at the moment when the sounds of the heart ceased.
-In many cases these gasping inspirations caused the action
-of the heart to return, as in Experiment 23, if the animal
-had been withdrawn from the chloroform; but this was not
-always the case; and if the chloroform was still breathed
-during these gasping efforts, all signs of life immediately
-ceased in every instance.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>When, on the other hand, the air breathed by the animals
-contained eight or ten per cent., or upwards, of vapour
-of chloroform, the action of the heart was always seriously
-affected and rendered extremely feeble, if it did not actually
-cease, at the time the breathing was arrested. In several
-instances, indeed, the sounds of the heart entirely ceased
-before the breathing, as in Experiment 25; and although
-the chloroform was withdrawn, in this and many other experiments,
-the moment the heart ceased to beat, and fresh
-air was drawn in by inspiratory efforts, it very rarely had
-the effect of restoring the heart’s action, although this happened
-so frequently when that organ had gradually ceased
-to act on account of suspension of the breathing, by the
-effect of more diluted vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>In order to see more precisely the action of the vapour of
-chloroform on the heart, when not sufficiently diluted, the
-chest and pericardium were opened on four occasions, in
-cats and a rabbit, and chloroform was exhibited by artificial
-respiration. I was assisted by Mr. Peter Marshall in these
-experiments, and the following is the account of one of
-them.<a id='r60'></a><a href='#f60' class='c012'><sup>[60]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 28.</em> A young rabbit, rather more than half-grown,
-was made insensible by breathing air charged with
-four per cent. of vapour of chloroform in a large jar. The
-trachea was then opened, and a tube was introduced and
-tied. The lungs and heart were then exposed, by making
-an incision and removing the lower half of the sternum,
-with the adjoining part of the cartilages of the ribs on each
-side. The front of the pericardium was also cut away, to
-expose the heart. Whilst these operations were performed,
-artificial respiration was kept up by means of a bladder of
-air attached to the tube in the trachea. The heart contracted
-vigorously and quickly, and the lungs were of a
-light red colour. The rabbit was beginning to show signs
-of returning sensibility, when the bladder of air was changed
-for one containing ten per cent. of vapour of chloroform.
-The bladder contained 125 cubic inches, and twelve minims
-of chloroform were put in before it was filled with the
-bellows. Three or four inflations of the lungs only were
-made, when I perceived that the heart was beginning to be
-affected, and I changed the chloroform for a bladder containing
-only air. These three or four inflations of the lungs
-with chloroform, had the effect of causing the right cavities
-of the heart to become distended with blood, and its pulsations
-to become much slower. In two or three minutes,
-however, the action of the heart was quite reestablished by
-the artificial respiration, the pulsations being vigorous and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>frequent, and the ventricles being apparently emptied at
-each contraction. The bladder charged with ten per cent.
-of chloroform was again attached, and artificial respiration
-was made with it. The right ventricle began almost immediately
-to become distended; and, by the time that eight or
-ten inflations of the lungs had been made, the contractions
-of the heart were very slow and feeble. Artificial respiration
-with air was resumed, but without the effect of restoring
-the action of the heart. The lungs were observed at
-the time when the right ventricle was becoming distended,
-and it was noticed that their colour was unchanged. They
-afterwards became paler, as the artificial respiration was
-continued after the ventricle had ceased to empty itself.
-No contractions of the diaphragm were observed after the
-first inflation of the lungs with chloroform, and the rabbit
-did not gasp at any time; whilst the cats were observed to
-make a few gasping efforts at the time when the heart’s
-action was ceasing.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The circumstance of the lungs not changing in colour at
-the moment when the right ventricle was becoming distended,
-which was observed in the cats as well as in the
-rabbit, shows that the distension arose from the failure of
-the contractile power of the heart, and not from impediment
-to the pulmonary circulation; for, in the latter case, the
-lungs would have become congested, and of a deeper colour.
-In one of the cats, it appeared to me that the left, as well
-as the right ventricle, was distended with blood; but this
-distension of the left ventricle did not continue.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the Experiments 24 and 25, related above, the animals
-were first made insensible by vapour of moderate strength,
-in order to keep them quiet for the application of the stethoscope
-whilst the stronger vapour was inhaled, but when
-animals are made to breathe air containing ten per cent. or
-so of vapour of chloroform from the first, death takes place
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>in the same manner, <em>i. e.</em> by the direct action of the chloroform
-on the heart. Under these circumstances the creatures
-die suddenly, after a brief interval of agitation and excitement,
-without previous insensibility. This is what has
-happened in some of the accidents from chloroform, to be
-related further on; whilst in many cases death has happened
-after a longer or shorter period of insensibility.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In many of the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform the
-alarming symptoms commenced whilst the patient was still
-inhaling, but in a considerable number there was no sign of
-danger until after the inhalation had been left off; and this
-is a result which may be imitated on animals. The two
-following experiments, which were made at Dr. Sibson’s on
-December 27th, 1849, illustrate this point.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 29.</em> The subject of this experiment was a
-young guineapig, about half-grown. Ten or twelve drops
-of chloroform were put into a short bent metal tube, lined
-with bibulous paper, which formed part of an inhaler, and
-one end of the tube was applied to the animal’s nose, which
-closed it. The guineapig consequently breathed backwards
-and forwards through the tube, which was, moreover, warm
-from being held in the hand. It struggled at first, endeavouring
-to get away from Dr. Sibson, who held it; but in
-twenty or thirty seconds it became quiet; and observing
-that the conjunctiva was insensible, I withdrew the chloroform,
-and the guineapig was laid on the table. We remarked
-that the breathing was very slow; and scarcely had
-this remark been made, when it ceased altogether, three or
-four inspirations only having been made since the inhalation
-was left off. Dr. Sibson proceeded immediately to open the
-body; but as soon as he had divided the integuments of the
-chest the animal began to make some convulsive gasping
-inspirations, during which the mouth was widely opened,
-and we observed that the diaphragm acted alone, the ribs
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>being pressed inwards by the atmosphere. The heart was
-not contracting at all when the pericardium was first
-opened; but in a few moments the auricles began to contract
-rhythmically. The lungs were of a light red colour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 30.</em> Another guineapig of the same age was
-treated in the same manner, except that I removed the tube
-from the nose for a short time between every two or three
-inspirations, in order to see if I could not make it insensible
-in this way without a fatal result. In half a minute
-or so the animal no longer required to be held, but lay on
-the table without making any resistance, the conjunctiva
-being still sensible, and some motion of the limbs, apparently
-voluntary, remaining. It only inhaled once after Dr.
-Sibson ceased to hold it, and whilst in the state just
-described, and then only for two or three inspirations.
-After this it appeared quite insensible, and no more chloroform
-was given. It breathed at first naturally, except more
-slowly and gently than before the inhalation; but the breathing
-became slower, and ceased altogether about a quarter of a
-minute after the inhalation had been left off. The body
-was opened immediately. When the pericardium was
-opened, the auricles were observed to contract slightly, and
-the contractions increased after their exposure to the air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The amount of vapour in the air breathed by these two
-guineapigs is not known, but there is no doubt that it was
-upwards of eight per cent.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>If it were possible for a medical man to mistake or disregard
-the symptoms of approaching danger, and to go on
-exhibiting vapour of chloroform, diluted to a proper strength,
-till the death of the patient, this event would take place
-slowly and gradually, as in Experiment 23, related above,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>and every other experiment in which the air did not contain
-more than five per cent. of vapour. The action of the
-heart would survive the respiration; there would be a great
-tendency to spontaneous recovery, and the patient would
-be easily restored by artificial respiration, if it were performed
-whilst the heart was still acting; as I have always
-found it to be successful in animals under these circumstances.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In examining the recorded cases of fatal inhalation of
-chloroform, we shall find, however, that they have none of
-them taken place in this gradual manner; but that in all
-cases the fatal symptoms, if not the actual death, have come
-on very suddenly. Dr. Sibson was, I believe, the first to
-point out that, in the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform,
-death was caused by its paralysing the heart; but he was
-not at that time aware of the physical conditions under
-which this agent may act directly on the heart. In commenting
-on the first four deaths from chloroform, he says:<a id='r61'></a><a href='#f61' class='c012'><sup>[61]</sup></a>
-“In all the four cases it is manifest that the immediate
-cause of the instantaneous death lay in the heart. The
-heart, influenced by the poison, ceased to contract, not from
-the cessation of respiration, for the heart in asphyxia will
-beat from one to three minutes after respiration has ceased,
-but from immediate death of the heart. There is no doubt
-a combination of causes operating to destroy the heart’s
-contractile power: the mental influence, the congestion in
-the systemic, and that in the pulmonary capillaries, will all
-have a material influence.” And further on he says: “We
-are obliged, then, from the experience of these cases, to
-conclude, that in man the death is usually instantaneous,
-and due, as every instantaneous death is, to paralysis of the
-heart. In animals the death is usually due to paralysis of
-the muscles of respiration. It is chiefly owing to the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>superior control of the mind over the body in man,
-that in him the poison acts on the heart more than in
-dogs.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I had been long aware that chloroform was capable of
-paralysing the heart in animals; and, indeed, that sulphuric
-ether would do so when it could reach the heart in sufficient
-quantity;<a id='r62'></a><a href='#f62' class='c012'><sup>[62]</sup></a> and soon after Dr. Sibson’s remarks I was
-able to ascertain and point out the strength of the vapour
-which will produce this effect, and how one may avoid the
-risk of it, by having the vapour sufficiently diluted.<a id='r63'></a><a href='#f63' class='c012'><sup>[63]</sup></a> The
-greater number of experimenters who have killed animals
-with chloroform have found that the action of the heart
-continued after the breathing ceased; but they did not either
-control or ascertain the proportion which the vapours of
-chloroform bore to the inspired air. In Mr. Thomas Wakley’s
-experiments the action of the heart continued after
-the breathing had ceased; and this was the case in a great
-number of experiments performed by a Commission which
-reported to the Society of Emulation of Paris, in 1855.<a id='r64'></a><a href='#f64' class='c012'><sup>[64]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This Commission came to the conclusion that, in all
-instances in which animals are killed by chloroform, the
-action of the heart survives the respiration; but they might
-have administered chloroform to an equal number of human
-patients without any one of them being cut off by sudden
-paralysis of the heart. If animals were usually to die
-suddenly of paralysis of the heart, when the chloroform is
-given in a manner similar to what may be called its ordinary
-administration to patients, we should be at a loss to know
-how this agent could be used at all. It is only reasonable
-to suppose that, in experiments so conducted, that mode of
-death should usually be met with which would occur to the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>human subject, if the chloroform were continued, in the
-disregard of dangerous symptoms, till death should ensue.
-I have, indeed, been informed of several instances in which
-animals died in a sudden, and what was thought an unaccountable
-manner, whilst chloroform was given to prevent
-the pain and struggles which would be occasioned by
-physiological experiments. In these cases there is no doubt
-the heart was paralysed; but the experimenters were often
-too intent on other matters to observe the circumstance.
-By a proper arrangement of circumstances, however, one
-may produce at will the event in animals which occurs, in
-fact, so very rarely to a patient, although it may at any
-time happen if great caution, guided also by right principle,
-is not used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Air, when saturated only at 60° Fah., contains 12 per
-cent. of vapour of chloroform, and at 70° 19 per cent.
-(p. 33); and 8 or 10 per cent. in the inspired air is capable,
-as we have seen, of causing sudden death by paralysing the
-heart; but in practice the air is usually far from being saturated,
-in passing over a handkerchief or similar material,
-even at the temperature at which it is inhaled; and this
-is generally lowered considerably by the absorption of
-caloric by the chloroform, as it changes its condition from a
-liquid to a vapour. Moreover, air strongly charged with
-vapour of chloroform is not easy to breathe, owing to its
-pungency; and the physiological knowledge and close
-attention of every medical man who administers this medicine
-causes him to withdraw it immediately on the least
-appearance of danger.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 1.</em> The first death from chloroform was that of
-Hannah Greener, which occurred at Winlaton, near Newcastle,
-on the 28th of January, 1848. The patient was a
-girl of 15, who required to have the nail of the great toe
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>removed. A similar operation had been performed on the
-other foot, in the previous November, in the Newcastle
-Infirmary, when ether was administered with a satisfactory
-result. The following is the account of the accident by
-Dr. Meggison, who administered the chloroform: “She
-appeared to dread the operation, and fretted a good deal:
-in fact, she commenced sobbing on our entering the house,
-and continued so until seated in the operating chair, and
-commencing the inhalation, which was done from a handkerchief
-on which a teaspoonful of chloroform had been
-poured. After drawing her breath twice, she pulled my
-hand from her mouth. I told her to put her hands on her
-knees, and breathe quietly, which she did. In about half a
-minute, seeing no change in breathing, or alteration of
-pulse, I lifted her arm, which I found rigid. I looked at
-the pupil and pinched her cheek, and, finding her insensible,
-requested Mr. Lloyd to begin the operation. At the termination
-of the semilunar incision she gave a kick or
-twitch, which caused me to think the chloroform had not
-sufficient effect. I was proceeding to apply more to the
-handkerchief, when her lips, which had been previously of
-a good colour, became suddenly blanched, and she spluttered
-at the mouth, as if in epilepsy. I threw down the handkerchief,
-dashed cold water in her face, and gave her some
-internally, followed by brandy, without, however, the least
-effect, not the slightest attempt at a rally being made. We
-laid her on the floor, opened a vein in her arm, and the
-jugular vein, but no blood flowed. The whole process of
-inhalation, operation, venesection, and death, could not, I
-should say, have occupied more than two minutes.”<a id='r65'></a><a href='#f65' class='c012'><sup>[65]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>An examination of the body was made the day after
-death by Sir John Fife and Dr. Glover, who reported as
-follows:—“The body was that of a well-grown female of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>about fifteen years of age.... On opening the chest, the
-lungs were not collapsed. One or two very slight adhesions
-were encountered on separating them from the walls
-of the chest. The external appearance of both lungs, over
-the whole surface, but especially in the inferior portions,
-was that of organs in a very high state of congestion.
-They were mottled with patches of a deep purple, blueish,
-or scarlet hue. They were everywhere crepitant. Along
-the outer and interior border of both lungs, particularly of
-the upper lobe of the left lung, were several emphysematous
-bubbles of small size.... The pulmonary tissue was
-filled with bloody froth, which was also found in the
-interior of the bronchi, mixed with mucus. There was no
-appearance of hepatization. On examining the larynx and
-trachea, the epiglottis was found reddened at the summit,
-of a vermilion hue. The mucous membrane of the larynx
-was redder than natural—mottled with vascular patches.
-The sinuses of the larynx contained a good deal of dark
-mucus. The œsophagus was healthy. The stomach was
-distended with food. Some of the veins were more distinct
-than usual. The heart contained dark fluid blood in both its
-cavities: very little in the left. Its structure, and that of
-the great vessels near it, quite healthy. The brain, externally
-and internally, was more congested than usual; and
-the ventricles contained rather more than the usual quantity
-of serum.”<a id='r66'></a><a href='#f66' class='c012'><sup>[66]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Sir John Fife and Dr. Glover expressed the opinion that
-chloroform caused death by producing congestion of the
-lungs. After the further experience which has been
-gained respecting chloroform, this opinion of the mode in
-which it caused death, in the above case, would probably
-not now be offered. Indeed, in similar cases which have
-since occurred, the same opinion has not been advanced;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>and as the lungs were crepitant throughout, in the above
-case, it is probable that the congestion was not greater than
-is commonly met with in cases of sudden death without
-hæmorrhage. Dr. Simpson published his opinion, immediately
-after this case occurred, that it was not caused by
-the chloroform, but by the brandy which was given when
-the alarming symptoms came on; but Dr. Meggison replied
-that only a teaspoonful of brandy was given; that it was
-swallowed, though with difficulty; that there were no
-symptoms of choking from it; and that the girl was without
-pulse when it was given.<a id='r67'></a><a href='#f67' class='c012'><sup>[67]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>From the lips becoming suddenly blanched in the above
-case, there is every reason to conclude that the heart was
-suddenly paralysed. The patient breathed for a little time
-after this, and was able to swallow, though with difficulty.
-The process of inhalation occupied only a little more than
-half a minute in Dr. Meggison’s estimation; yet he appeared
-to think that the fluid drachm of chloroform which he had
-put on the handkerchief had evaporated; for he was about
-to apply more when the alarming symptoms appeared.
-But supposing only one-third of the drachm was actually
-inhaled into the lungs in the half minute, the vapour would
-necessarily be in a highly concentrated state—probably
-twenty cubic inches of vapour in 200 cubic inches of air,
-which would be adequate to occasion the result which happened.
-In the short space of about half a minute, the
-blood could not be uniformly impregnated with the vapour;
-only a portion of it could pass through the lungs in the
-time; yet, as the patient was rendered insensible, this portion
-must necessarily have been highly charged with vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was often the practice to render the patient insensible
-in as short a time as half a minute, when chloroform was
-first introduced, but I believe never without danger; and I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>had expressed the opinion before any accident happened,
-that, for reasons such as I have stated above, a patient
-should on no account be rendered insensible in less than two
-minutes.<a id='r68'></a><a href='#f68' class='c012'><sup>[68]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 2.</em> The next recorded case in which the inhalation
-of chloroform was fatal, occurred at Cincinnati, on the 23rd
-of February, 1848. The subject of it, Mrs. Martha G. Simmons,
-was thirty-five years of age, and enjoyed good general
-health; she was the mother of six children, and her last
-confinement occurred eight weeks before her death. The
-patient exhibited no alarm on account of inhaling the chloroform,
-which was administered by two dentists, who were
-not members of the medical profession. It was breathed
-from an inhaler which Dr. Morton of Boston contrived for
-sulphuric ether. This inhaler consisted of a glass globe
-four inches and a half in diameter, and contained a sponge
-about one-third filling the globe, and saturated with chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Two female friends of the patient reported the following
-as the events which occurred. “The respiratory movements
-appeared to be free; chest heaving. While inhaling, the
-face became pale. At the expiration of about one minute,
-the instruments were applied, and four roots of teeth extracted.
-The patient groaned and manifested what they
-regarded as evidences of pain, while the teeth were being
-extracted, although she did not speak or exhibit any other
-sign of consciousness. As the last root came out, which
-was about two minutes from the beginning of the inhalation,
-the patient’s head turned to one side, the arms became
-slightly rigid, and the body drawn somewhat backwards,
-with a tendency to slide out of the operating chair. At
-this instant, Mrs. Pearson states that she placed her finger
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>upon the patients pulse; observed that it was feeble, and
-immediately ceased to beat; respiration also ceased about
-the same time. The face, which was previously pale, now
-became livid, as did also the finger nails; and the lower jaw
-dropped, and the tongue projected a little at one corner of
-the mouth, and the arms were perfectly relaxed. The
-females regarded her as being then quite dead.”<a id='r69'></a><a href='#f69' class='c012'><sup>[69]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The dentists gave nearly the same account, saying that
-the breathing was at first slow, and that the patient inhaled
-twelve or fifteen times, occupying from a minute to
-seventy-five seconds. They committed the great error of
-not placing the patient at once in the horizontal position,
-when the alarming symptoms came on, but kept her sitting
-in the chair, from five to ten minutes, whilst they sent out
-for restoratives. They thought the patient was living
-during this time, but her female friends thought not. The
-patient was placed on a sofa, and sometime afterwards artificial
-respiration and galvanism were applied without effect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>An examination of the body was made twenty-six hours
-after death by Drs. Mussey, Lawson, Baker and Mulford.
-The following are the chief particulars of the appearances
-met with. A larger quantity of blood than usual flowed
-from the sinuses of the dura mater. General aspect, colour,
-and consistence of the brain, normal. Lungs considerably
-but not intensely congested; crepitated freely at all points;
-no extravasation. Lining membrane of bronchia slightly
-congested, apparently the result of recent catarrh; deeply
-stained by the blood. Pleura at all points highly injected;
-six drachms of bloody serum in the right, and two ounces
-in the left chest. Pericardium contained six drachms of
-bloody serum. Heart flaccid, and all its cavities entirely
-empty; inner surface of both ventricles and auricles deeply
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>stained. Abdomen—one ounce and a half of bloody serum
-in the right hypochondrium. Stomach and intestines distended
-with gas. Partially digested aliment, amounting to
-about three gills in the stomach. Blood fluid as water in
-every part of the body; not a coagulum was seen in any
-vessel. Lining membrane of all the bloodvessels deeply
-stained. The colour in every part of the system was that
-of dark venous blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was estimated, in the inquiry which took place respecting
-this case, that one-fourth part by measure of what
-the patient inhaled might be vapour of chloroform; but this
-is evidently an over-calculation, for there could not be this
-quantity unless the interior of the glass globe were maintained
-at the temperature of 80° Fah. and the air were
-quite saturated with vapour in passing through it; however,
-less than half the amount of vapour here assumed would
-have the effect of causing sudden death, in the way it happened.
-The period of the inhalation, a minute or seventy-five
-seconds, during which the patient took twelve or fifteen
-inspirations, did not admit of the blood in the body being
-regularly and uniformly charged with the chloroform; and
-the increase of its effects, owing, no doubt, to the absorption
-and circulation of the vapour contained in the lungs at the
-moment when the inhalation was discontinued, was well
-marked. The patient became pale during the inhalation,
-but the alarming symptoms suddenly came on during the
-extraction of the fourth stump, probably within half a minute
-after the inhalation ceased. The patient seemed, in
-fact, to die with the slight struggle that took place at this
-moment. In the case of Hannah Greener, related above,
-the spasm at the moment of dying was even more marked.
-This is a symptom I have often seen during the death of
-animals killed suddenly with vapour of chloroform in a concentrated
-state, before they were made thoroughly insensible.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>Although the heart was empty, the stained condition
-of its cavities showed that they had contained blood at the
-time of death and afterwards. Owing to its fluid state, it
-probably escaped from the heart during the moving of the
-body; especially during the examination of the head, which
-was made first.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 3.</em> The next recorded case of death from chloroform
-is reported by Dr. John C. Warren, of Boston, U.S., in the
-<em>London Medical Gazette</em>.<a id='r70'></a><a href='#f70' class='c012'><sup>[70]</sup></a> His report, apparently extracted
-from some other report, is as follows.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Name—Patrick Coyle. [Age—not stated.] Date—March
-1848. Disease—fistula. Previous use of chloroform—once.
-Time of inhalation—about one minute. Quantity
-consumed—about thirty drops. [Query minims.] Posture—upon
-the side. Lapse of time till death—about one
-minute. Symptoms—showed signs of pain, by putting his
-hand to the part; in a moment his pulse, which was full
-and natural, sank: death. Morbid appearances—brain,
-with membranes, natural and healthy. Heart enlarged,
-pale, and soft; two or three ounces of serum in pericardium;
-bloodvessels with dark fluid blood. Lungs, studded with
-tubercles; abscess in each; lower parts congested; pleura
-extensively adherent; stomach—mucous membrane softened,
-its veins turgid.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Nothing is said about the apparatus used in this case, but
-from the summing-up of Dr. Warren’s paper, it must have
-been either a towel or a handkerchief. The quantity of
-chloroform employed appears to have been much less than
-in the two previous cases. In speaking of drops, the writer
-probably means minims, or what is the same, a quantity
-equal to as many drops of water. Thirty drops of chloroform
-from a small phial are only equal to between six and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>seven minims, and if they were dropped on a handkerchief,
-so that they might be counted, they would evaporate entirely
-during the process. Supposing the quantity used to
-have been what is probably meant—half a fluid drachm—it
-would be quite adequate, according to calculations previously
-made in these pages, to cause the accident which happened.
-The period of inhalation was again very short—one
-minute; and the evidence of paralysis of the heart is
-distinct:—“In a moment his pulse, which was full and natural,
-sank: death.”</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 4</em> was that of Madlle. Stock, aged thirty, and occurred
-at Boulogne, in May 1848. The operation was that
-of opening a sinus in the thigh, between two and three
-inches in length, at the bottom of which a small splinter of
-wood was found. M. Gorré, the surgeon who attended the
-patient, says: “I placed over the nostrils of the patient a
-handkerchief moistened with fifteen to twenty drops of
-chloroform at most.” It is necessary to remark, however,
-that a judicial examination of the bottle from which it had
-been taken, proved that from five to eight grammes had
-been used, a quantity equal to from 77 to 123 grains, and
-there are three drops of chloroform to a grain. M. Gorré
-proceeds to say: “Scarcely had she taken several inspirations,
-when she put her hand on the handkerchief to withdraw
-it, and cried with a plaintive voice, ‘I choke.’ Immediately
-the face became pale; the countenance changed;
-the breathing embarrassed; and she foamed at the mouth.
-At the same instant (and certainly less than a minute after
-the beginning of the inhalation), the handkerchief moistened
-with chloroform was withdrawn.” M. Gorré performed the
-operation, but he expressed the opinion afterwards that
-death had already taken place when he made the incision.
-Amongst the means used, with a view to resuscitate the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>patient, was inflation of the lungs, which was performed
-with such force as to produce permanent dilatation of the air-cells.
-The lungs, besides being distended from this cause,
-were found after death to be visibly engorged in their lower
-lobes. When cut into, a large quantity of black blood
-escaped. The cavities of the heart were empty, but the
-internal membrane, especially of the right cavities, was red.
-The tissue of the heart was pale, and was easily torn. Air
-was found in the pulmonary veins, and in most of the systemic
-veins throughout the body. The blood was very
-dark-coloured and fluid.<a id='r71'></a><a href='#f71' class='c012'><sup>[71]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Gorré reported the above case to the Academy of
-Medicine of Paris, and a commission was appointed to
-inquire and report on it, who came to the following conclusions.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“1. In the medico-legal fact submitted to our notice, we
-found no indication of the poisonous action of chloroform;
-and consequently we reply to the minister, that the patient
-of M. Gorré did not die from the effect of inhalation of that
-agent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“2. There have occurred a great number of analogous
-cases of sudden and unforeseen death, during operations,
-without any administration of chloroform, in which the
-most minute examinations have failed in detecting any
-assignable cause of death.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“3. In the case in question, the most probable cause,
-under all circumstances, seems to have been the mixture of
-a considerable quantity of gas with the blood.”<a id='r72'></a><a href='#f72' class='c012'><sup>[72]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The report on this case gave rise to frequent discussions
-in the Academy, extending over several months, and the
-Academy ultimately confirmed the above conclusions, but
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>not without considerable opposition from M. Blandin,
-M. Jules Guérin, and other members.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Malgaigne, the reporter to the commission, and others,
-who strongly supported the first of the above propositions,
-founded their argument chiefly on the assertion that chloroform
-always produces intoxication and insensibility before
-death; but this is incorrect, as I have explained above; and
-I took occasion to make the following remarks on this point
-about the time when the discussion in the Academy of
-Medicine took place. I said: “I have several times made
-animals—small birds, mice and rabbits—breathe air saturated
-with vapour of chloroform at the temperature of the
-atmosphere, and the consequence has always been that,
-after attempting for a few seconds to escape from the capacious
-jar in which they were enclosed, they suddenly exhibited
-signs of distress, and died without any interval of
-intoxication or insensibility, in periods varying from less
-than half a minute to a minute after their first exposure to
-the vapour.”<a id='r73'></a><a href='#f73' class='c012'><sup>[73]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The power of chloroform to cause sudden death without
-previous insensibility is now, I believe, generally admitted.
-The French call this kind of fatal action <em>sideration</em>.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>With regard to the second conclusion of the commission,
-if it had been really true that the surgeon put only fifteen
-to twenty <em>drops</em> at the most of chloroform on the handkerchief,
-one would have been inclined to admit it; but with
-the quantity actually employed, and the strong sensation of
-choking it occasioned just before death, one must, in connection
-with other cases, and with what is known of the action
-of chloroform, attribute the fatal event to this agent, rather
-than to the surgical operation, which was not of a serious
-nature.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>With regard to the third of the above conclusions, it is
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>not a little remarkable that most even of those speakers
-who opposed the conclusions of the commission, agreed that
-death was caused by a sudden development of air in the
-veins; and differed from them only in this, that they considered
-the chloroform as the cause of the evolution of air or
-gas, and that it proved fatal in this way. That the air was
-not caused by putrefaction, and that it did not enter by the
-wound in the thigh, may be readily admitted, but there remains
-the artificial respiration, which was performed with
-such force as to produce permanent dilatation of the air-cells.
-It was argued in the Academy that, as the air was in
-the systemic, as well as in the pulmonary veins, it could not
-have been introduced by the artificial respiration, since the
-left ventricle had previously ceased to act; but the action
-of the left ventricle is not necessary for the passage of the
-contents of the arteries through the capillaries into the
-veins, since this commonly goes on after death, the arteries
-being usually found entirely empty of the blood they must
-have contained at the moment of death. With regard to
-the passage of the air out of the heart into the arteries, supposing
-that the pulmonary veins were ruptured during the
-inflation of the lungs, there is an observation of Dr. Sibson’s
-which will explain both this circumstance and the fact of
-the heart itself being found empty of blood. He found that
-the heart was often emptied of blood by distending the
-lungs with air after death in preparing the body for his
-diagrams of the position of the viscera.<a id='r74'></a><a href='#f74' class='c012'><sup>[74]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>With the conclusions above quoted, some additional ones
-were adopted from the second part of the report of the
-commissioners; in these it was admitted that chloroform is
-capable of causing death, if administered too long, or in too
-large doses. One of these additional conclusions, however,
-is as erroneous as the previous ones. It is, “there is risk of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>asphyxia when the anæsthetic vapour is not sufficiently
-diluted with air.” When the vapour is not sufficiently
-diluted with air, the risk is one of sudden death, by paralysis
-of the heart. Chloroform does not yield enough vapour,
-at the natural temperature and pressure of the atmosphere,
-to exclude the air to the extent which would cause
-asphyxia. When chloroform vapour largely diluted with
-air is long continued, it may cause, not real asphyxia, but a
-mode of death resembling it, owing to the medulla oblongata
-and nerves of respiration becoming over narcotised.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 5</em> is that of a young woman at Hyderabad, who
-inhaled chloroform to undergo amputation of the middle
-finger. A drachm was sprinkled on a handkerchief and
-inhaled. The operator described what occurred as follows:
-“She coughed a little, and then gave a few convulsive
-movements. When these subsided, I performed the necessary
-incisions, which of course did not occupy more than a
-few seconds. Scarcely a drop of blood escaped.” The absence
-of bleeding seemed to be the circumstance which
-called the attention of the operator to the state of his
-patient; and after describing the means which were used
-without avail to bring about recovery, he continues, “I am
-inclined to think that death was almost instantaneous; for,
-after the convulsive movements above described, she never
-moved or exhibited the smallest sign of life.”<a id='r75'></a><a href='#f75' class='c012'><sup>[75]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In this case, it is probable that the breathing and the
-action of the heart were both arrested at the same time, by
-the action of the chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 6.</em> Charles Desnoyers, aged twenty-two, a patient
-in the Hôtel-Dieu at Lyons, affected with scrofulous disease
-of the left wrist, having to undergo transcurrent cauterisation
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>of the joint, inhaled chloroform from an apparatus for
-five minutes, and died at the beginning of the operation.<a id='r76'></a><a href='#f76' class='c012'><sup>[76]</sup></a>
-Further particulars are not given.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 7.</em> A young gentleman, who had returned from
-Australia to visit his relatives in the neighbourhood of
-Govan, inhaled chloroform for an intended operation on the
-great toe, in December 1848. It is stated that the patient,
-after inhaling it, almost instantly expired. This account
-appeared in the <cite>Glasgow Herald</cite>, and was copied into the
-medical journals.<a id='r77'></a><a href='#f77' class='c012'><sup>[77]</sup></a> I believe that no further account of the
-case was ever published.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 8</em> occurred on January 19th, 1849. It is related by
-Dr. John C. Warren.<a id='r78'></a><a href='#f78' class='c012'><sup>[78]</sup></a> John Griffith, an Irishman, aged
-thirty-one, a seaman in the American navy, was admitted
-into the New York Hospital early in December 1848, on his
-return from Mexico. He was suffering with diarrhœa,
-chancres, and hæmorrhoids. The following is the account of
-this accident.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Gurdon Buck, jun., attending surgeon to the New York
-Hospital, being sworn, says, that ‘on or about the 26th of
-December, I advised that chloroform should be administered
-to the deceased, for the purpose of examining the condition
-of the rectum, the parts being in such a state of excessive
-irritation as scarcely to admit of a separation of the nates.
-The patient recovered from the effects of the chloroform,
-and remained in all respects in the same condition, except
-the local ailments spoken of; and he having never complained
-of either his head or his chest, and not having suffered
-from the first administration of chloroform, I directed
-it to be administered to him for the purpose of performing
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>an operation upon the rectum, and the operation of circumcision
-to remove a phymosis caused by the chancres: the
-patient soon became excited by the chloroform, as is usually
-the case, but not beyond a degree that I have often observed.
-Shortly after, he became more tranquil: the
-deceased was placed upon his side, and the operation performed,
-which consisted in the removal of two external
-tumours, and the tying of one internal tumour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“‘At this moment my attention was arrested by my
-assistant’s calling for a wet cloth: on examining the patient,
-I found his face and neck of a livid leaden hue or colour, the
-eyes turned upward, the pulse imperceptible at the wrist,
-and the whole body relaxed; after two or three gasps, he
-ceased to breathe. Every means was promptly used to
-restore the deceased, but without effect. The chloroform
-was obtained from Kent’s, 91, John Street, and not exceeding
-three drachms was administered on a napkin. A portion
-of chloroform from the same phial had been administered
-the day before to a patient without any unfavourable
-effects. About ten minutes elapsed from the commencement
-of its administration before death took place. On
-making a post-mortem examination, twenty-four hours
-after death, I found the face less livid than before death;
-on examining the head, the brain and its membranes
-presented no other appearances than are seen in persons
-dying when in full health; the lungs were a good deal congested,
-and discharged, when cut, a large quantity of bloody
-serum; the heart was large, its ventricles and auricles were
-empty, its condition flabby, the substance of the left ventricle
-rather softer than natural; about half an ounce of
-watery fluid was found in the pericardium; the viscera of
-the abdomen were healthy.’”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This case differs from those previously related in respect
-to the time at which the fatal occurrence took place. It
-was not till ten minutes from the commencement of inhalation,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>and when an operation which probably occupied two
-or three minutes had been performed, that the patient suddenly
-expired. The evidence of paralysis of the heart is,
-however, distinct enough in the absence of pulse at the
-wrist, and the livid hue of the countenance. In several of
-the previous cases, there was sudden pallor at the moment
-when the heart ceased to inject blood into the capillaries,
-but in a patient well supplied with blood, the sudden arrest
-of the action of the heart would cause turgescence of the
-veins and venous capillaries, which would be evident in the
-face in a few seconds. The syncope occasioned by paralysis
-of the heart differs from that kind of syncope which is
-caused by loss of blood, inasmuch as the right cavities of
-the heart are full in the former instance, and empty in the
-latter.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The circumstance of the patient having inhaled chloroform
-to insensibility three weeks previously, without accident or
-ill effects, is worthy of notice, as showing that the fatal
-event did not depend on any peculiarity of constitution.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Although the heart was found to be empty, its flabby
-condition and the watery fluid in the pericardium indicate
-that it must have contained blood at the time of death.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 9</em> occurred on January 24th, 1849, at the Hôtel-Dieu,
-Lyons, where case 6 previously happened. The patient
-was a youth, aged seventeen, named J. Verrier, who had
-been employed as a miner. He was of good constitution,
-and was about to undergo amputation of the middle finger
-for necrosis of the first phalanx. The following is the
-account of the accident.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“As the patient’s health was good, he was at once, and
-by his free consent, placed under the influence of chloroform.
-As usual, a piece of fine gauze was employed; it was spread
-over the face, leaving a free passage for atmospheric air;
-the chloroform was dropped from time to time upon that
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>portion of the gauze which was over the nostrils. It was
-administered by two assistants who were accustomed to its
-use, and who at the time attended to the pulse. The operator
-superintended the assistants. At the end of four or five
-minutes, the patient still felt and spoke; and at the end of
-another minute, he still spoke and was somewhat restless.
-Up to this time, from a drachm to a drachm and a half of
-chloroform had been employed. The pulse was regular, and
-of the normal strength. All at once the patient raised his
-body, and struggled so that the limbs escaped from the hold
-of the assistants, who however seized them quickly, and
-replaced the patient in his position. Within a quarter of a
-minute, one of the assistants stated that the pulse at the
-wrist had ceased to beat. The handkerchief was removed.
-The countenance was completely altered. The action of the
-heart had altogether ceased; the pulse could not be felt
-anywhere; and the sounds over the region of the heart
-could no longer be heard. Respiration still continued, but
-it became irregular, weak, and slow; and at length ceased
-completely in the space of about half a minute.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The extreme danger of the patient was manifest, and
-immediate and energetic means were employed to rouse
-him. Ammonia was held to the nostrils, and rubbed in
-large quantity over the surface of the chest and abdomen.
-It was also applied to the most delicate parts of the skin,
-<em>e. g.</em>, the lips and the extremity of the penis, with a view to
-excite irritation. Mustard was used; the head was inclined
-over the bed; and, finally, an attempt was made to restore
-respiration by means of alternate pressure on the abdomen
-and chest. After two or three minutes, respiration reappeared,
-and even acquired a certain fulness, but the pulse
-nowhere returned. Frictions were continued. Respiration
-became again slower, and at length ceased. Artificial inflation
-was practised, at first through the mouth, and afterwards
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>through the larynx, by passing a tube through the
-glottis, as it was perceived that air had passed from the
-mouth into the stomach. The precordial, epigastric, and
-laryngeal regions were energetically cauterised with a hot
-iron. The pulse did not return. For the space of half an
-hour every effort was made to resuscitate the patient; but
-in vain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The autopsy could not be made until seventy-two hours
-after death. The temperature being low, the body showed
-no signs of decomposition; there was still rigidity of the
-limbs. The features were not altered. The examination of
-all the organs was made with care.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The stomach contained about one ounce and a half of a
-thick fluid, of the colour of the lees of wine, in no respect
-resembling an alimentary fluid. The organ was distended
-with gas, as was also the rest of the alimentary canal, which
-was otherwise sound. The liver and spleen were somewhat
-congested.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The heart, which was normal in volume, was flaccid and
-empty, contained neither blood nor air. The ventricular
-parietes were moistened by a fine, very red foam, as if from
-the presence of a little blood, which had been, as it were,
-whipped by the fleshy columns of the heart. The venæ
-cavæ and the portal veins were distended by black fluid
-blood in great quantity. On the Eustachian valve there
-was a fibrinous clot, moderately firm, and weighing from
-sixty to seventy grains. It was the only clot met with in
-the cavities of the heart and great vessels. These cavities,
-which were carefully opened, did not contain any appreciable
-quantity of air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The lungs retracted on opening the chest. They presented
-both in their surface and in their substance a very
-black colour; otherwise their tissue was healthy. The
-larynx and trachea presented no lesion. The brain was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>normal. The sinuses of the dura mater contained a considerable
-quantity of black uncoagulated blood.”<a id='r79'></a><a href='#f79' class='c012'><sup>[79]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In this case every precaution appears to have been taken,
-except that which is the most essential, of regulating the
-amount of vapour in the respired air. Arrangement was
-made that there should be amply sufficient air for the purpose
-of respiration; the patient was carefully watched by
-three persons at least, one of whom was constantly attending
-to the pulse, but with no other result than to be able to
-announce the exact moment when it suddenly stopped.
-The arrest of the action of the heart in this case took place
-at a time when the patient was not yet rendered insensible
-by the chloroform, although he had been inhaling it for five
-minutes. We must conclude that during these five minutes
-the vapour he inhaled was largely diluted with air, and that
-he then inhaled vapour in a much less diluted form. It is
-not improbable that he took a deep inspiration of strong
-vapour, just at the moment when he struggled violently,
-and within a quarter of a minute of the time when his
-pulse suddenly ceased.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The breathing continued a little time after the heart
-ceased to beat, and it is therefore very probable that, if this
-organ had not been irrecoverably paralysed, the natural
-breathing would have restored its action after a short pause,
-that would have attracted but a momentary attention. As
-the spontaneous breathing of the patient did not restore the
-heart’s action, there is no ground for surprise that the
-measures adopted did not succeed.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 10</em> was that of a labourer, named Samuel Bennett.
-It occurred on February 20th, 1849, at a dispensary in
-Westminster. The patient inhaled chloroform for amputation
-of one of the toes. Half an ounce of chloroform was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>“sprinkled on a handkerchief, and held over the mouth and
-nose.... This quantity of the agent failed, however, to produce
-anæsthesia, having caused only the ordinary excitement
-and struggling.” After a delay of two hours, more
-chloroform was procured, and half an ounce was again
-applied on a handkerchief, “care being taken to allow the
-entrance of air at short intervals.” Insensibility was induced,
-and the toe was amputated; the chloroform being
-applied, as I was told, during part of the time of the operation.
-At the close of the operation, no blood escaped when
-the pressure was removed from the arteries; the patient was
-in fact dying, and in a short time expired. “A few inspiations
-were noticed after the pulse had ceased at the wrist.”<a id='r80'></a><a href='#f80' class='c012'><sup>[80]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The lungs were of a dark venous hue throughout, a large
-quantity of blood escaping from them when cut into.
-Mucous membrane of trachea and bronchi congested. Heart
-rather large but flabby; auricles empty; each ventricle
-contained about an ounce of semi-fluid blood (the lungs had
-been inflated). Head: sinuses and veins contained blood,
-but not to any remarkable amount. But few bloody points
-occurred in cutting into the cerebral mass. Kidneys congested.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The failure of the first attempt to cause insensibility in
-this case, when so large a quantity of chloroform was used,
-illustrates very forcibly the uncertainty and irregularity of
-the way in which it was administered. On the first occasion
-only excitement and struggling were produced, and on the
-next the patient died suddenly.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 11</em> occurred on August 23rd, 1849, at Langres,
-France. The subject of it, Madame Labrune, was reported
-to be a healthy married woman. She inhaled chloroform
-with the intention of having a tooth extracted. “Complete
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>insensibility was not produced at the first trial: more chloroform
-was placed on the handkerchief, and she drew a full
-inspiration. Her countenance immediately became pallid;
-her features were visibly altered; there was dilatation of
-the pupils, with a convulsive rolling of the eyes; and no
-pulse could be felt. Every attempt was made to restore
-life, but without success. She died as if struck by lightning.”<a id='r81'></a><a href='#f81' class='c012'><sup>[81]</sup></a>
-The instantaneous arrest of the circulation, on a
-full inspiration being taken, immediately after more chloroform
-had been placed on the handkerchief, is particularly
-worthy of notice. The heart was paralysed, in this instance,
-as quickly as in experiment No. 25, above related.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>No inspection of the body is reported in this case.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 12</em> is the first which occurred in any of the hospitals
-in this metropolis. The following is the account of it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“John Shorter, aged forty-eight, a porter, known to Mr.
-Solly for some time as a very active messenger, habits intemperate,
-but apparently in perfect health, was admitted
-into George’s ward, under Mr. Solly, on the 9th October,
-1849, suffering from onychia of the left great toe, which had
-existed some time. It was determined to remove the nail,
-the man having decided before entering the hospital on
-taking chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“On Wednesday, October 10th, at a quarter to two <span class='fss'>P.M.</span>,
-he began to inhale the chloroform with one drachm in the
-inhaler. It had no visible effect for about two minutes; it
-then excited him, and the instrument was removed from the
-mouth, and about ten drops more were added; he then
-almost immediately became insensible; the chloroform was
-taken away, and the nail removed. He continued insensible;
-and, his face becoming dark, the pulse small, quick, but
-regular, respiration laborious, his neckerchief was removed,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>and the chest exposed to fresh air from a window near to
-the bed; cold water was dashed in his face, the chest
-rubbed, and ammonia applied to the nose. After struggling
-for about a minute, he became still, the skin cold, pulse
-scarcely perceptible, and soon ceased to be felt at the wrist;
-respiration became slow and at intervals, but continued a
-few seconds after the cessation of the pulse. Immediately
-on the appearance of these symptoms, artificial respiration
-was commenced by depressing the ribs with the hands and
-then allowing them to rise again until the proper apparatus
-was brought, when respiration was kept up by means of
-the trachea tube and bellows, and oxygen gas introduced
-into the lungs by the same means. Galvanism was also
-applied through the heart and diaphragm, but all signs of
-life ceased about six or seven minutes after the commencement
-of inhalation. These means were persisted in until a
-quarter past three, but to no purpose. On removing the
-inhaler, the sponge, which only contains one drachm, fell
-upon the floor, and the chloroform splashed about,—thus
-showing that a considerable part of the chloroform remained
-unused; so that the patient could not have inhaled more
-than a drachm. Every endeavour was made to procure a
-post-mortem examination, but in vain.”<a id='r82'></a><a href='#f82' class='c012'><sup>[82]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The above account is published in the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite> as
-communicated by Mr. Solly, but it is clearly not written by
-him, and it presents a very confused narrative of what
-occurred. If we are to understand the events in the
-sequence in which they are related, we must conclude that
-the patient became insensible and had the operation performed,
-that he then exhibited alarming symptoms for
-which cold water was dashed in his face and other measures
-were employed, and yet that after this he struggled for
-about a minute. This would be a state of things inconsistent,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>in my opinion, with death from chloroform; but
-possibly the proper sequence is not observed in detailing
-what occurred. There is some obscurity also about the
-amount of chloroform used in connection with what remained
-on removing the inhaler. If the sponge was adapted
-to hold a drachm in the proper manner, the chloroform could
-not splash about on its falling, unless there was a good deal
-more than a drachm in it. But whatever was the quantity
-of chloroform remaining in the sponge, as it was in a condition
-to splash about, it is difficult to perceive what prevented
-the liquid chloroform from dropping into the patient’s
-throat, as he lay on his back in bed. Chloroform is as pungent
-as the essential oils. I have been informed of a case
-in which a patient was nearly suffocated by one drop falling
-into the throat; and the narrative of what occurred to Mr.
-Solly’s patient is not at all inconsistent with death from
-spasm of the glottis arising from this cause. If, however,
-the patient died from the vapour of chloroform, we must
-conclude that he inhaled it at one moment not sufficiently
-diluted with air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The chloroform in this case was administered by a non-medical
-person—a sort of surgery-man. After this accident,
-however, the chloroform in St. Thomas’s Hospital was always
-entrusted to some one belonging to the profession.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 13</em> occurred at Shrewsbury, to a Mrs. Jones, a
-patient of Mr. Clement, surgeon, who had partly performed
-the operation of excision of the eyeball, when his patient
-suddenly died. Mr. Clement has, I believe, not published
-any account of the case, but the evidence which he gave at
-the inquest was reported in various local newspapers, and
-copied into the medical journals. The death was very
-characteristic of the effects of chloroform vapour not sufficiently
-diluted. Mr. Clement is reported to have said:
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>“He gave her but a small dose to commence with, imbibed
-from a sponge, and then commenced the operation. Finding
-that did not make her insensible, about a drachm more was
-poured on the sponge, which she inhaled again for a few
-seconds. He then went on with the operation, and shortly
-afterwards heard a peculiar sound, which he could not
-describe, and she died in a moment; all the attempts to
-rouse her proved ineffectual. She spoke in Welsh before
-she died, but so quickly that he did not know what she
-said; he had no doubt that she died from the effects of the
-chloroform.”<a id='r83'></a><a href='#f83' class='c012'><sup>[83]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 14</em> occurred at Berlin. The subject of it was a
-young lady twenty years of age, of good health, well made,
-and of a good constitution. The chloroform was inhaled for
-the extraction of a tooth. It was administered on a sponge,
-covered with a napkin. The dentist who administered it
-was not a medical man. He made five unsuccessful attempts
-to extract the tooth under chloroform. Three of these
-attempts were at nine in the morning, and two about noon,
-just before the accident. His patient suddenly died almost
-at the commencement of the last attempt to administer
-chloroform, stretching herself out, and frothing at the
-mouth at the moment of death; the countenance at the
-same time becoming livid.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>An examination of the body took place fifty hours after
-death, when putrefaction had set in.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The lungs presented nothing morbid; the bronchi contained
-a little bloody froth. The blood was of the colour
-and consistence of cherry juice. The heart was soft, flabby
-and collapsed. Its coronary vessels and cavities were empty,
-and presented the bluish-red discoloration of decomposition.”<a id='r84'></a><a href='#f84' class='c012'><sup>[84]</sup></a>
-The other organs were healthy.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span><em>Case 15</em> occurred in the public hospital of Kingston,
-Jamaica, on January 29, 1850. The name of the patient
-was William Bryan, his age is not stated, nor the nature of
-the operation he was about to undergo. He had previously,
-however, undergone the operation of amputation of the
-penis, on account of cancer of that organ, but it was performed
-without chloroform. Mr. Maygarth, the surgeon
-who administered the chloroform, stated as follows: “I had
-about a drachm poured on the sponge, and applied it over
-his mouth and nostrils, but at first not in close contact—at
-no period was the atmospheric air totally excluded. He
-bore it badly, and I was frequently obliged to withdraw it,
-to facilitate his breathing. The stage of excitement which
-is usual came on, and he struggled and kept away the
-sponge for some seconds; it was again reapplied, when,
-after a few more seconds, observing that he made one
-stertorous inspiration, I removed it altogether. He ceased
-to breathe; but after some seconds had elapsed, made
-another inspiration, and this occurred several times, until
-at length respiration ceased entirely.” The measures which
-were employed were of the usual kind, but were of no avail.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The brain and its membranes were found to be congested.
-The lungs were congested, especially posteriorly. The right
-side of the heart contained dark fluid blood, and the inner
-surface of its left cavities, and of the aorta, were stained
-with blood. There was some disease of the aortic valves,
-and the heart had undergone some amount of fatty degeneration.<a id='r85'></a><a href='#f85' class='c012'><sup>[85]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 16.</em> In February 1850, a death from chloroform
-occurred on board ship at the Mauritius. A report of the
-case was sent to the Board of Ordnance, and also to the
-Admiralty. The secretary of Sir William Burnett first informed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>me of the case, and a day or two afterwards I had
-an opportunity, through the kindness of the late Marquis of
-Anglesey, of reading the report which was sent to him as
-Master of the Ordnance, and I made a note of the chief particulars
-as soon as I got home. As the report was a very
-able one, it is to be regretted it has not been published.
-The accident occurred to an artilleryman, aged 24, who required
-to have the last phalanx of the middle finger removed.
-In other respects, he was considered to be in good health.
-Two scruples of chloroform were first poured on the handkerchief
-with which it was administered, and then one
-scruple more. It was observed that the face turned pale,
-and the pulse and breathing ceased, soon after the chloroform
-was discontinued. The measures which were employed to
-restore him were of no service. The lungs after death were
-found to be emphysematous; and, upon inquiry, it was
-ascertained that he had been short of breath on exertion.
-The right cavities of the heart were filled with fluid blood.
-The sinuses of the dura mater contained less blood than
-usual, and the brain was pale. The medical man reporting
-the case considered that the emphysema was the cause of
-death, by interfering with expiration, and thus detaining
-the vapour; and it must be admitted that, if the vapour
-were not sufficiently diluted with air, the emphysema might
-increase the danger. I have, however, administered chloroform
-in several cases in which emphysema existed to an
-extreme degree, without any ill effects; consequently, when
-the vapour is properly diluted with air, this affection appears
-to be no source of danger.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 17</em> was that of a patient of Professor Carl Santesson,
-in the Seraphim Hospital at Stockholm. I was indebted to
-Mr. Paget for my first information about this case, and to
-Dr. W. D. Moore, of Dublin, for some further particulars
-respecting it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>The patient, a man thirty years of age, was affected
-with hydrocele, and there was some suspicion of disease
-of the testicle. It was consequently intended to operate on
-the hydrocele by incision, in order that the testicle, if diseased,
-might be removed. The chloroform was administered
-in the same way that Professor Santesson had seen it
-exhibited by Dr. Simpson, except that it was poured on a
-little cotton, which was placed at the small end of the cone,
-into which the folded towel he made use of was rolled.
-About a drachm and a half was first poured on the cotton,
-and the patient was told to inhale in long and deep inspirations.
-This quantity being nearly evaporated in two
-or three minutes, a drachm more was added. After a few
-inspirations rigidity and struggling came on: these subsided,
-but in a little time returned more strongly than
-before, and the towel was removed from the face until
-the struggling ceased. The patient, however, not being
-sufficiently insensible to undergo the operation with the
-necessary quietness, the towel was reapplied, when, after a
-few inspirations, the pulse suddenly ceased. The face and
-the whole surface of the body turned pale, the eyes rolled
-upwards and inwards, and the breathing became very slow,
-but full and deep, the intervals between the inspirations
-becoming longer, until the respiration ceased altogether.
-The patient died before the operation was begun, and within
-five minutes from the commencement of inhalation. During
-the application of various means of resuscitation, including
-the dropping of cold water <em>guttatim</em> on the epigastrium, the
-breathing returned, and continued for the space of three or
-four minutes; but the pulse and sounds of the heart did
-not return.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination, thirty-two hours after death, the
-dura mater was found to be congested, and there was
-considerable serous effusion between the membranes of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>the brain. There were also some bony deposits under the
-dura mater, and some adhesions of the arachnoid, indicating
-long standing disease of the membranes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The heart was of normal size, and flaccid; the vessels on
-its surface strongly distended with blood. The left ventricle
-was empty; the left auricle, on the contrary, and the entire
-of the right side of the heart, with the great veins, were
-filled with thin uncoagulated blood. In the right ventricle
-only was a little loose coagulum found. The lungs, posteriorly,
-were highly congested, exhibiting here and there
-infiltrations of blood from the size of a pea to that of a
-small hazel-nut. The pulmonary tissue was otherwise
-sound; giving, however, when cut into, the odour of chloroform,
-but more feebly than the brain did. The mucous
-membrane of the larynx and bronchial tubes were slightly
-reddened from sanguineous congestion. The blood was
-everywhere of the same thin juice-like nature.<a id='r86'></a><a href='#f86' class='c012'><sup>[86]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 18.</em> I am indebted for my information respecting
-this case to Dr. James Adams, of Glasgow, who was good
-enough to send me a copy of the notes respecting it, from
-the case book of his colleague, Mr. Lyon, in whose practice,
-in the Glasgow Infirmary, the case occurred, in March
-1850. The patient was a boy seven or eight years old, from
-the Highlands, whose health was considerably impaired by
-years of suffering from calculus. Mr. Lyon says, “being
-laid in bed, I placed a piece of lint, moistened with chloroform,
-near to his face, when, in a few minutes, he ceased crying.
-I now told my clerk to take charge of the chloroform, and
-introduced the sound. I thought I detected a calculus,
-but could not hear the click distinctly, in consequence of
-the patient moaning. One of the bystanders held his hand
-between my ears and the patient’s face, when the click was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>at once heard. I withdrew the instrument, and was horror-struck
-with the livid countenance and vacant eye of the
-patient; the cardiac and radial pulses were gone, and,
-making one deep gasp, he was to all appearance dead.”
-Artificial respiration and other measures were employed
-without effect. “The external jugulars being remarkably
-turgid, and the face still very livid, the right jugular was
-opened, when several ounces of dark blood flowed rapidly.”
-This measure, and galvanism, which was applied afterwards,
-were of no avail.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 19.</em> The subject of this case was Alexander Scott,
-aged thirty-four, a police constable, who died in Guy’s
-Hospital in June 1850, whilst undergoing an operation for
-the removal of a portion of the right hand. Mr. Cock, the
-operator, said that he was certain there was no disease
-about the patient. He described the accident as follows:—“The
-ordinary machine was used, and, as it had not the
-effect, witness directed that a napkin should be folded into
-the shape of a cone, which was applied with chloroform.
-The occupation of removing a portion of the bone occupied
-one minute and a half, but before it was completed, the
-blood which was gushing out, suddenly stopped, when witness
-directed Mr. Lacy to feel the pulse of deceased, and
-they found that deceased had expired.”<a id='r87'></a><a href='#f87' class='c012'><sup>[87]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The sudden stopping of the hæmorrhage shews that, in
-this case, as in the others, the action of the heart was
-suddenly arrested. The first attempt to cause insensibility
-failed in this as in some other cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Cock tried to dissuade his patient from having chloroform,
-severe as the operation would have been without
-it. In Guy’s Hospital and St. Thomas’s the medical
-officers had a strong objection to narcotism by inhalation
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>for the first two or three years after the practice was introduced,
-and chloroform was used much less generally in
-these institutions than in any other of the hospitals of
-London; yet it was precisely in these two hospitals that
-two deaths from chloroform occurred, before any such accident
-had happened in any other hospital in this metropolis.
-This circumstance is worthy of the consideration of those
-who propose to limit the accidents from chloroform by
-restricting its use to a few great operations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In this case the lungs were reported to be extremely
-congested. Heart flabby, not particularly distended; about
-two ounces of fluid blood on the right side; not more than
-half an ounce on the left. Head.—Much congestion of the
-dura mater; the grey matter of the brain was dark and
-congested; fluid was found in the subarachnoid space; and
-a considerable quantity of it in both ventricles. Kidneys
-congested.<a id='r88'></a><a href='#f88' class='c012'><sup>[88]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 20</em> occurred on September 20th, 1850, at the Cavan
-Infirmary, Ireland. The case occurred in the practice of
-Dr. Roe, and I am indebted to Dr. Robert Adams, of Dublin,
-for a manuscript account of it. The name of the patient
-was James Jones, and his age twenty-four years. Chloroform
-was exhibited with the intention of performing
-amputation below the knee, on account of scrofulous disease
-of the ankle, with ulceration of the cartilages. The
-patient was reduced to a state of great debility by the
-disease, and was suffering from hectic fever, but had no
-cough. The following is Dr. Roe’s account of the accident:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“When placed on the operating table the heart’s action
-was very quick and weak, but he did not appear more faint
-or pale than usual. I then saw Mr. Nalty, the apothecary,
-measure one drachm of the chloroform in the small minim
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>glass measure, and pour it upon a little folded lint, which
-was placed in an oval hollow sponge, held in the hand with
-a small towel. Recollecting I had used this chloroform in
-another case, and finding some delay in producing the
-anæsthetic effects, I directed Mr. Nalty to add thirty drops
-more to that already put on the lint. I then applied the
-sponge to the patient’s nose, directing him to keep his
-mouth shut, and gave the towel into the care of Dr.
-Halpin, who was on the opposite side of the table, while I
-went to prepare myself for the operation. Mr. Bird had
-scarcely screwed up the tourniquette, which had been previously
-placed on the thigh, while I was examining the
-state of the circulation in the tibial arteries, and which
-could not have occupied one minute,—certainly the patient
-could not have taken fifteen inspirations,—when Dr. Halpin
-told me the anæsthetic effects were produced. This struck
-me as being unusually quick and sudden, and on removing
-the towel from the face, we saw a slight convulsive action
-of the left eyelid (the eyelids were partially open), and a
-small quantity of frothy saliva at the mouth. I felt rather
-uneasy, but not much alarmed, as Dr. Halpin said he had
-often seen such symptoms from the effects of chloroform,
-although I had not met with them. On a more minute
-examination of the heart, the eyes, muscles of the limbs,
-&amp;c. we found him dead.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Energetic means were used with a view to restore the
-patient, but without effect. No inspection of the body
-took place.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 21.</em> The next case of recorded death from chloroform
-occurred in the Stepney Workhouse. The patient,
-named John Holden, age not stated, was about to undergo an
-operation on the penis. It was stated at the inquest that
-half a drachm of chloroform was administered without
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>effect, and then half a drachm more was applied, when the
-patient suddenly expired. This death occurred in April
-1851.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 22</em> is important, as having given rise to a prosecution.
-The medical man, an officier de santé, named
-Kobelt, was accused of homicide, by imprudence, want of
-precautions, &amp;c. The chloroform was administered on a
-handkerchief, and the accident occurred as suddenly as any
-of the others. The husband of the patient stated that the
-whole process did not last a minute. “I observed attentively,”
-he said, “during this time, and the character that
-her countenance took all at once made me apprehensive.
-I spoke of it to the operator, who tranquillized me, and
-continued to extract the teeth. After the third tooth,
-however, he partook of my apprehension, suspended the
-operation, and proceeded to adopt measures indicated by
-the circumstances.” Professor Sédillot, who had to pronounce
-an opinion on the case, after hearing all the evidence,
-said, “I do not think that M. Kobelt is guilty of
-imprudence or of rashness, because that officier de santé
-has followed a practice very habitually employed, and even
-recommended, by eminent practitioners, whose example and
-authority were sufficient to inspire him with security, and
-shade him from reproach.” The accused practitioner was
-acquitted. The above remark of Sédillot applied to the
-plan of causing insensibility very rapidly, as first recommended
-by Dr. Simpson; and he added some observations,
-to the effect that, when used in a different manner, chloroform
-is free from danger.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The above case occurred at Strasbourg, on June 10th,
-1851. The name of the patient was Madame Simon, and
-her age thirty-six. After death the lungs were found to be
-somewhat congested, and emphysematous. Heart flaccid, of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>middle size; right cavities filled with liquid dark-coloured
-blood, mixed with some fibrinous clots. The left cavities
-contained similar blood in much smaller quantity.<a id='r89'></a><a href='#f89' class='c012'><sup>[89]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 23</em> occurred on July 8th, 1851, at the Seaman’s
-Hospital, Greenwich. The patient was a light-coloured
-mulatto, aged forty-five, native of New York. He died
-during the operation of removing the left testicle, which
-was disorganized by suppuration. “The chest had been
-carefully examined a few days previously, both by percussion
-and auscultation. No physical signs of disease were
-detected. His pulse was regular and feeble, about seventy.
-He was rather nervous, and fearful of the operation. No
-arcus senilis. After taking a glass of wine he commenced
-the inhalation, twenty minims of chloroform having been
-poured on a linen cloth. At the expiration of a few
-minutes, this had been dissipated, producing only very
-trifling excitement; a second dose, of the same quantity,
-was then administered in the same way; the man began
-to sing and shout, his expressions relating to the firing of
-guns. The second quantity having been exhausted, and
-the effects of the chloroform becoming more apparent, but
-sensibility being still perfect, and even intelligence almost
-unaffected, a third quantity, of ten minims, was poured
-out, and, afterwards, twenty minims more. Having passed
-through the usual convulsive stage, and insensibility being
-established, the further administration of chloroform was
-desisted from at the end of about seven minutes, though
-this time is merely guessed at; it might have been more, but
-was certainly not less. At this time the respiration was
-unembarrassed, and the pulse regular, and about seventy,
-with as much volume as before the inhalation. The lips
-were florid; in fact, the chloroform appeared to have acted
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>in the most benign way. Mr. Busk commenced the
-operation by an incision through the scrotum, which
-divided a small arterial branch, and some enlarged veins,
-from which the blood flowed pretty freely. The flow,
-however, almost instantaneously ceased, and Dr. Rooke,
-who kept his finger on the man’s pulse, found that cease
-at the same moment. Respiration appeared to cease almost
-instantaneously with the heart’s action. Regular respiration
-at least did; for, while we were looking at the man’s face,
-he fetched one or two sigh-like inspirations. The ribs and
-abdomen were compressed, so as to induce inspiration and
-expiration; the lungs were inflated by blowing through
-the nostrils, the larynx being compressed against the spine,
-and, for three or four minutes, upon our efforts being
-suspended, the man occasionally took an inspiration; on
-one occasion three or four in succession, so as to make us
-flatter ourselves that he would come round.... It is
-worthy of remark that, for a long time after spontaneous
-respiration had ceased, the lips retained a florid colour.
-The muscles were all relaxed, and the veins on the side of
-the neck turgid.”<a id='r90'></a><a href='#f90' class='c012'><sup>[90]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the inspection of the body next day, the vessels of the
-dura mater, and those on the surface of the brain, were
-gorged with fluid blood. The lateral sinuses also afforded
-a flow of dark-coloured blood. There was a considerable
-quantity of serous fluid in the cavity of the arachnoid and
-in the spinal sheath. The substance of the brain was very
-soft. (The weather was warm.) The lungs were of a dark
-purple colour posteriorly, and much loaded with fluid blood
-and serum, but were everywhere crepitant and healthy.
-The external surface of the heart was covered almost entirely
-with fat; in some parts to a considerable thickness.
-There were two fibrinous spots on its surface. No fluid in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>the pericardium. The venæ cavæ were full of fluid blood.
-On removing the heart, a white fibrous coagulum, about as
-big as a walnut, was found in the commencement of the
-pulmonary artery. The heart was uncontracted, and the
-cavities contained a very small quantity of dark fluid blood.
-The walls of the right ventricle, and of the left auricle,
-were thinner than natural. Some portions of the substance
-of the heart were paler than natural:—“In these paler
-portions of the muscular substance, the fibres had, for the
-most part, lost their striated aspect, and had become converted
-into a fine granular material contained in the sarcolemma.
-Here and there a minute oil-globule could be
-observed in the muscular fibrillæ, but nowhere did this
-amount to fatty degeneration.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In this case all the precautions appear to have been taken
-which are possible in making a patient insensible with
-undiluted chloroform, administered on a handkerchief; and
-the case, therefore, strongly confirms the proposition that
-chloroform cannot be administered in this way with perfect
-safety.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient was apparently in the most satisfactory condition
-at the conclusion of the inhalation, and yet, a few
-seconds afterwards, the heart suddenly ceased to beat, from
-the effect, as we must conclude, of that portion of vapour
-which was in the lungs at the moment when the inhalation
-was discontinued.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 24</em> occurred in October, 1851, at Chipping Norton,
-Somerset, to a patient of Mr. Farwell, named Elizabeth
-Hollis, and aged 37. No one observed the manner in which
-the breathing and circulation ceased, and, as the patient was
-in a state of extreme debility, it is not quite certain that
-the chloroform was the sole cause of death. It was administered
-to prevent the pain of removing the fæces, which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>became impacted in the rectum on account of extensive
-cancerous disease of the uterus and vagina. The surgeon
-reports that “the time occupied in the inhalation was about
-eight or nine minutes; quantity inhaled 10½ drachms, half
-a drachm at a time, allowing her frequently to breathe the
-atmospheric air. She spoke to me during this period.
-When I found that her arm fell after being raised, I proceeded
-to and accomplished the operation. At this time she
-was not inhaling. I then, as I always do, wetted the face
-with a sponge, with the view of washing off any remaining
-chloroform from the nose and lips, when, to my surprise, I
-found that she had ceased to breathe, and all attempts to
-restore her were in vain.... When I commenced the
-operation, the pupil was contracted, and the conjunctiva
-slightly red. After death, the pupil was very dilated, and
-the countenance extremely pallid.”<a id='r91'></a><a href='#f91' class='c012'><sup>[91]</sup></a> There was no inspection
-of the body. This patient had inhaled chloroform on
-two previous occasions for a similar operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 25</em> occurred in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, on March
-17, 1852. Thomas Hayward, aged 23, was suffering from
-aneurism by anastomosis, occupying the right ear and its
-neighbourhood. He had inhaled chloroform on the 14th of
-the previous month, whilst Mr. Lloyd placed ligatures on
-the temporal artery and some other arteries supplying the
-tumour; and it was with a view to tie an additional artery,
-situated between the mastoid process and the ramus of the
-jaw, that chloroform was again administered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The chloroform was some of the same, and the apparatus
-employed for its administration precisely similar [alluding
-to the former occasion.] It was administered by one of Mr.
-Lloyd’s dressers, who well understood, and had great experience
-in its use. A gentleman of great experience, who
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>had been for years at the hospital, and two years house-surgeon,
-was watching its effects, and marking the state of
-the pulse. Other gentlemen were assisting, and also on the
-look out.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“In from five to ten minutes the usual effect was produced,
-the patient having previously struggled much. The
-operation was then commenced; but no sooner had Mr.
-Lloyd cut the skin, than it was stated that the pulse had
-suddenly ceased. The chloroform was at once removed;
-but in a few seconds, the patient had ceased to breathe, and
-no pulsation could be felt at any of the arteries or the heart.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Artificial respiration, as well as percussion and compression
-of the different parts of the body, were immediately
-employed with energy; and, after continuing the means for
-a short time, the circulation was observed to be returning,
-and the act of respiration was several times performed. The
-state of inanimation, however, speedily returned; but, by
-the employment of the same means as before, with the use
-also of galvanism, the circulation and respiration were again
-restored. Quickly, however, the patient fell into the same
-state as at first, but was again restored by the same means.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“In a few minutes the state of inanimation again returned,
-when the external jugular vein, which on the right
-side was very turgid, was opened, and tracheotomy was performed,
-and the lungs inflated. The patient was also placed
-in a warm bath, at the temperature of 104°, artificial respiration
-being kept up all the time. All, however, was of no
-avail.”<a id='r92'></a><a href='#f92' class='c012'><sup>[92]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body, the following are
-amongst the appearances noted. “The venæ innominatæ
-and vena cava superior were full of blood, and probably
-would have been distended, but that two or three ounces of
-blood had flowed into the coffin from the opening made into
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>the external jugular vein. The right auricle and ventricle
-were distended with blood, and would probably have been
-more so but for the escape of blood mentioned above. The
-left auricle and ventricle contained very little blood; the
-left ventricle was perfectly contracted in the rigor mortis.
-The heart was of full size. It appeared in every part
-natural in its texture, and as if it had possessed full power.
-Its valves also were all healthy; neither could any disease
-be found in any of the chief bloodvessels within the chest.
-All the blood, however, was fluid, and it remained without
-coagulation after its escape from the heart and vessels. It
-had also a brownish purple hue, much like that which is
-commonly observed in the spleen: none of it, when thinly
-spread out, presented the ordinary dark, black, or crimson
-hue of venous blood. Both lungs were attached by old adhesions
-about their apices and posterior surfaces, but these
-were of small extent. Their texture was healthy, but they
-appeared more than usually collapsed and dry. Their bloodvessels
-were not over filled.”<a id='r93'></a><a href='#f93' class='c012'><sup>[93]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In this case, every precaution seems to have been taken,
-except that one which is most essential of all, of regulating
-the proportion of vapour in the inspired air. It had always
-been made a great point in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital to
-attend to the pulse very carefully,<a id='r94'></a><a href='#f94' class='c012'><sup>[94]</sup></a> and on this occasion it
-was closely examined, but only, as in some other cases, with
-the result of being able to note the moment when it suddenly
-ceased.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>With regard to the return of the circulation, which is
-mentioned in the report as having occurred on three occasions,
-together with the breathing, during the efforts at
-resuscitation, I understood from inquiries I made of a
-gentleman present, that this was judged of from the red
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>colour returning to the face and lips, but that the pulse and
-sounds of the heart were never distinctly perceived after
-they first ceased. The respiration may cause the colour to
-return to the face without a true circulation, as I have seen
-whilst inflating the lungs of still-born children; for if a
-portion of red blood be mechanically displaced from the
-lungs by the motion of the chest, it will be propelled by the
-contractility of the arteries, which continues for some time
-after death.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 26</em> is related by Dr. Majer, of Ulm.<a id='r95'></a><a href='#f95' class='c012'><sup>[95]</sup></a> It occurred on
-June 27th, 1852. The patient, Madame W., was 32 years of
-age, and of good constitution. She was in very good spirits,
-and was only waiting the operation of having a tooth extracted,
-before going to dinner. It was stated that only
-twenty or twenty-five drops of chloroform were put on a
-sponge, which was surrounded by a handkerchief. After
-four or five inspirations, the operator inquired if his patient
-did not feel a singing in the ears. She replied with a
-trembling and thick voice. At the same time she stretched
-out her limbs, the face became bluish, the eyes haggard, the
-head and the arms fell—she was dead. The patient’s husband
-said, that the time between the inhalation and death
-was so short that one could scarcely have said Yes or No.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>An examination of the body was made twenty-five hours
-after death. Putrefaction had commenced, and the body
-was not rigid. The vessels of the membranes of the brain
-were gorged with blood containing many bubbles of air.
-The heart was soft and flaccid; the coronary vessels were
-engorged with blood and air; the cavities of the heart contained
-air, but little blood. The lungs were congested at
-the inferior parts.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span><em>Case 27</em> took place at Melbourne, Australia. The name
-of the patient was Mr. John Atkinson, but his age is not
-stated. Dr. Thomas, who was about to operate for fistula
-<em>in ano</em>, said: “Before administering the chloroform, I
-asked the deceased particularly if he had ever suffered
-from any serious illness, to which he replied in the negative.
-I also inquired whether he had been subject to cough or
-palpitation, and he answered that, some time ago, he had
-suffered slightly from cough. The pulse was good, and
-Mr. Barker proceeded in the usual manner to administer the
-chloroform, which shortly produced convulsive twitchings
-of the muscles. I then went to the door to request the
-nurse to send up some person to assist in holding the
-patient in a proper position for the operation, and I returned
-to the bed, and poured a little more chloroform on
-the handkerchief; when it was applied to the face, I heard
-him splutter at the mouth; the chloroform was instantly
-discontinued, but the patient suddenly expired. We tried
-all the means usually resorted to in other cases of suspended
-animation, but without effect. I had frequently used the
-same chloroform in other cases. It was not more than a
-minute after the first application of chloroform that death
-occurred. About a drachm had been poured on the handkerchief.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination after death, “there was considerable
-serous effusion into the pericardium, and the heart itself
-was larger and more flabby than usual. It was hypertrophied,
-and there was dilatation of the cavities; the lungs
-were healthy, and there was a slight appearance of disease
-about the liver, such as is observed in persons addicted to
-intemperance.”<a id='r96'></a><a href='#f96' class='c012'><sup>[96]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 28.</em> On August 10th, 1852, a Mr. Martin, a cattle
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>dealer died near Melrose, in Scotland, after inhaling chloroform
-for the application of potassa fusa to some ulcers of the
-leg. Dr. W. M. Brown, who relates the case, says:—“Before
-proceeding to apply the caustic I gave him chloroform.
-He was not easily affected by it, and struggled a good deal.
-After beginning to apply the caustic I found he was not
-sufficiently insensible to pain, and gave him a little more
-chloroform, which had the desired effect. I then proceeded
-with the application of the caustic, and was just finishing,
-when I observed a sort of catch in his breathing. I immediately
-stopped, and, on looking at him, I saw the mouth
-and eyes open, the breathing irregular, the face pale, the
-eyes slightly turned upwards, and the pupils dilated.” Dr.
-Brown tried artificial respiration and other means to resuscitate
-the patient, but without effect. He says, “in a few
-minutes the man died.” The pulse is not mentioned, nor
-the age of the patient.<a id='r97'></a><a href='#f97' class='c012'><sup>[97]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 29</em> took place in the Manchester Royal Infirmary,
-on December 24th, 1852, during the removal of a malignant
-tumour of the thigh, by Mr. Jordan. The patient was
-Henry Hollingsworth, a factory operative. His age is not
-stated. “The man was very much excited, struggled and
-talked fast. The chloroform was administered slowly, and
-every precaution was taken to prevent any danger, and the
-medical men remarked two or three times how very long it
-was in taking effect. He at last became insensible, in
-about seven minutes at least. Mr. Jordan commenced the
-operation by an incision into the skin covering the tumour.
-I was assisting the surgeon when Mr. Heath directed my
-attention to the patient’s face. This was about five minutes
-after the operation had commenced. I then observed congestion
-about the face, but there was no stertorous breathing.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>His pupils appeared almost to have ceased to act.
-His breathing was becoming exceedingly slow, and he
-seemed to be sinking fast. I directed the attention of the
-operator and the other medical men to these symptoms. The
-operation was then suspended, and means were resorted to
-for restoring animation, but the pupils had ceased to act,
-and had become fixed almost immediately. He gave one
-strong gasp, and then to all appearance was dead. In
-administering the chloroform, successive doses were given
-until it took effect. Every dose consisted of a drachm,
-taken, at intervals, in an inhaler.”<a id='r98'></a><a href='#f98' class='c012'><sup>[98]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following remark is made respecting the autopsy.
-“The post-mortem examination shewed that asphyxia,
-caused by chloroform, produced the death. There was a
-congestion both of the brain and lungs.” The appearances
-met with after death from chloroform do not indicate the
-way in which death has taken place. In animals that are
-killed by it, the right cavities of the heart are always found
-filled with blood, whether they die suddenly by its direct
-action on the heart, or more slowly by its effects on the
-brain, and the breathing ceases before the circulation. The
-lungs are seldom much congested in animals, whichever be
-the mode of dying, and the appearances in the head are not
-unusual. The state of the pulse is not mentioned in the
-above account of the case; but congestion about the face was
-first observed, and then it was noticed that the breathing
-was getting slow. It is sufficiently probable that the
-breathing ceased on account of the action of the heart
-being first arrested; but even if the respiration was embarrassed
-by the action of the chloroform on the brain, it
-is pretty certain that that agent also acted directly on the
-heart; for it cannot be supposed that the means used for
-restoring animation would have failed, if the heart had been
-acting properly when the breathing ceased.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span><em>Case 30</em> took place on March 19th, 1853, in University
-College Hospital, London. The subject of it was an unmarried
-woman, named Caroline Baker, aged twenty-eight.
-The chloroform was administered with the intention of
-applying nitric acid to a sloughing ulceration of the labia
-and vagina. “The chloroform, supposed in the first instance
-to be about a drachm, was poured on lint about five
-inches square, and folded four or five times over. After a
-short time the patient became restless, talked loudly, and
-threw about her arms. Soon afterwards a partial relaxation
-of the limbs took place, and she became insensible and
-pulseless.”<a id='r99'></a><a href='#f99' class='c012'><sup>[99]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Further symptoms are not given, but it is stated that
-she sank and died. The breathing is not mentioned, but
-Mr. Erichsen, who, although not present at the accident to
-his patient, would be made aware of all that occurred,
-stated at the inquest, that death was produced by a paralysis
-of the heart from the influence of the chloroform.
-Dr. Quain examined the structure of the heart with the
-microscope, and he “found that organ, particularly on the
-right side, in a state of fatty degeneration.”</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 31</em> was communicated to the Society of Surgery of
-Paris by M. De Vallet, Surgeon-in-chief to the Hôtel-Dieu,
-d’Orléans. “A soldier of the line, aged twenty-five, apparently
-in good health, and of strong frame, consulted
-M. Vallet for a small tumour situated behind the right
-labial commissure. Before operating, he proceeded to direct
-the inhalation of chloroform. The patient, fasting, being
-placed in the horizontal posture, the chloroform (about one
-gramme) was poured upon a hollow sponge, and applied
-to the nose, the mouth being left free. At the expiration
-of a minute, no effect having been produced, four grammes
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>were poured on the sponge, and at the expiration of four
-minutes, the patient, without having experienced any
-irritation of the larynx, without having manifested any
-resistance, without redness of the countenance, and after
-only a slight period of agitation, fell into a state of insensibility
-fit for the operation. Scarcely had the incision
-been made, necessary to expose the cyst, when the patient
-became pale, respiration was suspended, and he sank into a
-state of complete collapse. All the usual remedies were
-tried, and without avail. M. Vallet opened the trachea, and
-performed artificial respiration with an elastic tube; then
-an electric current was sent by needles through the region
-of the heart. The patient died without any sign of reaction.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Examination of the body.—The vessels of the brain
-were empty; the lungs were congested with blood, which in
-some situations was extravasated; the heart was excessively
-flaccid; there were some soft clots in the right cavities;
-the left were empty. The stomach was full of gas; the
-liver, spleen, and kidneys were gorged with black blood.”<a id='r100'></a><a href='#f100' class='c012'><sup>[100]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 32</em> occurred in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
-to a man aged forty-three, on whom Dr. Dunsmure was
-about to operate for stricture of the urethra by perineal
-section. The chloroform was administered by Dr. Struthers.
-About an ounce of chloroform was used, and the patient
-had been put under the influence of this agent on two
-former occasions, when a similar quantity was employed
-without ill effect. The following is Dr. Dunsmure’s account
-of the case:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“While the patient was inhaling the drug, he struggled
-considerably, and became a good deal congested in the face
-and head. He seemed to take a slight convulsion, like an
-epileptic fit, and such as I have seen on several occasions
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>in people who have led an intemperate life. During the
-convulsion, the handkerchief containing the chloroform was
-removed to some distance from the face. In a short time
-the inhalation took effect, and he began to snore, and
-although still violent, the chloroform was removed from the
-face entirely, and the handkerchief placed under the pillow.
-As soon as the patient became more quiet, he was pulled
-down on the table, and placed in the proper position for
-the operation. I then shaved the perineum, and was just
-going to make my first incision, when one of the assistants
-said that his pulse was becoming weak. The posterior
-tibial, Mr. Spence then remarked, was good, but in a second
-or two after, both gentlemen exclaimed that the pulse was
-gone. I rushed from my seat to the patient’s head, and
-found that his breathing had ceased. Those present who
-had an opportunity of observing the respiration, which I
-had not, owing to the stool on which I sat being low,
-positively assert that the breathing did not cease before the
-pulse. The face was much congested, the jaws were firmly
-closed, and the pupils were dilated. I immediately forced
-open the lower jaw by means of the handle of a staff, and
-with catch forceps pulled out the tongue. Artificial respiration
-was had recourse to, and in a few minutes he
-made a long inspiration. This was soon followed by a
-second, by a third at a longer interval, by a fourth at a still
-longer period, and then by a fifth, when all attempts at
-natural breathing ceased. No pulsation could be felt in
-the radial arteries. The chest was noticed to be much
-contracted, to have apparently lost its elasticity, and not
-to expand when the ribs were forcibly compressed during
-the artificial respiration. I had previously sent for a galvanic
-apparatus, which was in the flat below, and it arrived
-almost immediately after the patient had made the fifth
-inspiration. When the tongue was pulled out, and before
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>the first breath was taken, I was on the point of opening
-the trachea, but this proceeding was then abandoned; it
-was now, however, had recourse to, in order to carry on
-artificial respiration more certainly: the external jugular
-was also opened, and about a couple of ounces of blood
-flowed. By the time the tracheotomy tube was inserted,
-the galvanic apparatus was in working condition, and it was
-applied on each side of the diaphragm. It acted remarkably
-well; at each application of the sponges, the muscle descended
-as if the patient was in life; air passed through
-the tube in the trachea, and for some time I was in great
-hopes that the man was to be saved; but the muscle
-gradually lost its contractility, and although the galvanism
-was kept up for an hour, it was evident that all our efforts
-were in vain—that life was extinct. The post-mortem
-examination was made the following day at one o’clock,
-rather more than twenty-four hours after the patient’s
-death, and I give the report of it as drawn up by Dr.
-Gairdner, the pathologist to the Infirmary:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“John Mitchell, aged forty-three, died 28th September.
-A very robust man; height five feet eight inches; diameter
-(lateral) of base of thorax, ten and a half inches.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“External appearances.—Considerable lividity of face
-and neck, and more than usual congestion of depending
-parts. Considerable amount of fat, but more in omentum
-and around viscera of abdomen than in external parietes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Chest.—Right pleura presents a few slight adhesions
-near the middle; left pleura free. No fluid in either
-pleural cavity. Pericardium contained about half an ounce
-of serum, and presented a few opaque patches on its surface.
-Both sides of heart contained blood, the right side
-rather more than the left. Blood more than usually fluid.
-External fat of heart considerable, about three lines on
-some parts of right ventricle. Muscular tissue of heart
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>generally flabby, and rather pale, but not distinctly disorganized
-to the naked eye. Valves perfectly healthy.
-Aorta presented very faint traces of atheroma. A few
-traces of atrophy of right lung towards its apex and anterior
-edge, but very limited. In all other respects lungs
-free from disease, but somewhat congested.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Spleen soft, but not diffluent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Liver congested, but otherwise normal.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Kidneys congested, but otherwise healthy.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Brain.—The subarachnoid fluid presents considerable
-milky opacity, and is of moderate quantity. Moderate congestion
-of the meninges generally. About half an ounce
-of fluid in the ventricles. Substance of brain healthy.
-Arteries at base perfectly free from atheroma. Air passages.—Glottis
-perfectly patent. Mucous membrane of
-larynx and trachea slightly congested.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Microscopic examination shewed the fibres of the heart
-to be nearly normal, though scarcely so distinctly striated
-as in some cases. The minute vessels of the brain and pia
-mater presented at some points a few clustering granules,
-but to no great extent.”<a id='r101'></a><a href='#f101' class='c012'><sup>[101]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Dunsmure expressed the opinion that four or five
-minutes elapsed from the time the chloroform was left off
-before the pulse failed. But it is pretty certain that he has
-much over-estimated the time. Indeed, if the shaving of
-the perineum were likely to occupy even half of this time,
-the operator would have done it, or had it done, before the
-chloroform was administered. Dr. Dunsmure makes the
-following remark in his comments on the case: “In several
-instances where I have seen chloroform very nearly prove
-fatal, the respiration became gradually restored after an inspiration
-had once been made; in this case, however, no
-such fortunate occurrence took place.” In the other cases
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>to which allusion is here made, the heart has not been
-paralysed, or at least not completely, but they show that the
-method of administering chloroform in Edinburgh had been
-far from satisfactory in its results, although no patient had
-before that time been actually lost.<a id='r102'></a><a href='#f102' class='c012'><sup>[102]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 33</em> occurred in University College Hospital, London,
-and the following account of it was given by Dr. Hillier:</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“E. R., aged 40, a woman of moderate height, rather thin.
-The general health has been pretty good; she had not been
-liable to palpitation or dyspnœa. Had been in the habit of
-drinking pretty freely. Admitted on October 5th, at 11 p.m.
-She was suffering from the symptoms of strangulated hernia,
-which had existed two days and a half. Efforts were made
-to reduce the hernia, both without and with a warm bath,
-in which she was for upwards of half an hour without
-getting very faint. These efforts being unsuccessful, an
-operation was at once determined on. Her pulse was at
-this time regular, and of tolerable strength.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Chloroform was administered in the usual way, on a
-piece of lint, which was held three or four inches from the
-patient’s face, and then brought to within an inch and a
-half of her nose and mouth, leaving space around for the
-admission of air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“For three or four minutes nothing unusual presented
-itself; the pulse and respiration proceeded normally. There
-was put on the lint, at first, one fluid drachm of chloroform;
-and, at the end of three or four minutes, forty minims more
-were added. This was the whole quantity of chloroform
-employed. Within a minute after the second quantity of
-chloroform was added, the patient struggled violently both
-with her arms and legs. During these struggles I was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>holding her right hand, and was unable to feel the pulse in
-consequence of her constant motions. The struggling lasted
-about a minute, and on its ceasing, the patient commenced
-to breathe with loud, rough stertor. I at once removed the
-lint from before the face, and felt for the pulse, which I
-could not find. Immediately cold water was dashed on her
-face. She breathed with this stertor for two or three short
-inspirations, and then two or three long ones, and then the
-breathing ceased. Immediately artificial respiration was
-resorted to, and within a minute galvanism was applied to
-the back of her neck and the diaphragm. Under the influence
-of these agencies, the patient gasped about three
-times at intervals; after this, no further signs of life were
-exhibited.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“At the time when the stertor commenced and the pulse
-failed, the pupils were dilated, and the face of the patient
-was only slightly altered. The tongue was not retracted,
-for one of the bystanders at once put his fingers into her
-mouth to ascertain this.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the autopsy made by Dr. Garrod thirteen hours after
-death, the rigor mortis was well marked; the blood was
-very fluid in all parts of the body. There was about an
-ounce of colourless fluid in the pericardium. The heart was
-quite collapsed and empty, but, as Dr. Garrod observes, this
-may have been due to the fluidity of the blood. The weight
-of the heart was seven ounces and three-quarters; valves
-healthy. Walls of the right ventricle flabby and pale; mean
-thickness one eighth of an inch. At some parts the muscular
-substance was in a very thin layer, being much encroached on
-by fat. In several places there was scarcely any muscular fibre
-visible. This was chiefly the case near the apex. Examined
-by the microscope, much fatty degeneration of the muscular
-fibres of the right ventricle generally was discovered. The
-walls of the left ventricle were flabby, dry in appearance, pale,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>and very friable. Both lungs were crepitant throughout,
-not much engorged. Brain not congested. The intestines
-above the strangulation were much distended with flatus,
-and inflamed.<a id='r103'></a><a href='#f103' class='c012'><sup>[103]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 34</em> occurred on October 20th, 1853, a few days after
-the last. The patient was a young woman named Ann
-Smith, aged 22 years, under the care of Mr. Paget in St.
-Bartholomew’s Hospital, who was about to apply the actual
-cautery to a sore of cancroid nature in the vagina. She
-was a stout, florid young woman, formerly of dissolute
-habits, but apparently in perfect health, with the exception
-of the local ailment. She had been put under the full and
-prolonged influence of chloroform a fortnight previously for
-the application of the cautery, without the occurrence of
-any untoward symptoms whatever. The chloroform was
-administered by Dr. Black, one of the assistant physicians.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The usual form of inhaler was employed,—a padded
-metal cup, fitting over the nose and mouth, and supplied
-with valves. A drachm, by measure, was first poured on
-the sponge, but as the administration did not immediately
-commence, a considerable part of this was no doubt wasted;
-after a short inhalation, a second drachm was supplied, and
-subsequently the further quantity of half a drachm. The
-patient had gone through the usual stages of excitement,
-etc., and the last dose was scarcely used, as she sank off,
-almost immediately after its application, into a state of
-complete insensibility, unattended by any alarming symptoms.
-About five minutes had been occupied by the inhalation,
-and probably not more than a drachm and a half
-of the fluid really inhaled. The apparatus was now removed
-from the face, and the patient having been drawn into the
-proper position, Mr. Paget was about to commence the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>operation, when Dr. Black, who throughout had kept his
-finger on the pulse, noticed it to have become extremely
-weak and fluttering. Almost immediately afterwards, the
-patient’s countenance was observed to be dusky, turgid, and
-congested, and the respiratory movements began to be performed
-at long intervals, and by slight catching efforts. No
-time was lost; cold water was at once dashed on the thighs,
-face, and breast; and, the failure of the respiration becoming
-shortly complete, Mr. Paget immediately began artificial
-insufflation of the lungs, by alternately blowing into the
-nostrils, and compressing the chest. Just before commencing
-this process, Mr. Paget had ascertained, by drawing
-the tongue forwards and examining the glottis with the
-finger, that the epiglottis was not pressed down.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Other means were employed, but no further signs of life
-appeared. It is further recorded that, “immediately after
-the first alarming symptoms, the pupils were of the medium
-size, neither contracted nor dilated. All efforts at respiration
-ceased about two minutes after the first indications of
-failure; the pulse, however, as a very feeble flutter, was
-felt occasionally for at least two minutes later.”<a id='r104'></a><a href='#f104' class='c012'><sup>[104]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the autopsy, performed by Mr. Paget, twenty-two
-hours after death, “the thorax was first examined, and nothing
-whatever abnormal could be detected in any of the
-viscera; the lungs were healthy and crepitant in every
-part; their posterior lobes were not more congested than
-is seen in almost every examination; the heart, collapsed,
-but not contracted, and containing a small quantity of fluid
-blood in each cavity, was of normal size and proportions,
-in every respect, and its muscular structure, examined by
-the microscope, showed no degeneration.... The brain,
-its sinuses, ventricles, etc., were all carefully examined, and
-neither in texture nor quantity of blood was anything abnormal
-detected.”<a id='r105'></a><a href='#f105' class='c012'><sup>[105]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>Although the failure of the pulse was the first symptom
-of danger in this case, it continued to be felt as a very
-feeble flutter for about four minutes, so that the heart was
-not so completely paralysed as in most of the fatal cases.
-It must, however, have been so far paralysed as to be past
-recovery.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 35.</em> Professor Dumreicher related a case of death
-from chloroform at the meeting of the Vienna Society of
-Physicians, held on November 16, 1853. The patient was
-a young man, aged nineteen, in somewhat feeble health,
-who inhaled chloroform in the recumbent position, in order
-to have his anchylosed knee-joint forcibly extended. It
-was inhaled from a vessel resembling a snuff-box, which
-was held to the nostrils. “The inhalation was continued
-for fifty seconds, and the patient had spoken a few seconds
-previously, when Professor D. observed that the pulse had
-become frequent and undulating. He immediately suspended
-the administration of the anæsthetic. Trismus occurred;
-the respirations became irregular; the face turned
-livid, and he foamed at the mouth.” The measures which
-were employed included the abstraction of eight ounces of
-blood from the jugular vein, but they were of no avail.
-He only once made a feeble attempt at inspiration.<a id='r106'></a><a href='#f106' class='c012'><sup>[106]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 36</em> occurred in the practice of Dr. Wüstefeldt of
-Neustedt. “A young girl, thirteen years of age, had on
-the dorsal region a voluminous lipoma, which extended
-from the last dorsal vertebra to the crest of the ilium....
-One drachm of chloroform was employed. As soon as insensibility
-was manifested, the operation was commenced,
-but scarcely had the surgeon divided the skin, when the
-girl, yielding to the laws of gravity, fell suddenly forwards
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>on her chest. Dr. Wüstefeldt, struck by the phenomenon,
-which he had witnessed before under similar circumstances,
-immediately desisted from operating, and strove to restore
-the patient to life; but every effort was useless, and, in the
-course of a few minutes, it became evident that she was
-dead.”<a id='r107'></a><a href='#f107' class='c012'><sup>[107]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Further particulars are not given; but as the patient
-died suddenly, when the surgeon had scarcely divided the
-skin, it must be admitted that he was, in all probability,
-correct in attributing the event to the chloroform. The
-patient usually yields to the laws of gravity when only
-partially under the influence of chloroform, and it seems
-surprising that the operation should have been undertaken
-without placing the patient in the horizontal posture. The
-proper position of the patient, when a large tumour of the
-back is to be removed, is to be lying almost flat on the
-abdomen, the head being a little turned on one side, so that
-it rests with one ear on the pillow.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 37.</em> Jane Morgan, aged fifty-nine, died whilst inhaling
-chloroform in the Bristol Infirmary, on January 21st,
-1854. She was moderately stout, pale, but not otherwise
-of unhealthy appearance. “The stethoscopic indications
-were favourable, the beat of the heart was natural, and the
-air passed freely throughout both lungs; but the chest
-movements on the right side were not quite so free as on
-the left.” Chloroform was ordered by Mr. Harrison, the
-senior surgeon of the Infirmary, with the intention of attempting
-to reduce a dislocation of the humerus of eight
-weeks standing. “Having taken no food since her breakfast,
-she commenced the inhalation of one drachm of chloroform,
-at 2 <span class='fss'>P.M.</span>, in bed in her ward, under the superintendence
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>of Mr. Hore, the house-surgeon. Nothing unusual
-occurring in the patient’s general condition during
-inhalation, a second drachm, in about five minutes from the
-first, was poured upon the sponge, and the inhalation was
-continued. Almost immediately after the addition of the
-second drachm, the chloroform was withdrawn, as the patient’s
-breathing became stertorous; and immediately afterwards
-her pulse, which had hitherto continued pretty firm,
-was suddenly imperceptible, the respiration ceasing at the
-same time. The pupils were not dilated.” Various measures
-were promptly resorted to with the hope of restoring
-the patient; but there were no further signs of life, unless
-“some convulsive efforts of the respiratory muscles,” under
-the application of galvanism, be so regarded.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body on the following day,
-the right pleura was found to be adherent. The lungs were
-healthy in structure, but gorged with dark fluid blood.
-There was about an ounce of fluid in the pericardium.
-There was a small quantity of fluid blood in each of the
-cavities of the heart. For the length of an inch from their
-commencement, both coronary arteries were much dilated,
-and studded with atheromatous and bony deposits. The
-muscular structure of the heart was examined under the
-microscope by Dr. William Budd, and a considerable proportion
-of the fibres were found in a state of incipient fatty
-degeneration. It was learned, after her death, that she had
-been subject to occasional attacks of fainting.<a id='r108'></a><a href='#f108' class='c012'><sup>[108]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 38.</em> A death from chloroform occurred in the
-Hôpital St. Antoine, at Paris, in the spring of 1854. The
-subject of this was a woman aged forty, on whom M.
-Richard was operating for the removal of a uterine polypus.
-The surgeon placed the patient in the horizontal posture,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>and administered the chloroform on a compress of lint.
-She became insensible in two minutes, having first been
-excited so that it was necessary to hold her. M. Richard
-moved the patient to the edge of the bed, gave the compress
-containing the chloroform into the hands of an assistant,
-and commenced the operation, which was likely to
-be of short duration. He had almost completed it, when
-he was apprised by an assistant, who had been set to feel
-the pulse, that it had ceased to beat. He sought for it
-himself, but found that it did not beat. The face was
-extremely pale; a slow respiration still continued, but
-soon ceased; and the measures which were used with the
-hope of restoring the patient were of no avail.<a id='r109'></a><a href='#f109' class='c012'><sup>[109]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body all the organs were found
-in a healthy state. The right cavities of the heart and the
-great veins contained a considerable quantity of blood, and
-the left cavities of the heart a small quantity. The blood
-was everywhere fluid.<a id='r110'></a><a href='#f110' class='c012'><sup>[110]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 39.</em> A patient, named Mrs. Harrup, died at Sheffield
-from the effects of chloroform administered with the intention
-of removing a cancerous tumour of the left breast.
-The age of the patient was forty-five, and she was stated to
-be in good health, excepting the local affection.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The chloroform was administered with more than the
-usual precautions. After the inhalation had gone on
-without any effect for twenty minutes, it was thought that
-possibly different chloroform might succeed, and one ounce
-was accordingly procured from the public dispensary.
-After the inhalation had been conducted with the fresh
-chloroform about twenty minutes, the usual effects of the
-vapour began to manifest themselves. The pulse, which
-was 136 before any chloroform had been given, and had
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>been very gradually decreasing in frequency while it improved
-in strength, was now about 104. At this moment
-muttering—half articulate delirium—came on, but ceased
-in a few moments, and was immediately followed by conclusive
-signs of the satisfactory action of the chloroform.
-Dr. Law now desired Mr. Wright to begin the operation;
-but before he could do so, Dr. Law, seeing an alarming
-change in the countenance of the deceased, cried, ‘Stop,
-Mr. Lewis, how is the pulse?’ I replied, ‘It is gone.’”
-After stating the means which were used with a view to
-resuscitate the patient, it is added that the heart had ceased
-to beat, and that, after a few short and laboured inspirations,
-life became extinct.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body, the cartilages of the ribs
-were found to be ossified. The heart and lungs were perfectly
-healthy, but the lungs were in a congested condition.
-There was an extravasation of blood in the spinal muscles,
-and a little blood in the spinal canal, in what part or between
-what structures is not stated.<a id='r111'></a><a href='#f111' class='c012'><sup>[111]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 40</em> occurred in the Lock Hospital, London, in May
-1854. Walter Hollis, a tailor, aged eighteen, had been
-under treatment for sores within the prepuce, and these
-having healed, he was about to undergo the operation for
-congenital phymosis. He had been of dissolute habits,
-and exhibited a pale cachectic appearance.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The inhaler used was a simple mouth-piece by which
-the nostrils are left uncovered. About two drachms of the
-fluid were poured into the instrument. After about six
-minutes inhalation, insensibility seemed to be coming on,
-and at this moment the pulse was ascertained to be of
-good volume. Nothing whatever had occurred to indicate
-the impending danger, when, after a few more inhalations,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>the pulse suddenly failed, became quite imperceptible, and
-the countenance assumed a pale and leaden hue. The inhalation
-was immediately stopped, and attempts to resuscitate,
-by means of striking the chest sharply with a wet
-towel, applying ammonia to the nostrils, and by artificial
-respiration, were at once commenced. These were employed
-for three or four minutes before any signs of life
-were perceived; but, subsequently, the pulse was again to
-be felt, and spontaneous respiration was renewed. Artificial
-respiration was desisted from on the occurrence of
-these signs of returning life, and for upwards of ten
-minutes the chest continued to fill regularly, and the pulse
-beat at a rate of from 40 to 50 in the minute; the countenance
-of the patient also much improved, and even
-assumed a slight flush. After the expiration of, perhaps,
-a little more than ten minutes, however, these indications
-of returning vitality again disappeared, the pulse and respiratory
-efforts simultaneously ceased, and the countenance
-became deathlike. Artificial respiration and the other
-means were again adopted, but this time without the
-slightest success.... Post-mortem examination on the
-next day shewed great venous congestion within the
-cranium; the lungs were also somewhat congested. The
-heart was slightly enlarged, and the ventricular parietes
-were thinned; in the muscular fibres the microscope detected
-decided fatty degeneration. The blood was universally
-fluid.”<a id='r112'></a><a href='#f112' class='c012'><sup>[112]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The partial recovery of the patient is a remarkable feature
-in this case, and it is difficult to explain why he did not
-recover completely. The number of the pulsations during
-this partial recovery is mentioned, but not their quality,
-and I cannot help supposing that the pulse must have been
-extremely weak, as well as slow, at this period. The ten
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>minutes during which the pulse and breathing returned is
-mentioned with the qualifying term of “perhaps”, which leads
-to the supposition that it was not noted by the watch or
-clock, and under such circumstances of anxiety and suspense,
-the time might be very much over-rated. The slight fatty
-degeneration of the heart might probably interfere with the
-complete recovery of the patient, after this organ had once
-been paralysed by the chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 41</em> took place on July 13th, 1854, in the Middlesex
-Hospital. The patient was a stout, muscular, and florid
-man, 65 years of age, on whom Mr. De Morgan was about to
-perform amputation at the upper part of the thigh, on
-account of a large malignant tumour growing from the
-inner side of the femur.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Chloroform was administered by Mr. Sibley, the registrar
-to the hospital. Snow’s inhaler was employed. The quantity
-at first placed in the inhaler was rather less than two
-drachms, and another drachm was added eight minutes
-afterwards. The patient inhaled the chloroform without
-difficulty, and went through the usual stages; at the end of
-about ten minutes violent spasm was induced; this continued
-about three minutes, and then somewhat abated. The pulse,
-which had risen to about 120, descended to 70, having a
-full, steady, and deliberate beat. The pupils, which had
-been much dilated, became less so. The respiration continued
-free and deep, but not stertorous. The colour of the
-face remained good.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“At this moment, which was between thirteen and
-fourteen minutes from the commencement of the inhalation
-of the chloroform, the pulse gave a few rapid and irregular
-beats, and then ceased. Respiration, which, as has been
-stated, had been going on freely, ceased simultaneously.
-The face became suddenly pallid and deathlike. The inhaler
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>was removed instantaneously, and cold water dashed on the
-face. Mr. Sibley immediately commenced to carry on artificial
-respiration, by applying his mouth to that of the
-patient, and inflating the lungs. The period that elapsed
-between the sudden cessation of the pulse and the inflation
-of the lungs was only a few seconds. After a few inflations,
-there appeared to be a slight effort at inspiration, but this
-was the only sign of life discovered after the syncopal attack.
-Galvanism was in operation within two minutes after the
-cessation of the pulse.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“An examination of the body was made by Dr. Corfe
-forty-eight hours after death. In the head nothing particular
-was discovered; the brain was firm, and rather more
-vascular than natural; the blood in the sinus was partly
-coagulated; the heart was rather larger than natural, and
-was extremely loaded with fat, especially on the right side,
-where fat formed three-fourths of the thickness of the wall
-of the ventricle; the muscular tissue was extremely pale and
-soft, and exhibited both to the naked eye, and the eye
-assisted by the microscope, an extreme degree of fatty degeneration;
-the blood in the cavities of the heart was firmly
-coagulated; on both sides it was almost purely fibrinous;
-the clot on the right side was larger than on the left; a
-fibrinous clot extended down the aorta.”<a id='r113'></a><a href='#f113' class='c012'><sup>[113]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I do not know how the bibulous paper was arranged in
-the inhaler in this instance, nor whether the inhaler was
-used with a view to regulating the amount of vapour in the
-inspired air. The proportion of vapour must have been
-small during the first ten minutes, as the patient became so
-slowly insensible; and judging from the result, we must
-conclude that the proportion was large just before the
-accident. The firm coagulation of the blood and separation
-of the fibrin were probably owing to the galvanism which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>was so promptly applied. I found the fibrin separated from
-the colouring matter of the blood in the cavities of the heart
-of a cat, in which shocks of electro-magnetism had been
-sent through the chest just after it had been killed with
-chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 42.</em> A man died whilst inhaling chloroform in
-University College Hospital on October 11th, 1854. The
-patient was a shoemaker named George Sands, aged 39, and
-of rather bloated aspect. He inhaled chloroform whilst Mr.
-Erichsen was endeavouring to introduce a catheter, and had
-the intention of puncturing the bladder if not successful.
-The patient was made insensible, and the chloroform was
-left off, but was reapplied on account of the patient making
-some expression of pain. “Probably about two minutes of
-the second inhalation had elapsed, when the man became
-profoundly insensible, and began to snore with a peculiar
-and very profound stertor. His face at this time was suffused
-and flushed, and the inspirations were drawn at rather
-prolonged intervals. Mr. Erichsen’s attention was at once
-excited by these symptoms, and, desisting from the use of
-the catheter, he immediately commenced dashing the patient’s
-face and chest with water. The chloroform had, of course,
-been removed. In the course of about a minute, the noise
-with the breathing gradually lessened, and it became apparent
-that the respiration was ceasing altogether. Mr.
-Erichsen now put his finger into the patient’s pharynx, and
-dragged forwards the root of the tongue; at the same time
-attempting artificial inflation of the lungs, by applying his
-own mouth to that of the man. The latter plan did not
-appear to succeed well, and was almost immediately substituted
-by the more usual mode of artificial respiration,
-by compression of the chest, which was kept up most
-vigorously. The man’s pulse had been felt by the administrator
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>[Mr. Carnell] to be still beating some little time after
-the commencement of the alarming symptoms and the
-cessation of respiration. Artificial respiration had been employed
-for about four minutes, when the man, whose countenance
-had meanwhile retained its colour and an expression
-of yet remaining life, began to breathe again. A
-very short intermission of artificial assistance having been
-made, he drew spontaneously three or four inspirations;
-but, as each successive one was more feeble, the artificial aid
-was at once recommenced. About five minutes from the
-commencement, the galvanic apparatus was got in readiness
-and applied. It produced, however, no benefit; and from
-this time the patient lost colour in the face, and was evidently
-dead.... The form of inhaler which had been
-employed was the one in ordinary use at this hospital, viz.
-a folded piece of lint. The administrator’s hands and the
-patient’s face had been covered during the inhalation by a
-towel.”<a id='r114'></a><a href='#f114' class='c012'><sup>[114]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body seventy hours after death,
-extensive fatty degeneration of the heart was met with. The
-cavities of the heart were empty, owing, no doubt, to the
-artificial respiration.<a id='r115'></a><a href='#f115' class='c012'><sup>[115]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The above case differs to a certain extent from those
-previously quoted, inasmuch as the first symptoms of
-danger were those of profound coma, and of threatened
-death by apnœa, as a consequence of the action of the
-chloroform on the medulla oblongata and nerves of respiration.
-In addition to this cause of danger, however, the
-chloroform present in the lungs at the moment when the
-inhalation was discontinued must have acted directly on
-the heart, or the prompt assistance of so able an authority
-on asphyxia as Mr. Erichsen, the moment the breathing
-was suspended, would surely have restored the patient.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>The mode of death, although not exactly the same as that
-in Experiment 24 (page 110), differs from that in the previous
-experiment, where the heart’s action was good and distinct
-after the breathing ceased; it resembles the mode of dying
-in many animals that I have killed with chloroform; being,
-in fact, a combination of death by apnœa and cardiac
-syncope, which generally occurs when the quantity of
-vapour in the respired air is intermediate between that in
-Experiments 23 and 24, or somewhere between 5 and 10
-per cent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A great peculiarity in the way in which chloroform was
-administered in the case we are considering was that the
-head and face of the patient were covered by a towel, under
-which the lint wetted with chloroform was held. The
-countenance and state of respiration could not be observed
-in this mode of giving the chloroform; the person administering
-it had to depend almost entirely on the pulse; and,
-except for this cause, there is every reason to conclude that
-the chloroform would have been withdrawn in this instance
-in time to save the patient. It was not apparently till a
-peculiar and very loud stertor attracted the attention of the
-operating surgeon himself, that the inhalation was discontinued,
-and the face was already suffused.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This plan of administering chloroform with the head and
-shoulders of the patient covered with a towel, was introduced
-by Mr. Clover, who was for several years a resident
-officer of the institution; and it is but right to state that it
-led to no accident in his hands; in those of his successors
-it was, however, less successful; three accidents having
-occurred in a little more than a year and a half. I much
-regret to find that Mr. Erichsen recommends this method of
-giving chloroform in the edition of his work on surgery
-recently published.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span><em>Case 43</em> occurred in Guy’s Hospital, on December 5th,
-1854. The patient was a woman whose leg Mr. Birkett was
-about to amputate on account of malignant ulceration. She
-gave her age as fifty-six, but appeared ten years older. “In
-each eye was a fairly marked arcus senilis, but the woman
-was not known to have suffered any symptoms referable to
-thoracic disease.... The administration of the anæsthetic
-was conducted by Mr. Bryant, the inhaler used consisting
-of a fold of lint, rather larger than an out-spread hand, and
-protected on its back by a piece of oiled silk to prevent
-wasteful evaporation.... In the first instance, about a drachm
-of the fluid was poured upon the lint. The patient inhaled
-it kindly; and, after about two minutes, another drachm
-was added. A stage of excitement now followed, during
-which the limbs required to be held. Insensibility was just
-fully established, and Mr. Birkett was on the point of commencing
-the operation, when Mr. Callaway, who was compressing
-the femoral artery, exclaimed that the pulse had
-suddenly ceased entirely. The wrist was examined, and the
-same found to be the case. Almost immediately afterwards,
-a long-drawn inspiration, attended with a deep sighing
-noise, was observed. For two or three breaths the cheeks
-puffed out during expiration; the respiration next fluttered,
-and then ceased. Mr. Birkett at once put his finger into
-the patient’s mouth, and drew forward the tongue, artificial
-respiration being meanwhile commenced by assistants by
-means of compression of the chest. A few slight inspirations
-were attempted by the patient subsequent to the commencement
-of the artificial assistance; but they did not
-continue, and no sign of vitality was ever afterwards shown....
-It must be noted, that the woman had been very pale
-both before and throughout the exhibition, and that no
-change in her appearance was perceived when the alarming
-symptoms occurred, excepting that the superficial veins of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>the neck and temple became distended with blood. The
-cessation of the pulse was most sudden. Mr. Callaway
-stated that it was not preceded by the least premonitory
-fluttering, the stroke having been good one beat, and entirely
-wanting the next. This order of symptoms was of
-course suggestive of death beginning at the heart (cardiac
-syncope), the cessation of the functions of the nervous
-system having been markedly subsequent to that of the circulation....</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Autopsy, twenty-four hours after death (conducted by
-Dr. Wilks). The corpse was much emaciated, and the rigor
-mortis imperfect. The lungs were much congested with
-fluid blood, which ran out after incision of their substance.
-The heart was of normal size, but soft and flabby; its left
-side was nearly empty, the right being distended with fluid
-blood. The left ventricle was of good thickness; its muscle
-of a deep colour, not encroached on by fat, or in the least
-mottled, the only observable departure from a healthy state
-being its flabbiness. The right ventricular wall was very
-thin, the subserous fat having in some parts almost taken
-the place of the muscular tissue. The layer of the latter,
-however, although much thinned, had still a good colour,
-and did not appear to the naked eye as degenerated, an
-observation which may apply also to the carneæ columnæ.
-The liver was in an early stage of cirrhosis, and the kidneys
-were both of them mottled, and contained numerous small
-cysts in the external part. The brain was rather paler than
-usual, its convolutions appeared shrunken and atrophied,
-and there was a quantity of serous fluid in the arachnoid
-sac and in the ventricles. There was general atheromatous
-disease of the arterial system, both in the head and other
-parts of the body. The blood was universally fluid, and of
-a dark colour.”<a id='r116'></a><a href='#f116' class='c012'><sup>[116]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>As far as could be estimated, the time occupied by inhalation
-was about three minutes in this case.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 44</em> occurred at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, on
-April 10th, 1855, in a man on whom Mr. Bowman was
-about to perform excision of the left eyeball. The patient,
-named John Cannon, was forty years old, and was moderately
-stout, florid, and healthy-looking. He had generally
-led a temperate life. The disorganisation of the eye was the
-result of injury.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The inhaler used was the one devised and recommended
-by Dr. Snow.... The administration was entrusted to Dr.
-Playne, of King’s College Hospital. In the commencement
-of the inhalation, the valve of the mouth-piece was so turned
-as to admit an abundant supply of air, a point to which
-Mr. Bowman directed personal attention. During the first
-four minutes (more or less) nothing unusual occurred. Dr.
-Playne, who had his finger on the pulse, had noticed that it
-had rather increased in fulness, and was of good volume.
-Rather suddenly, however, just as the anæsthetic appeared
-to be producing its effect, symptoms of excitement occurred.
-The eyes became fixed and staring, the arms outstretched
-and rigid, and the face contorted. It was now impracticable
-to feel the pulse, on account of the tossing about of
-the arms; but, as is usual in such conditions, the respiration
-was noticed to be all but, if not quite, suspended by
-the spasmodic fixture of the chest. The inhaler was at
-once removed, and the face and chest of the patient dashed
-with cold water. Almost immediately after, as the respirations
-had become extremely feeble and sighing, Mr. Bowman
-commenced practising artificial breathing, by the application
-of his own mouth to that of the patient. By this means,
-the chest was made to fill very completely, and the process
-was kept up almost without intermission for from five to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>eight minutes. During the first three or four minutes after
-the alarm began, the patient continued at times to make
-slight sighing efforts at voluntary inspiration, and the case
-was not thought, by those looking on, to be by any means
-hopeless. At length, however, these finally ceased, and
-from that time it was apparent that the man was dead....
-At the first opportunity which occurred for examining
-it after the spasmodic struggling had commenced,
-the pulse was found to be extinct, and it remained so ever
-after, although there were, as stated, feeble efforts at inspiration.
-The patient’s countenance changed somewhat
-during the treatment, but was mostly suffused and congested.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body forty-eight hours after
-death, “the sinuses, and the veins of the brain generally,
-were much congested, and there was some œdema of the
-brain substance. The heart, excepting some slight deposits
-on the curtains of the mitral valve, was healthy. Its muscular
-substance was easily lacerable. The right ventricle
-contained a considerable quantity of fluid blood, the left
-was nearly empty. There were some pleuritic adhesions,
-and the lungs generally were congested, being also in some
-parts full of air. The blood in every organ examined was
-fluid, and without trace of coagulation.”<a id='r117'></a><a href='#f117' class='c012'><sup>[117]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It does not seem that the inhaler used in this case was
-employed with the object for which it was contrived—that
-of regulating the amount of vapour in the inspired air; and
-I do not know whether the bibulous paper was arranged
-properly in the interior.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 45.</em> On September 8th, 1855, a lady, aged twenty-nine,
-the wife of a physician, died suddenly whilst inhaling
-chloroform for the relief of facial neuralgia. I was sent for
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>when the accident happened, and arrived twenty minutes
-afterwards. I found the deceased lady without any sign of
-life. The face and lips were very pallid. The husband was
-performing artificial respiration by mouth to mouth inflation
-of the lungs, and alternate pressure on the chest, and
-I assisted him in this for a long time, though with no hope
-that any thing could be of service. Dr. Barker, of Grosvenor
-Street, arrived soon after me, and assisted in the same
-measures. An inhaler was employed in this case consisting
-of a face-piece, like the one above delineated in this work,
-and a bent metal tube lined with bibulous paper. Two
-quantities of ten minims each had been inhaled, with some
-relief to the pain, and without causing unconsciousness
-when the inhaler and the chloroform were put away in a
-closet; but the patient begged to have more chloroform, in
-order to be completely relieved of the pain, as she had been
-on a previous day. Ten minims more chloroform, as I was
-informed, were put into the inhaler, and the patient, being
-seated on a sofa, began to inhale very eagerly, but had no
-sooner commenced than she gave a sudden start, as if taken
-in some kind of fit. Her husband laid her on the floor, but
-she evinced no further signs of life.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There was no inspection of the body.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The only explanation which the case admits of is that, in
-her eagerness to get relief, the patient took one or more inspirations
-of air very highly charged with vapour. The
-symptoms were those of death by cardiac syncope.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 46</em> occurred in the practice of Dr. Roberts, a surgeon dentist
-of Edinburgh. The patient was a lady, thirty-six
-years of age, to whom Dr. Roberts had administered
-chloroform on four previous occasions within a twelve-month.
-Dr. Roberts says the chloroform was administered
-in the usual way, by which he means on a handkerchief.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>He says: “Mrs. H. had only taken about nine or ten inspirations,
-obtaining but a partial influence of a quantity
-short of ʒiss poured out from the bottle, and inhaling it for
-a space of time certainly less than a minute, when she said,
-‘You must not operate until I am quite insensible;’ and
-again, ‘I am not over yet;’ and immediately, even while
-speaking, she gave a convulsive start, and with a stertorous
-inspiration, and with the eyes and mouth open, sunk to the
-floor.” Dr. Simpson was sent for, and arrived within five
-minutes. Artificial respiration was resorted to, and after it
-had been applied for a time, there were a few spontaneous
-inspirations, and the pulse, it is said, could be perceived at
-the wrist; but these symptoms of reviving animation disappeared.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body, the right cavities of the
-heart were found gorged with blood. The walls of the
-right ventricle were thinner than natural, and affected to a
-certain extent with fatty degeneration.<a id='r118'></a><a href='#f118' class='c012'><sup>[118]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A paragraph was inserted in some of the Edinburgh
-newspapers, and forwarded by Dr. Roberts to the <em>Lancet</em>,<a id='r119'></a><a href='#f119' class='c012'><sup>[119]</sup></a>
-in which it was implied that death in this case was not
-caused by the chloroform. It is, however, like the preceding
-case, a well marked instance of the sudden and fatal
-action of this agent.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 47.</em> A sailor, aged thirty, died whilst inhaling
-chloroform in St. Thomas’ Hospital, in October 1856, preparatory
-to having some necrosed bone removed from one
-of his fingers. “He did not appear to be in robust health;
-still there was no obvious reason against his having the
-chloroform, which was accordingly administered as follows.
-One drachm was poured on a sponge folded between two
-thicknesses of lint, and this held at a little distance from
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>his mouth, while he was sitting in a chair. He appeared to
-be going off very comfortably, when the chloroform was
-left off for from half a minute to a minute, and then resumed.
-He now began to raise his hands and tremble, and
-kept spitting in the lint, and appeared as if about to vomit.
-Suddenly he was violently convulsed through his whole
-frame, as if in an epileptic fit. The chloroform was at once
-discontinued, and he was laid in a semi-horizontal posture.
-The convulsion only lasted for a few seconds, and when it
-had ceased he began to breathe with effort and puffing of
-the lips, and almost immediately to gasp irregularly. His
-pulse was almost imperceptible and intermittent. Artificial
-respiration was at once performed by alternate compression
-and relaxation of the walls of the chest, the tongue being
-held out of the mouth by the forceps. Ammonia was
-applied to the nostrils, and cold water dashed in the face,
-and in about a minute he rallied so as to breathe without
-assistance, but in a few seconds he relapsed, and could not
-be recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“At the post-mortem examination there was found to be
-fatty degeneration of the heart, liver, and spleen, and the
-membranes of the brain were thickened. The lining of the
-ventricles presented a peculiar pitted appearance, apparently
-from inflammatory deposit. The brain itself was pale.”<a id='r120'></a><a href='#f120' class='c012'><sup>[120]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“It was ascertained after the man’s death that he had been
-of intemperate habits, and had had an attack of delirium
-tremens three weeks previously. In the report of this case
-in the <cite>Association Medical Journal</cite>, the following is the
-account of the appearances met with after death. In the
-autopsy in the present case, which we observed with particular
-care, the brain was in a state of œdema and bloodlessness,
-very like the brain in a patient who died from
-chloroform in the Ophthalmic Hospital. The liver was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>fatty; but the heart seemed the very model or type of the
-healthiest kind of heart. All the other organs were also
-healthy.”<a id='r121'></a><a href='#f121' class='c012'><sup>[121]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 48</em> is related by Mr. Paget as follows. “I am
-anxious to place before the profession, at the earliest opportunity,
-a narrative of a case in which chloroform proved
-fatal in my private practice.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The patient was a boy, nine years old, of delicate constitution,
-and of nervous, timid disposition; but with no
-indication of any organic disease, except that for which the
-operation was to be performed: namely, a tumour of the
-scapula; for which it was proposed to remove the greater
-part of that bone.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“At half-past eight <span class='fss'>A.M.</span>, on February 28th, after the
-patient had passed a night of sound sleep, the chloroform
-was first administered in a room adjoining that in which
-the operation was to be performed. He was alarmed at the
-thought of being put to sleep, and of what would then be
-done, and was very averse from taking chloroform, but he
-was persuaded to inhale it; and, though not without resistance,
-yet with less than is commonly made by patients
-of the same age, he was brought under its full influence in
-about three minutes. He sat in bed during the first few
-inspirations, and after these, was recumbent. It was observed
-that two or three deep inhalations were quickly
-followed by complete insensibility; and the next few inspirations
-were stertorous. He was at once carried, in the
-horizontal posture, into the room, and laid on the table,
-arranged for the operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Three or four minutes passed while we were arranging
-his position and his dress, and while I was pointing out to
-those who were to assist me the proposed plan of operation.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>During this time the influence of the chloroform so far
-passed off, that he became sensible, displaced his coverings
-and pillows, said something expressive of discomfort, and
-vomited a small quantity of frothy fluid. (He had taken no
-food since the previous night, when he had had a good
-supper.) A very small quantity more of chloroform was
-slowly inhaled, and he became again nearly quiet, and was
-again placed on his side. I was on the point of commencing
-the operation, but as he again, by movements, indicated
-some degree of sensibility, and changed his posture, about
-forty drops more of chloroform were poured on cotton wool,
-inclosed in a fold of lint,—an inhaler, with the chloroform
-on sponge, having been previously used. The lint was held,
-about half an inch from the face, by Mr. Thomas Smith, my
-usual assistant in operations. The patient inhaled lightly
-for a few times, then made one long inspiration, and appeared
-to pass at once into deep sleep. Except that he thus
-appeared to come suddenly under the full influence of chloroform,
-no external change was visible; but, a few seconds
-later, his pulse, which had been carefully watched, and had
-been to this time normal, suddenly began to beat very
-quickly; then it ceased for two or three seconds; then beat
-rapidly several times, with a kind of flickering movement;
-and then ceased to be perceptible.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Just before this change of the pulse was observed, the
-chloroform had been withdrawn. The one deep inspiration
-was followed by a few stertorous breathings, but after these
-he breathed naturally, his complexion and features showed
-no change, he seemed only calmly asleep, and in this state
-he continued breathing naturally, and with no change in his
-appearance, but pulseless, for at least a minute. Then his
-breathing became less frequent, and seemed as if it might
-soon cease; his face grew pale, and his lips very slightly livid.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“With the help of cold water sprinkled on his chest and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>face, and cold air blown on his face and throat, he was raised
-from this state of defective breathing in about two minutes,
-and again breathed deeply and freely, though slowly, (probably
-about twelve times in the minute.) He thus breathed
-for two or three minutes, and during this time the lips, and
-the pale or slightly livid parts of the face, became pink
-again, and though no pulse could be felt at the wrists, the
-heart was heard acting. During this time, also, some wine
-and brandy were poured into the mouth, and passed down
-the œsophagus, but without any evident movements of
-swallowing. His breathing again became gradually infrequent
-and feeble. Cold air and sprinkling with water,
-frictions and percussions of the chest, scarcely increased the
-breathing, and in less than two minutes it ceased. Artificial
-respiration, by the method of Dr. Marshall Hall, was immediately
-employed, and many times during the first five
-minutes of its employment the artificial inspiration obtained,
-when turning the body over to its side, was followed
-by a distinct, and sometimes even a full muscular inspiration.
-But at the end of about five minutes, these signs of
-life ceased, fæces escaped, and no more indications of life
-appeared, though the artificial breathing, the friction of the
-limbs, and other means for resuscitation, were continued for
-twenty or more minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“I refrain, at present, from all comments on this case.
-Only, I wish to call particular attention to the fact that
-good breathing was maintained, and, after a suspension,
-was renewed, long after the heart had ceased to act with
-sufficient force to produce a pulse at the wrist. And I would
-add, that this narration is sanctioned and considered to be
-exact, by the four gentlemen who were to have assisted in
-the operation, and to whom I am greatly indebted for their
-counsel and assistance in the greater difficulty that we had
-to cope with.”<a id='r122'></a><a href='#f122' class='c012'><sup>[122]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span><em>Case 49.</em> This case occurred in the Liverpool Infirmary
-on April 5, 1857, and is related by Mr. Allan, the resident
-officer who administered the chloroform. The subject of
-the case was a labourer, aged 35, on whom Mr. Bickersteth
-was about to perform amputation of the thigh on account
-of gangrene following the ligature of the femoral artery.
-He had inhaled the chloroform six days previously without
-ill effects, when the femoral artery was tied for popliteal
-aneurism. On the day of the accident, he was first rendered
-insensible in the ward by chloroform poured on a piece of
-lint which was held a short distance from the nose and
-mouth. Having partially recovered during his removal
-into the operating theatre, the chloroform was reapplied,
-and Mr. Allan relates what occurred as follows: “About
-half a drachm of chloroform was now poured on some lint,
-which was held to the nostrils, and he then became <em>fully</em>
-under the influence; respirations <em>good</em>; pulse frequent,
-feeble. The operation was about to be commenced, and I
-was pouring about twenty minims more chloroform on the
-lint, (having pronounced the patient to be in a fit state,) so
-as to be ready to give him some more as occasion required,
-but had not applied it, when, turning round, I noticed something
-peculiar in his general appearance, and, on lifting up
-the eyelid, found the pupil dilated, and the lid did not close
-over on the removal of the finger; the eyes were slightly
-turned up. I at once felt for the temporal artery, but there
-was no pulsation, and none detected at the left wrist; the
-respirations had almost ceased. The head was lowered, cold
-water was dashed on the face, and the abdomen struck with
-the palm of the hand; the finger thrust into the mouth
-(there was no action of the heart felt); the legs were
-elevated, and a wet towel was dabbed over the epigastrium.
-After one or two blows, the respirations became better,
-and seemed good, and in about two minutes a pulse was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>felt at the wrist. This continued between two and three
-minutes, the respiration being good. His pulse then began
-to fail, and in about a minute more the respirations were
-less. The tongue was seized with a pair of forceps, and
-drawn forwards, and artificial respiration tried, and ammonia
-held to the nostrils; but he was becoming livid in
-the face, so the Ready Method was at once adopted, and
-this produced apparently a few <em>natural</em> respirations. But
-the pulse had gone, and in about two minutes more there
-was no breathing save artificial. About the time that the
-pulse stopped, there was a convulsive movement of the
-muscles of the leg, and a slight clamminess of the skin succeeded.
-The Ready Method was continued for half an hour,
-and galvanism tried, but without avail. From the time he
-was placed on the table to his death, or the cessation of
-natural respiration, about ten minutes elapsed.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The writer adds: “He apparently sank from syncope, or
-cessation of the heart’s action, for his respiration had been
-good just before he changed, and it continued for a second
-or two, though faint, when the pulse had stopped; and after
-the respiration had been restored, and was very good, the
-pulse was very feeble, and ceased two minutes before the
-respiration.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the autopsy on the following day, the brain was found
-to be healthy, tolerably firm, and pale; the lungs were
-healthy; the right cavities of the heart contained some fluid
-blood, which afterwards coagulated on exposure, and a small
-clot. The left cavities also contained some blood. The
-muscular tissue of the heart had an unhealthy look, and
-very readily tore, but no oil globules were discovered with
-the aid of the microscope.<a id='r123'></a><a href='#f123' class='c012'><sup>[123]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>Case 50</em> occurred in King’s College Hospital, August 7th,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>1857. The following is the account of the case furnished
-by Mr. C. Heath, the House-surgeon:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The patient [Ann Stoner] was a female, aged seventeen,
-under Mr. Partridge’s care, with syphilitic warts and mucous
-tubercles. She was admitted July 8th, and had had
-chloroform administered twice, in order that the sores might
-be touched with nitric acid, and, on both occasions, not the
-slightest ill effect was produced. On Friday evening last,
-chloroform was again administered for the same purpose;
-only a drachm was put into the inhaler (Snow’s), and as
-soon as she became unconscious the inhaler was removed,
-and the acid applied. I and my assistant (who administered
-the chloroform), then went to see another patient in the
-same ward, and then washed our hands, during which time
-the patient was moving her legs about much as they do when
-recovering, and in addition she made water over the bed.
-I gave directions to the nurse to apply a poultice as usual,
-and left the ward, having been up to the bed first without
-noticing anything unusual about the patient. In a few
-minutes the nurse came down for some medicine for another
-patient, and mentioned that this one was looking very pale:
-I sent up Mr. Liddon to see her at once; he found her pale
-and senseless, dashed some water over her, and called me,
-and I went up immediately. I found her pulseless and
-cold, and immediately commenced artificial respiration
-(Marshall Hall), and sent for the galvanic battery; this was
-brought and applied without effect, and the artificial respiration
-was continued for twenty-five minutes without
-the slightest effect being produced.”<a id='r124'></a><a href='#f124' class='c012'><sup>[124]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I was present at the examination of the body on the
-following day. The mouth was sore and swollen from the
-effects of the inunction of mercury. There were a few
-drachms of clear serum in the pericardium. The heart was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>large for the size of the patient. There was a patch of
-organised lymph on the pericardium, covering the left ventricle.
-The right cavities of the heart were full of dark
-fluid blood, and the left cavities contained a little. The
-mitral valve was much thickened, but the other valves were
-healthy. The lungs were healthy, and not much congested.
-The brain was healthy. The patient had suffered from
-acute rheumatism before entering the hospital.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It will be observed that the pulse is not mentioned in
-the above case, until its absence is alluded to, when the
-patient was already cold, and the breathing is not alluded
-to throughout the account; indeed, it is not known when
-the patient died. She was alive after the application of the
-nitric acid, as she was observed to move her legs, but
-further than this there is no clear evidence.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is perhaps an open question whether this patient died
-at once from the direct effects of the chloroform, or whether
-she died after partially recovering and going on favourably
-for a time. The account would, at first view, seem to
-favour the latter opinion, but it is not corroborated by any
-other case. Patients have been partially recovered from
-the effects of an overdose, without being entirely restored,
-and others have sunk after great operations, attended with
-hæmorrhage, when the effects of the chloroform had more
-or less subsided, but there is no instance of a patient going
-on favourably, and partially recovering from the influence
-of the vapour, and then dying suddenly without any other
-known cause. Patients have occasionally become faint
-whilst recovering from chloroform, more especially if they
-remain in the sitting posture, but in those cases the right
-side of the heart is probably insufficiently supplied with
-blood; whilst, in the case under consideration, the patient
-was lying, and the right cavities of the heart were found
-full after death, the serum in the pericardium showing that
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>they had probably been distended when death took place.
-If Mr. Heath had made any observation which enabled him
-to say that the patient was really alive, when he went up
-to the foot of the bed, before leaving the ward, it would
-decide the question, and show that death did not take place
-at once from the direct effects of the chloroform, but he
-only makes the negative remark that he did not notice anything
-unusual about the patient.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I had an opportunity of examining the particular inhaler
-employed, and found that it was so arranged that the
-vapour might be breathed from it in much greater proportion
-than would be safe, if precautions were not taken to
-leave the expiratory valve a considerable way open, especially
-when the high temperature of the weather at the time
-is taken into account.</p>
-
-<p class='c005'>The foregoing cases comprise all the instances I have seen
-recorded in which death appears to have been occasioned by
-the administration of chloroform, and not by other causes
-in operation about the same time. A few additional cases
-have indeed been referred to by different authors where
-death was probably caused by chloroform, but as I do not
-find that the details have been published, I cannot make
-them available in an inquiry respecting the cause and prevention
-of these accidents.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In June 1852, Dr. Simpson alluded in the following terms
-to an accident from chloroform which had occurred near
-Glasgow:—“In this instance, chloroform was given by the
-practitioner for tooth extraction; but, I am sorry to add,
-none of the parties present were at the time in a condition
-to give any satisfactory evidence.”<a id='r125'></a><a href='#f125' class='c012'><sup>[125]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A person, named Breton, a dealer in porcelain, died in
-Paris, in the early part of 1853, immediately after a few
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>inspirations of chloroform, which was administered with the
-intention of removing a tumour of the cheek. An action
-was brought against Dr. Triquet and M. Masson for causing
-death by imprudence in this case; and at the trial which
-ensued, various interesting opinions were given, and the
-accused practitioners were ultimately exonerated.<a id='r126'></a><a href='#f126' class='c012'><sup>[126]</sup></a> I have
-not, however, met with any record of the symptoms which
-occurred in the case.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In relating the case of death from chloroform, which
-occurred in his practice, to the Medical and Chirurgical
-Society of Edinburgh, Dr. Roberts referred to another death
-from chloroform in tooth-drawing which took place in the
-neighbourhood from which his own patient came, just previously
-to October 1855; but I have not met with any
-account of the case so alluded to. Dr. Mackenzie of Kelso
-also alluded in the same Society, in the following year, to a
-death from chloroform which had occurred at Coldstream,
-and I do not know whether this was the case to which Dr.
-Roberts had alluded, or a fresh one.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>One of the surgeons to the hospital at St. Louis, who
-was lately visiting the medical institutions of London, informed
-me that there had been three deaths from chloroform
-at his hospital out of between six and seven hundred
-operations in which it had been administered. I did not
-learn the particulars of those fatal cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There have been several cases in which persons have been
-found dead after inhaling chloroform when no one else was
-present, either for toothache or some other affection, but I
-have not included such cases in the above list, as they throw
-no light on the way in which death is occasioned. The
-simple way to avoid such accidents as those just alluded to,
-is for persons to abstain from inhaling chloroform, when no
-one is by to watch its effects.</p>
-
-<div>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>
- <h3 class='c015'>ALLEGED FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c014'>Several deaths have been attributed to chloroform which
-were due to other causes, or where the cause of death is a
-subject of great doubt. A gentleman, named Walter
-Badger, twenty-two years of age, the son of one of the
-coroners for the county of York, died instantly at Mr. Robinson’s,
-the dentist’s, in Gower Street, on June 30th, 1848,
-whilst commencing to inhale chloroform with the intention
-of having some teeth extracted. The inhaler employed consisted
-of a face-piece to enclose the mouth and nostrils, and
-containing a sponge on which the chloroform (ʒiss) was
-placed. This, according to the evidence of Mr. Robinson
-and his female servant, who was present in the room, was
-held not nearer than an inch and a half from the face for
-less than a minute, and the patient made the remark that
-the chloroform was not strong enough; Mr. Robinson requested
-him, as he had done before, to have the operation
-performed without chloroform, but he again declined; and
-Mr. Robinson then took away the face-piece and asked his
-servant to reach the bottle, intending to put more chloroform
-on the sponge, to replace that which he believed had
-been lost by evaporation. Just after removing the face-piece,
-and before any fresh chloroform was poured out, the
-head and hand of the patient dropped, and he did not show
-any further sign of life.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I found, on making trial of the kind of inhaler which Mr.
-Robinson employed, that it is impossible to inhale enough
-of the vapour to produce any appreciable effect, unless it is
-applied so as to touch the face. At the distance of an inch
-no effect is produced, even in five or ten minutes; and
-therefore I expressed my opinion, soon after this accident,
-that it was not caused by the chloroform, which properly
-speaking the patient did not inhale.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>A consideration of the symptoms in this case confirms
-the view that the death was not caused by chloroform.
-In six of the fatal cases related above, death took
-place instantaneously, without insensibility or any of the
-usual effects of chloroform having been produced; but the
-mode of dying was not the same as in Mr. Robinson’s patient.
-In Case 4, that of Madlle. Stock, the patient said “I choke”,
-and tried to push away the handkerchief; then there was
-embarrassed breathing and foaming at the mouth. In Case
-11, that of Madame Labrune, the fatal attack followed
-immediately on a full inspiration of chloroform, and there
-was an immediate alteration of the features, and a convulsive
-rolling of the eyes, amongst other symptoms. In
-Case 14, the young lady stretched herself out, and frothed
-at the mouth, at the moment of the fatal attack, and the
-face became livid. In Case 26, that of Madame W., who
-died at Ulm, the voice, when answering the question about
-singing in her ears, was trembling and thick; she stretched
-out her limbs, and the face became bluish. In Case 45,
-that of the wife of a medical man, and in 46, that of Dr.
-Roberts’s patient in Edinburgh, there was a convulsive
-start at the moment of the sudden death. It thus appears
-that when the heart is suddenly paralysed by an overdose
-of chloroform, before the patient is rendered insensible,
-there are usually some symptoms as if of a violent shock or
-injury. After complete insensibility is induced, the heart
-may be suddenly paralysed by chloroform, as is shown by
-numerous cases, without this spasmodic action; and it
-would perhaps be premature to deny that a patient might
-die thus quietly without being first made insensible; and
-the nature of the death in this particular case must be
-chiefly decided by the physical fact that the patient could
-not have inhaled enough chloroform to produce an appreciable
-effect of any kind, much less to cause sudden death.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>At the inspection of the body, the liver was found so
-much enlarged that it weighed eight pounds, and it encroached
-very much on the chest. The walls of the left
-ventricle of the heart were found thinner than natural, and
-the muscular tissue was interspersed with fatty degeneration.
-There was blood in the right auricle and in both
-ventricles. In the ventricles it was partly coagulated.
-The brain presented nothing abnormal.<a id='r127'></a><a href='#f127' class='c012'><sup>[127]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is probable that the immediate cause of death in this
-instance was fear. The patient had been told in the
-country that it would be unsafe for him to take chloroform,
-and yet he could not summon resolution to undergo the
-operation without it. Mr. Robinson unfortunately allowed
-his patient to remain seated in the operating chair; and it
-was only when Dr. Waters had been sent for and arrived
-from a neighbouring street that he was laid on the floor.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I was present on one occasion with Mr. Peter Marshall
-at the examination of the body of a woman who died suddenly
-of fright in consequence of a fire in the next house to
-that in which she lived, and it is worthy of remark that
-we found exactly the same diseased conditions as those
-which were found in Mr. Robinson’s patient; viz., great
-enlargement of the liver, displacing the viscera of the
-chest, and fatty degeneration of the heart.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A young man, aged twenty-four, died suddenly of syncope,
-on June 25th, 1848, at the Hospital Beaujon, at
-Paris, whilst M. Robert was performing amputation at the
-hip joint, the thigh bone having been broken into splinters
-by a bullet during the conflict in the streets of Paris.
-The patient was in a state of great depression, both physical
-and moral, before the operation; and it is most likely
-that he sank under the combined effects of the injury and
-the operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>Another patient had the neck of the humerus broken by
-a ball in the same conflict; he was much reduced by hæmorrhage
-and gangrene of the wound; M. Malgaigne performed
-disarticulation at the shoulder joint; a fresh inhalation
-took place to enable him to search for the ball, and the
-patient sank and died during the last incisions. This
-patient also most probably died from the effects of the
-operation added to those of the previous injury and loss
-of blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A woman died in Paris, 1848, after removal of the
-breast. The operation was finished, and the chloroform
-had been left off some time, and the patient had become
-conscious, when on raising her into a sitting posture, in
-order to apply a bandage, she suddenly expired. Although
-the chloroform was blamed in this instance, death evidently
-took place by the ordinary kind of syncope, which
-arises from the heart not being supplied with blood, and
-which may be called anæmic syncope, in contradistinction
-to cardiac syncope, which begins at the heart itself, when
-properly supplied, or even when distended with blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A child, aged twelve years, died in the hospital at
-Madrid in 1849, during amputation of the leg after violent
-tetanic rigidity.<a id='r128'></a><a href='#f128' class='c012'><sup>[128]</sup></a> Death was attributed to the chloroform
-which had been inhaled, but no further particulars are
-given, and it is not stated whether or not there was any
-unusual hæmorrhage, or other cause, which would explain
-the fatal event.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Aschendorf has attributed the death of a child a
-year old to chloroform.<a id='r129'></a><a href='#f129' class='c012'><sup>[129]</sup></a> The child had a nævus on the
-face and neck, which extended from the zygoma to the os
-hyoides, and from the external auditory meatus to the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>maxillary fossa. No one had been willing to undertake
-its removal. Dr. Aschendorf operated on the nævus at
-three different times, by means of seton threads. These
-operations were performed under the influence of chloroform.
-The tumour was reduced one-third part in size by
-these means, and eleven weeks afterwards Dr. Aschendorf
-determined to extirpate it. The chloroform was administered
-as on the former occasions, by placing six drops on
-some tow in a cup. In about ten minutes, as the child
-cried a little, three drops more of chloroform were used
-for inhalation, and in about eight minutes more the operation
-was concluded. “On raising the child it laid its head
-on one side, convulsive twitches of the face were observed,
-with distortion of the eyeballs and dilatation of the pupils.
-For one moment the arms were stretched out stiff, then
-again they were relaxed, and fell as supple as the rest of
-the body. Death quickly followed—only one pulsation of
-the heart and a single râle with the expiration being perceived.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There can be no doubt of this being a case of death from
-hæmorrhage, after the direct effects of the chloroform had
-subsided. Dr. Aschendorf says the quantity of blood lost
-was about two tablespoonfuls; but it would be necessarily
-removed by sponges during the operation, and there would
-be no means of estimating the quantity. The child was
-probably in a state of syncope during the latter part of the
-operation, as it would not remain insensible to the knife
-for eight minutes from a single application of chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On September 15th, 1852, a patient died to whom I was
-administering chloroform whilst Mr. Cæsar Hawkins was
-performing lithotrity. He was a gentleman from the
-country, aged seventy-three; he was tall and stout, he had
-a weak intermitting pulse, and a well marked arcus senilis
-in each cornea. He had inhaled chloroform five or six
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>times, between May 1850 and May 1851, for the same
-operation, when under the treatment of another surgeon,
-and it always acted favourably. In the first week of December
-1851, Mr. Hawkins performed the operation of
-lithotrity twice, when the chloroform was administered by
-Mr. Geo. D. Pollock. On the second of these occasions he
-became faint during the operation whilst under the influence
-of the chloroform, but recovered from the faintness
-before its conclusion. He again fell into a very alarming
-state of syncope a few minutes after the conclusion of the
-operation, but rallied, and vomited the breakfast which he
-had taken a little time before. I first administered the
-chloroform to this patient on December 15th, 1851, eleven
-days after the above occurrence. Mr. Hawkins and I were
-inclined to think that the alarming syncope on the previous
-occasion might have been connected with the sickness
-which occurred. It was my firm belief that the patient
-had fatty disease of the heart; but I did not see any great
-objection to the chloroform on that account, as I had frequently
-given it in similar cases, and always with a favourable
-result. On this occasion (December 15th) he inhaled
-the chloroform before breakfast. Its effects were quite
-satisfactory, and it was not accompanied or followed by
-any unpleasant symptoms whatever. The operation was
-repeated four days afterwards, when I again exhibited the
-chloroform with like favourable results. After this the
-patient went back to the country relieved from his stone.
-He came back, however, in the autumn of 1852, with a
-return of his complaint, and I was again requested by Mr.
-Hawkins to assist him by giving the chloroform on September
-15th.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient became insensible, without any excitement or
-struggling, in the course of three or four minutes, and the
-operation was commenced. A little more chloroform was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>administered two or three times during the operation, in
-order to keep up the insensibility. After a few minutes
-had elapsed, I observed that the face and lips of the patient
-became pale. At this time he had not inhaled any chloroform
-for about two minutes. Immediately afterwards,
-however, his face became red, and he made straining efforts
-with the muscles of respiration, as if he were beginning to
-feel the operation. To prevent his becoming altogether
-sensible, therefore, I commenced to give him a little more
-chloroform, with the valve of the inhaler about one-third
-open, as on the former occasions. He had only taken two
-or three inspirations, however, when the breathing ceased.
-He appeared to be merely holding his breath, as sometimes
-happens during the exhibition of chloroform, and I expected
-that he would begin to breathe again in about a quarter of
-a minute. In the meantime, I endeavoured to feel the pulse
-in the temporal artery, but did not perceive any. Instead
-of the breathing recommencing at the time I expected, the
-countenance became suddenly pale, and a little afterwards
-rather livid. I applied my ear over the region of the heart,
-but could not hear any sound. After a few seconds, however,
-the patient took a rather deep inspiration, and immediately
-after this I was pretty sure that I heard the heart
-beating very feebly and rather frequently, but only for a few
-seconds, after which no sound could be heard. There were
-one or two more very feeble inspirations at intervals of
-about a quarter of a minute, after which there were no
-further signs of life. As soon as the patient had entirely
-ceased to breathe, artificial respiration was performed, but
-no sign of returning animation appeared.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>At the examination of the body fifty-two hours after
-death, the heart was found to be larger than natural, and
-there was a good deal of fat on its surface. Its right
-cavities contained air or gas, probably resulting from the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>partial decomposition of the blood. The right ventricle
-was dilated, and its walls were very thin. At one place,
-near the apex, they were extremely thin. The left ventricle
-was also dilated, but its walls were of the proper thickness.
-They were, however, like those of the other ventricle, very
-soft and friable. There was a calcareous incrustation on
-one of the aortic valves. There was scarcely any blood in
-the heart, but its lining membrane was stained in places,
-showing that blood had been present after death.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Pollock and the late Mr. W. F. Barlow examined the
-structure of the heart under the microscope, and the latter
-gentleman furnished me with the following account of the
-examination:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Many of the fibres have been converted into fat completely;
-in others, fatty degeneration was beginning. The
-degeneration, which was in various stages, appeared very
-general. The fasciculi were broken up, here and there,
-into masses of small irregular fragments, as they may be
-found frequently in hearts of this kind. Some large fat
-globules lay between and upon the fibres. A few fibres
-showed their transverse striæ plainly, and made the changes
-in the others look the clearer. On the whole, it may be
-said that the structure of the organ was greatly damaged,
-and that its action, consequently, was liable to cease suddenly
-from slight causes.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I am of opinion that this patient did not die from the
-direct effects of the chloroform. The air he was breathing
-just before he died did not contain more than three or four
-per cent. of vapour of chloroform at the utmost, and he
-had previously breathed quite as much, both during the
-same operation and on previous occasions. The patient
-seemed to be holding his breath at the moment when his
-heart ceased to beat; and it is whilst holding the breath,
-and making a straining effort, that patients labouring
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>under disease of the heart not unfrequently expire. Mr.
-Pollock, who was present when the patient died, expressed
-to me his belief that he died of his heart disease, and not of
-the chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>After reflecting on this case, I see no reason to regret
-the course which was pursued. It was the opinion of Mr.
-Hawkins that the patient could not have borne the operations
-without the chloroform; consequently, if we had
-decided not to permit its use any more, in consequence of
-the alarming syncope which occurred after the operation
-under its influence on December 4th, 1851, he would probably
-have died in great suffering from the calculus, instead
-of having seven or eight months freedom from the
-complaint. And, on the other hand, if it had been
-decided to operate without chloroform, it by no means
-follows that the patient would have been in less danger,
-judging from what I have observed of the effect of pain
-on the circulation, as compared with the effect of the chloroform
-carefully administered, in numerous other cases of disease
-of the heart.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On May 11th, 1854, a patient died suddenly in St.
-George’s Hospital as she was beginning to inhale chloroform.
-She was a pale and delicate looking woman, aged
-thirty-seven, from whose left breast Mr. Cæsar Hawkins
-was about to remove a mammary glandular tumour. “On
-entering the operating theatre she appeared nervous.
-Having been placed on the table on her back, in a half reclining
-position, the administration of chloroform was commenced.
-Dr. Snow’s inhaler was used. The quantity of
-chloroform placed in the receiver was a little more than a
-drachm; and the valve for the admission of air was left
-wide open. Apparently, from excitement, she did not inhale
-well, but drew her breath by deep catches, and irregularly.
-Mr. Potter, noticing this, spoke to her, begging her
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>to compose herself, and try to breathe more quietly. The
-valve was then slightly turned on, in order that she might
-inhale but a very small quantity of chloroform. The same
-spasmodic efforts at inspiration still continued; very shortly
-afterwards, at most not more than a minute and a half
-from the commencement of the inhalation, Mr. Potter
-noticed her breathing to suddenly cease, and that she had
-become deathly pale. The inhaler was at once removed.
-On placing the finger on the wrist, no pulse could be found.
-Endeavours to arouse her by dashing the face and chest with
-water were immediately adopted; but, proving ineffectual,
-artificial respiration was commenced within a minute of the
-first symptoms. During the interval, two sighing attempts
-at inspiration had been observed; but there had been no
-pulse whatever; the mouth lay a little open, and the countenance
-was still extremely pale.”<a id='r130'></a><a href='#f130' class='c012'><sup>[130]</sup></a> Other attempts at resuscitation
-were made without effect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“At the post-mortem examination, on the following day, no
-very noticeable lesions of the viscera were discovered. There
-was congestion of the whole venous system, and the blood,
-in every organ, was of a deep purple colour, and quite fluid.
-The brain substance itself was perhaps a little more vascular
-than usual, and the veins of its meninges were loaded
-with blood. The heart was small and fat, the right ventricle
-being especially loaded with adipose material, and its
-muscular layer much thinned. Under the microscope there
-was found to be slight, yet decided, fatty degeneration of
-the muscular structure. Both chambers, but more particularly
-the right, were distended with blood in which no
-coagula could be found. The posterior lobes of the lungs
-were somewhat congested, but not more than the position
-in which the corpse had lain might account for. There was
-no disease of the abdominal viscera.”<a id='r131'></a><a href='#f131' class='c012'><sup>[131]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>I made a chemical examination of some blood obtained
-from the heart and large vessels, and also of portions of the
-lungs and liver, but I failed to detect any trace of chloroform,
-although the process I employed is one by which I
-have very easily detected it in the bodies of small animals
-killed by it, and also in portions of limbs and tumours removed
-whilst the patients were under its influence to the
-usual extent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was impossible that this patient could have breathed
-air strongly charged with vapour. Every one in the operating
-theatre was a witness that the expiratory valve of the face-piece
-was not, at any time, more than one-third closed,
-being two-thirds open. In this way no great effect of any
-kind can be produced, as very little of the air which the
-patient breathes passes through the inhaler. Mr. Potter informed
-me, moreover, that the patient breathed very little
-even of air, her breathing was so much embarrassed by her
-frightened condition. He was trying to calm her apprehensions
-at the moment when she died.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The mental emotion under which the patient was labouring
-was, no doubt, the cause of the sudden death in
-this instance, as in that above referred to, which occurred
-at Mr. Robinson’s. The mode of dying, in the present instance,
-was evidently by cardiac syncope; the same mode
-of death, in fact, as that which is occasioned by vapour of
-chloroform, when not sufficiently diluted; and it is only
-the absolute knowledge, that any small quantity of vapour
-which this patient inhaled was very largely diluted with
-air, that enables one to decide, with confidence, that the
-chloroform was not the cause of death. It may be observed,
-however, that there was an absence of the convulsive
-start or spasm which occurred in all those deaths from
-chloroform, which took place at the beginning of the inhalation,
-without loss of consciousness having been first induced.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>The right cavities of the heart were found full of blood in
-this case, and it is probable that they became so much distended,
-as the patient was in a state of alarm, and scarcely
-breathing, that, in the thin and diseased state of the walls of
-the right ventricle, the action of the heart was arrested.
-Sudden death not unfrequently takes place during mental
-emotion, and, in many of the cases, the mode of dying is
-probably that just mentioned.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>SYMPTOMS IN THE FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>Out of the fifty cases of death from chloroform, related
-above, there are five in which the symptoms at the time of
-death are not detailed, viz., Cases 6, 7, 21, 24, and 50; in the
-two first cases it is merely related that the patient suddenly
-expired, and, in the two last cases, no one was
-watching the patient at the time when death took place.
-In considering the remaining cases they may be conveniently
-divided into groups, according to the period of the inhalation
-at which the accident occurred. In six of the cases
-the fatal symptoms came on suddenly, at the beginning of
-the inhalation, before the patient had been rendered unconscious;
-in each of these cases there was the most unequivocal
-evidence of the sudden arrest of the action of the
-heart. In cases No. 4 and No. 11 there was sudden pallor
-of the face at the moment when the circulation ceased.
-In Nos. 14 and 26 the face became livid at the time of
-the fatal attack, and, in Nos. 45 and 46, the colour of the
-face is not mentioned. In all these cases there were also
-symptoms as if of a sudden shock to the system, such as
-stretching out of the limbs, foaming at the mouth, rolling
-of the eyes, or a sudden convulsive start. In Case 4, the
-patient at Boulogne had just complained of a choking
-feeling, one sign that the vapour she was breathing was not
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>well diluted. In Case 11 the fatal symptoms occurred immediately
-on a full inspiration; and in the other cases also
-the strength of the vapour was left to accident, and the
-result leads to the conclusion that it was very great at the
-moment before the fatal symptoms occurred.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In thirteen cases the inhalation was discontinued on account
-of the sudden appearance of dangerous symptoms,
-after consciousness had been apparently suspended. These
-cases are numbered 9, 15, 17, 20, 27, 30, 33, 35, 37, 40, 41,
-44, and 47. In the greater number of these cases the over-action
-of the chloroform appeared to be exerted simply on
-the heart, the only dangerous symptoms being referrible to
-the paralysis of that organ; whilst in some of these cases
-symptoms of over-narcotism of the brain were conjoined
-with those connected with the heart. In the case of J.
-Verrier, No. 9, and in the case at Stockholm, No. 15, the
-sudden and entire cessation of the pulse was the symptom
-which first called attention to the danger of the patients,
-whilst the breathing was still going on. In Case 30 the
-woman became suddenly insensible and pulseless, after a
-short period of excitement. In Cases 35 and 40, although
-the pulse did not absolutely and entirely cease at once, its
-sudden failure was the first alarming symptom. In Case 20,
-at the Cavan Infirmary, the breathing and action of the
-heart ceased at the same moment. In Case 41, at the
-Middlesex Hospital, at a time when the pulse was full and
-steady, seventy in the minute, it gave a few rapid and irregular
-beats, and then ceased, and the breathing, which
-was free and deep, but not stertorous, ceased at the same
-time. In Case 15, which occurred at Jamaica, the patient,
-after a period of excitement, made one stertorous inspiration,
-when the breathing ceased. There were afterwards a few
-distant inspirations. The pulse is not mentioned; but it is
-pretty certain that it must have ceased about the time of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>the stertorous inspiration, or the additional inspirations
-which took place after the chloroform was withdrawn,
-would probably have restored the patient; to say nothing
-of the measures that were resorted to with a view to his
-resuscitation. Of Case 27, which happened at Melbourne,
-it is merely related that the patient spluttered at the mouth,
-and suddenly expired, just after a fresh portion of chloroform
-had been applied on the handkerchief. The symptom
-of spluttering at the mouth is recorded as occurring in
-other cases, just at the moment when the pulse had suddenly
-ceased.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In Case 44, at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, the narcotism
-of the brain and nervous system proceeded as far
-as the third degree, which was attended with strong muscular
-spasms, as not infrequently happens; and an overdose
-of chloroform appears at this moment to have acted
-on the heart, for the pulse could not afterwards be felt. In
-Cases 33, 37, and 47, the narcotism of the brain proceeded
-as far as the fourth degree, producing stertorous breathing,
-when the chloroform caused paralysis of the heart, by its
-direct action on that organ.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There are six cases in which the fatal symptoms came on
-just after the patient had been rendered insensible, and the
-inhalation had been discontinued; the operation being
-about to be commenced. They are numbered 32, 34, 39,
-43, 48, and 49. All these cases bear a very close resemblance
-to each other. In all of them the patient had been
-made insensible (satisfactorily so as it was thought), when
-in a few seconds the pulse suddenly stopped, or failed and
-fluttered just prior to stopping; in Case 32 Dr. Dunsmure
-thought the time was longer between the discontinuance of
-inhalation and the cessation of the pulse. The breathing
-continued a little time after the pulse ceased or failed in all
-these cases, and there was an absence of the spluttering at
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>the mouth, stretching of the limbs, and other spasmodic
-actions, which occurred in all the six cases where the heart
-was paralysed at the beginning of the inhalation, before
-unconsciousness had been induced, and in some of those
-when the paralysis of the heart took place at a later period
-of the inhalation, when the patient had been apparently
-rendered unconscious, but was not yet insensible. In
-each of the six cases now under consideration, the fatal
-event was evidently occasioned by the vapour of chloroform,
-which remained in the lungs at the moment when the inhalation
-was discontinued. A portion of this vapour becoming
-absorbed, and added to that already in the blood,
-had the effect of paralysing the heart, when it circulated
-through the coronary arteries.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There remain twenty-two cases in which the fatal symptoms
-came on during the course of the operation. In
-twenty of these cases the symptoms are described with
-more or less detail. I made some remarks respecting cases
-No. 1 and No. 2, in the place where they are related. In
-case No. 3, as in these cases, the patient appeared not quite
-insensible, and showed signs of pain during the operation,
-when “in a moment his pulse, which was full and natural,
-sank.” In case No. 5 the patient was probably dead when
-the incisions on the finger were commenced; the extreme
-suddenness of the death, and the absence of bleeding, show
-that death occurred in the way of syncope. The convulsive
-movements which just preceded death are worthy of note
-in connection with the other cases, in which death occurred
-immediately after the commencement of inhalation. Some
-remarks were appended to case No. 8. In case No. 10 paralysis
-of the heart is indicated by the absence of bleeding
-from the arteries, and the absence of pulse, whilst the
-breathing still continued for a short time. I made some
-remarks respecting case No. 12 when it was related. The
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>patient seemed to die by embarrassed respiration, but
-whether that was caused by the action of the chloroform on
-the brain is doubtful. In case No. 13 the patient died in a
-moment. In No. 16 the face turned pale, and the pulse and
-breathing ceased soon after the chloroform was discontinued,
-showing the effect of the vapour which was present in the
-lungs at the moment when the inhalation was left off.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In Case 18 the livid countenance and sudden stopping of
-the pulse prove cardiac syncope. In Case 19 the blood
-which was gushing out suddenly stopped, and the patient
-expired. The congested state of the lungs and the blood in
-the right cavities of the heart prove that the syncope of
-which he expired was not the ordinary anæmic syncope
-from hæmorrhage; it was therefore cardiac syncope from
-the chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In Case 22 the change of countenance and sudden character
-of the death are evidences of cardiac syncope. In
-Case 23 there was sudden cessation of the bleeding and of
-the pulse; in Case 25 the pulse suddenly ceased. In Case
-28 the patient died suddenly, but the pulse was apparently
-not examined at the time. Some remarks have already been
-made on Case 29, which happened in the Manchester Infirmary.
-In Cases 31, 36, and 38 the suddenness of the
-death showed that it took place by syncope. In the last
-of these cases the pulse was being examined at the time it
-ceased. In Case 36 there was no examination of the dead
-body; but in 31 and 38 the presence of blood in the right
-cavities of the heart indicates that the kind of syncope was
-cardiac syncope. Respecting Case 42, some remarks have
-already been made. The death commenced by deep coma,
-which embarrassed, and then suspended, the respiration, and
-cardiac syncope quickly followed. The chloroform was
-administered by a method which precluded the medical
-attendant from observing properly the most important
-symptoms.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>The accompanying table of the fatal cases of the inhalation
-of chloroform contains such short particulars respecting
-them as seemed capable of being tabulated, and it may
-assist the reader in retaining a more connected recollection
-of the facts previously related more in detail.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>MODE OF DEATH IN THE ACCIDENTS FROM CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>In all the cases in which the symptoms which occurred
-at the time of death are reported, there is every reason to
-conclude, as shown above, that death took place by cardiac
-syncope, or arrest of the action of the heart. In forty of
-these cases the symptoms of danger appeared to arise
-entirely from cardiac syncope, and were not complicated
-by the over-action of the chloroform on the brain. It was
-only in four cases that the breathing appeared to be embarrassed
-and arrested by the effect of the chloroform on
-the brain and medulla oblongata, at the time when the
-action of the heart was arrested by it; and only in one of
-these cases (No. 42) that the breathing was distinctly
-arrested by the effect of the chloroform, a few seconds
-before that agent also arrested the action of the heart.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was previously shown that chloroform vapour has the
-effect of suddenly arresting the action of the heart when it
-is mixed with the respired air to the extent of eight or ten
-per cent., or upwards; and we must therefore conclude
-that, in the fatal cases of its inhalation, the air the patients
-were breathing just before the accidents occurred contained
-this amount of vapour. There was no means adopted, so
-far as is reported, to regulate the proportion of vapour in
-the inspired air, in any case in which an accident happened;
-and there was the liability in every case that ten per cent.
-or more of vapour might be present in the air the patient
-breathed; and in no case did death occur in the manner
-that it occurs when the vapour of chloroform does not
-exceed five per cent. of the inspired air.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span></div>
-<div class='overflow'>
-
-<table class='table2'>
- <tr><th class='c009' colspan='9'><span class='large'>TABLE OF FATAL CASES OF INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM.</span></th></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='bbt c018' colspan='9'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>No.</th>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>Patient.</th>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>Age in yrs.</th>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>Operation for which the chloroform was inhaled.</th>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>Position whilst inhaling.</th>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>Means by which the chloroform was exhibited.</th>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>Time from the commencement of inhalation to the beginning of dangerous symptoms.</th>
- <th class='bbt brt c019'>Apparent mode of death.</th>
- <th class='bbt c019'>Previous inhalations.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>1</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Girl</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>15</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of toe-nail.</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Towel</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Half a minute</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>Ether once.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>2</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>35</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Extraction of teeth.</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About two minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>3</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Patrick Coyle</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Operation for fistula in ano</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying on the side</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About one minute</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>One.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>4</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Single lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>30</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Opening of sinus in thigh</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Probably half a minute</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>5</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Young woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Amputation of the middle finger</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A very short time</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>6</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Young man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>22</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Transcurrent cauterisation of wrist</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Symptoms not described</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>7</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Young man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended removal of toe-nail.</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Probably handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Not stated</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Death very sudden</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>8</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Seaman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>31</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of hæmorrhoids</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying on the side</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Napkin</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About ten minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>One.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>9</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Miner</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>17</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended amputation of middle finger</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>10</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Labourer</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>36</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Amputation of toe</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Died at the close of the operation</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>A previous attempt.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>11</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>33</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended extraction of tooth</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A very short time</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>One.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>12</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Porter</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>48</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of toe-nail</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A little more than two minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Probably asphyxia</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>13</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of eyeball</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Probably lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A sponge</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Died during the operation</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>14</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Young lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>20</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended extraction of tooth</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A sponge enclosed in a napkin</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Just after beginning to inhale</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>Previous attempts.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>15</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A sponge</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Died before the operation</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Probably cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>16</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Artilleryman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>24</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Amputation of middle finger</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>17</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Bookkeeper</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>30</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended operation on testicle</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Napkin</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Within five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>18</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Boy</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>8</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sounding the bladder</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Piece of lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>19</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Policeman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>34</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of portion of hand</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Napkin</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Died during operation</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>20</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>24</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended amputation of leg</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Folded lint in a hollow sponge</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>21</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended operation on the penis</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>“Suddenly expired”</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>22</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>36</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Extraction of teeth</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Less than a minute</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>23</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Mulatto seaman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>45</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of testicle.</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Napkin</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About seven minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>24</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>37</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of impacted fæces</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Eight or nine minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Symptoms not observed</td>
- <td class='c020'>Two.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>25</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>23</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Ligature of vessels near vascular tumour</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Five to ten minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>One.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>26</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>32</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended extraction of tooth</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sponge surrounded by handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Four or five inspirations</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>27</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended operation for fistula <em>in ano</em></td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Not more than a minute</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>28</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cattle dealer</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Applic. of potassa fusa to ulcers of leg</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Died during operation</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Probably cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>29</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Factory operative</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of malignant tumour of thigh.</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About twelve minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Probably cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>30</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Single woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>28</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended application of nitric acid to ulcers of pudenda</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Folded lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>31</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Soldier</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>25</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of small tumour from cheek</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Hollow sponge</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>32</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Tobacconist</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>43</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended perineal section</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>Two.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>33</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>40</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended operation for strangulated hernia</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Folded lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Simultaneous deep coma and cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>34</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Single woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>22</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended application of actual cautery to sore of vagina</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>One.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>35</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Young man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>19</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended forcible extension of knee</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Fifty seconds</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>36</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Girl</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>13</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of tumour from back</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Apparently sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>37</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>59</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended reductionof old dislocation of humerus</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Hollow sponge</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Deep coma and cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>38</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>40</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Removal of uterine polypus</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Folded lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None stated.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>39</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>45</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended removal of breast</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sponge, handkerchief, and inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Three-quarters of an hour.</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>40</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Tailor</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>18</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended operation for phymosis</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About seven minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>41</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Labouring man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>65</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended amputation of thigh</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Between 13 and 14 minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>42</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Shoemaker</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>39</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Catheterism</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Folded lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Deep coma, apnœa, and cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>43</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Woman</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>56</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended amputation of leg</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Folded lint &amp; piece of oiled silk</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About three minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>44</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Man</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>40</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended excision of eyeball</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>About five minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>45</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>29</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaled to relieve neuralgia</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few seconds</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>Two or three.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>46</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Married lady</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>36</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended extraction of teeth</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Handkerchief</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few seconds</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>Four.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>47</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sailor</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>30</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended removal of necrosed bone from finger</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sitting</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Sponge and folded lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Three or four minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Deep coma and cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>48</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Boy</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>9</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended removal of tumour of scapula</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cotton wool &amp; folded lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>None.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='brt c018'>49</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Labourer</td>
- <td class='brt c019'>35</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Intended amputation of thigh</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Folded lint</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>A few minutes</td>
- <td class='brt c020'>Cardiac syncope</td>
- <td class='c020'>One.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='bbt brt c018'>50</td>
- <td class='bbt brt c020'>Young woman</td>
- <td class='bbt brt c019'>17</td>
- <td class='bbt brt c020'>Application of nitric acid to syphilitic sores</td>
- <td class='bbt brt c020'>Lying</td>
- <td class='bbt brt c020'>Inhaler</td>
- <td class='bbt brt c020'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='bbt brt c020'>Symptoms not observed</td>
- <td class='bbt c020'>Two.</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>There is in a great number of the cases an evident connection
-between the accident and the probable strength of
-the mixture of vapour and air. In six cases the accident
-occurred just after the commencement of the inhalation;
-in two of the cases, Nos. 27 and 37, the fatal symptoms
-occurred just after fresh chloroform had been applied on
-the handkerchief and sponge; and in several cases, in which
-the circulation was suddenly arrested just after the patient
-had been rendered insensible, the insensibility had been
-induced so quickly as to prove that the vapour must have
-been inhaled in a very insufficient state of dilution.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>THE TWO KINDS OF SYNCOPE.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>Dr. Patrick Black has made an objection to the fact of
-the patients having died of paralysis, or over-narcotism of
-the heart, in the accidents from chloroform.<a id='r132'></a><a href='#f132' class='c012'><sup>[132]</sup></a> He says
-that paralysis of the heart would be death by syncope, but
-that the symptoms before death, and the conditions of the
-organs met with afterwards, are not in accordance with
-such a view of the case. In order to show that both the
-symptoms and the after death appearances, in the fatal
-cases of inhalation of chloroform, are consistent with
-paralysis of the heart, it is necessary to point out the difference
-between ordinary syncope and cardiac syncope.
-One of the best examples of ordinary, or what may be
-called anæmic syncope, is that which occurs in a common
-blood-letting, whilst the patient is in the sitting posture.
-When the bloodvessels, especially the veins, which at all
-times contain the greater part of the blood in the body, do
-not accommodate themselves fast enough to the diminished
-quantity of blood, the right cavities of the heart are supplied
-with less and less of the circulating fluid; and in a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>little time are not supplied at all, when the heart ceases to
-beat, in accordance with the observation of Haller, that it
-does not pulsate when it is not supplied with blood. The
-moment the heart ceases to supply blood to the brain there
-are loss of consciousness and stoppage of respiration; but
-on the patient being placed in the horizontal position the
-blood flows readily into the right cavities of the heart from
-the great veins of the abdomen and lower extremities; the
-heart immediately recommences its contractions; the brain
-is again supplied with blood, and respiration and consciousness
-return.<a id='r133'></a><a href='#f133' class='c012'><sup>[133]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The blood may remain in the ordinary quantity; but if
-the bloodvessels do not keep up their usual support, and
-exert a sufficient pressure on their contents, the same kind
-of syncope will occur as that from blood-letting. The late
-Sir George Lefevre related the case of a lady who fainted
-whenever she left her bed, and assumed the upright posture;
-no cause could be found for this until it was ascertained
-that she suffered from varicose veins of the legs:
-bandages to these extremities prevented the fainting. It
-is obvious that in this case the mechanism of the syncope
-was the same as that in blood-letting; the distension of the
-varicose veins under the weight of the superincumbent
-blood had the same effect in preventing the supply to the
-right cavities of the heart, as if the blood had been entirely
-removed. The faintness which often occurs on first rising,
-when a person has long kept the recumbent posture from
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>any local cause, is probably of the same kind; the veins not
-having had to support the weight of the usual column of
-blood for some days or weeks, lose their tone we may presume,
-and yield when they are all at once subjected to the
-weight of a column of blood extending from the lower extremities
-to the heart, so that this organ ceases to be
-properly supplied with the circulating fluid.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In cardiac syncope, on the other hand, the cavities of
-the heart, or at all events the right cavities of this organ,
-are always full, whether the syncope depend on paralysis
-of the heart by a narcotic, or inherent weakness of its
-structure, or on its being overpowered by the quantity of
-blood with which it is distended. After death from this
-kind of syncope, if the blood have not been displaced by
-artificial respiration or other causes, the right cavities of
-the heart and the adjoining great veins will be found filled
-with blood, and the lungs will in many cases be more or
-less congested. The appearances in short will be very
-much the same as in asphyxia by privation of air, which
-ends in a kind of cardiac syncope, the stoppage of the heart
-being partly due to over-distension of its right cavities,
-and partly to loss of power in its structure, from the want
-of a supply of oxygenated blood through the coronary
-arteries. In death by anæmic syncope, on the contrary, all
-the cavities of the heart are found empty, or nearly so, and
-the same is frequently the case with the adjoining great
-veins, whilst the lungs are usually pale.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The syncope occasioned by some kinds of mental emotion
-is of the ordinary or anæmic kind, and consequently the
-condition of the brain must act first on the bloodvessels,
-and not directly on the heart. Certain persons are liable to
-faint on witnessing a surgical operation. Now if the mental
-emotion of these persons acted directly on the heart, whilst
-the rest of the vascular system was unaffected, the distribution
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>of the blood would be nearly the same as in asphyxia,
-where the circulation is first impeded in the lungs, and is
-ultimately arrested by loss of power in the heart. If the
-action of the heart were weakened, or stopped, in the first
-instance, by the kind of emotion under consideration, the
-arteries would be emptied by their contractility and elasticity,
-and the blood would accumulate in the right cavities
-of the heart and the great veins leading to them. In a medical
-student fresh from the country, who is by no means
-deficient in blood, the jugulars would become distended and
-the face livid, and the recumbent posture would probably do
-but little towards removing the symptoms. The phenomena
-which are witnessed, however, indicate a very different condition
-of the vascular system. The person about to faint
-from the cause indicated, frequently becomes pale before he
-feels anything wrong; and when requested to retire and sit
-down, often says that there is nothing the matter with him.
-In a short time he faints, and falls, if no one catches hold of
-him; but the moment he is in the recumbent posture he
-recovers. In such a case as this, the effect of the mental
-emotion must be first exerted on the veins, or the veins and
-capillaries, through the nerves which supply these vessels;
-they allow themselves to become distended, and the heart
-ceases to act for want of its supply of blood, as in syncope
-from blood-letting, and anæmic syncope from any cause.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Several authors have attributed the empty state of the
-heart met with after death, in certain cases of fatal syncope,
-to want of power in the left ventricle to supply the right
-cavities of the heart; but this is to argue as if the blood
-passed out of the body after leaving the right ventricle, and
-the left ventricle had to supply a newly formed fluid. The
-effects of want of power in the left ventricle are the same as
-those of an obstruction at the origin of the aorta; the lungs
-become congested, and the right cavities of the heart more
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>or less distended, from the blood not being able to pass
-readily through the lungs. Patients who die of heart disease
-die with the cavities of that organ full. Some patients, indeed,
-with fatty disease of the heart, die suddenly of anæmic
-syncope, and the heart is found empty; but in these cases it
-is evident that death is not occasioned by the disease of the
-heart, but by some condition of the bloodvessels which accompanies
-it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Chevalier was, I believe, the first to draw marked attention
-to cases of sudden death arising from an empty state of
-the heart, in a paper in the first volume of the Transactions
-of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society; and he rightly
-attributed the emptiness of the heart to a loss of power in
-the bloodvessels. His words are as follow:—</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“The disease I have now described may, perhaps, be
-termed <em>asphyxia idiopathica</em>. The essential circumstances
-of it evidently denote a sudden loss of power in the vessels,
-and chiefly in the minuter ones, to propel the blood they
-have received from the heart. In consequence of which,
-this organ, after having contracted so as to empty itself, and
-then dilated again, continues relaxed for want of the return
-of its accustomed stimulus, and dies in that dilated state.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The word asphyxia has become so closely connected by
-physiologists with death by privation of air, where the symptoms
-and appearances are the reverse of those in Chevalier’s
-case, that it is necessary to discard his name of the disease
-which he describes, although it is etymologically correct.
-His cases come under the definition of what is now universally
-called syncope, and what I have called anæmic to distinguish
-it from cardiac syncope.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Chevalier speaks of a want of power in the vessels to
-propel the blood, and as it is not now believed that the vessels
-take any active share in the propulsion of the blood, this
-may be the reason why the views of this author have received
-less attention than they deserve; but it is very obvious
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>that a want of tone in the vessels, or any great diminution
-of that power which enables them to support and
-compress the blood, is an adequate cause why the blood
-should be unable to reach the right side of the heart. In
-the case of varicose veins, previously mentioned, it was
-physically apparent that the cause of the syncope lay in the
-vessels. Disease of the arteries is well known to be usually
-associated with degeneration of the heart; the veins are
-also large and distensible in old people, who furnish the
-greater number of those who are liable to anæmic syncope;
-but the pathology of the veins, as regards both their functions
-and structure, is not yet sufficiently known.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Persons with disease of the heart, who die suddenly in a
-fit of anger, probably die always with the heart distended;
-that is, of cardiac syncope. Dr. Joseph Ridge, however, in
-his able and interesting remarks on the disease and death of
-John Hunter,<a id='r134'></a><a href='#f134' class='c012'><sup>[134]</sup></a> states his belief that that celebrated man,
-who had been long subject to attacks of angina pectoris,
-died at last of syncope, with an empty heart. He died, as is
-well known, during a fit of anger, and the coronary arteries
-were found ossified. It is not said that the heart was
-empty, but that it was small, and that there were no coagula
-in any of its cavities. It is probable that there was
-not much blood in its cavities, at the time of the post
-mortem examination, but the body of Hunter was conveyed
-in a sedan-chair, from St. George’s Hospital to Leicester
-Square, a little more than an hour after his death, so that
-the fluid blood would gravitate downwards. It is related
-that the stomach and intestines were unusually loaded with
-blood, and that those parts which were in a depending
-position, as in the bottom of the pelvis and upon the loins,
-were congested in a greater degree than the others; and
-that “this evidently arose from the fluid state of the blood.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>In syncope from muscular exertion, the cavities of the
-heart are distended, and its walls have occasionally been
-ruptured, both from violent exercise and fits of anger.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Fear probably occasions each kind of syncope in different
-cases. In some cases, the right cavities of the heart become
-distended owing to impeded respiration, and possibly to a
-diminution of power in the heart itself. More frequently,
-the syncope appears to be of the ordinary or anæmic kind,
-the effect of the mental condition acting first on the more
-distant parts of the circulation. The pallor caused by fright
-is proverbial.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Pain is also capable of causing both kinds of syncope. I
-have alluded to cases (page 55) in which the patients
-strained and held their breath till the pulse became intermittent,
-and the action of the heart was temporarily suspended
-by the arrested breathing; on the other hand, patients
-often become pale, if they are undergoing any slight
-operation when seated, and syncope of the anæmic kind
-occurs, without any previous disturbance of the respiration,
-but passes off as soon as they are placed in the horizontal
-posture. I have seen an apparently strong man faint in
-this manner, during the removal of a tumour from the back
-not larger than a nut, and where only a few drops of blood
-were lost. Chloroform was not employed.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>SUPPOSED CAUSES OF DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>Many writers have supposed that the deaths from chloroform
-have arisen from some peculiarity in the patient; and
-when any notable change of structure has been met with
-after death in any of the vital organs, this has been thought
-to afford a sufficient explanation of the event; whilst in the
-cases in which the organs were in a healthy state, surprise
-has been expressed at the occurrence. In looking over the
-account of the cases in which the inhalation of chloroform
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>has been fatal, there is reason to conclude, however, that the
-subjects of them were, as regards health and strength, quite
-equal to the average of the multitude who have inhaled this
-agent without ill effects. In fifteen out of the fifty cases
-above related, there was no examination of the body after
-death. In one of these fifteen cases, the patient was in a
-state of debility, and had hectic fever, apparently from the
-disease of the ankle-joint, for he had no cough; in another
-of these cases, the patient was reduced to a state of great
-debility from cancerous disease of the uterus. In fourteen
-out of the thirty-five cases, in which an examination of the
-dead body took place, all the chief organs were found to be
-healthy, if we except the local congestions of blood connected
-with the mode of dying, and a flabby state of the
-heart in a few of the cases, which probably depended on its
-being full of blood at the time of death, or its not being in
-a state of post-mortem rigidity, at the time it was examined.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In one case, No. 25, the only morbid appearances were
-adhesions of the pleura of small extent; and in No. 47, the
-only disease was fatty liver. In Case 17, there were signs
-of chronic disease of the membranes of the brain; and in
-two cases, Nos. 16 and 22, there was emphysema of the
-lungs. In the remaining sixteen cases, there was some
-alteration of the heart, accompanied in a few instances by
-disease of other organs. In Cases 23 and 32, there was fat
-on the surface of the heart, but the structure was not degenerated.
-In Case 43, the right ventricle was thinned, but
-not fatty. In Case 44, there were slight deposits on the
-mitral valve, the heart being otherwise healthy. In Case 50,
-there were deposits of lymph on the mitral valve and also
-on the surface of the heart, which was somewhat enlarged.
-In Case 8, the heart is merely stated to be large; and in
-Case 27, hypertrophied. In Case 3, the heart was enlarged,
-pale, and soft, and the lungs were tuberculous. In Case 15,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>there was said to be some amount of disease of the aortic
-valves, and some amount of fatty degeneration of the heart.
-In Case 37, incipient fatty degeneration was present; and
-in Case 40, that of a youth of eighteen, the heart was
-slightly enlarged, with some amount of fatty degeneration.
-In Case 46, the right ventricle was thinned and slightly
-fatty. There remain three Cases, Nos. 30, 33, and 42, in
-which the fatty degeneration was more decided; and one
-case, No. 41, in which it is spoken of as being present in an
-extreme degree. This was in a man, aged sixty-five, the
-oldest person included amongst those who died from chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>When we consider how common is fatty degeneration of
-the heart, especially amongst old persons and those for a
-long time confined to bed, it is very probable that this affection
-has been proportionally as frequent, amongst the patients
-who have inhaled chloroform without ill effects, as in
-the fatal cases of its inhalation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There are nine of the fatal cases in which the age of the
-patient is not stated. In the other forty-one cases, the ages,
-when grouped in decennial periods, are shown in the following
-table, the last column of which shows the proportion
-which the deaths bear at each period to the number living
-at that period, out of a thousand persons of all ages in
-England and Wales.</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c016'>Under</td>
- <td class='c021'>5</td>
- <td class='c016'>years</td>
- <td class='c021'>0</td>
- <td class='c017'>0</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>5</td>
- <td class='c016'>and under</td>
- <td class='c021'>15</td>
- <td class='c016'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c021'>3</td>
- <td class='c017'>¹⁄₇₆</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>15</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>25</td>
- <td class='c016'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c021'>11</td>
- <td class='c017'>¹⁄₁₈</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>25</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>35</td>
- <td class='c016'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c021'>10</td>
- <td class='c017'>¹⁄₁₅</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>35</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>45</td>
- <td class='c016'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c021'>11</td>
- <td class='c017'>⅒</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>45</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>55</td>
- <td class='c016'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c021'>3</td>
- <td class='c017'>¹⁄₂₇</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>55</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>65</td>
- <td class='c016'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c021'>2</td>
- <td class='c017'>¹⁄₂₆</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>65</td>
- <td class='c016'>and upwards</td>
- <td class='c021'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c016'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c021'>1</td>
- <td class='c017'>¹⁄₄₄</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>The nine persons whose ages are not given were all
-adults; one is spoken of as a young man, and another as a
-young woman, and the rest are mentioned in such a manner
-that it is certain they were not old people. It follows,
-therefore, that so far as is known, there has been a complete
-immunity from death by chloroform at both extremes of
-life. I have already given my reasons for rejecting Dr.
-Aschendorf’s case of an infant, and also the case of a gentleman,
-aged seventy-three, who died whilst inhaling chloroform.
-The youngest patient who died from chloroform was
-seven or eight years of age, and the oldest sixty-five, being
-the only death above sixty. The above table of the ages
-shows that the number of deaths, in proportion to the
-number living, increased rapidly after the age of twenty-five,
-and decreased rapidly after the age of forty-five. The
-small number of deaths between fifteen and twenty-five may
-be partly due to the circumstance that surgical operations
-are but seldom required at this period of life; but the decrease
-after the age of forty-five cannot be explained in this
-way; for persons become more liable to require surgical
-operations as they advance in years. Operations are often
-performed in infancy and old age, periods at which deaths
-from chloroform have not been recorded. The greatest proportion
-of deaths having occurred from thirty-five to forty-five,
-when the system is often more robust than at any other
-period, it cannot be supposed that an inability to bear the
-usual dose of chloroform, when carefully administered, is
-the ordinary cause of death from this agent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Idiosyncrasy.</em> The accidents from chloroform have frequently
-been attributed to idiosyncrasy in the patient.
-This, it may be observed, is not to give an explanation of
-them, but merely to state that they depend on something
-we do not understand; that something, however, being in the
-person to whom the accident happens. This view receives
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>apparent support from the supposition that the chloroform
-has been inhaled in exactly the same manner in the fatal
-cases as in other instances; but this apparent support fails
-when it is pointed out that the supposed same manner is
-only an equally uncertain manner. The different effects
-that have been produced on the same patient at different
-times, and the great number of instances in which medical
-men have failed to make the patient insensible, show that
-most of the usual modes of exhibiting chloroform are extremely
-uncertain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>What most completely meets the question of idiosyncrasy,
-however, is the circumstance that in no fewer than eleven
-out of the fifty recorded cases of death from chloroform, the
-patient had previously inhaled this medicine without ill
-effects. In two other cases also, previous attempts had
-been made to make the patient insensible without success,
-on the day on which the accident occurred. In the above
-table of the fatal cases, those are indicated in which previous
-inhalations had taken place. In twenty-nine cases, I have
-concluded that the patient had not previously inhaled, for
-the medical man, having given an account of the state of
-his patient, and his reasons for administering the chloroform,
-would certainly have mentioned such a material fact as a
-previous inhalation if it had occurred. There are ten cases
-of which only a meagre account is given, and where a previous
-administration of chloroform may possibly have taken
-place without being mentioned; but if only eleven, out of
-the fifty patients, who died from chloroform, had inhaled it
-previously without ill effects, it is very clear that the fact
-of having inhaled it with a favourable result, gives no immunity
-from the possibility of accident. It would be impossible
-to say what proportion of the patients who have
-inhaled chloroform have inhaled it more than once, but it is
-not probable that they amount to more than 22 per cent., if
-so many.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span><em>Alleged Impurity of the Chloroform.</em> At one time accidents
-from chloroform were loosely attributed to impurity
-in the medicine, but this was only a guess, and is opposed
-to the facts. No case of accident has been traced to this
-cause, and in nearly all the cases of which the details are
-given, it is distinctly recorded, either that the chloroform
-was examined and found to be of good quality, or else that
-chloroform out of the same bottle had been used in other
-cases without ill effects. I have not thought it necessary to
-state this in quoting the individual cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Apparatus employed.</em> Accidents were at one time, and
-in one quarter, attributed to the use of inhalers; and it is
-curious that this allegation was made at a time when no
-death from chloroform had yet occurred in any cases in
-which an inhaler was used, except one in America, and one
-in France, the accounts of which had not reached this
-country. It is possible that death might be occasioned by
-want of air from the use of a faulty inhaler, and a case will
-be mentioned in which this apparently occurred in the administration
-of sulphuric ether, but there is no recorded
-case of accident from chloroform in which death was occasioned
-in this way. In the cases of death previously recorded,
-a handkerchief, a piece of folded lint, hollow sponge,
-or some such simple contrivance, was used in thirty-four instances;
-in twelve cases, an inhaler of some kind or other
-was used; and in four cases, it is uncertain what were the
-means employed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Alleged Exclusion of Air.</em> The assertion has often been
-made that death might be caused by the vapour of chloroform
-excluding the air, and so causing asphyxia; but it has
-already been pointed out in this work that the physical
-properties of chloroform do not allow it to yield a quantity
-of vapour which would have that effect, and in much smaller
-quantity than this the vapour kills by a quicker way than
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>asphyxia, I believe that the only elastic fluids which can
-cause death simply by excluding the atmospheric air are
-nitrogen and hydrogen.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Alleged Closure of the Glottis.</em> At the trial which took
-place in Paris respecting the death of a porcelain dealer previously
-mentioned, M. Devergie gave evidence, and after
-saying that chloroform might cause death as a poison, if
-given in undue proportion, he added: “Also it closes the
-glottis, and offers an obstacle to respiration. Employed by
-M. Demarquay on himself, in very small doses, closure of
-the glottis was occasioned. It was possible that Le Sieur
-Breton had experienced that accident, and in that case the
-most able surgeon could not prevent death.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have not met with M. Demarquay’s account of his experiment,
-but I am happy to know that he did not die of
-the closure of the glottis. It may fairly be denied that a
-person could commit suicide in this manner if he wished,
-for he would either have to give up the attempt, or receive
-the vapour into his lungs, and experience its specific effects.
-When animals are placed in mixtures of vapour and air,
-they always breathe them, whatever the strength; and if
-the vapour amounts to eight or ten per cent., they die much
-more quickly than they would of mere closure of the glottis.
-Vapour of chloroform, when not largely diluted with air, is
-apt to cause cough and closure of the glottis, as soon as a
-little of it reaches the lungs; but this, so far from being a
-source of danger, is, as a general rule, a safeguard, by its
-preventing the patient from readily breathing air which is
-highly charged with vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In commenting on the fatal case No. 12, which occurred
-in St. Thomas’s Hospital, I have suggested that the accident
-might have happened from liquid chloroform being dropped
-into the throat; but liquid chloroform is very different from
-the vapour; it causes a lasting irritation if applied to a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>mucous membrane; when used for toothache, it often
-blisters the gums. The irritation caused by the vapour,
-on the contrary, is only momentary, and its local action
-ceases directly it ceases to be inhaled; for what is left in
-the air-passages is immediately absorbed or expelled with
-the expired air. The glottis is not a vital organ of itself.
-Its closure only causes death by preventing the access of
-air to the lungs. The glottis does not remain permanently
-closed, I believe, from the contact of any elastic fluid, however
-irritating;<a id='r135'></a><a href='#f135' class='c012'><sup>[135]</sup></a> but it does from the contact of a liquid,
-and persons who die by drowning, die with the glottis
-closed, for they do not fill their lungs with water. Therefore,
-if the vapour of chloroform did cause persistent closure
-of the glottis, and if a person were to hold it by force to the
-patient, the death it would occasion would be precisely like
-that in drowning. Death by asphyxia is a comparatively
-slow one. I find that when the access of air to the lungs is
-entirely cut off, death does not take place in less than three
-minutes and a half in guinea pigs, and four minutes in cats.
-In dogs, the process of asphyxia is still slower. Mr. Erichsen
-states, that on taking the average of nearly twenty experiments,
-the contractions of the ventricles continued for nine
-minutes and a quarter after the trachea had been closed,
-and that the pulsations of the femoral artery also were perceptible
-for an average period of seven minutes and a half.
-The process of drowning in the human subject is well known
-to occupy some minutes; and even if the pungency of the
-vapour of chloroform should entirely prevent the patient
-from breathing, and the medical man could overlook the
-fact that breathing was not going on, it cannot be supposed
-that he would use the force, and have the perseverance to
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>cause his patient to die slowly by asphyxia. If any patient,
-therefore, has died from closure of the glottis, it must have
-been one in whom there was a great tendency to sudden
-death from any slight interruption to respiration. I do not
-know the particulars of the case respecting which M.
-Devergie was giving his evidence, but in those fatal cases
-previously related, in which the symptoms are sufficiently
-described, it is not probable that death took place in any
-instance from closure of the glottis. In the sudden death
-at St. George’s Hospital (page 209), it is possible that the
-slight pungency of the vapour might assist the fear under
-which the patient was labouring in impeding the breathing,
-and thus add to the distension of the right cavities of the
-heart, under which the patient apparently died.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In 1855, two years after M. Devergie had given the above
-opinion, Dr. Black, of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, who has
-had great experience in the administration of chloroform,
-advanced a similar theory in the pamphlet previously alluded
-to. He did not, however, confine the effects of the supposed
-closure of the glottis to possibly causing a death here and
-there, as M. Devergie had done, but he attributed all the
-accidents which had happened to this cause, and not to the
-effects of chloroform in the system. He says that “the
-chloroform has not been even inhaled: its pungency was
-felt at the glottis, and its inspiration was immediately
-arrested. The patient would have removed the apparatus,
-but in this he was restrained. The struggle forthwith commenced,
-but up to the moment of his death, not a single
-inspiration took place.” These remarks were not applied to
-a single case, but generally to the accidents from chloroform.
-Dr. Black says: “Any concentration of the vapour of
-chloroform which can be breathed is safe; any condition of
-dilution which forces the patient to cough or hold his breath
-is dangerous, and if persevered in for even half a minute,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>may be fatal.... We have only to attend to the
-breathing; we may disregard all considerations affecting
-the relative proportion of the chloroform in the air which
-is breathed;... if the patient breathes easily he is in
-safety, whatever be the amount of chloroform which is
-passing into the lungs.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In Experiment 28, previously related, where the respiration
-was kept up by a tube in the trachea, there could be no
-error in respect to the vapour of chloroform entering the
-lungs, when a bladder of air charged with ten per cent. of
-that vapour was substituted for the bladder of simple air;
-and the immediate paralysis of the heart was evident. An
-examination of the fatal cases, of which the particulars have
-been recorded, shows that death did not occur in the manner
-Dr. Black suggests. In the majority of the cases, the patients
-were rendered quite insensible by the chloroform, and
-the operation had either been commenced, or was on the
-point of commencing; when the fatal symptoms set in. In
-several other cases, the patients were partially under the
-influence of the vapour before the symptoms of danger commenced;
-and in the six cases where death occurred at the
-beginning of the inhalation, without loss of consciousness
-having been induced, the patients were not restrained in any
-way, and it was observed that they did breathe the chloroform;
-three of them were speaking up to the moment when
-the pulse stopped, and one took a full inspiration the moment
-before the fatal symptoms set in. It is only in
-eighteen of the fatal cases that there is any reason to suppose
-that the patient required to be held, and then only
-from mental excitement or muscular spasm, arising from the
-physiological effects of the absorbed chloroform. It is
-hardly possible that the struggles of a conscious patient
-from inability to breathe, would be mistaken for excitement
-or spasm caused by chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>In a case, No. 34, which occurred at St. Bartholomew’s
-Hospital whilst Dr. Black was present, and long before his
-pamphlet was written, the patient inhaled for five minutes,
-and sank off into a state of complete insensibility without
-alarming symptoms. The inhalation was discontinued, the
-patient moved into a proper position, and the operation just
-about to be commenced, when Dr. Black found the pulse to
-become extremely feeble and fluttering. Surely this patient
-breathed the chloroform, and died without any spasm of the
-glottis. In Case 48, so minutely related by Mr. Paget, the
-boy made one long inspiration, and became suddenly insensible.
-In a few seconds, the pulse suddenly failed, and
-then ceased to be perceptible, but the breathing continued
-for at least a minute afterwards. There was certainly no
-closure of the glottis in this instance.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Alleged Exhaustion from Struggling.</em> In cases where the
-patients have struggled violently whilst getting under the
-influence of chloroform, the accidents have been attributed
-to a supposed exhaustion caused by the struggling.<a id='r136'></a><a href='#f136' class='c012'><sup>[136]</sup></a> This
-opinion is, however, contrary to experience; for the patients
-who struggle violently are precisely those who bear chloroform
-the best, provided they do not breathe it in an insufficient
-state of dilution. They are generally cheerful and
-exhilarated by it, and are less liable to be depressed by its
-prolonged use, than those who come quietly under its influence.
-Although the patients who struggle bear the chloroform
-well, when it is carefully and judiciously administered,
-it is not improbable that the struggling has been now and
-then an indirect cause of accident. The muscular spasm
-and rigidity do not occur till about three-quarters as much
-chloroform has been absorbed as can be present in the
-system with safety; and, as the patients often hold their
-breath whilst struggling, and take deep inspirations suddenly
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>and at long intervals, the greatest care is required
-that the vapour be administered in a very diluted state.
-In Cases 9, 44, and 47, the fatal symptoms came on whilst
-the patients were struggling; and in some other cases, the
-sudden failure of pulse occurred just after the struggling
-had ceased, rendering it probable that the patient inhaled
-too much of the vapour whilst struggling, or just as the
-spasmodic condition of the muscles was subsiding.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The circumstances just mentioned, are probably the cause
-why so many of the fatal cases occurred at that period of
-life when the body is most robust. Very nearly two-thirds
-(twenty-seven out of forty-one), of those cases in which the
-ages are recorded, occurred in persons of twenty years and
-under forty-five years of age, although the proportion of
-persons living at this period of life, in England and Wales,
-is only a little more than one-third of the entire population.
-The majority of the accidents from chloroform occurred
-also in the stronger sex, in which muscular rigidity and
-spasm are most frequent:—twenty-nine of the fatal cases
-happened to males, and only twenty-one to females. According
-to my experience, the females who inhale chloroform
-for surgical operations are nearly twice as numerous as the
-males; and although this may not be the proportion in
-every one’s practice, it is probable that females inhale this
-agent quite as frequently as the other sex, in every part of
-the world.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Sitting Posture.</em> In some of the early cases of death from
-chloroform, the patients were inhaling it in the sitting posture,
-and it was surmised that this circumstance was the
-cause of death.<a id='r137'></a><a href='#f137' class='c012'><sup>[137]</sup></a> An examination of the account of the
-fatal cases, however, does not bear out this supposition. In
-thirty-one instances the patients were lying, in nine instances
-sitting, and there are ten cases in which the position
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>is not mentioned, and where from the nature of the operation
-it may have been either one or the other. In fully
-one-fourth of the cases of which I have kept notes of the
-administration of chloroform, the patients were seated in an
-easy chair; and as in forty fatal cases in which the position
-is known, only nine, or less than one-fourth, were seated, it
-does not appear that the position of the patient has had any
-share either in causing or preventing accidents.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Supposed Effect of the Surgeon’s Knife on the Pulse.</em>
-Mr. Bickersteth alluded to a peculiar circumstance,<a id='r138'></a><a href='#f138' class='c012'><sup>[138]</sup></a> which
-he thought would account for several of the deaths attributed
-to chloroform. He relates three instances in which
-the pulse suddenly ceased on the first incision by the surgeon,
-and commenced again in a few seconds, the breathing
-going on naturally all the time. All the three cases were
-amputation of the thigh, and occurred in the latter part of
-1851. Mr. Bickersteth did not observe the circumstance
-again during the two following years, and I have never
-observed it, although I have very often examined the pulse
-at the moment when the operation began, especially after
-reading Mr. Bickersteth’s remarks. He supposes that the
-action of the heart was arrested by the shock of the incision,
-notwithstanding the patient was insensible. I should attribute
-the temporary stoppage of the pulse in these instances
-to the direct influence of the chloroform on the heart. The
-moment when the operation is commenced, is usually a few
-seconds after the inhalation has been discontinued, and
-when the effect of the chloroform is at its height. A portion
-of that which was left in the lungs having been absorbed,
-in addition to that which was previously in the
-system. And if the vapour inhaled just at last was not
-sufficiently diluted, it might paralyse the heart, but not so
-completely as to prevent the natural respiration from restoring
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>its action, in those cases where respiration continues.
-I found in experiments on animals that, when the action of
-the heart has been suspended by the effect of chloroform, it
-can very often be restored by artificial respiration instantly
-applied; and it is extremely probable that an accident of
-this kind not unfrequently occurs during the administration
-of chloroform, and is remedied by the breathing, without
-being noticed. The pulse recovered itself, in the cases mentioned
-by Mr. Bickersteth, just as it does in animals after
-the heart has been nearly overpowered by chloroform. In
-the first case, the pulse remained imperceptible for a period
-of four or five seconds, the countenance at the same time
-becoming deadly pale. As it returned, it was at first very
-feeble, but in a few seconds, it regained its usual strength.
-In the second case, Dr. Simpson administered the chloroform,
-and after the operation remarked that the pulse had
-stopped suddenly just as the knife was piercing the thigh,
-and had recovered itself with a flutter almost immediately.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Bickersteth’s reason for attributing the stoppage of
-the pulse to the effect of the knife, rather than the chloroform,
-was that he had arrived at the conclusion from some
-experiments which he performed on animals, that the action
-of the heart cannot be arrested by chloroform, until the
-breathing has been first suspended. One of Mr. Bickersteth’s
-experiments (No. 5, on a half-grown cat) exactly resembles
-the experiment (No. 28 in this work) on a rabbit,
-which I had published upwards of a year before Mr. Bickersteth’s
-paper appeared, with the exception that in my experiment
-the artificial respiration was performed with air
-containing ten per cent. of vapour, and in Mr. Bickersteth’s
-the vapour was an unknown quantity. In both experiments,
-the heart of the animal was exposed. In that which
-I performed, three or four inflations of the lungs almost
-paralyzed the heart; and nine or ten inflations, which did
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>not occupy half a minute, had the effect of paralyzing that
-organ irrecoverably. In Mr. Bickersteth’s experiment, the
-effect of the artificial respiration was as follows:—“After
-continuing it for seven minutes, the diaphragm, hitherto
-unaffected, began to move very irregularly and imperfectly;
-then its movements became slow and hardly perceptible;
-and, at the expiration of eleven minutes, they had ceased
-altogether. During all this time the heart’s action remained
-strong and regular, but now it got weaker and more rapid,
-and, in four minutes from the time the diaphragm had
-ceased acting, had become so feeble (still quite regular) that
-I feared every moment it would stop.” Mr. Bickersteth
-says he performed artificial respiration with air saturated
-with chloroform; but saturated or not, the vapour certainly
-did not exceed six per cent., and most likely was only
-between four and five, if the artificial resembled the natural
-respiration in quantity and frequency. The vapour which
-can be breathed for seven minutes without causing serious
-symptoms, and for eleven minutes without arresting the
-breathing, is of course incapable of stopping the action of
-the heart by its direct effect. It is scarcely so strong as
-that which one administers every day to patients with impunity.
-The vapour which is so diluted as to require to be
-added by small increments during one hundred and fifty
-inspirations, before the brain is even narcotized, cannot act
-directly on the heart, an organ which can bear a much
-larger amount of chloroform. Mr. Bickersteth fell into the
-error into which the Committee of the Society of Emulation
-of Paris afterwards fell, and argued from the rule to the
-exception. What he witnessed was the mode of death which
-would occur, if vapour of chloroform of the strength which
-can be safely inhaled, were deliberately continued till the
-death of the patient. But an accident from chloroform is
-an exception, and the mode of dying is as much an exception
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>as the death itself, if the inquiry is extended to what this
-agent is capable of doing, instead of confining it to what one
-endeavours to effect with it in the human subject alone.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>So many of the deaths during the inhalation of chloroform
-have occurred before the operation had commenced, or after
-it had proceeded some way, that Mr. Bickersteth’s explanation
-would not apply to a great number, even if it were
-correct; and when it is remembered that the operation is
-always commenced when the effect of the chloroform is expected
-to be at its height, the number of cases of cardiac
-syncope which have happened at the beginning of the operation
-is not greater than might be expected as the result of
-the effect of chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Sudden Death from other Causes.</em> It has been more than
-once suggested that the deaths which have occurred, during
-the inhalation of chloroform, are of the same nature as the
-sudden deaths which have often occurred about the time of
-surgical operations, apparently without any adequate cause;
-and that in fact the accident and the chloroform may be a
-mere coincidence, and not connected as cause and effect. It
-has been already shown that the Commission of the Academy
-of Medicine of Paris made this suggestion in treating
-of the case of Madlle. Stock, and Dr. Simpson has more than
-once made a similar remark. On one occasion,<a id='r139'></a><a href='#f139' class='c012'><sup>[139]</sup></a> he remarked,
-in speaking of chloroform:—“The first surgical
-cases in which it was used were operated upon in the Royal
-Infirmary here, on the 15th of November, 1847. Two days
-previously, an operation took place in the Infirmary, at
-which I could not be present, to test the power of chloroform;
-and so far fortunately so; for the man was operated
-upon for hernia, without any anæsthetic, and suddenly died
-after the first incision was made through the skin, and with
-the operation uncompleted.” I should say, so far unfortunately
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>so, for whatever the cause of the man’s death, that
-cause could hardly have been present if the patient had been
-made insensible by chloroform; and so his life would in all
-probability have been saved. If he died either from fear or
-from pain, the chloroform would have prevented his death,
-by removing and preventing these causes; and if his death
-arose from simple exhaustion, it must be remembered that
-chloroform is a stimulant, during the first part of its administration,
-and, as a general rule, so long as it is actually in
-the system. Even Mr. Bickersteth, who thinks that the
-knife of the surgeon may have a direct influence on the
-heart when the patient is quite insensible, expresses his conviction
-that such an occurrence is far less likely to happen
-under the influence of chloroform than in the waking state.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have omitted from the list of deaths by chloroform two
-cases which are usually attributed to that agent, namely,
-the case of Mr. Robinson’s patient, and the one at St.
-George’s Hospital, and have attributed them to fear; and I
-also rejected the case of the infant on which Dr. Aschendorf
-operated, for the reasons I stated; and it is quite possible
-that amongst the fifty cases I have retained, there may be
-one or two in which the death was not caused by chloroform,
-especially as the details of some of the cases are very
-meagre; but when all the circumstances of the cases are
-examined, and especially when the mode of death is compared
-to that which chloroform can be made to produce in
-animals, it cannot be supposed that the fatal event was a
-more coincidence in the whole fifty cases, or in any great
-number of them.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There are numerous instances recorded of sudden death
-during surgical operations, or just before intended ones,
-without any evident cause, except fear or pain, before the
-use of narcotic vapours was known; and some even since,
-in cases in which it was not thought worth while to use
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>them. After the passage quoted above, Dr. Simpson continues:—“I
-know of another case in Edinburgh, where
-death instantaneously followed the use of an abscess-lancet
-without chloroform,—the practitioner, in fact, deeming the
-case too slight to require any anæsthetic.” Such events
-have, no doubt, often happened without being recorded;
-and it is extremely likely that the deaths of this kind which
-chloroform has prevented are quite as numerous as those it
-has occasioned by its own effects, but the medical profession
-will very properly not be satisfied with a result of this
-kind, if more can be done; and the endeavour of the practitioner
-of course is, whilst saving life as well as preventing
-pain by the use of this agent, to avoid as far as possible
-having any accident from its use.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Falling back of the Tongue.</em> It has been alleged that the
-falling back of the tongue into the throat, under the deep
-influence of chloroform, might be the cause of death by suffocation;
-but this appears to be an error; for the muscles of
-the larynx and neighbouring parts preserve their action as
-long as the diaphragm, and contract consentaneously with
-it. When the breathing has ceased, the tongue is indeed
-liable to fall backwards, if the person in a state of suspended
-animation is lying on the back, and this circumstance requires
-to be attended to in performing artificial respiration.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>STATE OF THE CHIEF ORGANS AFTER DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>A few years ago, I examined the viscera of the chest, and
-kept notes of the appearances, in thirty-seven animals killed
-by chloroform. They consisted of two dogs, twenty-two
-cats, one kitten, three rabbits, three guineapigs, two mice,
-two larks, and two chaffinches. Many of the animals were
-opened immediately after death, and the rest within a day
-or two. The lungs were not much congested in any instance.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>In seven of the animals, they were slightly congested;
-but in the remaining thirty, they were not congested.
-They were generally of a red colour, but in a few
-of the cats they were quite pale. I ascertained the specific
-gravity of the lungs of two of the cats, in which they presented
-the amount of vascularity I have most usually met
-with. The specific gravity was 0·605 in one instance, and
-0·798 in the other. As many of the animals died in a way
-resembling asphyxia, the respiration ceasing before the circulation,
-it might at first be supposed that we should meet
-with the same congestion of the lungs; but by the time
-that the respiration is altogether suspended by the action of
-chloroform, that agent has begun already to influence the
-heart, which does not inject the blood into the lungs with
-the same force as when the respiration is mechanically prevented,
-whilst it is in full vigour. Besides, in the gaspings
-which so often take place when the heart is ceasing to act,
-the animal inhaling chloroform draws air freely into the
-lungs, whilst the asphyxiated animal is prevented from
-doing so.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As regards the condition of the heart, it was found in the
-two chaffinches that the auricles were filled with blood,
-whilst the ventricles were empty. The condition of the
-heart in the larks is not mentioned, but in all the thirty-three
-quadrupeds, the right auricle and ventricle were filled
-with blood. In ten of them, these cavities were much distended;
-and in some of these instances, the coronary vessels
-on the surface of the heart were distended also. The
-left cavities of the heart never contained more than a small
-quantity of blood, not exceeding a quarter of what they
-would hold.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The head was examined in only ten of the animals. The
-substance of the brain was found to be of the natural vascularity,
-and the sinuses were not very much distended,
-except in two instances.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>With respect to the state of the blood, it may be mentioned,
-that in every instance in which the chest was opened
-within an hour after death, the blood which flowed from the
-cut vessels coagulated immediately and firmly. In eighteen
-of the animals in which the blood was examined in the
-heart or large vessels, a day or two after death, it was found
-to be well coagulated in ten, loosely coagulated in seven
-instances, and quite fluid in one instance. I have not met
-with air in the bloodvessels, either in the above thirty-seven
-examinations, or in any of the numerous other animals
-that I have opened, after they have been killed by
-chloroform. The appearances I have met with in animals
-killed by this agent have usually been such as I have
-described in the above thirty-seven instances; but I long
-since ceased, as a general rule, to make careful notes of the
-appearances, as I did not meet with anything new.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform previously
-quoted, the lungs are related to have been congested more
-frequently, and to a greater extent, than I have met with in
-animals. But there is no standard of what should be called
-congestion; and probably many of the medical men who
-made the examinations were speaking by comparison with
-cases where persons die after illness, in a state of inanition.
-In the human subject, the right cavities of the heart, although
-generally full of blood, were found empty in several
-cases; but as I previously stated, it is almost certain that
-they were emptied after death, either by the artificial respiration
-which was employed, or in some other way.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The blood remained fluid in eighteen out of twenty-five
-cases of fatal accident from chloroform, in which an examination
-of the body was made and the condition of the
-blood recorded; whereas it was only quite fluid in one instance
-out of eighteen of the animals which were killed by
-chloroform, and not opened till a day or two afterwards.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>The fact of the blood coagulating more generally, in the
-animals on which I have experimented, than in the human
-subjects who died from chloroform, is probably due to their
-smaller size. I was formerly of opinion that the fact of the
-body of a small animal cooling more quickly than the human
-one was the probable explanation of this, but Dr. Richardson
-appears to have proved that the blood is kept in a liquid
-state by the presence of ammonia; and ammonia, we might
-expect, would escape more readily from the body of a small
-animal than from the human body. However this may be,
-it is pretty certain that the blood generally remains fluid in
-the human body after death from chloroform, only because
-it usually remains fluid in every kind of sudden death.
-When a patient dies slowly of illness, the body cools gradually
-before death takes place, and ammonia keeps exhaling
-in the breath, if Dr. Richardson is correct, whilst the formation
-of this alkali must be almost suspended. In many
-cases, we know that coagulation of the blood commences
-before the respiration and circulation have ceased. The
-blood which flows during surgical operations coagulates as
-quickly and firmly when the patient is under the influence
-of chloroform as at other times; and, as was mentioned
-above, the blood which flows from animals, just after they
-are killed by this agent, coagulates as well as usual; it
-follows, therefore, that if the coagulation of the blood were
-prevented by the chloroform, and not by the mere fact of
-sudden death, it would be by the presence of this agent in
-the blood after death, and not by any action which it exerted
-during the life of the patient.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>FURTHER REMARKS ON THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS FROM CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>In consequence of the prevailing opinion that accidents
-from chloroform depended chiefly on the condition of the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>patient, the main endeavours to prevent a fatal result have
-taken the direction of a careful selection of the persons who
-were to inhale this agent. It may be doubted, however,
-whether this line of practice has had so much effect in limiting
-the number of accidents, as in curtailing the benefits to
-be derived from the discovery of preventing pain by inhalation.
-In nearly all the recorded cases of accident from
-chloroform, it is stated that the patients had been carefully
-examined, and such proofs of disease as were met with after
-death were chiefly those which had not been detected; and,
-as already has been stated, were probably not greater on an
-average than in the cases in which no accident happened.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have not myself declined to give chloroform in any
-case in which a patient required to undergo a painful operation,
-whatever evidence of organic disease I have met with
-on careful examination; and although I have memoranda of
-upwards of four thousand cases in which I have administered
-this agent, I have not, as I believe, lost a patient from
-its use; the only person who died whilst under its influence
-having, in my opinion, succumbed from other causes, as I
-have already explained.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Many writers have stated that accidents from chloroform
-might always be prevented by a close attention to the
-symptoms, or to some particular symptom, as the pulse or
-the breathing. Several authors have attached the utmost
-importance to feeling the pulse, and have considered this
-measure of itself sufficient to avert danger; whilst others
-have asserted that attention to the pulse is of no use at all.
-Mr. Bickersteth, for instance, writes as follows, in the article
-from which I previously quoted. “But the pulse should
-not be taken as any guide during the administration of
-chloroform. It should be wholly disregarded except under
-certain circumstances, when syncope is to be feared from
-loss of blood during the performance of a capital operation.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>The pulse is only affected secondarily in consequence of the
-failure of the respiration.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>If the person administering chloroform was always quite
-sure that the vapour did not constitute more than five per
-cent. of the inspired air, it is quite true that the pulse might
-be wholly disregarded. I can never produce more certain
-and uniform results with chloroform than when I am giving
-it to small animals enclosed in glass jars, where of course
-the pulse cannot be felt. In surgical practice, however,
-where the amount of vapour in the inspired air is often very
-uncertain, watching the pulse may be of great service, irrespective
-of loss of blood; and although it will not always
-prevent accident, I am persuaded that it has saved many
-lives. In some of the accidents that have happened, the
-pulse has ceased suddenly, whilst it was being very carefully
-watched; but more usually it would show some signs
-of failure before entirely ceasing.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In giving chloroform freely to animals from a napkin or
-sponge, whilst the ear or the hand was applied over the
-heart, I have usually found that its pulsations became embarrassed
-and enfeebled before they ceased; and by withdrawing
-the chloroform when the heart’s action first became
-affected, the life of the animal could often be saved.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The importance of attending to the respiration of the
-patient has been previously noticed, and it is so obvious a
-symptom that it can hardly be disregarded, if anyone is
-watching the patient; it speaks, moreover, almost to one’s
-instincts, as well as to one’s medical knowledge. It is probable
-that no patient has been lost by disregard of the
-respiration, unless it be one or two whom no one was watching,
-or in which the head and shoulders were covered with
-a towel.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It has already been shown in this work, from experiments
-on animals, and from the physiological effects and physical
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>properties of chloroform, that accidents from this agent
-would arise by its suddenly paralyzing the heart, if it were
-not sufficiently diluted with air; and a careful review of
-all the recorded cases of fatal accident shows that nearly
-every one of them has happened in this way, and not from
-any neglect in watching the symptoms induced, or mistaking
-their import.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The first rule, therefore, in giving chloroform, is to
-take care that the vapour is so far diluted that it cannot
-cause sudden death, without timely warning of the approaching
-danger; and the next rule is to watch the symptoms
-as they arise. A description of those symptoms, and
-what they indicate, has already been given.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have previously stated that the most exact way of
-giving chloroform to a patient is to put so much of it into
-a bag or balloon as will make four per cent. of vapour
-when it is filled up with the bellows; but I have not often
-resorted to this plan, on account of its being somewhat
-troublesome. I have previously described (p. 81) the inhaler
-which I employ. By arranging the bibulous paper suitably,
-and by ascertaining, with the inhaler in the scales, how
-much chloroform a given quantity of air carries off at
-different temperatures, I am able to produce very uniform
-results in the administration of chloroform. But, as I previously
-stated, those who do not wish to have the trouble of
-studying a suitable inhaler, may give chloroform on a handkerchief
-without danger, and with results sufficiently certain,
-by diluting this agent with an equal measure of spirits of
-wine. As the spirit (nearly all of it) remains behind, it is
-desirable, in a protracted operation, to change the handkerchief
-or sponge, now and then, for a dry one.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>TREATMENT OF SUSPENDED ANIMATION FROM CHLOROFORM.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>It is probable that artificial respiration, very promptly
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>applied, will restore all those patients who are capable of
-being restored from an overdose of chloroform. All the
-patients who are related to have been restored after this
-agent has occasioned a complete state of suspended animation,
-have been resuscitated by this means. It is only by
-artificial respiration that I have been able to recover
-animals from an overdose of chloroform, when I felt satisfied
-that they would not recover spontaneously. And under
-these circumstances I have not been able to restore them,
-even by this means, except when a tube had been introduced
-into the trachea, by an incision in the neck, before
-giving them what would have been the fatal dose.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Ricord succeeded in restoring two patients who were
-in a state of suspended animation by mouth to mouth
-inflation of the lungs. The first was a woman, aged twenty-six,
-who had been made rapidly insensible by a few inspirations
-of chloroform from a sponge. He had scarcely commenced
-the operation of removing some vegetations, when
-his assistant informed him that the pulse had ceased. The
-breathing also ceased about the same time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the second case, he completed the operation of circumcision,
-and the patient, a young man, not coming to himself,
-M. Ricord found that the breathing had ceased, and the
-pulse was becoming more and more extinct, and very soon
-ceased entirely, till restored by the artificial respiration.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>After these cases, hopes were expressed that M. Ricord
-had discovered the means by which all patients might be
-restored from the over-action of chloroform; but these hopes
-have not been verified by events. In the first of the cases,
-the heart had probably not been so entirely paralyzed by
-the action of the vapour as sometimes happens, and in the
-second case, that organ was apparently not paralyzed by the
-chloroform at all. It was only after the breathing had
-ceased, that M. Ricord found the pulse was failing. This
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>was a case, therefore, in which artificial respiration might
-reasonably be expected to restore the patient.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following cases of resuscitation, from the over effects
-of chloroform, are related by Mr. Bickersteth in the paper
-previously quoted. They occurred in Edinburgh:</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“<em>Case 1.</em> A boy was cut for stone by my friend Mr.
-Hakes, on the 29th of March, 1849. Chloroform was administered
-on a piece of sponge, and the full anæsthetic
-effect produced, before proceeding to tie him up in the
-ordinary position: the inhalation was continued, without
-any regard to his condition, until the operation had been
-completed—altogether about five minutes from the time he
-first became insensible. It was noticed that during the
-operation scarce a drop of blood escaped. When it was
-over, the child was found, to all appearance, dead; the
-muscles were flaccid; the surface of the body pale; the respiration
-had ceased; the pulse could not be felt; the heart
-sounds were not audible (but the room was by no means
-quiet); the eyes were half open; the jaw dropped; the
-pupils dilated; and the corneæ without their natural brilliancy.
-Several means were tried to resuscitate him, but
-without effect. At length artificial respiration was commenced;
-the air escaped with a cooing sound, as if from a
-dead body. After continuing it for a while, the breathing
-commenced, at first very slowly and feebly. Soon it improved.
-In two hours the child had quite recovered.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“<em>Case 2.</em> In December 1851, a child, a few months old,
-was put under the influence of chloroform for the purpose of
-having a nævus removed from the right cheek. As soon as
-insensibility was produced, the operation was commenced—the
-handkerchief containing the chloroform remaining over
-the face, as some difficulty had been experienced in keeping
-up the anæsthetic effect. Suddenly the breathing ceased;
-the muscles became flaccid; the countenance pale and collapsed,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>and the lips of a purple colour. Artificial respiration
-was employed, and in less than a minute the breathing
-returned, and the child was restored.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“<em>Case 3.</em> On the 6th of March, 1852, I had occasion to
-remove the finger of a robust, healthy-looking young man,
-in the Royal Infirmary. He was already under the influence
-of chloroform when I entered the room, and as there
-had been some difficulty in producing complete anæsthesia,
-and the last of the chloroform in the bottle was already on
-the handkerchief, it was thought advisable by my friend in
-charge of its administration to keep up the inhalation, in
-order to produce a coma sufficiently profound to last until
-the completion of the operation. It was therefore left over
-his face, and I commenced and removed the finger, slowly
-disarticulating it from the metacarpal bone. I distinctly
-recollect hearing the man breathing quickly and shortly;
-and I also remember, that when just about to look for the
-vessels, my attention was attracted to his condition, by not
-any longer hearing the respiration. The handkerchief was
-still on his face. I took it off, and found, to my consternation,
-that the breathing had ceased; the face was livid; the
-eyes suffused; the pupils dilated; the mouth half open.
-He was to all appearance dead; still the pulse could be distinguished
-as a small, hardly perceptible thread, beating
-slowly. Immediately artificial respiration was commenced.
-For a minute or two, his condition did not alter in any
-respect—then the lividity of the countenance increased, the
-pulse was no longer perceptible, and the sounds of the heart
-could not be satisfactorily heard. During the whole of this
-time, artificial respiration had been diligently employed, but
-still the air appeared to enter the chest very imperfectly.
-I despaired. I felt certain that the man was dead, and that
-no human aid could restore him; and if it had not been
-that those standing near me urged me to persevere, I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>believe I should then have deserted the case as hopeless.
-Just at this time it occurred to me to put my finger in the
-mouth and draw forward the tongue, in order to secure
-there being no impediment to the air entering the lungs.
-Retaining it in this position, we again began the artificial
-respiration, and found that then the chest was fully expanded
-by each inflation. After keeping it up for a minute
-or two, the gentleman, who had all along kept his hand on
-the pulse, exclaimed, to our delight, that he could again feel
-it—‘It was just like a slight flutter that reached the uppermost
-of his four fingers,’ all of them being placed over the
-course of the artery. It gradually became more distinct
-and firmer, and at the same time, the lividity of the face
-decidedly lessened. In another minute, the man made a
-slight inspiratory effort. I ceased directly the artificial
-respiration, and merely assisted the expiration by pressure
-upon the ribs. Another and another inspiration followed,
-and in a short time he breathed freely without assistance.
-The countenance became natural, and he appeared as if in a
-sound sleep. In half an hour, he spoke when roused; then
-he vomited, and complained of giddiness. In an hour
-afterwards, he had recovered sufficiently to walk home.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Moments of intense anxiety appear much longer than
-they really are; but even allowing this, I am quite sure
-that, at the very least, five minutes elapsed from the time
-when the man ceased breathing before the first inspiratory
-effort took place, and that for not less than one minute the
-pulse was imperceptible, and the heart’s action almost, if
-not altogether, inaudible.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“<em>Case 4.</em> A few weeks after the occurrence just described,
-I was assisting Mr. Syme in removing the breast of a lady.
-A gentleman, my superior in the hospital, was conducting
-the inhalation of chloroform. Anæsthesia was complete,
-and the breathing good, when the operation commenced.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>The chloroform was allowed to remain over the face during
-the whole time of its performance. Before it was over, I
-noticed the respiration become very quick and incomplete,
-and suggested, in consequence, the propriety of removing
-the handkerchief. My remark was neglected for eight or
-ten seconds, and then, just as it was taken away, the breathing
-ceased suddenly. The face became deadly pale; the
-eyes vacant; the lips livid. Instant dissolution appeared
-inevitable (the pulse was not felt). Artificial respiration
-was immediately commenced, but the air not entering the
-lungs freely, the tongue was pulled forwards, and retained
-so by the artery forceps. The chest then expanded freely
-with each inflation, the air escaping with a cooing sound.
-In rather less than a minute, the respiratory movements
-recommenced, but at first so slowly and imperfectly that it
-was necessary to assist expiration. When recovery was a
-little more established, the operation was completed. Before
-the putting in of the sutures, sensation had partially returned,
-and in a short time the lady had perfectly recovered.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Bickersteth very properly adds: “There can be no
-doubt, that in the foregoing cases, a grievous error was
-committed by continuing the inhalation after anæsthesia
-was produced, and that it was in consequence of this, the
-accidents, so nearly fatal, occurred.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As these accidents seem to have occurred from continuing
-the inhalation too long, they differ entirely from nearly all
-those which were actually fatal, and which, as we have
-seen, arose from the too great concentration of the vapour,
-and not from any want of care in watching the patient, so
-as to be able to leave off at the right moment, if it were
-possible. I have previously stated, that after breathing
-vapour of the proper strength for inhalation, animals may
-always be readily restored by artificial respiration after the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>breathing has ceased, provided the heart is still beating.
-In the cases related by Mr. Bickersteth, the heart had
-ceased to beat before the patients were restored; but in the
-third case, there is distinct evidence that the heart continued
-to beat for four minutes after the breathing had
-ceased. It was, therefore, certainly not paralyzed by the
-direct action of the chloroform. The patient was nearly in
-the condition of a drowned person, where we know that
-there is a good prospect of recovery by artificial respiration
-during the first few minutes after the breathing has ceased,
-even if the action of the heart be imperceptible. In the
-other three cases, also, it is probable that the breathing
-ceased before the action of the heart; and, at all events,
-this organ was not paralyzed so thoroughly as in the cases
-in which artificial respiration was promptly applied without
-effect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Several other cases have been related in the medical
-journals in which patients have been restored by artificial
-respiration, after animation had been suspended, more or
-less completely, by chloroform; but the above remarks
-would, I believe, be applicable to all these cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Where patients have recovered under the use of other
-measures, without artificial respiration, it is probable that
-animation was not completely suspended, and that the recovery
-was spontaneous.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Delarue related a case of accident from chloroform to
-the Academy of Medicine, on August 20th, 1850, which
-was apparently of this nature. After administering the
-vapour, and when he was about to divide some sinuses in
-the thigh, he found that his patient (a woman) was in a
-state of collapse, and the breathing and pulse, “<em>pour ainsi
-dire</em>”, insensible. The face was injected, and there was a
-bloody froth at the mouth. The uvula was titillated, and
-there was immediate movement of the eyelids, which was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>soon followed by copious vomiting, and the patient recovered.<a id='r140'></a><a href='#f140' class='c012'><sup>[140]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Such measures as dashing cold water on the patient, and
-applying ammonia to the nostrils, can hardly be expected to
-have any effect on a patient who is suffering from an overdose
-of chloroform; for they would have no effect whatever
-on one who has inhaled it in the usual manner, and is
-merely ready for a surgical operation, but in no danger. I
-have applied the strongest ammonia to the nostrils of animals
-that were narcotized by chloroform to the third or
-fourth degree, and it did not affect the breathing in the
-least. They recovered just as if nothing had been done. It
-is difficult to suppose a case in which the breathing should
-be arrested by the effects of chloroform whilst the skin remained
-sensible, yet it is only in such a case that the dashing
-of cold water on the patient could be of use. There is,
-however, no harm in the application of this and such like
-means, provided they do not usurp the time which ought to
-be occupied in artificial respiration; for this measure should
-be resorted to the moment the natural breathing has entirely
-ceased.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have only seen two cases in which the patients seemed
-in imminent danger from the direct effects of chloroform.
-One of these occurred in 1853. It was the case of a child,
-aged six years, but small and ricketty, which had the
-greater part of the eyeball removed on account of melanotic
-disease. The usual inhaler was employed, and when the
-child seemed sufficiently insensible, it was withdrawn. The
-operation was commenced by introducing a large curved
-needle, armed with a thick ligature, through the globe of
-the eye, in order to draw it forward. As the needle was
-introduced, the child cried out a very little, and thinking
-the parents, who were in the adjoining room, would be
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>alarmed, I poured some undiluted chloroform hastily on a
-rather large sponge, and placed it over the nostrils and
-mouth. The sponge became pressed by the surgeon’s hand
-closer on the nose than I intended, but it was removed after
-the child had taken a few inspirations. The operation was
-quickly concluded without any further sign of sensation
-than that mentioned above. At the end of the operation,
-the breathing was natural, but the face was pale, and the
-lips blue, and the limbs were also relaxed. I tried to feel
-the pulse at the wrist, but did not discover any. The chloroform
-had at this time been left off half a minute at least.
-The pallor and blueness continued, and in a little time the
-breathing became slow and embarrassed, and appeared about
-to cease altogether, the pulse being still absent. The windows
-were opened, and cold water dashed freely on the face.
-The child made gasping inspirations now and then, but they
-did not follow immediately, or seem connected with each
-application of the water. The gasps became more frequent,
-till the breathing was thoroughly reestablished, when the
-colour returned to the lips, and the pulse was again felt at
-the wrist. In a minute afterwards, the child was red in the
-face, and crying violently from pain, which was relieved by
-a little more chloroform. It appeared to be a minute or a
-minute and a half from the time when the sponge with
-chloroform was removed, till the breathing became of a
-gasping character. There is no doubt that in this case the
-heart was paralyzed, or nearly so, by the chloroform, and
-that its action was restored by the spontaneous gasping inspirations
-of the child. The accident could have been prevented
-by having the chloroform, which was put on the
-sponge, diluted with spirit.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The other case occurred in the latter part of 1852. I
-have no notes of it, as it took place at the beginning of an
-illness, which prevented me from writing for some time;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>but I recollect the chief particulars of it sufficiently well.
-The patient was a lady rather more than sixty years of age,
-rather tall and thin. She required to have a polypus removed
-from the nose. Mr. Fergusson, who was about to
-operate, was nearly an hour after the appointed time, and
-during this interval she was pacing up and down the room,
-apparently in a great fright. She was placed in an easy
-chair for the operation, and the pulse was small and feeble
-when she began to inhale. Nothing particular occurred
-during the inhalation, but just at the time when the patient
-was becoming insensible, the breathing ceased, and the
-pulse could not be felt. She appeared to have fainted, and
-was immediately placed on a bed which was in the room.
-I applied my ear to the chest, but could hear no sound
-whatever. Mr. Fergusson applied his mouth to that of the
-patient, and with a very strong expiration, inflated her
-lungs, so as to expand the chest very freely. I immediately
-heard the heart’s action recommence with very rapid and
-feeble strokes, as I had so often heard it recommence in
-animals. The patient soon began to make distant gasping
-inspirations, and the natural breathing and pulse were soon
-reestablished. Mr. Fergusson made only one or two inflations
-of the lungs after the first one, which of itself was the
-means of restoring the patient. It was about twenty minutes,
-however, before she became conscious; and during
-the greater part of this time there were spasmodic twitchings
-of the features and limbs on one side. In about an
-hour, she was pretty well; and on the following day the
-operation was performed without chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The most ready and effectual mode of performing artificial
-respiration is undoubtedly the postural method, introduced
-by Dr. Marshall Hall a little time before his death.
-It consists in placing the patient on the face and making
-pressure on the back; removing the pressure, and turning
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>the patient on his side and a little beyond; then turning
-him back on the face and making pressure on the back
-again; these measures being repeated in about the time of
-natural respiration.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Whether the artificial breathing is successful or not must
-depend chiefly on the extent to which the heart has been
-paralyzed by the chloroform, as was previously observed.
-The fact of the breathing continuing after the action of the
-heart has ceased, in some of the fatal cases, shows that the
-heart may be so paralyzed as not to be readily restored by
-the breathing. It is probable that in all cases in which
-artificial respiration can restore the patient, its action would
-be very prompt; still it is desirable to persevere with this
-measure for a good while.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As already stated, there is every reason to conclude that
-the right cavities of the heart are distended with blood, in
-all cases of suspended animation by chloroform, and therefore
-it would be desirable to open one of the jugular veins
-if the artificial respiration does not immediately restore the
-patient. In opening animals, just after death from this
-agent, I have observed the contractions of the heart to return,
-to a certain extent, when the distension of its right
-cavities was diminished by the division of the vessels about
-the root of the neck. Opening the jugular veins has been
-resorted to in a few of the cases of accident from chloroform,
-but hitherto without success.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have not succeeded in restoring an animal from an
-overdose of chloroform, by means of electricity, in any case
-where I felt satisfied that it would not recover spontaneously;
-and I have not heard of any patient being restored
-by its means. For keeping up respiration, mechanical
-means, such as the postural method, are better; as they
-cause air to enter the lungs without exhausting the remaining
-sensibility. If electricity be used, it should be directed
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>towards restoring the action of the heart. It is probable
-that the electric current would not reach the heart without
-the help of the acupuncture needle; but it would be justifiable
-to use this in a desperate case, when other measures
-had failed. The needles should be coated with wax, or
-some other non-conductor of electricity, except near the
-points.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the fatal cases Nos. 40 and 48, previously related, the
-action of the heart partially returned during the efforts that
-were made for the restoration of the patient, but did not
-become thoroughly reestablished. It is probable that the
-circulation through the coronary vessels of the heart was
-not restored in those cases, or else the blood which must
-have been freed from chloroform, in its passage through the
-lungs, would most likely have enabled the heart to recover
-completely. Dr. Cockle has expressed the opinion, which is
-very probable, that the blood enters the coronary arteries in
-a retrograde manner, during the diastole of the ventricles,
-when the aorta and other great arteries are contracting on
-their contents; if so, with a very feeble circulation, the
-elasticity of the aorta, perhaps, cannot sufficiently act to
-cause a backward current; and perhaps, also, the over-narcotism
-of the heart is itself an obstacle to the coronary circulation,
-on account of the congestion of the capillaries
-which always attends on narcotism.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The knowledge how seldom anything effectual can be
-done for a person who has inhaled a dose of chloroform from
-which he would not spontaneously recover, ought to impress
-the rule very strongly on every one, to use the greatest care
-in its administration.</p>
-
-<div>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>
- <h3 class='c015'>EFFECT OF CHLOROFORM ON THE RESULT OF OPERATIONS.</h3>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c014'>Besides the great benefit conferred by chloroform in the
-prevention of pain, it probably confers still greater advantages
-by the extension which it gives to the practice of
-surgery. Many operations take place in children which
-could not be performed in the waking state; excisions of
-joints and tedious operations for the removal of necrosed
-bone are often performed on persons who would be altogether
-unable to go through them except in a state of
-anæsthesia; and the moving of stiff joints by force is an
-operation now frequently performed, although it would
-probably not have been thought of if narcotism by inhalation
-had not been discovered. The surgeon also obtains the
-ready assent of his patient to a number of other operations,
-where it would either not be obtained at all, or not at the
-most favourable time, if the patient had to suffer the pain
-of them.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The effect of chloroform cannot fail to be favourable, to a
-certain extent, in large operations. The patient is in a
-more tranquil and cheerful condition after the operation,
-than he would be in if he had suffered the pain of it. His
-pulse is usually of the natural frequency; and after an amputation,
-there is generally an entire absence of the starting
-of the stump, which was formerly so distressing. After all
-the minor operations in which chloroform is used, and
-which according to my experience comprise at least one-half
-of the cases, there is never a death; and the only inconvenience
-is a troublesome sickness of stomach in a very
-few instances. Moreover, when patients die after the more
-formidable operations, they succumb to causes which are
-well known, and were in operation before the practice of
-anæsthesia. I only know of a very few instances where
-there has been a reasonable doubt on the mind of the surgeon,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>whether the chloroform may not have had some share
-in preventing the recovery of the patient, after a severe
-operation. These were cases in which the sickness, which
-occasionally follows chloroform, continued for three or four
-days, indeed till the death of the patient. This is a point
-which it would be difficult to decide, for the latter part of
-the sickness might depend on the sinking state of the patient,
-and might have come on if chloroform had not been
-used. Moreover, as sickness is seldom very prolonged after
-chloroform in minor operations, except in persons who are
-not in a good state of health, it is most probable, that the
-patients who died after a great operation with continued
-sickness, would not have done well if no chloroform had
-been used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Some attempts have been made to determine, by statistical
-inquiry, whether the result of operations has been
-more favourable since the introduction of anæsthesia.
-These attempts have been confined to the larger amputations,
-as they are the only operations which sufficiently
-resemble each other to admit of the application of statistical
-inquiry; and even in the case of these operations, the inquiries
-which had been made previously to the introduction
-of etherization differed widely in their results.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Simpson took great trouble, in the early part of 1848,
-to collect the account of the amputations of the thigh, leg,
-and arm, which had been performed under the influence of
-ether or chloroform in forty-nine of the hospitals in Great
-Britain; and for comparison, he collected from thirty
-British hospitals the results of the same amputations, for
-the two or three years preceding 1847. He found that the
-mortality in the period preceding the use of ether was 29
-per cent. in these amputations, and the return of patients
-whose limbs had been amputated under the use of ether and
-chloroform gave a mortality of 23 per cent.; and he concluded
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>that 6 per cent. of the lives of those who had undergone
-these amputations had been saved by the use of these
-agents. In his application for an account of cases, however,
-Dr. Simpson merely asked for the number of cases, and the
-number of deaths. Nothing was said as to the time when
-the amputations had been performed; and there is reason
-to believe that a number of cases still under treatment may
-have been included; some of which may have ended fatally
-after the returns were made. The cutting part of a large
-amputation is of very short duration. The loss of blood is
-not great; and patients hardly ever died during the performance
-of an amputation, but some time afterwards, of
-diseases which ether and chloroform have not been found
-capable of preventing. It was therefore not to be expected
-that these agents should save the lives of so many as 6 per
-cent. of those who underwent the larger amputations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the early part of 1849, I published an account of
-fifty-five amputations of the thigh, leg, and arm, in which I
-had administered ether or chloroform, and the mortality was
-27 per cent.<a id='r141'></a><a href='#f141' class='c012'><sup>[141]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. James Arnott has lately been investigating this subject
-in a very persevering manner. During the last three
-or four years, all the cases of amputation performed in the
-London hospitals have been reported in the <cite>Medical Times
-and Gazette</cite>, together with their results; and Dr. James
-Arnott has stated that the average per centage of deaths,
-after the three kinds of amputation above mentioned, is
-34·4 per cent. There is obviously no means of ascertaining
-what was the mortality after amputations in the hospitals
-of London before the use of ether and chloroform, but Dr.
-James Arnott brings forward four papers, which state the
-mortality for a short period, in four hospitals, a little time
-before the introduction of etherization. The number of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>cases in these papers is 174, and the number of deaths 41.
-Dr. James Arnott states the per centage of deaths to be
-21·9,<a id='r142'></a><a href='#f142' class='c012'><sup>[142]</sup></a> although it appears to me that it would be 23·5;
-and it may be remarked that the four papers from which
-these numbers are taken might probably not have been
-published if the numbers they contain had not been favourable.
-Dr. James Arnott, in a second table, gives the number
-of amputations and deaths from the several hospitals in
-London which are named. The cases are said to have occurred
-“during eighteen months from June 1855 to June
-1856, inclusive;” here being obviously a mistake. The
-number of cases is 204, and the number of deaths 61;
-which would give a mortality of 29·9 per cent.; almost
-exactly the same as that which Dr. Simpson had obtained
-from thirty provincial hospitals before the use of ether.
-The numbers in Dr. Simpson’s table are 618 cases, and 183
-deaths, or 29·6 per cent. Dr. James Arnott does not, however,
-mention the per centage of deaths in his second table,
-but gives another table, for a different period, in which the
-names of the hospital are not given. The numbers he gives
-in this table are 430 cases and 148 deaths, giving a mortality
-of 34·4 per cent. Dr. James Arnott therefore concludes
-that chloroform causes the death of upwards of 12
-per cent. of those who inhale it for the purpose of undergoing
-amputation. It is evident that he can have had no
-experience of the effects of chloroform, or he would have
-perceived at once the error of his conclusions, for this agent
-is given for a much longer time than in amputations, in
-numerous operations of which the entire mortality is less
-than 12 per cent. In the removal of tumours of the female
-breast, for instance, more chloroform is generally administered
-than in an amputation, and the loss of blood is also
-much greater, yet the entire mortality after this operation
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>is considerably less than that which Dr. J. Arnott supposes
-that chloroform adds to the ordinary mortality after amputations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. J. Arnott stated that the pyæmia, of which many of
-the patients died after amputation, had probably been rendered
-more prevalent and fatal by the use of chloroform;
-but Mr. Thomas Holmes, in one of his able replies to the
-remarks of Dr. Arnott, points out that pyæmia had been
-prevalent also in cases of compound fracture, and others in
-which the patients had no chloroform. He stated that this
-complaint had been more prevalent in St. George’s Hospital
-during the three years in which Dr. J. Arnott’s statistics of
-amputations had been collected, than in the previous five
-years, in which chloroform had been used.<a id='r143'></a><a href='#f143' class='c012'><sup>[143]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A very valuable paper on the result of operations performed
-in the Newcastle Infirmary, before and since the use
-of ether and chloroform, was published last year by Dr.
-Fenwick.<a id='r144'></a><a href='#f144' class='c012'><sup>[144]</sup></a> He says, respecting his tables, “in the first
-series are included the operations registered in the operation
-books of the Newcastle Infirmary from 1823 to 1843; but,
-as the record is imperfect, the actual period embraced is
-seventeen and a half years. In the second, are the operations
-registered since the first employment of ether; and as
-the use of anæsthetic agents has been general in all the
-more important operations since that time, these figures
-may be used to show any disadvantages likely to arise from
-the employment of chloroform.” Dr. Fenwick continues:—“Before
-the use of chloroform, there were registered 225
-amputations of the thigh, leg, and arm, of which 54, or 24
-per cent., died. Since the use of anæsthetic agents, 149
-cases of similar operations have been recorded, of which 36
-died, showing also a mortality of 24 per cent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>“Before, however, we can draw any conclusion from such
-facts, we must carefully exclude all those circumstances
-which are already known to produce an effect upon the
-mortality of amputations. It is, for instance, well known
-that amputations performed on account of accidents are, on
-the whole, nearly twice as fatal as those required for long
-standing disease. Now, if we divide the foregoing numbers
-into these two classes, we shall find that before the introduction
-of chloroform there were 144 pathological amputations,
-with a mortality of 19 per cent.; while since its employment
-there have been only 61, of which 13 per cent.
-have died; and while of 81 traumatic amputations which
-took place in the former period 32 per cent. died, only 31
-per cent. perished in the latter period. The equal mortality
-obtained from a general average of all amputations is thus
-seen to have arisen from the smaller comparative number
-of operations performed for diseases.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>After giving a table which shows the result of each kind
-of amputation in the two periods, he adds, “It is plain
-from the above table that since the employment of chloroform
-there has been a diminution of mortality; thus in
-amputations of the thigh for disease there has been 5 per
-cent. less death, while after accidents 17 per cent. have been
-restored to health, who formerly would have perished. In
-the pathological amputations of the leg there is a difference
-of 8 per cent. in favour of chloroform; and while one out of
-three died after the removal of the forearm for accidents in
-the former series of cases, no death had occurred out of
-eight in the latter. The only exceptions are to be found in
-the traumatic amputations of the leg, and in the pathological
-amputations of the arm. In the former there is an
-excess of deaths since the introduction of chloroform
-amounting to 5 per cent.; and in the latter, the cases, being
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>only two in number, do not warrant us in drawing any
-deduction from them.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Fenwick found that the mortality from lithotomy
-had been greater since the introduction of chloroform than
-before, but that the increase was confined to the cases
-occurring in adults; and he justly attributes this to the
-fact of the more favourable cases having been operated on
-by lithotrity. He says, “However paradoxical it may appear,
-I believe that as surgery improves the general average
-of mortality, both after amputations and lithotomy, will increase;
-in the former, from the operation being confined
-more and more to those suffering from accidents, and in the
-latter, from those with a healthy condition of the kidneys
-and bladder being selected for the action of the lithotrite,
-and the worst cases only submitting to the knife.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Fenwick gives a table showing the causes of death in
-the fatal cases of lithotomy before the use of chloroform
-and afterwards, by which it is seen that, in the latter set of
-cases, a larger proportion of the patients had been afflicted
-with organic disease, in addition to the stone. He says:—“This
-table shows that the relative proportion of deaths
-arising from the operation in healthy persons has diminished
-since the use of chloroform, 58 per cent. having died
-in the former, and only 47 per cent. in the latter.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Fenwick inquires into the result of a considerable
-number of operations in the Newcastle Infirmary, before
-and after the use of chloroform, in addition to those mentioned
-above; and gives the following summary towards the
-end of his paper.<a id='r145'></a><a href='#f145' class='c012'><sup>[145]</sup></a> “We find that there has been a decrease
-in mortality since the introduction of chloroform in
-the following operations:—</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <th class='c007'></th>
- <th class='c017'>Per cent.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pathological amputations of the thigh</td>
- <td class='c022'>5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Traumatic amputations of the thigh</td>
- <td class='c022'>17</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pathological amputations of the leg</td>
- <td class='c022'>8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Amputation at the shoulder joint</td>
- <td class='c022'>7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Traumatic amputation of the arm</td>
- <td class='c022'>5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pathological amputation of the forearm</td>
- <td class='c022'>33</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Traumatic amputation of the forearm</td>
- <td class='c022'>16</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Ligature of the brachial artery</td>
- <td class='c022'>20</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Ligature of the arteries of the forearm</td>
- <td class='c022'>25</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Amputation of the penis</td>
- <td class='c022'>11</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Amputation of the testis</td>
- <td class='c022'>14</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Excision of the elbow</td>
- <td class='c022'>30</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Tumours of the axilla, etc.</td>
- <td class='c022'>8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Tumours of the bones, etc.</td>
- <td class='c022'>4</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>“There has been an increase of mortality in:—</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <th class='c007'></th>
- <th class='c017'>Per cent.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Traumatic amputation of the leg</td>
- <td class='c022'>5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pathological amputation of the arm</td>
- <td class='c022'>41</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lithotomy</td>
- <td class='c022'>10</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Herniotomy</td>
- <td class='c022'>12</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Amputation of the breast</td>
- <td class='c022'>1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Tumours of the head, etc.</td>
- <td class='c022'>5.”</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Fenwick very properly remarks that other circumstances
-may have had an influence over the mortality of the
-various operations, as well as the fact of chloroform being
-used or not used: but his inquiry is very important, as it
-shows the result of operations in the same institution since
-the employment of ether and chloroform, and for a long
-period immediately preceding the use of those agents.</p>
-
-<div>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>
- <h3 class='c015'>THE ADMINISTRATION OF CHLOROFORM IN THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF OPERATIONS.</h3>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c014'>General directions for the exhibition of chloroform have
-already been given, but it is desirable to say a few words
-regarding its employment in some of the individual operations
-of surgery.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Lithotomy.</em> In this operation, it is advisable to have the
-patient placed on the operating table with his head supported
-by one or two pillows, and to administer the chloroform
-before the sound is introduced. This having been
-done, it is generally requisite to administer a little more
-vapour cautiously and gently, whilst the bandages are applied
-to the hands and feet, and the patient is drawn down
-towards the foot of the table. The bandaging should on no
-account be neglected in the adult patient. It would be an
-abuse of chloroform to carry its effects so far in every case
-that the slightest contraction of the muscles could not be
-excited by the use of the knife, merely to save the trouble
-of applying a bandage. In little children, the bandages are
-not usually employed; but in these cases, the person administering
-the chloroform should hold the head or shoulders
-of the little patient, just as the surgeon makes his first
-incision; for the two assistants who are holding the legs,
-and think they are doing a great deal of good, are really
-making a fulcrum to enable the child to push itself away
-from the surgeon, if it makes the least flinch, which it is
-almost sure to do, if the narcotism is not much deeper than
-there is any occasion for. In this operation the patient
-should be fully insensible when the surgeon makes his first
-incisions; and the chloroform must be repeated or not
-during the operation as occasion may require.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have memoranda of fifty-seven cases in which I have
-administered chloroform in the adult, and thirty-four in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>children, down to the present time, the end of March 1858.
-It was my expectation that I should be able to give the
-result of these, and all the other important operations; but
-I have in a few cases either not ascertained whether the
-patient recovered or not, or have neglected to make a note
-of the circumstances at the time; and although the deficiencies
-might perhaps be made up by private correspondence,
-and by searching the books of three hospitals, I regret
-that I have not time at present for such an undertaking.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A large proportion of the above cases of lithotomy were
-performed by Mr. Fergusson, either in his private practice,
-or in King’s College Hospital, and the remaining operations
-were performed by a number of surgeons. On April 19th,
-1855, Mr. Fergusson removed eight calculi, as large as
-pigeon eggs, from the bladder of a gentleman, aged sixty-nine,
-who had a favourable recovery.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On June 7th, in the same year, he removed fourteen calculi
-from the bladder of an elderly gentleman, who also recovered.
-In January 1857, he removed forty-two calculi
-from the bladder of a gentleman, aged sixty-six; twelve of
-them were nearly as large as chesnuts, and the rest about
-as big as hazel-nuts. This patient died, I think, within a
-fortnight. He had disease of the kidneys. A considerable
-number of the elderly men on whom lithotomy has been
-performed have had well marked symptoms of fatty degeneration
-of the heart; but the chloroform has acted favourably
-on all of them. In January 1853, Mr. Fergusson performed
-lithotomy in the country on a gentleman, aged
-sixty-four, removing a rather large calculus. The patient
-weighed eighteen stone; he had a pulse which was liable to
-intermit, some of his relations had died suddenly, and his
-usual medical attendant was very much alarmed about the
-chloroform; but its action was very satisfactory. The patient
-recovered his consciousness without sickness, or any
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>unpleasant symptom; and he had a favourable recovery.
-On August 11th, 1855, I administered chloroform in King’s
-College Hospital to a man, aged seventy-five, whilst Mr.
-Fergusson performed lithotomy. The patient had suffered
-from apoplexy a year before; he was still paralyzed on one
-side, he had the arcus senilis well marked in both eyes, and
-the temporal arteries were very thick and rigid. He went
-through the operation well; the pulse being good all the
-time. He died on the fifth day, and the following appears
-in the <cite>Medical Times and Gazette</cite> respecting the appearances
-found after death. “At the autopsy, the cellular
-tissue of the pelvis was found infiltrated with pus. The
-kidneys were contracted, and occupied by many cysts; the
-ureters were inflamed and contained pus. The bladder was
-extensively sacculated, and its mucous membrane so much
-congested as to appear on the point of sloughing. There
-was no peritonitis. The heart was large and fatty, and its
-aortic valves diseased to a small extent. The brain was
-congested, and its bloodvessels extensively ossified.” On
-December 22nd, 1855, I administered chloroform in King’s
-College Hospital to a very fat man, aged sixty-one, with a
-soft weak pulse, and arcus senilis of the cornea. Mr. Fergusson
-performed lithotomy. He went well through the
-operation, and recovered promptly from the effects of the
-chloroform. He died on the seventh day, with purulent
-effusion into the left knee, and around the left shoulder.
-The heart was large and flabby, and the substance of the
-left ventricle was very friable. The right ventricle was
-dilated and thinned, and its walls were soft and friable, and
-encroached on externally by fat; at one place there seemed
-scarcely any muscular substance left.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have memoranda of four cases of lithotomy in the
-female, in which the urethra was divided as well as dilated
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>to extract the stone; and I recollect two other cases of the
-same kind of which I have no notes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Lithotrity.</em> I have memoranda of 155 operations of lithotrity
-in which I have administered chloroform. The number
-of cases of stone in which these operations took place
-was sixty, but some of the patients had operations performed,
-either without chloroform, or when it was administered
-by some one else. The earliest cases of lithotrity
-in which I administered chloroform were in St. George’s
-Hospital, and a great number of the patients to whom I
-have given it were the private patients of Mr. Fergusson,
-who is entirely satisfied of its utility in this operation.
-Speaking of this operation in his <cite>Practical Surgery</cite> (third
-ed., p. 800), he says: “I am of opinion that there is not any
-department of practical surgery in which anæsthesia has
-been of more service than in this.” I have administered
-chloroform in a few operations of lithotrity by Sir Benjamin
-Brodie; but I believe that he does not approve of it
-in this operation, as a general rule. The following are
-amongst the other surgeons whom I have frequently assisted
-by giving chloroform in this operation: Mr. Cæsar
-Hawkins, Mr. Cutler, Mr. Coulson, Mr. Charles Hawkins,
-and Mr. Henry Lee. Mr. Fergusson, in one of his operations,
-extracted some portions of gutta percha bougie round
-which a phosphatic calculus had formed. He was not informed
-of the presence of the bougie in the bladder, until it
-was extracted. On another occasion, a patient was brought
-from the country soon after a bougie of this description had
-broken off, and he extracted with the lithotrite the piece
-remaining in the bladder. It was between two and three
-inches in length.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is generally desirable to make the patient quite insensible
-during the operation of lithotrity; and the patient
-sometimes groans during its performance, when he is in a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>condition that, so far as one can judge, he would show no
-sign of sensation under the use of the knife; but he, of
-course, has no recollection of the operation afterwards.
-The bladder is sometimes apt to expel the water which is
-injected, if the patient is not well under the influence of
-the chloroform; but when the vapour has been continued
-for a few minutes, and the narcotism is complete, the
-bladder will, I believe, always hold water as well as if the
-operation were performed in the waking state, and generally
-much better. There are some surgeons who occasionally
-raise the breech of the patient for a short time
-during this operation, so that the head becomes considerably
-lower than the body. Stout old men generally snore more
-loudly when in this position under the influence of chloroform;
-but I have not met with any ill effects, nor expected
-any, from the head being lowered for a short time. From
-ten to twenty minutes has been the most usual duration of
-the operations under chloroform at which I have been
-present.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered chloroform six times in female
-children whilst Mr. Fergusson performed lithotrity. The
-patients were three in number. I think the calculus all
-came away after the first operation, and the second was
-only an examination of the bladder. I administered chloroform
-also, on one occasion, to a lady whilst Mr. Spencer
-Wells repeated the operation of lithotrity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Section of the Urethra in the Perinæum.</em> I have notes
-of 56 cases of this operation. A great proportion of them
-were performed by Mr. Fergusson, either in King’s College
-Hospital, or in private practice. Amongst the other surgeons
-whom I have assisted in this operation were the late
-Messrs. Guthrie, Bransby Cooper, and Avery. In a great
-number of the cases, it was impossible to get a catheter into
-the bladder until after the incision was made in the perinæum,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>and many of the operations were very tedious;
-several of them lasting above an hour. It is very desirable
-to apply the bandages in this operation, as in that of lithotomy,
-especially if the assistants are not numerous.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Other Operations for Stricture, etc.</em> I have notes of four
-operations in which the stricture was divided internally by
-a urethratome; and of two operations in which the orifice
-of the urethra was enlarged; and of nine plastic operations
-to restore deficiencies of the walls of the urethra, congenital
-or otherwise. I have memoranda of 66 cases in which I
-have administered chloroform for sounding the bladder or
-the introduction of a catheter. In catheterism under chloroform
-the patient, of course, lies on his back, which is
-indeed the position in which he ought to be during this
-operation, when chloroform is not administered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Amputation of the Thigh.</em> This operation is often performed
-for disease of the knee, when the joint is in such a
-state of tenderness that the least motion causes great pain.
-In such cases, I have administered the chloroform to the
-patient in bed, before his removal to the operating table,
-and given a little more chloroform just before the operation
-was commenced. In King’s College Hospital, I have several
-times given the chloroform in the ward in such cases, before
-the patient was removed to the operating theatre; but in
-St. George’s Hospital, the passages and doors being wide,
-the patient has been carried on his bed into the theatre,
-where the chloroform was administered just before his being
-lifted on the table. In those cases in which the tourniquet
-is applied, in preference to pressure with the fingers, it
-should be adjusted as the patient is getting under the influence
-of the chloroform, and tightened just before the operation
-begins. It is desirable to keep the patient quite
-insensible till the limb is removed, and the femoral artery
-is tied; after which a little chloroform may be given whenever
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>the patient shows by a slight flinch, or contraction of
-his features, that sensation is returning. A few patients
-have recovered their consciousness during the tying of the
-smaller arteries, and have entered into a conversation without
-feeling the pain, but this condition is quite the exception.
-I have notes of 49 cases of amputation of the thigh
-in which I have administered chloroform. Some of the
-patients, who were almost grown up to the adult age, did
-not know that the limb was removed till three or four days
-had elapsed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Amputation of the Leg.</em> I have notes of 31 cases in
-which I have administered chloroform during this amputation.
-The remarks made above with regard to amputation
-of the thigh are applicable to this operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Amputation of the Arm.</em> I have only administered chloroform
-five times in this operation, and only in one case
-during the last seven years. This case was that of a boy,
-aged sixteen; Mr. Hancock was the operator, and the patient
-recovered. I have no note of the disease for which
-the operation was performed, but in two or three of the
-remaining cases, the arm was amputated on account of malignant
-disease of the forearm. In one of the operations,
-the patient was seated in an easy chair, but in the others,
-the patients were lying on a sofa, or operating table, with
-the head and shoulders a little raised.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Amputation of the arm has apparently been much less
-frequently performed of late years, owing to the increasing
-practice of performing excision of the elbow; and it appears
-to me that all the great amputations are much less frequently
-performed now than they were a few years ago.
-During a little more than nine months of 1847, I administered
-sulphuric ether in 32 amputations of the thigh, leg,
-and arm; and in the last ten years and four months, I have
-only administered chloroform in 85 of the same operations;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>in the last three years, indeed, in only 16 cases; so that the
-practice of amputation is still diminishing. This is due to
-the practice of anæsthesia, which enables the surgeon to explore
-and to remove diseased joints and portions of diseased
-bone by operations that would be too long and too painful
-to be endured in the waking state. This circumstance confirms
-the remark of Dr. Fenwick, previously quoted, that
-the mortality after amputations may be expected to become
-greater, as they will cease to be performed, except after
-accidents, or in very desperate cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Amputation of the Ankle.</em> I have notes of 15 cases of
-amputation at the ankle. They were chiefly performed by
-Mr. Fergusson, and generally in the manner recommended
-by Mr. Syme, or nearly so; but latterly Mr. Fergusson and
-Mr. Partridge have, in three or four cases, adopted the modification
-of this operation introduced by Prof. Pirogoff, by
-which a portion of the os calcis is left.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Other Amputations.</em> I have notes of nine cases of amputation
-of the forearm; four of these operations were performed
-in 1850, and only three since that year. I have
-memoranda of twelve cases in which I have given chloroform
-whilst Chopart’s or other partial operations of the foot
-were performed. Also of three cases in which Mr. Fergusson
-performed amputation at the knee, and three cases
-in which he performed amputation at the wrist in King’s
-College Hospital. I have notes also of 65 cases in which I
-have administered it during the amputation of one or more
-fingers or toes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for Necrosis.</em> Anæsthesia is of the utmost
-service in these operations, which are often tedious, and
-would be of the most painful nature. The operations are of
-the most successful kind of any in surgery; they usually
-relieve the patient from a very painful affection, and leave
-no mutilation. I have administered chloroform in many
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>cases of necrosis in which an operation could not have been
-undertaken without its assistance; and in a still larger
-number, in which the operation could not otherwise have
-been satisfactorily completed. I have memoranda of 197
-cases of necrosis in which I have given chloroform. In 70
-of these, the tibia was the bone affected; in 15 cases, the
-femur; in 24 cases, the humerus; in 14 cases, the radius,
-or ulna, or both of these bones; in 29 cases, the bones
-either of the carpus or tarsus, or metacarpus or metatarsus.
-I have notes of six cases of necrosis of the sternum; in five
-of these the operation was performed by Mr. Fergusson, and
-in one case by Mr. Solly. Great care was required in some
-of the cases to avoid going through into the chest with the
-bone nippers. There have been nine operations for necrosis
-of the os calcis. In one of these, Mr. Wm. Adams
-lately removed, along with the necrosed bone, a small bullet
-which had been in the bone for six years.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The other cases of necrosis comprise the upper and lower
-jaw, the parietal bone, the edge of the orbit, the scapula and
-clavicle, the sacrum, the ileum, and the phalanges of the
-fingers and toes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Excision of the Head of the Femur.</em> I have notes of five
-cases of this operation. They all occurred in children from
-eight to thirteen years of age. Three of the operations were
-performed by Mr. Fergusson, one by Mr. Bowman, and one
-by Mr. French; I also recollect assisting Mr. Henry Smith
-in a similar operation in a child in 1848, at a time when I
-did not keep any account of the operations in which I
-administered chloroform. In one of Mr. Fergusson’s operations,
-he removed some diseased portions of the acetabulum.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Excision of the Elbow.</em> There is every reason to conclude
-that this excellent operation has been performed more frequently
-in consequence of the inhalation of narcotic vapours
-than it otherwise would have been. I have memoranda of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>19 cases of this operation in which I have exhibited chloroform;
-18 of them were performed by Mr. Fergusson, and
-the remaining one was performed by Mr. Coulson, whilst
-Mr. Fergusson was present.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Excision of the Knee.</em> I have notes of 17 cases in which
-I have given chloroform during the performance of this
-operation. Thirteen of the operations were performed by
-Mr. Fergusson, two by Mr. Bowman, one by Mr. Partridge,
-and one by Mr. Henry Smith.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This operation had been rarely performed till within the
-last seven years, and there is every reason to believe that it
-never would have been frequently performed, if the practice
-of producing anæsthesia had not been introduced. I shall
-speak of this operation again in treating of amylene.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Excision of Wrist.</em> There have been two cases of this
-operation performed by Mr. Fergusson in King’s College
-Hospital.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>The Removal of Tumours of the Upper Jaw.</em> Mr. Syme,
-Mr. Lizars, and some other surgeons, expressed an opinion
-at one time that chloroform could not be safely used in this
-operation, as the blood would be liable to flow into the
-lungs. This is not the case, however, as the glottis retains
-its sensibility apparently unimpaired, if the influence of the
-chloroform is not too deep or long continued. It is only
-necessary to hold the head forward now and then, when the
-throat is very full of blood, in order to allow the patient
-the same opportunity of breathing that he would require if
-he were awake. A good deal of blood passes into the
-stomach in great operations about the mouth under the
-influence of chloroform; and if a few drops pass into the
-windpipe, they are coughed up again, as they would be in
-the waking state; there is, however, less appearance of
-suffocation in operations where the blood flows back into
-the throat, when the patient is insensible, than when he is
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>awake. The glottis appears to retain some sensibility as
-long as a creature is capable of breathing, for I have placed
-the head of more than one cat under water after making
-them thoroughly insensible with chloroform, and the action
-of the respiratory muscles lasted more than two minutes,
-but no water entered the lungs.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have always made the patient insensible in the usual
-way, with the inhaler, before the operation of removing
-tumours of the jaw, and have kept up the insensibility
-during the operation by means of a mixture of chloroform
-and spirit on a hollow sponge; or in cases in which I have
-not been provided with this mixture, I have put not more
-than fifteen or twenty minims of chloroform on the sponge
-at one time. Owing to the hands of the surgeon and his
-assistants being very much in the way, I have not always
-been able to keep the patient quite insensible throughout
-the operation. He has sometimes struggled or cried out,
-but there has been hardly any case in which the patient
-afterwards remembered any considerable part of the operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have notes of twelve cases of removal of the upper jaw
-in which I have administered chloroform, in addition to four
-cases to which I alluded in the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite>, in the
-early part of 1849. In some of the cases, the malar bone
-was removed, as well as the superior maxillary. Eleven of
-these operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson, and the
-others were performed by Mr. Partridge, Mr. Henry Charles
-Johnson, Mr. Hewett, Mr. Henry Smith, and Mr. Haynes
-Walton.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Fergusson introduced a great improvement in this
-operation about seven years ago; instead of the incisions
-through the cheek or lip, or both of these parts, he merely
-slits open the lip exactly in the mesial line, as far as the
-columna of the nose, and then carries the knife along one
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>side of the base of the columna into the nostril, next the
-tumour. He says: “By opening the nostril in this way as
-much relaxation was gained as if the knife had been carried
-from the root of the ala an inch up the side of the nose, and
-as much facility was given for the future steps of the operation,
-as if an incision three inches in length had been made
-through the lip and side of the nose, while a grand object
-was gained in leaving the slightest possible conspicuous appearance
-afterwards.”<a id='r146'></a><a href='#f146' class='c012'><sup>[146]</sup></a> This plan has the further great
-advantage of avoiding the very copious hæmorrhage which
-arises from a deep incision in the side of the face.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In one of the operations which was performed before this
-improvement was introduced, the patient died of hæmorrhage.
-The case is related by Mr. Prescott Hewett in the
-<cite>Medico-Chirurgical Transactions</cite> for 1851. This operation
-was performed in St. George’s Hospital, in May 1848, with
-the consent of the surgical staff of the hospital. The patient
-was a man, aged twenty-five; the tumour was of
-nearly six years duration. For some time previous to the
-operation, he had suffered occasionally from hæmorrhage
-from the affected nostril, to an extent which had reduced
-him considerably. The vapour was given to him rather
-slowly, with the apparatus I commonly employ, and he became
-gradually insensible, without previous excitement or
-struggling. In about three minutes, the inhalation was
-discontinued, the narcotism having reached the third degree.
-The patient was passive, but the muscles were not relaxed.
-The breathing was not stertorous. Some teeth were now
-extracted without causing any sign of pain. A little more
-chloroform was then given to him, and when the inhalation
-was discontinued a second time, he was in the same state as
-before the teeth were drawn. The operation was immediately
-commenced. The superior maxillary and malar
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>bones of the left side were removed. During the first part
-of the operation, whilst the flaps were made, the patient
-was perfectly quiet and silent; but afterwards he began to
-groan and move his limbs, and he was not again rendered
-altogether insensible; for although a few minims of chloroform
-were from time to time sprinkled over a sponge, which
-was, now and then, held near his face, yet, owing to the
-hands of the operator and his assistants being in the way,
-and the cavity of the mouth and nostril being laid widely
-open, he got very little of the vapour, and the only effect of
-it was partially to quiet him on one or two occasions.
-After the first two or three minutes of the operation, the
-effect of the chloroform never exceeded the second degree.
-The patient executed voluntary movements of his arms and
-legs; sometimes it was necessary to hold his hands, and at
-one time he appeared conscious, for he folded his arms as if
-making an effort not to raise his hands to the seat of pain.
-He coughed now and then, and seemed somewhat embarrassed
-with the blood in his throat. He was seated in a
-chair, but as there was no window in the operating theatre
-except the skylight, his head was obliged to be inclined
-rather backwards. He was leaned forwards once or twice,
-to allow him to get rid of the blood, and it appeared that
-he vomited some on one of these occasions. Towards the
-conclusion of the operation, and at a time when he was very
-little under the influence of chloroform, he fainted. He was
-laid down, and brandy was given to him. No more chloroform
-was administered after this time. He partially rallied
-from the syncope, but again became faint. The actual cautery
-was applied, but oozing of blood continued until the
-moment of death,—about half an hour after his removal
-into another room. During this interval, he was much exhausted;
-his pulse was small, and difficult to feel. He was
-tossing himself about in a restless manner, but there was no
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>difficulty of breathing. He seemed quite conscious, doing
-as he was told, but, of course, could not speak, from the nature
-of the operation. I left a few minutes before the
-patient’s death. When he ceased to breathe, laryngotomy
-was performed, and artificial respiration exercised by the
-opening, with no beneficial result. In my opinion, this
-measure was not indicated, but of course it could do no
-harm.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>One of the surgeons who was present when the patient
-died informed me that blood entered his windpipe from the
-wound, when he became moribund.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was found during the operation that the tumour did
-not involve the superior maxillary or malar bones, but was
-situated behind them. In his address to the class immediately
-after the operation, Mr. Hewett estimated the loss
-of blood at sixteen ounces. It appeared to me to be much
-greater; besides that a great deal of blood would certainly
-be swallowed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>After death, portions of the tumour were found still
-remaining attached to the posterior and upper part of the
-cavity, and projecting into the foramen lacerum of the
-orbit and right nostril, as well as in other directions. The
-trachea and bronchi contained some frothy blood. Numerous
-small dark spots of congestion were met with in the
-lung, resulting from some of the small bronchi being filled
-with blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The late Mr. Liston lost a patient from hæmorrhage
-during the removal of a tumour of the upper jaw, before
-the prevention of pain by inhalation was discovered; and
-it is evident that the chloroform did not contribute either
-directly or indirectly to the death of Mr. Hewett’s patient.
-His symptoms were simply those of exhaustion from loss
-of blood; he recovered from the effects of the chloroform
-some time before he died; and the small quantity of blood
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>which spotted the lungs, and was observed to enter as he
-was dying, would not have led to any immediate urgent
-symptoms if it had entered during the operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Tumours of the Lower Jaw.</em> I have notes of twelve
-cases in which I have given chloroform during this operation.
-Eight of the operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson,
-and the others by Mr. Stanley, Mr. Tatum, Mr.
-Hancock, and Dr. Pettigrew. In some of the cases the
-jaw was divided on each side above its angles, and in most
-of the others it was disarticulated on one side, and divided
-near the symphysis. Three of the patients died within
-three days, from the hæmorrhage which occurred at the
-time of the operation, but the others all recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The remarks which were made respecting the application
-of chloroform in the removal of tumours of the upper jaw
-are applicable here. After the operation has been commenced,
-one should endeavour to keep up the insensibility
-by means of a mixture of chloroform and spirit on a hollow
-sponge. In tumours, both of the upper and lower jaw, the
-operating table is preferable to an easy chair for the patient
-under chloroform. The head and shoulders must be raised
-by the movable flap of the table, or by some other contrivance
-if the operation be performed in a private house.
-I have, however, seen the operation performed on a sofa,
-and with the patient in bed. The blood does not flow into
-the throat so much in the removal of tumours of the lower
-jaw, as in those of the upper one.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Tumours of the Female Breast.</em> I have memoranda of
-222 cases in which I have given chloroform during the
-removal of tumours of the breast, or tumours which returned
-after the breast had been removed. I do not include
-with these a considerable number of small tumours, situated
-upon, and near the gland, but not involving it. By
-far the greater number of the tumours of the breast were
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>looked upon as malignant, but I am not able to state the
-numbers which were believed to be malignant, and which
-were thought not to be so. I may state that there is no
-surgeon whom I am in the habit of assisting who does not
-occasionally remove malignant, as well as non-malignant,
-tumours of the breast. By far the greatest proportion of
-the above mentioned operations on tumours of the breast
-were performed in private practice. In a number of cases
-diseased glands were removed from the axilla, in addition
-to the mammary gland. It is desirable in the removal of
-large tumours of the breast that the surgeon should be
-well seconded, by assistants who are in the constant habit of
-assisting him, in order that the bleeding may be restrained
-and arrested as quickly as possible. I have not seen any
-case in which the patient did not go through the operation,
-and live, as far as I can remember, for two or three days.
-But a few of the patients have been very faint from bleeding
-during the operation, and faintness from hæmorrhage
-seldom takes place during the influence of chloroform unless
-the loss of blood is very great. The greater portion of the
-patients who have been faint during the operation have
-done well afterwards, but a few of them have not. In
-cases where there is a great loss of blood, and a very large
-wound remains, the patients are apt to sink and die in
-from three to five days. Most patients may recover from a
-considerable hæmorrhage, and most patients may be able to
-bear up during the healing of a large wound, but the combination
-of a great hæmorrhage and a great wound is apt
-to be fatal; especially to patients who are already reduced
-by illness. The largest tumour of the breast I have seen
-removed, was one on which Mr. Fergusson operated, in
-King’s College Hospital, on Feb. 26th, 1853; it weighed
-eighteen pounds and a half. On the 4th of June, following,
-the same patient had a small tumour removed from the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>same situation. It probably resulted from a portion of the
-large one which had been left behind.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There are a few surgeons who prefer to have the patient
-seated in an easy chair whilst removing a tumour of the
-breast; but it is more convenient, under the influence of
-chloroform, that the patient should lie on a table, or sofa, or
-in bed. I usually keep the patient unconscious till the
-wound is stitched up, and the plaster and bandage applied.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered chloroform in four cases of tumour
-of the male breast. These tumours were all of them malignant,
-I believe.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Other Tumours.</em> I have had to administer chloroform
-during the removal of several large and deep-seated tumours
-of the face, situated just in front of the ear, over the
-parotid gland, with which some of them were thought to be
-connected. These operations were generally extremely difficult
-and tedious, owing to the necessity of avoiding the
-division of the branches of the facial nerve which passed
-over the tumour. When the branches of the facial nerve
-are touched with the forceps, or back of the scalpel, during
-these operations, the muscles of the face to which the
-branches are distributed contract very freely, at a time
-when the patient is perfectly insensible. Mr. Stanley, Mr.
-Fergusson, and Mr. Tatum, are amongst the surgeons whom
-I have assisted in the removal of tumours of this kind.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have memoranda of 41 tumours situated behind the
-angle of the jaw, in the removal of which I have exhibited
-chloroform. These tumours, which mostly consisted of diseased
-lymphatic glands, were often very deep-seated, passing
-near to the carotid artery, and it was necessary on that
-account to keep the patient quite insensible, to prevent his
-flinching during the operation. The greater number of
-these tumours were removed by Mr. Fergusson.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Seventy-one of the tumours of the removal of which I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>have notes, are stated to have been of the encysted kind.
-Sixteen of them were situated on the eyelids, sixteen on the
-scalp, three or four in the orbit, several in front, or at the
-side of the neck, and the rest in different parts of the body.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have memoranda of 66 fatty tumours which were removed
-from different parts of the body. Some of them
-were of great size; one weighed fifteen pounds. One which
-Mr. Fergusson removed in 1855 from the arm of a lady, the
-patient of Messrs. Maurice and Harris of Reading, was situated
-beneath the biceps muscle, and weighed two pounds
-six ounces and a half. The diagnosis of it was very difficult.
-The fatty tumours were easily removed, except in a few instances,
-in which the fat was infiltrated in the surrounding
-tissues.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have notes of the removal of 87 other tumours of various
-kinds, as fibrous, scirrhous, epithelial, melanotic, fungoid,
-etc.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On February 11th, 1854, Mr. Fergusson removed a large
-fibrous tumour, situated over the right scapula of a stout
-gentleman about forty. It weighed about three pounds.
-The tumour was very adherent to all the surrounding tissues,
-and the removal of it occupied five or ten minutes,
-and was attended with considerable hæmorrhage. At the
-time when the tumour was completely detached, the patient
-became pale, and the pulse could no longer be felt in either
-wrist or in the temporal arteries. He did not faint, however,
-for the breathing continued to be well and regularly
-performed. He partially recovered his feeling once or
-twice, whilst the vessels were being tied, and more chloroform
-was given to him. At the end of the operation he
-was quite conscious, and did not complain of being faint,
-although no pulse could be felt. The pulse had not returned
-when I left him half an hour after the operation,
-and I was informed that it did not return for about three
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>hours. Four hours after the operation, when I called to
-see him, he had a frequent and very distinct pulse. He
-had some hot brandy and water just after the operation,
-and about ten minutes afterwards he insisted on going to
-the water-closet in the next room, and could not be persuaded
-to lie still. The moment he was raised on his feet,
-however, he fainted, but was immediately laid down again,
-when he as quickly recovered his consciousness, and was
-content to lie still. This was the only faintness he had.
-It is my opinion that the effect of the chloroform kept up
-the breathing and prevented syncope, whilst the smaller
-arteries of the exterior of the body contracted so as to confine
-the remaining blood very much to the vital organs.
-The patient seemed in some danger for two or three days,
-but was walking out quite well in less than a fortnight.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In April 1856, Mr. Paget removed a fibro-cellular tumour,
-weighing probably ten or twelve pounds, from a lady a few
-weeks out of her confinement. The tumour was situated
-over the sacrum and nates. Sir Benjamin Brodie was present
-at the operation. The patient recovered favourably.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Nævi.</em> I have memoranda of 116 operations on vascular
-tumours, the greater part of them in infants. The operations
-have generally been performed by subcutaneous ligature,
-and have been extremely successful. The greater
-number of them have been performed by Mr. Fergusson and
-Mr. Bowman, in private practice and in King’s College Hospital.
-Some of the nævi on the faces of infants, which were
-operated on by Mr. Fergusson, were very large, and required
-a succession of operations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Ligature of Arteries.</em> I have administered chloroform
-in three cases of ligature of the carotid artery, by Mr. Bowman,
-Mr. Lane, and Mr. Haynes Walton. Mr. Walton’s
-patient was an infant six months old. The right common
-carotid artery was tied, on account of a tumour which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>pushed forward the eye to a great extent. On the child
-being brought under the influence of chloroform, the prominence
-of the eye diminished very much, as I was informed
-that it had done when chloroform was given for
-some reason on a previous occasion. On the ligature being
-placed under the artery, the chloroform was discontinued,
-and its effects allowed to subside before the ligature was
-tied. As the effects of the chloroform went off, the eye became
-as prominent as before; and the tightening of the
-ligature had no effect on this prominence whilst I remained,
-although it instantly stopped the pulsation of the temporal
-artery. I was informed that this child was cured by the
-operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have also administered chloroform in three cases of
-ligature of the external iliac artery, for aneurism of the
-femoral. Two of the operations were performed by Mr.
-Fergusson, and the other by Mr. Henry Smith. One of
-Mr. Fergusson’s patients was a very stout gentleman; the
-external iliac artery was diseased at the usual situation of
-the ligature, and it had to be tied near to the common iliac.
-This patient died. Mr. Henry Smith’s patient recovered, as
-I believe did the other of Mr. Fergusson’s. It is necessary
-that the patient should be kept very insensible during the
-operation of tying the carotid or external iliac artery, to
-prevent the possibility of his flinching.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have exhibited chloroform six times for the ligature of
-the superficial femoral artery, on account of aneurism in
-the popliteal space. Two of these operations were performed
-by Mr. Bowman on the same man with an interval
-of three weeks. He had an aneurism in the popliteal space
-of both limbs. There was a case of false aneurism of the
-radial artery, on which Mr. Fergusson operated by tying
-the artery above and below, and turning out the clot; and
-also a case in which Mr. Hancock tied the vessels for a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>false aneurism, situated between the metacarpal bones of
-the thumb and forefinger. There were two cases also in
-which the radial artery was tied for a recent wound; one
-by Mr. Henry Charles Johnson, the other by Mr. Henry
-Lee.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Tumours of Bone.</em> I have administered chloroform in a
-number of cases of the removal of enchondroma, and other
-tumours of bone. In June 1849 I assisted the late Mr.
-Aston Key whilst he removed a bony tumour from a youth
-about sixteen, situated at the inner and anterior part of the
-femur, just above the knee; and I have seen two or three
-other tumours of the same kind, exactly in the same situation.
-I have no notes of the other cases; but one was a
-patient of Mr. Quain, and another, I think, of Mr. Fergusson.
-After an incision is made, the tumour can be clipped clean off
-at once with a pair of strong, curved bone nippers. Unless
-the bone nippers are curved, the operation is troublesome
-and difficult.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Hare-Lip.</em> I have notes of 147 operations for hare-lip,
-for which I have given chloroform. A few of these operations
-were performed by Mr. Arnott, Mr. Cæsar Hawkins,
-Mr. Bowman, Mr. Henry Charles Johnson, and others, but
-nearly nine-tenths of the whole number were performed by
-Mr. Fergusson, either in his private practice or in King’s
-College Hospital. A great number of Mr. Fergusson’s
-operations were in children from three to six weeks old;
-and some were younger than this, one being only eight
-days. There used to be an objection against operating for
-hare-lip on very young infants, as it was said that they
-often died of convulsions, which I believe to be true. The
-convulsions were supposed to be caused by the shock of the
-operation on the nervous system, which I believe to be entirely
-untrue. I believe they were caused by hæmorrhage;
-and I would not recommend the surgeon to perform his
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>first operations for hare-lip on very young and feeble infants.
-The great success of this operation of late years, in
-the first weeks of life, depends on the dexterity of the surgeon
-who performs the operation so quickly that scarcely
-any blood is lost. When Mr. Fergusson performs this operation,
-the infant is held by a nurse, who is seated opposite
-to him, whilst its head is placed in his own lap between his
-thighs. An assistant compresses the labial artery on the
-right side, by grasping the lip between his finger and
-thumb, just at the angle of the mouth; a sharp-pointed
-scalpel is pushed through the lip on the right side, just
-below the nose, and carried downwards so as to cut away
-the edge of the fissure; then the same performance is done
-on the left side of the fissure, while Mr. Fergusson compresses
-the labial artery on that side with the finger and
-thumb of his left hand. In about twenty seconds from the
-beginning of the operation, the hare-lip pins are introduced,
-and the cut edges of the lip being pressed together, the
-bleeding is at once entirely stopped. I have no doubt that
-many lives are saved by early operation, especially amongst
-the poor, as a child with a bad hare-lip cannot take the
-breast till it is operated on, and there is a very great mortality
-amongst infants brought up by hand.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The blood which escapes when the infant is laid on its
-back flows back into the throat, and it usually passes on
-each side of the epiglottis, and runs into the stomach without
-any act of deglutition. In a few cases of strong children,
-in whom the bleeding is rather free, the breathing
-gets embarrassed, and Mr. Fergusson turns the face of the
-child downwards for a moment to let the blood run out of
-its mouth. When the quantity of blood flowing into the
-throat is greater than can run down into the stomach, in
-the way I have mentioned above, the glottis closes and the
-breathing stops, which gives the indication for turning the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>face downwards. I have seen a few operations in the hospital
-for hare-lip, without chloroform, whilst the children
-were on their backs. In these cases they cried violently
-from the pain, set the blood in the mouth into violent commotion,
-and then drawing a deep inspiration, drew a little
-of the blood into the larynx, which caused a violent cough;
-so that there was usually much more appearance of choking
-than in the cases where chloroform was given. Moreover,
-in these latter cases, it is usually towards the end of the
-operation that the children sometimes become embarrassed
-with the blood; not because the quantity of blood is
-greater, but because the sensibility is returning. I have
-seen one case which shows that the effects of chloroform,
-when deep or long continued, will diminish the sensibility
-of the glottis. After an infant was made insensible some
-years ago for an operation for hare-lip, it was found that an
-instrument for dividing the projecting intermaxillary bone
-was wanting, and I kept the child insensible for several
-minutes, by administering chloroform occasionally, until the
-instrument was found; the bleeding was rather free, and
-some of it entered the windpipe and caused a tracheal râle.
-The child coughed it up on awaking, and no ill consequences
-followed; but the occurrence confirms the opinion previously
-expressed, that the insensibility should not be both
-deep and long continued at a time when copious hæmorrhage
-is flowing into the throat. The effects of chloroform
-pass off very quickly in infants, and it is not often that
-they last till the operation of hare-lip is finished, short as
-that operation is. In private practice, indeed, when the
-parents of the infant are close by, I usually have an opportunity
-to apply a little chloroform, mixed with spirit, on a
-sponge, in the course of the operation, when it is required
-to prevent crying; but in the hospital, the children sometimes
-cry a little before the operation is concluded.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span><em>Cancer of the Lip.</em> I have memoranda of nineteen cases
-of cancer of the lower lip, and three or four of the upper lip,
-in which I have administered chloroform. As there is
-never an easy chair in the operating theatre of an hospital,
-and it is difficult to keep the patient in a common chair
-when he is under the influence of chloroform, it is better to
-place the hospital patient on the operating table, with his
-head and shoulders raised during this operation; but in
-private practice the patient may either be placed on a sofa,
-or in a large easy chair with a high back. The effect of
-the chloroform often lasts to the end of the operation, if it
-be completed within two or three minutes; but I always go
-provided with a hollow sponge, and a mixture of chloroform
-and spirit to apply during the operation, if required.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Division of the Sensory Nerves of the Face.</em> I have notes
-of nineteen cases in which I have administered chloroform
-during this operation. They were chiefly performed by Mr.
-Fergusson, but a few of them by Mr. Bowman. The operation
-is of so painful a nature, that I believe it was seldom performed
-before the practice of inhaling narcotic vapours was
-introduced. It is done subcutaneously, by means of a small
-sharp-pointed bistoury, by which the affected nerves are
-chopped up by twenty or thirty incisions, at and near the
-points where they issue from their respective foramina. In
-operating on the mental branch of the fifth nerve, the bistoury
-is sometimes introduced from the face, and sometimes
-from the interior of the mouth. The pain continues for
-two or three days, till the inflammation caused by the operation
-subsides, when there is usually a complete absence of
-pain for three or six months, at the end of which time the
-operation has often to be repeated. I am not aware whether
-the relief has been permanent in any case, but it has often
-been very complete for a time. One patient, on whom Mr.
-Fergusson operated in King’s College Hospital, looked like
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>an old man at the time of the operation, but this was the
-effect of his severe suffering; for a week or two afterwards
-he looked his real age, which I think was less than forty.
-This operation is not performed for the milder cases of neuralgia,
-or for cases that can be cured by quinine or iron;
-but only for the more terrible forms of the complaint, which
-fortunately are somewhat rare. Rare as they are, however,
-they occur sometimes in near relatives.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Division of other Nerves of Sensation.</em> I have notes of
-nine cases in which nerves in other parts of the body were
-divided, and a portion cut out, for neuralgia. On four occasions
-the nerve was situated in a stump following amputation;
-and on two occasions a tumour of the nerve was
-removed. The operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson,
-Mr. Solly, and Mr. Paget.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations on the Eye.</em> The operations for cataract are
-frequently performed without chloroform, when the patient
-has sufficient resolution to keep his eye steady. I have,
-however, administered chloroform fifty-three times during
-the extraction of cataract; thirty of the cases occurred in
-the private practice of Mr. Bowman. On November 25th,
-1851, I administered chloroform whilst Mr. White Cooper
-extracted a piece of flint from the interior of the eye; and
-on February 7th, 1852, whilst Mr. Bowman extracted the
-capsule of the lens. On February 17th of the same year, I
-assisted Mr. White Cooper with chloroform whilst he extracted
-a cataract from the eye of an elderly lady; and I
-assisted him in eleven other cases during that and the following
-year. I assisted Mr. George Pollock in two operations
-of the extraction of cataract in June 1852; and Mr.
-Lawrence in three operations in 1853. Eighteen of Mr.
-Bowman’s operations were performed in the summer and
-autumn of 1854, and were of the usual kind; but in six
-out of the twelve cases in which I have since assisted him,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>the cataract was first drilled and then removed, in a softened
-state, through a small opening in the cornea, by means
-of a small scoop. I have assisted Mr. Alexander in two
-cases, and Mr. Critchett also in two. Several of the patients
-were over eighty years of age.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The operation for the extraction of cataract is said not to
-be a painful one, but the patient requires to be as insensible
-during its performance as if he were about to undergo
-lithotomy, or a great amputation; without this, the eye
-and eyelids will not be steady. The insensibility must be
-kept up completely until the cataract is extracted.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is necessary that the stomach should be empty when
-the patient inhales chloroform for this operation, in order
-that vomiting may, if possible, be avoided. There was a
-little vomiting in a very few of the cases in which I administered
-chloroform, but it was not attended with straining,
-and I believe it did no harm in any case. Mr. Bowman
-informed me of a case of his in which chloroform was administered
-in the Ophthalmic Hospital for the extraction of
-cataract, and the woman vomited violently afterwards, and
-the eye was destroyed. She, however, was a person of bad
-constitution, and the vomiting might have occurred without
-the chloroform. The patients were lying on a sofa in
-all the operations, except, I think, one by Mr. Alexander.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have notes of nine cases of the drilling of cataract in
-which I have administered chloroform, and there were some
-other cases in 1848, of which I have no memoranda. Some
-of the early operations were performed by Mr. George
-Pollock, and the more recent ones by Mr. Bowman. Many
-of the patients were infants or children. There have been
-two cases of the removal of coagulated lymph from the interior
-of the eye, by Mr. Bowman and Mr. White Cooper;
-and six cases of the formation of artificial pupil, by the
-same surgeons, and Mr. Dixon; and in two cases lately, Mr.
-Bowman has removed a portion of the iris.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>I have given chloroform in 25 cases of excision of the
-eyeball; 20 of the operations have occurred within the last
-two years, in addition to some in which I administered
-amylene. The whole of the operations were performed by
-Mr. Bowman, except one by Mr. Fergusson, and one by
-Mr. Hancock. The operation is of late years a much less
-formidable one than formerly, owing to the plan of commencing
-to dissect off the conjunctiva just around the cornea.
-After the eyeball is removed, the edges of the conjunctiva
-are drawn together by a fine suture, so that
-scarcely any wound is left, and the patient can generally
-begin to wear an artificial eye in four or five days. In cases
-of malignant disease extending beyond the globe, of course,
-the more formidable and extensive operation would still require
-to be performed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered chloroform for the removal of sparks
-of iron and other foreign bodies from the cornea, chiefly in
-cases in which the surgeon had previously tried without
-success. Under the influence of chloroform, the foreign
-matters were always removed very readily. There have
-also been operations for the removal of growths from the
-eye and granular growths from the conjunctiva, and also for
-staphyloma and pterygion.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have memoranda of 54 operations for strabismus in
-which I have administered chloroform. The greater number
-of them were performed by Mr. Bowman, but several by
-Mr. Fergusson, and a few by other surgeons. One operation
-was performed by the late Mr. Dalrymple. Mr. Bowman
-generally operates on both eyes at the same time. A
-great number of the patients who have taken chloroform
-for this operation were children. They have nearly all been
-lying down during the operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There have been nine operations for ectropion and entropion,
-chiefly by Mr. Bowman. I have administered chloroform
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>on four occasions whilst Mr. Bowman has performed a
-plastic operation for the formation of a new eyelid. On
-three occasions, the eyelid had been destroyed by a burn,
-and the material for the new one was taken from the integuments
-of the forehead. The operations were necessarily
-tedious.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Removal of Foreign Bodies and Polypi from the Ear.</em>
-In May 1849, Mr. Henry Charles Johnson extracted a pea
-from the ear of a child, six years of age. The pea had been
-a month in the ear, and Mr. Johnson had endeavoured to
-examine the ear without chloroform, but could not do so.
-In May 1857, I administered chloroform to a child aged
-three years, a patient of Mr. Tuach, whilst Mr. Hewett extracted
-a glass bead with sharp edges from the ear. He got
-it out with a director. I have notes of four cases in which
-a polypus was removed from the ear by Mr. Partridge, Mr.
-Fergusson, Mr. Henry Lee, and Mr. Henry Smith; and I
-recollect giving chloroform more than once at Mr. Toynbee’s
-whilst he performed a similar operation, although I have no
-memoranda of the circumstances.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>The Removal of Polypi and Foreign Bodies from the Nose.</em>
-I have memoranda of fourteen cases in which I have administered
-chloroform for the removal of polypi from the nose.
-The operations were nearly all performed by Mr. Fergusson.
-The patient was nearly always seated in an easy chair, and
-the chloroform, in several cases, was repeated to keep up
-the insensibility till the operation should be completed. In
-one of the cases, the polypus caused a protrusion of the
-nasal bones; the nostril was slit up, and there was very
-great hæmorrhage as the polypus was brought away. The
-pulse became small for a time, but there was no syncope.
-The patient did well. In June 1852, I gave chloroform to
-a girl, five years old, and Mr. Fergusson scooped out some
-polypus growth from the right nostril, and also an oval
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>softened body, rather bigger than a horse-bean, which was
-a young orange that the child had pushed up her nose in
-India. The case had given rise to a good deal of difference
-of opinion amongst medical men in India and Malta, who
-generally discredited the child’s account of the orange. In
-August 1856, Mr. Stanley removed a bean from the nose of
-a child.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Certain Operations in the Mouth.</em> I have notes of six
-operations for cancer of the tongue, performed by the late
-Mr. Keate, Mr. Quain, Mr. Hancock, and Mr. Paget. Mr.
-Paget’s was a case of epithelial cancer, in a lady, about
-twenty-five. The operation was one of excision of the
-tumour, and I lately heard that the patient remained free
-from the complaint. The other operations were by ligature.
-Mr. Quain’s was a hospital patient, and I do not know the
-ultimate result of the case. The other patients had a return
-of the disease, and died after great suffering.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have notes of ten operations for epulis, chiefly by Mr.
-Fergusson. The patient was generally on a sofa or the
-operating table, with the head and shoulders raised. As
-the operations were soon completed, the chloroform seldom
-required to be repeated. There have been some cases of
-cancerous disease of the gums and alveolar process in which
-I have administered chloroform. One of these was a patient
-of Mr. Bell, the dentist, on whom Mr. Hilton operated. I
-assisted the late Mr. Avery by giving chloroform in two
-operations for cleft palate. A large cork with a string to
-it<a id='r147'></a><a href='#f147' class='c012'><sup>[147]</sup></a> was kept between the molar teeth on one side during
-the operation; and the inhalation was repeated from time
-to time. The surgeon, however, much prefers to have the
-patient awake during this operation, when he can get his
-assent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>I have administered chloroform four times for the removal
-of the tonsils. Three times in children, and once in
-the adult. In the case of a child on which Mr. Curling
-lately operated, he removed one of the enlarged tonsils very
-easily and very well, but just as he was beginning to remove
-the other, the child began to vomit its breakfast, and
-the throat was afterwards so filled with mucus and blood,
-that we thought it better to defer the remainder of the
-operation till another day.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Plastic Operations.</em> I have memoranda of 50 plastic
-operations in which I have administered chloroform, in addition
-to those on the eyelids, previously mentioned. Eight
-of the operations were for the formation of a new nose.
-Five of them were by Mr. Fergusson, two by Mr. Critchett
-when Mr. Fergusson was present, and one by Mr. Samuel
-A. Lane. I made the patients insensible with the inhaler
-before the operation was commenced, and afterwards kept
-up the insensibility by means of chloroform, diluted with
-spirit, on a hollow sponge. No fewer than 24 of the plastic
-operations were for the remedy or mitigation of deformity
-caused by burns. In fourteen of these cases, the operation
-was performed on the neck, but often extended to the breast
-and lower part of the face. The other ten operations were
-for burns on the face and arms and other parts of the body.
-Nearly all these operations were performed by Mr. Fergusson.
-One of his patients was a gentleman from New
-York, who had a most severe burn in the face when a
-child. The operations, without the action of a narcotic,
-would be of the most painful nature; and the greater
-number of those at which I have been present would not
-have been performed, except for the discovery of narcotism
-by inhalation. The remaining eighteen plastic operations
-were for a variety of purposes, such as replacing the loss of
-a lip, the closing of artificial anus, and of openings in the
-cheek, and a variety of other defects, either congenital, or
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>arising from injury or disease. They were nearly all performed
-by Mr. Fergusson.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Raising depressed Portions of Skull.</em> In Dec. 1848, I
-administered chloroform to a gentleman in Norfolk, aged
-sixty-two, on whom the late Mr. Aston Key operated. The
-patient had been thrown from his horse four years previously,
-and probably kicked whilst on the ground. He
-believed that he did not lose his consciousness. There was
-a considerable depression of a portion of the right parietal
-bone, near its upper and posterior angle; but there were no
-symptoms of cerebral pressure or irritation for two years
-after the accident; but at that time he fell from his seat in
-some kind of fit, after which he had partial paralysis of the
-left arm, impaired vision, and a melancholy or apathetic
-state of mind. He was also subject to attacks of real or
-apparent suspension of breathing, and to occasional attacks
-of vomiting.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>His ordinary medical attendant, Dr. Bell of Aylsham,
-objected to the chloroform, on account of feeble and irregular
-action of the heart, in addition to the above symptoms.
-The patient, however, became gradually insensible, without
-any unfavourable symptoms. After making incisions in the
-scalp, Mr. Key sawed out a good sized piece of the parietal bone
-with Hey’s saw. The insensibility was kept up gently during
-the operation, which lasted above half an hour. There was
-pus under the bone, and the dura mater was diseased, and
-gave way during the operation. Mr. Key immediately expressed
-a bad opinion of the case. The patient recovered
-his consciousness in about a quarter of an hour, and in a little
-time was in the perfect enjoyment of all his faculties, being
-very cheerful, and in a totally different state from the one
-of apathy and almost unconsciousness, in which he appeared
-when we first saw him. He was attacked with inflammation
-of the brain on the third day, and died on the fifth.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>In May 1855, I administered chloroform in St. George’s
-Hospital to a young man who had been kicked by a horse.
-The frontal bone above the right eye was driven in to a
-good depth, and a little of the brain had escaped. Mr.
-Cæsar Hawkins cut a piece from the frontal bone, just above
-the depressed portion, with the bone forceps, to enable him
-to introduce the elevator. The depressed portion being
-quite loose, was removed, together with the roof of the
-orbit. The youth was partially comatose before chloroform
-was given, but made a resistance to the operation. A week
-after the operation, when I saw him, he was conscious, but
-feverish, and he died a week or two later.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Bowman, on one occasion, made an incision over the
-frontal sinus in a gentleman; and made an aperture in the
-outer table of the frontal bone, which gave exit to a quantity
-of pus which had been formed in the sinus.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the summer of 1847 the late Mr. Liston performed a
-similar operation on a lady, the patient of Dr. Locock, who
-was present. I exhibited sulphuric ether on that occasion.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for ununited Fracture.</em> I have notes of seven
-operations by Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Bowman, for ununited
-fracture of the femur, humerus, radius, and ulna. The
-usual course has been to scrape and puncture the ends of
-the bones by subcutaneous incision, and where this has not
-succeeded, to cut down on the bones and saw off the ends;
-or to bore holes near the ends, and introduce ivory pegs.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>The Reduction of Dislocations.</em> I have notes of twenty-seven
-cases in which I have administered chloroform during
-the reduction, or attempted reduction, of dislocations. Only
-three of these were recent dislocations. One had existed a
-few days; and the other twenty-three for some weeks or
-months. Twelve of the operations were performed by Mr.
-Fergusson, and the others by Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, Mr.
-Cutler, Mr. Bransby Cooper, Mr. Partridge, Mr. Tatum, Mr.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>H. C. Johnson, Mr. Charles Hawkins, Mr. Hewett, Mr.
-Henry Lee, and Mr. Price. Most of the dislocations at the
-shoulder were quite successfully reduced; one of them by
-the late Mr. Bransby Cooper, as long as ten weeks after the
-accident. Dislocations of the hip were successfully reduced
-in three weeks and five weeks after the accident. At longer
-periods, dislocations of the femur were often benefited by
-the operation, but not completely reduced. The dislocations
-at the elbow were not successfully reduced except
-when recent, although the position and motion of the forearm
-were improved in several cases by the operation. Pulleys
-were applied, often for a length of time, in the old dislocations;
-and many even of the successful operations could not
-have been performed except the patient had been in a state
-of anæsthesia. A full dose of chloroform is required in
-the attempts to reduce old standing dislocations, in order to
-suspend, as nearly as may be, the resistance of the muscles.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Forcible Movement of Stiff Joints.</em> I have given chloroform
-in twenty-two operations of this kind, within the last
-three years, for the restoration of motion in the knee, elbow,
-and hip, after the joints had become fixed in one position, generally
-by adhesions resulting from disease. The first operation
-of the kind in which I assisted was one performed by
-Mr. Brodhurst, whom I have since assisted more frequently
-in these kinds of operations than any other surgeon; but
-other operations have been performed by Mr. Fergusson,
-Mr. Cæsar Hawkins, Mr. Partridge, Mr. Bowman, Mr.
-Hewett, and Mr. Edwin Canton. These operations would
-evidently not have been performed except for the discovery
-of producing a state of anæsthesia by inhalation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Tenotomy.</em> I have memoranda of 78 cases of tenotomy
-in which I have administered chloroform. In some of the
-cases which have occurred during the last two or three
-years, forcible movement of a stiff joint has been resorted
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>to, in addition to the tenotomy. I applied chloroform in
-St. George’s Hospital in tenotomy, when the agent was
-first introduced; and have also given it in King’s College
-Hospital for ten years. During these ten years I have also
-administered chloroform to a number of the private patients
-of Mr. Fergusson, whilst he has performed tenotomy, and
-to those of other surgeons occasionally. During the last
-three years, I have given it in several operations by Mr.
-William Adams. I understand that several orthopædic surgeons
-had, at one time, an objection to chloroform in tenotomy,
-from an impression that it would relax the muscles,
-and thus render the operation less easy of performance.
-But it is altogether unnecessary to carry the effects of chloroform
-so far as to relax the muscles. The pain of this
-operation can always be prevented without relaxing the
-muscles, which are indeed often more tense than if the
-patient were awake.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for Strangulated Hernia.</em> I have notes of
-only nineteen cases of operations for strangulated hernia in
-which I have administered chloroform since the end of 1849.
-This operation is, I believe, often performed without the
-use of this agent. Fifteen of the cases in which I have
-exhibited chloroform were inguinal or femoral hernia, and
-four cases were umbilical hernia. In these latter cases, the
-patients all died.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In one of the cases, there was a complication, in addition
-to the hernia. The patient was an old gentleman, and the
-surgeon had directed him to apply ice and salt, and had
-either given no directions respecting the time it was to be
-applied, or the directions were misunderstood. The patient
-was a scientific man, and applied the ice and salt most
-effectually for about four hours. When we arrived, a portion
-of the integuments around the umbilicus, larger than
-the palm of the hand, was as hard as a board, and of a dull
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>white colour. The surgeon said that he could not turn back
-the flaps of the integument, if he made them whilst it was
-in that hardened state. The part thawed whilst the patient
-was inhaling chloroform, and when the incisions were made
-some fluid blood of a light crimson colour flowed. Iced
-water was applied to the part immediately after the operation,
-for a short time. The integuments which had been
-frozen sloughed two days after the operation. The patient
-had peritonitis, and died on the fifth day.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On March 6th, 1848, a man was placed on the operating
-table in St. George’s Hospital, with a strangulated femoral
-hernia. I administered chloroform to him at the request of
-Mr. H. C. Johnson; and when he became completely insensible
-and the muscular system relaxed, Mr. Johnson readily
-reduced the hernia by means of the taxis, although it
-was previously quite incapable of reduction. If the taxis
-had not been successful, the operation, for which the instruments
-were arranged ready, would at once have been
-performed whilst the patient was insensible. I do not
-think that chloroform has been sufficiently employed of late
-years during the application of the taxis to strangulated
-hernia.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In every case in which sickness was present, it was relieved
-by the chloroform. And vomiting returned in
-scarcely any instance, after the chloroform, so long as I
-remained in the room.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for Hæmorrhoids and Prolapsus Ani.</em> I
-have memoranda of 171 operations for these affections in
-which I have administered chloroform. A great number of
-these operations have been performed by Mr. Fergusson and
-Mr. Salmon; but I have also assisted Mr. Cæsar Hawkins,
-Mr. Bowman, Mr. Quain, Mr. Erichsen, and a number of
-other surgeons, whilst performing this operation. The patient
-always lies on one or the other side during this operation,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>with the knees drawn up towards the stomach. The
-chloroform should be inhaled till the patient is quite insensible,
-that is, till the edge of the eyelid can be touched
-without causing winking, otherwise he is apt to stretch out
-his legs, as soon as the operation is commenced. Ligatures
-always, or nearly always, introduced with a needle, have
-been applied to the mucous membrane in every case both of
-hæmorrhoids and prolapsus ani, except in two or three in
-which Mr. Henry Lee applied nitric acid and the actual
-cautery. In a great number of the cases, however, folds of
-redundant and diseased skin were cut away from around
-the anus, with a pair of large curved scissors, after the
-ligatures had been applied to the mucous membrane. It is
-the rule in these cases never to cut the mucous membrane,
-and never to tie the skin. It is desirable to get the patient
-to protrude the hæmorrhoids by bearing down at the night
-stool before he inhales the chloroform, and they always remain
-protruded during the operation; indeed, there is generally
-a good deal of bearing down during the operation
-under chloroform, and if the bowels have not been entirely
-emptied, they are apt to act as the operation is being performed.
-It is customary, and very desirable, to give a full
-dose of opium almost as soon as the patient wakes from the
-chloroform, to diminish the pain caused by the ligatures.
-I have, in a few cases, continued to administer the chloroform
-at intervals for an hour or two after the operation, till
-the opium began to take effect; and I consider that it
-would be useful, in some cases, to give the opiate two or
-three hours before the operation. I administered chloroform
-to two ladies, one a patient of Mr. Bowman, and the
-other of Mr. Wm. Adams, whilst hæmorrhoids were removed
-by the écraseur. The operations lasted rather more than
-half an hour; but the chloroform, after the commencement
-of the operation, required only to be kept up to a moderate
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>extent. There was no hæmorrhage in either case; and it
-seemed to me that the great pain which is caused by the
-presence of the ligatures would be prevented by this means
-of operating.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Hæmorrhoids and prolapsus ani are peculiarly prevalent
-in the upper class of society. That small portion of English
-people who dine in the evening seem to furnish more cases
-of hæmorrhoids for operation than all the rest of the population.
-And I am inclined to attribute the circumstance to
-the habit of taking the greater part of the food towards the
-close of the day, after a long fast; by which means congestion
-of the liver, and obstruction to the return of blood from
-the bowels is induced. Many of the patients with hæmorrhoids
-are ladies who are far from luxurious in their habits,
-indeed many of them are abstemious; and many of the
-male patients are the reverse of sedentary, as they spend a
-great part of their time in hunting, and other field sports.
-Again, the complaint cannot in my opinion be attributed to
-highly seasoned food, as I think the working classes use
-more pepper than fashionable people. I am inclined to believe
-that the habit of taking the chief meal of the day at
-twelve or one o’clock, is the principal reason why bad cases
-of hæmorrhoids are comparatively so rare in the working
-and middle classes, many of whom live luxuriously, and are
-more sedentary in their habits than the higher class of
-society.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Several of the patients operated on for hæmorrhoids were
-extremely blanched, from the continued loss of blood arising
-from the disease; but these patients underwent both the
-action of the chloroform and the operation very well. The
-operation, it must be remembered, is not attended with loss
-of blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Fissure of the Anus.</em> I have notes of forty-four cases in
-which I have exhibited chloroform in operations for the cure
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>of this disease. Two of them were performed by the late Mr.
-Copeland. The sphincter ani was divided in the greater
-number of the operations. In addition to these cases, there
-were some in which fissure existed, along with hæmorrhoids,
-or fistula <em>in ano</em>. The patient was always placed on his
-side, in the same position as in the operation for hæmorrhoids.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for Fistula in Ano.</em> The position of the patient
-in this operation should be the same as in those for
-hæmorrhoids and fissure of the anus, unless the patient is
-placed on the back, in the lithotomy position, as I have
-seen in a few cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have memoranda of 218 cases in which I have given
-chloroform in operations for fistula <em>in ano</em>. In many of
-the cases the sinuses were very numerous and extensive.
-It is necessary that the patient should be quite insensible
-during this operation, to prevent the possibility of his
-moving suddenly whilst the bistoury is being used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations on Ovarian Tumours.</em> I have notes of three
-cases in which I gave chloroform during the removal of an
-ovarian cyst. The first of these was in March 1850.
-Twenty-four pints of liquid were first evacuated from the
-tumour. It consisted of four cysts united together, two of
-which contained serous fluid of slightly different colour;
-the third contained serum tinged with blood, and the fourth
-and smallest cyst, a purulent fluid. An incision was made,
-twelve or fourteen inches in length, extending from the
-pubes to midway between the umbilicus and sternum.
-Some slender adhesions were removed at one spot. The
-tumour was attached by a membranous pedicle, with the
-left iliac fossa, and the fundus of the uterus. Needles were
-passed through the pedicle, and it was tied in three or four
-portions, when the tumour was removed. After the tumour
-was removed, the patient seemed to breathe entirely by the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>ribs, the diaphragm remaining relaxed, and not contracting,
-whilst the wound in the abdomen was being closed. Scarcely
-any blood was lost during the operation. The patient died
-of peritonitis early on the fourth day.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The next case occurred on August 27th, 1850, and is reported
-in the <cite>Medico-Chirurgical Transactions</cite> for 1851.
-Mr. Duffin was the operator, and the patient made a favourable
-recovery.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The third operation was performed on the 31st of January,
-1854. The patient was a spinster, twenty-eight years
-of age, and the tumour had not been tapped. It contained
-about two gallons of clear fluid, and was removed through
-an opening in the median line above the umbilicus, about
-seven inches in length. There was no depression when the
-patient awoke after the operation. She died within three
-days.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I administered chloroform in two cases where it was intended
-to remove an ovarian cyst. In one case the cyst
-was so adherent to the peritoneum that it could not be removed;
-in the other case, there was no cyst, but some
-serum in the peritoneal cavity, and a tumour growing
-from the fundus of the uterus. This tumour was allowed
-to remain. Several medical men, in addition to the operator,
-had diagnosed an ovarian tumour in this case. These
-two patients recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I exhibited chloroform in four operations in which an
-ovarian cyst was opened, and the cut edges of it sewed to
-the wound in the abdominal parietes. These four patients,
-I believe, all died. I am quite certain as regards three of
-them.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On March 10th, 1852, I administered chloroform in St.
-Mary’s Hospital to a woman, apparently about thirty-five,
-who had suffered from an ovarian cyst about eighteen years.
-Mr. Isaac Baker Brown made an incision, about six inches
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>in length, into the peritoneal cavity, drew out a portion of
-the cyst, tapped it, and removed several pints of clear serum.
-He then cut away a piece of the anterior wall of the
-cyst, about as large as the hand, and allowed the rest of the
-cyst to remain loose in the abdomen. The wound in the
-parietes of the abdomen was stitched up. If I remember
-rightly, the patient died, but I have no note of the result.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for Cancer of the Vagina.</em> I have notes of
-eighteen cases in which I have given chloroform for operations
-of this kind by the knife, which would have been extremely
-painful without the use of an anæsthetic.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I exhibited this agent, in 1848, to a lady, whilst the late
-Mr. Aston Key applied the actual cautery to malignant excrescence
-of the os uteri; and I have administered it in
-several cases in which potassa and other caustics have been
-applied to the os uteri. In operations on the vagina or
-perineum, the woman should inhale chloroform whilst lying
-on her back; and when insensible, should be drawn to the
-edge of the bed, or the foot of the operating table, and
-have the knees held back and separated.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for Rupture of the Perineum.</em> I have notes
-of fourteen operations for this accident. Six of them were
-performed by Mr. I. B. Brown, five by Mr. Fergusson, and the
-others by Mr. Paget, Dr. Protheroe Smith, and Mr. Henry
-Lee. Mr. Fergusson has, in five cases, performed an operation
-for prolapsus uteri, by paring the edges of the outlet
-of the vagina, and stitching them together so as to diminish
-the orifice.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have given chloroform in several operations for vesicovaginal
-fistula, some of which were performed by Mr. Spencer
-Wells; and also for the removal of warts and other growths
-from the labia pudendi, either by the knife or caustics.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Removal of the Testicle; Amputation of the Penis, etc.</em>
-I have memoranda of twenty-seven cases in which I have administered
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>chloroform during the removal of a testicle, generally
-for malignant disease; and six cases in which I have administered
-it for amputation of the penis, always for malignant
-disease. There were six operations, also, in which a part
-of the penis was removed for malignant disease; and eleven
-cases in which warts were removed from the glans penis,
-generally with the knife. In two cases in August 1854,
-Mr. Acton destroyed a number of venereal warts on the
-glans penis and prepuce by a caustic composed of potassa
-and lime. In all the operations on the testicle and penis,
-under chloroform, the patients have been lying on the
-back.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Operations for Phymosis.</em> I have memoranda of 76
-operations for phymosis, in which I have exhibited chloroform.
-The operations were generally in the adult, although
-the complaint was, in most cases, congenital. I have known
-two cases in which cancer of the penis was produced by
-the patient’s suffering a congenital phymosis to remain to
-about the age of fifty. The cancer commenced in the glans
-from the irritation of the retained urine. One of the patients
-died of the disease.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Removal of enlarged Bursa.</em> I have notes of six cases
-in which the bursa of the patella was dissected out by the
-surgeons of King’s College Hospital for housemaid’s knee.
-The patients were charwomen and domestic servants. In
-two cases a bursa was removed from the forefinger.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Evulsion of the Nails.</em> I have notes of twenty-five cases
-in which I have given chloroform for cutting down the nail of
-the great toe, and tearing away the whole, or the two
-edges of it; and also of three cases in which one or more
-finger nails were removed by a similar process. This operation
-is one of the most painful of the minor operations of
-surgery. It is better that the patient should be lying when
-it is done under chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span><em>Laryngotomy.</em> I administered chloroform to one or two
-infants in which Mr. Henry Smith performed laryngotomy
-for croup. I also administered it, on four occasions, to a
-patient of Mr. Partridge, a boy four years old, who was believed
-to have a button in some part of the air-passages.
-The larynx had been opened a few days previously to the
-first occasion in which I gave chloroform, and I administered
-it on a sponge, held near to the tube in the larynx. It was
-necessary to give the vapour gently at first, just as if it
-was entering in the usual way. When it was given at all
-strong, whilst the patient was still conscious, he showed
-exactly the distress that a patient experiences when he says
-that the vapour produces a choking feeling; which confirms
-my opinion that the feeling referred to the throat,
-from the action of pungent vapours and gases, is caused by
-their presence in the lungs. The chloroform was given to
-keep the child quiet whilst Mr. Partridge searched for the
-supposed button in the larynx and bronchi. When the
-child recovered from the chloroform, before the operation
-was concluded, the explorations in its air-passages embarrassed
-the breathing much more, and caused more apparent
-threatening of suffocation, than they did when he was
-under the influence of the vapour. This little boy remained
-for months in King’s College Hospital; and at last the embarrassment
-in his breathing subsided, the tube was removed
-from the larynx, and the wound allowed to heal;
-and he left quite well, although the button, which was supposed
-to have gone down his windpipe at the moment when
-his symptoms first suddenly came on, was never found.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered chloroform in a great variety of surgical
-operations, in addition to those mentioned above, but
-as they required only the usual management in the application
-of the vapour, I need not allude to them, but shall,
-however, make a few remarks regarding dental operations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span><em>Extraction of Teeth.</em> It is the custom in the medical
-journals and medical societies, to object occasionally to the
-use of chloroform in tooth-drawing, as if the operation
-were not sufficiently severe to require it. I will say nothing
-of the wives and daughters of medical men in connexion
-with this subject, but will only allude to the case of an
-elderly lady, who had for thirty years been the private
-friend, as well as the patient, of one of the Council of the
-College of Surgeons. After she had had ten necrosed teeth
-extracted, and had awakened from the effects of the chloroform,
-her friend and surgeon, who had been looking on, discoursed
-eloquently on her case, explaining how the state of
-her mouth was ruining her health; how impossible it would
-have been for her to go through the operation without chloroform,
-and what a great advantage it was.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Watson says in his Lectures:<a id='r148'></a><a href='#f148' class='c012'><sup>[148]</sup></a> “I am not at all sure
-that the increased longevity of modern generations is not, in
-some degree, attributable to the capability of chewing their
-food which the skill of the dentist prolongs to persons far
-advanced in life.” I have seen at least fifty cases in which
-the dentist has been able to exert his skill in enabling his
-patient to masticate only by the aid of chloroform; cases of
-feeble, aged, or debilitated persons, whose mouths contained
-between twenty and thirty stumps of teeth or necrosed
-teeth; and who were able to get rid of them all at two or
-three operations a few days apart; but without the opportunity
-of being made insensible, would undoubtedly have
-continued with the mouth in a tender and painful state.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It was in consequence of the relief afforded by nitrous
-oxide gas, in pain caused by a tooth, that Sir Humphrey
-Davy suggested its application in surgical operations; it
-was for the extraction of a tooth that Mr. Horace Wells
-first carried out the suggestion of Davy; and it was in the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>extraction of teeth that Dr. Morton first employed sulphuric
-ether as a substitute for nitrous oxide gas. These
-circumstances seem to point to a demand for anæsthetics in
-operations on the teeth; and when the great frequency of
-these operations is considered, it is probable that more pain
-may be prevented during their performance than in any
-other class of operations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have notes of 867 cases in which I have administered
-chloroform during the extraction of teeth, chiefly by dentists
-living in this neighbourhood: amongst whom are Mr. Saunders,
-Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Samuel Cartwright, Mr. Arnold
-Rogers, Mr. Thomas A. Rogers, Mr. Tomes, Mr. Bigg, Mr.
-Crampten, Mr. F. W. Rogers, Mr. Alfred Canton, Mr. Woodhouse,
-Mr. Lintott, Mr. Rahn, Mr. Vasey, Mr. Sercombe,
-Mr. Fletcher, and several others; and there is one dentist
-in the City, Mr. West of Broad Street, whom I have frequently
-assisted. The number of teeth, or stumps of teeth,
-extracted in these 867 operations, has been about 3021. In
-some cases in which several teeth have been removed, I
-have not been sure of the exact number, but have put down
-about the number.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The number of teeth extracted at an operation has varied
-from one to nineteen. The latter number was extracted by
-Mr. Canton on one occasion, and on two or three occasions,
-Mr. Arnold Rogers and Mr. Samuel Cartwright extracted
-seventeen at one sitting; but these gentlemen and others,
-as well as myself, have thought it better, as a general rule,
-to make more than one operation, when the number of
-teeth to be drawn exceeded ten, in order that the mouth
-might not contain too many wounds at one time, and that
-the loss of blood might not be very great. A great number
-of the operations have been for the extraction of the four
-first permanent molars, in children about thirteen, as these
-teeth are very apt to decay at an early period.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>I have on 181 occasions, of which I have memoranda,
-given chloroform for the extraction of a single tooth. I
-exhibited it lately to a lady, aged eighty-six, whilst Mr.
-Bigg extracted an abortive wisdom tooth, which had recently
-come through the gum, and was giving pain. She
-awoke in about two minutes after the operation, and was
-quite cheerful and well.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patients have been seated in an easy chair in all the
-operations on the teeth, except in a very few cases where a
-female patient was too ill to sit up. In many cases, and
-always if there was any feeling of faintness, the patient has
-been placed on a sofa, after the operation, for twenty minutes
-or half an hour. I am not aware of any inconvenience
-from the chloroform, in any of the cases of tooth-drawing,
-excepting sickness and vomiting, which in a very
-few of the cases have been troublesome for some time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is necessary in tooth-drawing to make the patient unconscious,
-and to continue the chloroform a little while
-after unconsciousness is induced, till the sensibility of the
-edge of the eyelid is very much diminished, or almost altogether
-suspended, otherwise the patient will probably make
-a resistance that will interfere with the operation, or scream
-out and alarm his or her friends. I nearly always take
-about four minutes in the inhalation. It is not desirable to
-take longer than five or six minutes, as the patient would
-be slower than is desirable in recovering completely from
-the effects of the vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient is usually in the third degree of narcotism
-when the operation is performed, and, in this degree, as
-was previously stated, there is not unfrequently a contracted
-and rigid state of the muscles. This state often affects
-the muscles of the jaws, and interferes with the opening
-of the mouth, if it be closed. I generally tell the patient
-to keep his mouth open whilst inhaling, and by that
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>means it often remains open when he is insensible. Not
-unfrequently, however, he closes it on becoming insensible.
-One can generally open it by pressing on the chin; but as
-the chin does not afford a very favourable hold, there are
-a very few cases in which the mouth cannot be opened
-easily in this way, at least not unless the effects of the
-chloroform are carried further than is desirable for these
-operations. I therefore carry with me a little instrument
-of two blades, made to open by means of a screw. The
-ends of the blades are covered with leather, and, if introduced
-between the teeth, at the corner of the mouth on the
-side opposite to that on which the dentist is about to operate,
-the mouth can easily be opened.<a id='r149'></a><a href='#f149' class='c012'><sup>[149]</sup></a> The power of the
-instrument is only such that I can scarcely open it with
-one hand, when I hold the blades with the other. It would
-not enable one to open the mouth of an adult if he were
-closing it by voluntary power; but the spasm caused by
-chloroform is very much less powerful than the action of
-the muscles when influenced by the will. I never use the
-instrument for opening the mouth when the patient is
-closing it voluntarily under the influence of a disordered
-consciousness, but always wait till consciousness and volition
-are entirely suspended. When the mouth is once
-opened, it can generally be kept open with the fingers, and
-the instrument may be withdrawn.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The bleeding during tooth-drawing is never so free as to
-interfere with the breathing; but when more than two or
-three teeth are extracted, and especially if they be in the
-back part of the mouth, some of the blood which escapes
-nearly always flows into the stomach; it flows down the
-fauces and œsophagus usually without any act of deglutition;
-but the evidence of its having gone into the stomach
-is obtained in those cases where the patient vomits. In
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>consequence of the blood flowing into the stomach, vomiting
-cannot so generally be prevented by the precaution of not
-taking a meal before the operation in tooth-drawing as in
-other operations; but the sickness usually subsides as soon
-as the patient has emptied his stomach.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The chloroform has occasionally to be repeated in tooth-drawing
-before the operation is completed, especially in
-cases where several teeth require to be extracted. When
-this is the case, I always reapply it as soon as the patient
-begins to show signs of feeling the operation, without waiting
-till he recovers his consciousness. In many cases, however,
-a number of teeth are extracted without any repetition
-of the chloroform; and in the instances in which as many
-as fifteen, seventeen, or nineteen teeth were extracted at
-one operation, it was chiefly because the first application of
-the vapour enabled the dentist to take out such a number,
-otherwise, in most of these cases, a number of the teeth
-would have been left for a succeeding operation. It has
-occasionally happened, however, that the chloroform has
-required to be repeated, once or twice even, for the extraction
-of a single stump. When the chloroform is repeated
-once or twice, it is generally a longer time before the patient
-is able to leave the dentist’s house. I always request
-the patients who are operated on at the dentist’s, to drive
-home, as it is not advisable to walk, or use any exertion for
-an hour or two after the action of chloroform. Indeed, the
-patient is usually disinclined for any exertion for twenty
-minutes or half an hour after the influence of this agent,
-and sometimes for much longer; although I have seen a
-patient mount the box of a sort of dog-cart, and drive himself
-away, within five minutes after having several teeth extracted
-whilst he was in a state of complete insensibility
-from chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered chloroform in a great number of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>cases for the destruction of the nerves of the teeth. The
-patient requires to be made as insensible in this operation
-as in tooth-drawing.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Secondary Hæmorrhage</em> after Operations. The hæmorrhage
-which occasionally comes on several days after an
-operation, from sloughing, ulceration, or the non-formation
-of a coagulum in an artery, is probably as liable to occur
-now as formerly; but I believe that hæmorrhage, a few
-hours after an operation, is much less frequent since the
-practice of narcotism by inhalation. Before this practice,
-it was extremely common for the patient to faint during an
-operation, when the bleeding of the smaller arteries stopped,
-and they escaped the ligature, to break out in hæmorrhage
-occasionally afterwards; but under the influence of narcotic
-vapours it is unusual for the patient to faint, and consequently
-every vessel which is capable of bleeding is tied
-during the operation.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>CHLOROFORM IN PARTURITION.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'>When the practice of inhalation in midwifery was first
-introduced by Dr. Simpson, he very naturally adopted the
-plan which is usually followed in surgical operations, making
-the patient unconscious at once, and keeping her so to
-the end of the labour. It was soon found, however, by
-other practitioners, that this is not necessary; and, indeed,
-it would not be safe in protracted cases. Drs. Murphy and
-Rigby were, I believe, amongst the first to state, that relief
-from pain may often be afforded in obstetric cases, without
-removing the consciousness of the patient; and I soon observed
-the same circumstance.<a id='r150'></a><a href='#f150' class='c012'><sup>[150]</sup></a> Some persons, indeed, have
-alleged that the pain of labour can always be prevented,
-without making the patient unconscious of surrounding
-objects; whilst others have asserted that no relief can be
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>afforded unless unconsciousness be induced. But both these
-opinions are directly opposed to experience. There are
-comparatively few cases in which the suffering can be prevented
-throughout the labour without interfering with consciousness,
-although there are very many cases in which it
-can be in this way prevented in the early part of the labour.
-This difference depends, in some measure, on the constitution
-of the patient, but chiefly on the severity of the pain
-to be prevented. It is in accordance with what is observed
-in medical and surgical cases, that the pain should be removed,
-in some instances, without abolishing consciousness,
-and that in other instances it should not; for, in certain
-cases of neuralgia, the pain is so severe, that no material
-relief can be obtained by chloroform as long as consciousness
-is retained; and in surgical operations, although it
-now and then happens that the minor and concluding parts
-of an operation, such as tying vessels and introducing sutures,
-can be performed without pain, whilst the patient is
-consciously looking on, a free incision in the skin can hardly
-ever be made, under similar circumstances, without pain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>With regard to the cases of labour in which chloroform
-may be employed, it will be readily conceded that, in cases
-where the pain is not greater than the patient is willing to
-bear cheerfully, there is no occasion to use chloroform; but
-when the patient is anxious to be spared the pain, I can see
-no valid objection to the use of this agent, even in the most
-favourable cases. The benefits arising from chloroform in
-severe cases of labour are experienced in a lesser degree in
-favourable cases; and the patient may be fairly allowed to
-have a voice in this, as in other matters of detail which do
-not involve the chief results of the case. The determination
-of the kind of labours in which chloroform should be
-used, or withheld, is really a matter of not much importance,
-because, as we pass from cases that are severe and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>protracted to those which are short and easy, the quantity
-of chloroform that is used, and the amount of diminution
-of the common sensibility, and of interference with the
-mental functions, become so trifling, that very little remains
-about which to hold a discussion. Indeed, from what I
-have observed of the continued use of this agent in medical
-cases, and its use by healthy persons for experiment, I believe
-that the quantity which is inhaled in a short and easy
-labour might be continued daily for an indefinite period,
-without appreciable effect on the health.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The above remarks apply also, in some measure, to the
-question as to the period of the labour when the exhibition
-of chloroform should commence; for, in proportion as the
-pains are feeble, it must be more sparingly administered.
-The most usual time when the accoucheur and I have determined
-that the inhalation should be commenced, has
-been when the os uteri was nearly dilated to its full extent,
-and the pains were taking on an expulsive character. In
-many of the cases which I have attended, it has, however,
-been commenced much earlier; for the suffering caused by
-the dilating pains in the first stage of labour is often very
-great, and the chloroform is consequently of the utmost
-service when employed at this time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As regards the manner of giving chloroform, I shall first
-allude to cases not requiring manual or instrumental assistance.
-In such cases, when it has been determined to
-resort to inhalation, the moment to begin is at the commencement
-of a pain; and the chloroform should be intermitted
-when the uterine contraction subsides, or sooner, if
-the patient is relieved of her suffering. It is desirable to
-give the chloroform very gently at first, increasing the
-quantity a little with each pain, if the patient is not relieved.
-The practitioner easily finds, with a little attention,
-the quantity of vapour which it is desirable to give at
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>any stage of the labour, and in each particular case; his
-object being to relieve the patient without diminishing the
-strength of the uterine contractions and the auxiliary action
-of the respiratory muscles, or with diminishing it as little
-as possible. At first, it is generally necessary to repeat the
-chloroform at the beginning of each “pain”; but, after a
-little time, it commonly happens that sufficient effect has
-been produced to get the patient over one or two uterine
-contractions without suffering, before it is resumed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The external evidences of the uterine contractions continue
-as before, when the patient is rendered unconscious
-by chloroform; and the muscles of respiration are called
-freely into play, to assist the action of the uterus in the
-second stage of labour. The aspect of the patient under
-these circumstances, is generally that of one who is suppressing
-the expression of her sufferings; and any relative
-or friend who comes in, without knowing that chloroform
-has been given, begins to praise the unconscious patient for
-her fortitude. On some occasions, indeed, there are groans
-and cries, as of suffering; but the mind being unconscious
-of pain, it can hardly be said to exist.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It may be remarked, that complete anæsthesia is never
-induced in midwifery, unless in some cases of operative
-delivery. The diminution of common sensibility to a certain
-extent, together with the diminution or removal of
-consciousness, suffice to prevent the suffering of the patient
-during labour; and she never requires to be rendered so
-insensible as in a surgical operation, when the knife may
-be used without causing a flinch or a cry. The nerves of
-common sensation must be allowed to retain their functions
-to a certain extent during labour; otherwise the assistance
-of the respiratory muscles, which consists of reflex action,
-or “motion arising from sensation, without the aid of volition”,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>would not take place, even if the contractions of the
-uterus should still continue.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The effects of chloroform on the brain should not be carried
-during labour beyond what I denominate the second
-degree of narcotism, or that condition in which the mental
-functions are diminished, but not altogether suspended, except
-when the effect of the vapour is associated with natural
-sleep. The patient under the influence of chloroform to
-this extent, has no longer a correct consciousness of where
-she is, and what is occurring around her, but is capable of
-being aroused to give incoherent answers, if injudiciously
-questioned. In this state, the patient will sometimes assist
-the labour by bearing down voluntarily, if requested to do
-so, and be otherwise obedient to what is said; and by withholding
-the chloroform for a few minutes, she at any time
-becomes quite conscious. As a general rule, it is desirable
-not to hold any conversation whilst the patient is taking
-chloroform, in order that her mind may not be excited.
-The plan mentioned above, of giving the chloroform very
-gently at first, also has a tendency to prevent its causing
-mental excitement, the patient coming gradually under its
-effects. In surgical operations, excitement of the mind can
-nearly always be avoided by carrying the patient pretty
-rapidly into a state of insensibility, in which the mental
-functions are necessarily suspended. But in the practice
-of midwifery, it is not allowable to cause a state of coma or
-insensibility, except in certain cases of operative delivery,
-hereafter to be mentioned.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I nearly always employ, in obstetric cases, the inhaler
-that I use in surgical operations. There is not the same
-necessity for an accurate means of regulating the proportion
-of vapour in the air which the patient is breathing during
-labour, where but a trifling amount of narcotism requires
-to be induced, as in surgical operations, where a deeper
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>effect is necessary; still I find the inhaler much more convenient
-of application than a handkerchief, and it contains
-a supply of chloroform which lasts for some time, thereby
-saving the trouble of constantly pouring out more. When
-I do administer chloroform on a handkerchief during parturition,
-I follow the plan of putting only ten or fifteen
-minims of chloroform on the handkerchief at one time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The quantity of chloroform administered during any one
-pain, never exceeds a very few minims; but the quantity
-used in the course of a protracted labour is often considerable.
-I have several times used from four to six ounces;
-and in one case, at which I was present the greater part of
-the time, seventeen fluid ounces of chloroform were used
-with the inhaler, which would produce as much effect as
-three or four pounds used on a handkerchief. The inhalation
-was continued with intermissions over a period of
-thirty-one hours. The patient was unconscious during the
-greater part of the last five or six hours, but previously to
-this, her constant complaint was that she had not enough
-chloroform. She was the wife of a physician, was thirty-seven
-years of age, and in her first confinement. The membranes
-ruptured early. The labour was natural, but there
-was excessive sensibility. The first twenty-six hours of
-intermitted inhalation were during the first stage of labour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Chloroform can be best applied when there is an additional
-medical man, who has not to attend to the ordinary
-duties of the accoucheur; but it can be given very well by
-the accoucheur himself, so as to save the greater part of the
-suffering of labour; although he perhaps cannot always administer
-it in the perfect way in which he could, if he had
-no other duties to divide his attention.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is probable that the use of chloroform has no particular
-influence over the duration of labour, in the whole
-number of cases in which it is employed; but individual
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>labours are occasionally either retarded or quickened by it,
-according to circumstances. In some cases, the chloroform,
-even when very moderately employed, diminishes both the
-strength and the duration of the uterine contractions, and
-prolongs the interval between them, thereby making the
-labour somewhat longer—a matter of no consequence, however,
-as the patient is not suffering in any way. In other
-cases, the inhalation causes the uterine action to become
-stronger and more regular, by removing the excess of sensibility
-by which it has been interfered with. This occurs
-more particularly in the first stage of labour. In some
-cases, also, the chloroform seems to act as a direct stimulant
-to the uterine contractions, increasing their force and frequency—a
-circumstance at which we need not be surprised,
-when we remember that both opium and brandy, in moderate
-quantity, often act in the same manner. Chloroform
-has also the effect of promoting the dilatation of the os
-uteri in many cases, even when no rigidity exists; and
-when there is rigidity of the os uteri, the inhalation is of
-the utmost service, and shortens labour very much. This
-is the case, also, when there is rigidity of the perineum.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>When the forceps have to be applied, it is desirable to
-make the patient insensible, as if for a surgical operation
-just before they are applied; and to leave off the chloroform
-as soon as they are introduced, in order to allow of the
-uterine action to return, and assist in the delivery. I have
-always found the action of the uterus return immediately
-after the forceps were introduced; and where the child was
-not delivered at once, I have continued the chloroform in
-sufficient quantity to keep the patient unconscious, whilst
-allowing the uterine contractions to continue.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered chloroform on nine occasions in
-which the forceps were applied; in four of the cases, I was
-sent for in consequence of the operation being required;
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>and in the other five cases, I was in attendance from an
-early part of the labour, and had administered chloroform
-more or less for some hours before the forceps were applied.
-They were applied in three instances by Dr. Murphy, twice
-by Dr. Ramsbotham, and in the other cases by Drs. Farre,
-Frere, and Thudichum, and Mr. Peter Marshall.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered chloroform in two cases of craniotomy,
-both of which were performed by Dr. Murphy, on
-account of deformity of the pelvis. The amount of chloroform
-scarcely requires to be increased during this operation
-beyond what would be given according to the strength of
-the pains which may be present at the time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the operation of turning the child, the mother requires
-to be made quite insensible, in order that the uterine contraction
-may be entirely suspended till the legs of the child
-are brought down, when the inhalation should be discontinued
-to allow the contraction of the uterus to return. I
-have notes of six cases of turning the child, in which I have
-administered chloroform. The first case, which occurred in
-1848, was one of natural presentation, in which turning
-was performed by Dr. Murphy, on account of narrowness of
-the pelvis, and the impossibility of applying the forceps;
-the introduction of the hand was difficult on account of
-want of space, but the uterus offered no resistance. Dr.
-Murphy has related the case. Three of the other instances
-of turning were performed by Mr. French, in cases which
-had been attended by midwives, and the membranes had
-been ruptured for several hours. The shoulder and part of
-the chest were in each case pressed down into the pelvis,
-and the pains were very strong; yet under a full chirurgical
-dose of chloroform, the child was turned as easily as
-if the membranes had not been ruptured. In the first of
-these three cases, the child was dead before the operation
-commenced. In the other two, it was born alive. In the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>last case, the membranes had been ruptured for ten hours
-before the operation was performed. After the child was
-delivered, there was found to be a second child presenting
-naturally, but I did not stay to give any more chloroform.
-The fifth case of turning was performed in a case of elbow
-presentation by Mr. Peter Marshall. The membranes had
-been previously ruptured. I administered chloroform, also
-for Mr. Marshall, in a case where the hand was presenting
-below the head; he raised it above the head, and as it did
-not come down again when the pains returned, the labour
-was allowed to pursue its natural course, and terminated
-favourably in two or three hours, the child being alive.
-The chloroform was not continued after the operation was
-performed. The remaining case of turning was performed
-by Mr. Tegart, of Jermyn Street. I was in attendance with
-him from an early stage in the labour, and the operation
-was performed before the membranes were ruptured.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I administered chloroform, in 1849, in a case in which
-Dr. Murphy had to make an artificial os uteri. The patient
-was, of course, made quite insensible as for any other surgical
-operation; and the vapour was continued afterwards
-in a modified degree till the labour was completed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On December 26th, 1850, I was requested by Mr. Cooper,
-of Moor Street, Soho, to assist him in a case of retention of
-the placenta. The patient had given birth to a child two
-hours before, and Mr. Cooper had introduced his hand, but
-had been unable to bring away the placenta, on account of
-firm contraction of the uterus in a sort of hour-glass form.
-On the chloroform being administered, the hand was easily
-introduced, and the placenta detached, and extracted. There
-was very little hæmorrhage.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In some of the many cases at which I have met Dr. Cape,
-premature labour was induced about the eighth month of
-utero-gestation, by rupturing the membranes, on account of
-deformity of the pelvis.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>In a case attended by Mr. Cantis, the patient was suffering
-from osteo-sarcoma of the bones about the shoulder.
-Dr. Ferguson was present during the latter part of the
-labour. The lady lived a few weeks after her confinement.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A patient, attended in her confinement by Mr. Colambell
-of Lambeth, in 1853, to whom I gave chloroform, had been
-long under the care of Dr. Williams with cavities in the
-lungs. I heard very lately that she was still living.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A patient of Mr. Robert Dunn, to whom I gave chloroform
-in her confinement, was at the time in a state of
-insanity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In one of the patients whom I have attended with Dr.
-Arthur Farre, there was separation of the recti muscles of
-the abdomen; which there is no doubt must have taken
-place gradually during pregnancy. The patient was but
-twenty years of age, and in her first labour. Quite early
-in the labour, before the pains were at all strong, Dr. Farre
-and I observed that the abdomen was of a peculiar form,
-the uterus projecting very much forwards, whilst there was
-a slackness in the flanks. The abdominal muscles did not
-assist the pains at all; and it was probably from this cause
-that the labour progressed slowly and was terminated at
-last with the forceps. The recti muscles recovered their
-position by careful bandaging.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The chloroform has always been left off as soon as the
-child was born, but a little has been administered again on
-several occasions during the expulsion of the placenta. The
-placenta has generally been expelled very soon in the labours
-in which I have given chloroform; usually in about
-five minutes. There has hardly ever been uterine hæmorrhage
-of any amount, except in patients who had suffered
-from it in previous labours. In a case attended by Mr.
-Nathaniel Ward, however, there was a slight hæmorrhage
-before the birth of the child, and about an hour afterwards
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>there was a considerable hæmorrhage which made the patient
-feel rather faint for some hours. She afterwards went
-on favourably, however. She was a young woman who had
-had several children.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A patient, to whom I was recommended by Sir John
-Forbes, inhaled chloroform in three confinements. She recovered
-favourably from the two first; but on the third
-occasion, after going on favourably till the fifth day, she
-was attacked with puerperal fever, and died on the seventh
-day from her confinement.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I am not aware that more than one death has been recorded
-as having occurred from chloroform during labour;
-and this took place in England, in 1855, when no medical
-man was present.<a id='r151'></a><a href='#f151' class='c012'><sup>[151]</sup></a> The patient had inhaled chloroform in
-America in a previous labour; but her medical man, on
-the last occasion, who was her particular friend, forbad
-that agent, and said that if she was determined to have
-it, he would not attend her. She procured chloroform
-unknown to him, and a number of scents to put on her
-handkerchief and hide the odour of it from him. He went
-to bed in the house, and was not called up till his patient
-had been dead about an hour. The monthly nurse, who had
-procured the chloroform for the patient, said that she snored
-very loudly for an hour after she fell asleep. About five
-drachms of chloroform were used from the bottle, and the
-handkerchief from which it was inhaled remained close to
-the patient’s face till she died. The death seemed to have
-taken place very slowly, and the monthly nurse was extremely
-stupid to allow the patient to die. It may also be
-remarked that the accident would not have taken place
-except for the medical man’s extreme objection to the use
-of chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The chloroform has been occasionally blamed by the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>friends of patients, or medical men opposed to its use, in
-cases where patients have died from puerperal convulsions
-or other causes, so long after the vapour had been left off
-that it could not be the cause of death. The following case
-shows how easy it would be to make a mistake with respect
-to the effects of chloroform. Soon after its introduction,
-I was requested to administer it to the wife of a
-medical man who had a great desire for it in her confinement.
-Mr. Propert was to attend the lady. I was sent for
-late one evening, but as there were no pains at the time
-when I arrived, I was requested to go to bed in the house.
-After a time, I was called by a servant, who told me that
-the baby was born, and that Mr. Propert was sent for. I
-found that the birth had been so sudden that the husband,
-who was in the room, could not get to the bed side before
-the child was born. Mr. Propert arrived, and I went home,
-leaving the patient very well. Mr. Propert informed me,
-that after I left the patient went into such a state of syncope
-as to make him think she was going to die, and continued
-so for some time. She ultimately recovered. There
-was no hæmorrhage or any other cause to account for the
-faintness, and I understood Mr. Propert to say, that if the
-patient had inhaled chloroform, he should have blamed it
-for the condition into which she lapsed.</p>
-
-<h3 class='c015'>THE INHALATION OF CHLOROFORM IN MEDICAL CASES.</h3>
-
-<p class='c014'><em>Neuralgia.</em> When the pain of neuralgia is not extremely
-severe, it may be removed by the inhalation of chloroform
-without causing unconsciousness; but when it is very severe,
-it is necessary to make the patient unconscious before
-the pain is suspended. In some cases of neuralgia of the
-face, the pain is so severe that the signs of it remain after
-the patient is rendered unconscious, and only disappear
-when he is quite insensible; and then, as the insensibility
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>passes off, the hand is raised to the face, and the contortions
-of the features return before the patient awakes to be
-aware of his suffering. When the mental branch of the
-fifth nerve is affected, the paroxysms of pain are accompanied
-by a motion and smacking of the lips. In a hospital
-patient I have seen this when he was awake, but in a
-gentleman only when his consciousness was removed by the
-chloroform, and before complete insensibility was induced;
-when awake, he restrained the impulse to this kind of motion
-of the lips.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In administering chloroform it is desirable to continue it
-steadily and gradually till the pain is relieved; and if the
-patient is rendered unconscious before the pain is removed,
-to continue it till all signs of suffering disappear. After
-the first inhalation of the vapour, the pain will generally
-return in a few minutes, but when again subdued, it will not
-return so quickly; and after it has been suspended a few
-times by the repetition of the chloroform during the space
-of an hour or so, the pain is usually removed either permanently
-or for two or three hours. In some cases I have had
-to repeat the chloroform occasionally throughout the day,
-and, on one or two occasions, for two or three days in succession.
-The chloroform can, in general, only be considered
-a temporary remedy, and therefore such other medicines
-should be applied as may be thought advisable.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>When I have prescribed chloroform in a liniment, to be
-applied to the face, the patient has often found out that
-he obtained more relief by smelling at the liniment than
-by applying it. Chloroform generally gives great relief,
-however, when applied locally in neuralgia, either alone or
-mixed with camphorated spirit; it is advisable to apply it
-on a piece of lint or blotting paper, which should be covered
-over with tinfoil, or some other impermeable substance, to
-prevent the evaporation. It causes about as much heat and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>uneasiness as a mustard poultice, before it relieves the
-pain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Spasmodic Asthma.</em> On November 12th, 1850, I administered
-chloroform in the Hospital for Consumption, at
-Brompton, to a married woman, aged thirty-five, a patient
-of Dr. Cursham. She was in a fit of spasmodic asthma,
-but was the subject also of chronic bronchitis. Twenty
-minims of chloroform were inhaled from an inhaler. It
-gave immediate relief, producing a momentary state of unconsciousness,
-or a state bordering on it. In a few minutes
-the difficulty of breathing gradually returned, but not to
-the same extent, and the inhalation was repeated with a
-like effect. The difficulty of breathing returned less quickly
-and severely; and after a third inhalation of twenty minims
-she was completely relieved, and could lie down. The
-patient had a good night, and was better next day. On the
-14th, she had another fit of spasmodic asthma, which was
-relieved completely by the chloroform in the same manner
-as the previous one. This patient inhaled extract of stramonium
-every evening, by a method which will be described
-further on.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Other cases of spasmodic asthma have been relieved as
-readily and completely; but in one or two cases, in which
-the difficulty of breathing seemed to depend on disease of
-the heart, the relief was not so great; the patient went to
-sleep, but the breathing remained embarrassed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Spasmodic Croup.</em> I have administered chloroform in
-seven cases of this complaint. It was recommended in
-every instance by Dr. Ferguson, and all the cases ended in
-recovery. The children were from eight months to two
-years of age; the majority being about a year. I always
-gave enough chloroform to cause a state of unconsciousness,
-for which a few minims suffices in a young child, and when
-the effect passed off, or nearly so, I repeated the dose. I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>generally gave five or six doses in the course of about half
-an hour, after which the child would often sleep for two or
-three hours. In the milder cases it was repeated once a
-day; but in the more severe cases it was continued, in the
-above manner, twice a day. I administered it to a patient
-of Dr. Van Oven, respecting whom Dr. Ferguson had been
-consulted, for fifteen days, twice every day, excepting the
-last three days. This child was very ill when the treatment
-was first commenced, having a severe fit of spasmodic
-breathing every five minutes. When the chloroform is
-given during the spasm, it is desirable to give it very cautiously.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. W. J. H. Cox read a paper on the treatment of laryngismus
-stridulus, with chloroform, at the London Medical
-Society, in 1850. He had entrusted the administration of
-it to the mother or nurse, and directed it to be given whenever
-the spasmodic breathing should come on. I am inclined
-to think that this would be the best way of giving it, if
-one could be quite sure of the intelligence of the party to
-whom it was entrusted.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Hooping-Cough.</em> I have only administered chloroform in
-two cases of this complaint. It was recommended in both
-cases by Dr. Ferguson. One of the children was extremely
-ill of bronchitis, and it died. The other child recovered,
-but the chloroform was not continued. I am not aware
-that chloroform has had any fair trial in hooping-cough.
-It should be given whenever a fit of coughing comes on.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Infantile Convulsions.</em> I have administered chloroform
-in two cases of this disease, with the effect of relieving the
-convulsions, but the children died. They were both extremely
-ill before the chloroform was administered. One
-was the patient of Mr. Walter Bryant, and Dr. Seth Thompson
-was consulted about it. A case has been related by
-Dr. Simpson of Edinburgh, in which the chloroform was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>continued for a day or two, and in which the infant recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Delirium cum Tremore.</em><a id='r152'></a><a href='#f152' class='c012'><sup>[152]</sup></a> Some cases have been related
-in the medical journals, in which this complaint was treated
-successfully by chloroform alone; but I prefer to use this
-agent only as an adjunct to the treatment by opium. Sometimes
-the patient is so violent and suspicious that he cannot
-be made to take opium; but it is much easier to make
-a person breathe a medicine, than swallow one. It is only
-necessary to hold a patient, and to apply the chloroform
-near his face, and he is obliged to breathe it, and as the
-effect of it subsides, he recovers the power of swallowing
-before his delirium returns; for whilst he is still unconscious,
-he will swallow whatever is poured into his throat.
-Opium can be administered, and the chloroform can be repeated
-occasionally so as to keep him asleep for an hour or
-two till the opium takes effect and prolongs the sleep. It
-is a great advantage of chloroform that the delirium may
-be subdued in a few minutes by it, and can be kept away
-till opium takes effect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In certain cases of delirium cum tremore, such a quantity
-of opium is taken without procuring sleep, that the
-medical attendant has, what I believe to be, a well-grounded
-fear of giving more. A patient whom I saw with Mr.
-Peter Marshall, in April 1850, had taken ten fluid drachms
-of laudanum and two grains of acetate of morphia, within
-twenty-four hours of my seeing him, without any sleep being
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>procured. He was put to sleep immediately by chloroform,
-which was repeated on the following day. The patient got
-quite well in a few days.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In December 1851, I saw a patient who had had no sleep
-for four days, except three intervals of a quarter of an
-hour each, although a great deal of opium had been given.
-He was very violent; and for the last twelve hours had
-spat out all the medicine that was given to him; his pulse
-was small and very rapid. He was made insensible in a
-few minutes, and the chloroform was repeated, at intervals,
-for half an hour, so as to keep him unconscious. Fifty
-minims of tincture of opium were given in one of the intervals.
-I waited an hour and a quarter after the chloroform
-was discontinued; the patient was still sleeping, and
-his pulse was less frequent. I learnt that when he awoke
-he was quite free from delirium, and he was well in a few
-days.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Delirium in Fever.</em> In November 1857, I administered
-chloroform to a youth of seventeen, who had been ill of
-typhoid fever for sixteen days. He had been in a state of
-constant delirium for upwards of forty-eight hours without
-having the least sleep, although he had had tincture of
-opium in divided doses to the extent of forty-five minims,
-and had taken a tablespoonful of wine every four hours.
-The chloroform was continued gently for half an hour; he
-slept for an hour afterwards, and at intervals during the
-night. He was a little better in the morning; and the delirium
-was not again so violent as it had been. He died on
-the nineteenth day of the fever, from a recurrence of
-diarrhœa.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Fairbrother, of Bristol, gave small doses of chloroform
-by inhalation, with the best effects, in a case of typhus
-fever, in the Bristol Infirmary. The patient was delirious
-and worn out for want of sleep, her life being in fact despaired
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>of. She inhaled the chloroform occasionally for
-several days, sleep being always procured when it was
-applied, and she recovered without any other medicine.<a id='r153'></a><a href='#f153' class='c012'><sup>[153]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Hydrocephalus.</em> I administered chloroform on two occasions,
-for half an hour at a time, to a child, seven years old,
-when delirious and screaming violently, in this complaint.
-The child was much relieved by the inhalation, but it died
-on the fourteenth day of the disease.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Tetanus.</em> I have notes of three cases of tetanus in which
-I have administered chloroform. The first was a patient of
-the late Mr. Keate, in St. George’s Hospital, in February
-1849. It was a girl, fourteen years old, who had received
-some severe burns in the face and various parts of the body,
-a fortnight previously. Four days before inhaling the
-chloroform, she was attacked with symptoms resembling
-those of chorea, but for the last two days the complaint
-was recognised to be tetanus. There was rigidity of the
-spine and jaws, and of one arm, which was flexed. Spasms
-came on every minute or two, affecting, more particularly,
-the head and the arm. I commenced to give chloroform
-very gently at four in the afternoon. It prevented the
-spasm before consciousness was quite removed. Whenever
-the spasm offered to return, the inhalation was repeated
-with the effect of stopping it. The chloroform was continued
-till half-past five, with the effect of keeping the spasm
-away; and the patient took some drink during this time,
-better than she had done previously. I saw the child again
-at eight o’clock in the evening, and found that the spasms
-had returned soon after I left, and had continued as before.
-The chloroform was given again at intervals for an hour
-and a half, with the effect of keeping away the spasms, and
-inducing sleep; but I found that the child was getting
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>weaker, and would die even if the spasm was entirely prevented.
-She died at a quarter past eight the following
-morning. There was no inspection of the body.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The next case was a patient of Mr. Propert, a boy, ten
-years of age, who had suffered from sloughing of the skin of
-the inferior extremities. The tetanus came on during the
-healing process, whilst the greater part of both extremities
-was in a state of ulceration, and covered with healthy granulations.
-The patient was in a very irritable and feeble
-state, and his pulse was 150 in the minute. He was made
-insensible, and the chloroform was repeated twice in the
-space of half an hour. No relaxation of the muscles of the
-jaws was produced, although the effect of the chloroform
-was carried as far as seemed safe in such a subject. He
-died twelve hours afterwards.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I administered chloroform lately to a patient of Mr. Salmon
-in St. Mark’s Hospital. He underwent an operation
-by ligature for prolapsus ani and hæmorrhoids on March
-1st; on March 5th tetanus commenced, and on March 7th
-chloroform was administered whilst Mr. Salmon removed
-some sloughs from the anus; and it was repeated occasionally
-afterwards. The patient was a man, fifty-two years of
-age; he was the subject of kidney disease, and the tetanus
-was extremely severe. He had had four doses, each containing
-a fluid drachm of laudanum, between the time when
-the tetanus commenced and his inhaling the chloroform.
-His pupils were contracted, and he was made insensible by
-an extremely small quantity of chloroform. He was, in fact,
-very much under the influence of opium, although the
-spasm of the tetanus prevented his sleeping.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Chloroform affords great relief to the patient affected
-with tetanus, and it probably increases the prospect of recovery
-in cases which are not too severe and acute.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Epilepsy.</em> Dr. Todd at one time had chloroform administered
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>by inhalation, in King’s College Hospital, to the
-extent of causing insensibility, at stated intervals, in cases
-of epilepsy, and he thought with advantage. I have frequently
-administered chloroform for surgical operations to
-patients who were subject to epilepsy, and have very rarely
-found it produce any approach to a fit.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In July 1850, I administered chloroform to a boy, seven
-years old, in an epileptic fit, which had lasted about an
-hour when the inhalation was commenced. He had had
-fits previously, the last of which had occurred a year before,
-but none of them had lasted so long as the existing one.
-He had eaten nine new potatoes for his dinner, at one
-o’clock, and the fit came on about eight. I found the abdomen
-swollen and very tympanitic. There was constant
-convulsive motion of the right arm, and of the neck; the
-latter drawing the head to the right side. The mouth was
-also drawn to the right at each convulsive motion. The
-chloroform was given by putting a few minims at a time on
-a handkerchief, and holding it to the mouth and nostrils.
-It caused immediate cessation of the convulsions every time
-it was applied. The convulsions, however, returned again
-in a minute or two. In the intervals that he was partially
-under the influence of the vapour, he breathed easily without
-stertor. The convulsions became gradually less severe,
-and ceased entirely ten or fifteen minutes after the commencement
-of the inhalation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Puerperal Convulsions</em>. I have not been called to any
-case of this complaint since chloroform has been in use;
-but some cases have been related in the medical journals in
-which the inhalation of chloroform has been employed with
-a favourable result. One case is related by Mr. Henry
-Rudge, of Leominster.<a id='r154'></a><a href='#f154' class='c012'><sup>[154]</sup></a> When the chloroform was administered,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>the patient was in violent convulsions which came
-on in frequently succeeding fits. The os uteri was dilated,
-and the head presenting. The pains were entirely arrested.
-The chloroform was administered by twenty minims, at intervals,
-on a folded handkerchief. The convulsions, after a few
-inhalations, entirely ceased, and Mr. Rudge extracted the child
-without difficulty. There was another child with the head
-presenting: it was delivered with the forceps. The placenta
-was delivered with the hand on account of smart
-hæmorrhage. There was only one attack of convulsions
-after delivery, and the patient recovered favourably. It
-was her first labour, and her age was twenty-three years.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A case of puerperal convulsions was related by Mr. Andrew
-Bolton to the Newcastle and Gateshead Pathological
-Society.<a id='r155'></a><a href='#f155' class='c012'><sup>[155]</sup></a> His patient, aged twenty-two, was at the full
-period of her first pregnancy. The os uteri was high,
-slightly dilated, and extremely rigid. She was treated at
-first by blood-letting, and full doses of morphia. Mr. Bolton
-says: “As her condition appeared hopeless should the paroxysms
-continue, chloroform was administered on a piece
-of linen, in half-drachm doses, and its full effects kept up
-for three hours. At two <span class='fss'>P.M.</span>, there was a slight return of
-convulsion; skin warm and perspiring; the os uteri was
-found steadily dilating; and from her uneasy movements,
-it was apparent that uterine action had begun.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Half-past three. The membranes were ruptured; and
-brisk uterine action ensuing, a dead child was expelled,
-immediately followed by the placenta. She regained her
-senses during the expulsive efforts, but appeared entirely
-ignorant of her previous condition. Recovery followed
-without any bad symptom.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“In conclusion, I would remark, that the convulsions
-were in no measure mitigated by the depletion, which was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>carried to the utmost; nor was there any yielding of the
-os uteri until the chloroform was inhaled.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The urine was not examined in either of the above cases,
-and it is not stated that œdema was present.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Hysterical Paralysis and Contractions.</em> In December
-1851, I administered chloroform in Charing Cross Hospital
-to a young woman about twenty-five, a patient of Dr.
-Chowne. She kept her left knee in a semiflexed position,
-and would not allow it to be moved. She had been in bed
-in the hospital for two months. She inhaled the chloroform
-reluctantly, and, after becoming unconscious, she
-breathed and sobbed in a hysterical manner. When insensible,
-the limb went down flat on the bed, the knee being
-quite movable. A straight splint was applied, and the
-limb was secured to it with bandages. I was informed that
-in a few days she contrived to get her leg bent again. She
-was the domestic servant of a nobleman. It was evident
-that there was nothing the matter with her limb, and that
-it was only influenced by her volition, which was perverted
-by the hysteria under which she was labouring.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In November, in the same year, I administered chloroform
-in the same hospital to another patient of Dr. Chowne,
-whose case was more obscure and complicated. The patient
-was a woman, aged thirty-three, who represented that for
-several months she had been unable to open her mouth, or
-to speak, and that she had, for the same length of time,
-been paralyzed in the left arm and leg. The affection, it
-was said, came on suddenly, in a kind of fit, which was
-followed by unconsciousness for three or four weeks. It
-was also said, that she had one or two fits the previous
-year, after which she was unconscious for a long time. The
-patient was quite conscious before inhaling the chloroform,
-and replied to questions by nodding or shaking the head,
-or by writing on a slate. She was unmarried, and had not
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>menstruated for some months past. The chloroform was
-administered with a view to ascertain whether or not she
-was feigning. On first becoming unconscious, the patient
-breathed in a sobbing and hysterical manner. The chloroform
-was given very gradually; and as she became more
-affected, there were some struggling and rigidity, when the
-right arm and leg were moved about a good deal. The left
-arm and leg were also distinctly moved, but not above a
-tenth part as much as the extremities of the opposite side.
-When the patient was quite insensible, the limbs being relaxed,
-the pupils turned upwards, and the conjunctiva insensible,
-attention was turned to the jaws, which were still
-firmly closed, but they were opened by using a moderate
-degree of force with the fingers. The effect of the chloroform
-having been allowed in a great measure to subside, it
-was again administered, when the movements of the limbs
-recurred, and there was the same difference between the
-motion of the right side and that of the left, as before.
-When I left the patient, more than half an hour after the
-chloroform was discontinued, she had not opened her eyes
-or answered questions; and she did not do either for six
-days. I saw her five days after the chloroform. The pulse
-was very rapid on my first going to the bedside, but its
-frequency subsided in a few minutes. On my raising the
-eyelid, she turned her eye about, as if endeavouring to hide
-the pupil under the lid. On the following day she answered
-questions by nodding and writing on a slate, and
-was, in other respects, the same as before inhaling the chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The great difference in the amount of motion in the limbs
-of this patient, under the influence of chloroform, showed
-that the paralysis of the left side was not a mere pretence.
-It is, indeed, possible that the absence of motion in the
-limbs of the left side, for several months, would cause them
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>to move less than the opposite ones during the action of
-chloroform; but it is not to be supposed that the patient
-would keep these limbs in one posture during the night,
-and when no one was present, without ever moving them,
-unless she herself believed that they were paralyzed. I
-looked on the woman as a sick person, and not a mere impostor;
-for although she appeared to exaggerate her symptoms,
-and to have a good deal of pretence and affectation,
-this circumstance arose, no doubt, from her complaint.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In April 1853, I administered chloroform four times to a
-patient of Dr. Arthur Farre, a girl of fifteen years of age,
-who was affected with a contraction of the flexor muscles
-of the left thigh and leg, of the muscles which bend the
-body to the left side, and those which bend and turn the
-head to the same side, in consequence of which the leg was
-drawn up, and the body and head were curved greatly to
-the left side. The contraction of the muscles had lasted for
-several weeks, but she had been ill for a much longer
-period, her illness having commenced with a fever. She
-took an extremely small quantity of nourishment, and was
-very thin. Her bowels were moved with difficulty. The
-pulse was very feeble and small, and there was a tendency
-to coldness of the surface. An eminent surgeon in the provinces
-had expressed his opinion that the distortion of the
-limbs and trunk was a feigned disorder; but the action of
-the chloroform proved that he was altogether in error. The
-muscles became completely relaxed when the patient was
-quite insensible, and the limbs and trunk and head could be
-readily moved into any position; but as the effects of the
-chloroform subsided, the deformity returned on each occasion
-before the patient recovered her consciousness. Neither
-the chloroform nor any other measures were of any service,
-and Dr. Farre informed me that the patient died a few
-weeks after I saw her.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span><em>Mania.</em> I have been informed of several cases in which
-chloroform has been administered in acute mania, with the
-effect of calming the patient and procuring sleep. I have
-administered it in two cases with the same temporary advantage.
-In one of the cases, the patient was persuaded to
-inhale it; in the other, he had to be held by three keepers
-till he was unconscious. An eminent and well-known scientific
-man, who became insane some years ago, refused to
-take food. It was found that after being made unconscious
-by chloroform, he would take a meal just as he recovered
-from its effects, and the chloroform was given before every
-meal for a long time.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Spasmodic Pain.</em> In August 1851, I administered chloroform
-to a woman who was labouring under a severe paroxysm
-of spasmodic pain in the abdomen. The pain was
-completely removed, without altogether causing unconsciousness.
-An opiate was given to prevent the pain from
-returning.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have not had the opportunity of administering chloroform
-during the passage of calculi down the ureters, or of
-gall-stones; but there can be no doubt that it would be of
-the greatest service in such cases. If Dr. Griffin had been
-provided with chloroform when he attended the late Mr.
-Augustus Stafford with an attack of gall-stones,<a id='r156'></a><a href='#f156' class='c012'><sup>[156]</sup></a> he would
-have been able to relieve his patient in five minutes, instead
-of taking two or three hours to produce relief by opium.
-There would have been no occasion for the venesection,
-which was carried to thirty ounces. And at the end of the
-attack, on Dr. Griffin leaving his patient for the night, if
-chloroform had been employed, he would have left him
-without any appreciable amount of the narcotic in his system.
-As it was, however, he left him with a quantity of
-opium unabsorbed from the alimentary canal. The bandage
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>got displaced from the arm; there was an additional hæmorrhage,
-the opium became absorbed more quickly, and a
-dangerous state of narcotism was induced.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Frequent and long continued Use of Chloroform.</em> Many
-patients have inhaled this agent hundreds of times, and it
-continued to produce insensibility as readily as at first.
-The dose does not require to be increased on account of its
-long use. I was informed of the case of a lady who was
-affected with a painful cancer, and was attended by the late
-Mr. Keate and Mr. Henry Charles Johnson. She inhaled
-chloroform at frequent intervals, by day and night, for a
-very long time, consuming three or four ounces in the
-twenty-four hours.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In November 1851, a surgeon in the north of England
-wrote to me respecting one of his patients, a lady, who had
-inhaled a great deal of chloroform, on account of neuralgia
-of the uterus. He said that, during that year, and principally
-within the last six months, she had inhaled at least
-two hundred ounces; that she often inhaled as much as
-three ounces in a day; and that it seemed to have produced
-very little effect on her general health, except that she
-seemed to be more susceptible of pain. He said that he
-had reluctantly yielded to the entreaties of his patient to
-administer it so often, and he wished for my opinion respecting
-the propriety of continuing its use, and what
-effect it would be likely to produce.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I advised that the chloroform should be continued as
-long as the severity of the pain rendered it necessary; and
-expressed my opinion, that it would produce as little ultimate
-effect as any other narcotic which might be used to
-relieve the pain. I saw the surgeon in September of the
-following year. He informed me that the chloroform was
-continued for some time after he had written to me; but
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>that his patient had recovered from her complaint, and had
-left off the chloroform, and was in good health.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Garner, of Stoke-upon-Trent, has related the case of
-a lady, affected with neuralgia, who inhaled sixty-two
-ounces of chloroform from her handkerchief, in twelve
-days.<a id='r157'></a><a href='#f157' class='c012'><sup>[157]</sup></a></p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>
- <h2 class='c004'>SULPHURIC ETHER, OR ETHER.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'><em>History and Composition.</em> “This liquid is first described
-by Valerius Cordus, in 1540, under the name of <em>oleum
-vitrioli dulce</em>. The term <em>ether</em> was applied to it a hundred
-and ninety years afterwards by Frobenius, who, in a paper
-in the <cite>Philosophical Transactions</cite>, described its singular
-properties; at the end of this paper is a note by Godfrey
-Hankwitz, Mr. Boyle’s operator, mentioning the experiments
-that had been made upon it by Boyle and by Newton.”<a id='r158'></a><a href='#f158' class='c012'><sup>[158]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The present chemical name of ether, or sulphuric ether,
-is oxide of ethyle. It consists of four atoms carbon, five
-atoms hydrogen, and one atom oxygen. Its atomic number
-is consequently 37.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The usual way of making ether, is to distil common alcohol
-(the hydrated oxide of ethyle) with sulphuric acid.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Chemical and physical Properties.</em> Ether is a clear,
-colourless liquid, of the specific gravity of 0·715 at 68°. It
-boils at 96° Fahr.; and the specific gravity of its vapour is
-2·565. It is soluble, in all proportions, in alcohol, and it is
-soluble in nine parts, by measure, of water. Water is also
-soluble in nine parts, by measure, of ether, so that after
-ether has been agitated with water, it retains one-tenth of
-its volume of that fluid. Ether is very inflammable, and, as it
-yields its vapour very freely, great care is required in pouring
-it out by artificial light. Its vapour is also very explosive
-when mixed, in certain proportions, with atmospheric
-air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>The ordinary ether of the shops contains a portion of
-alcohol which has distilled over with it; the alcohol should
-be removed by agitating the ether with twice its volume of
-water, before it is used for inhalation. The ether which
-has been treated in this way is called washed ether. The
-water which it takes up during the washing can be removed
-by distilling it from lime, or dry carbonate of potassa; but
-this is unnecessary, as the water does not interfere with the
-action of the ether when inhaled; and part of the water
-evaporates and is inhaled with the ether, when the atmospheric
-air is not already saturated with moisture.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Ether has a peculiar and very strong odour; in this respect
-it differs extremely from chloroform. The odour of a
-single drop of ether can be distinctly perceived all over a
-large operating theatre, whilst a pint of chloroform may be
-spilt without its odour being much noticed. The strong
-odour of ether is, indeed, one of the greatest objections to
-its use, since another agent has been discovered which is
-free from this objection. As was previously stated, the
-odour of chloroform cannot be perceived in the breath, after
-the lungs are emptied by one or two expirations of the
-vapour just taken in; whilst the smell of ether can be perceived
-in the breath for twenty-four, and sometimes for
-forty-eight, hours after the patient has inhaled it. The
-surgeon, and others who have been about the patient, also
-smell of the ether to a less degree. When a rabbit has been
-killed by the inhalation of ether, a starving cat will not eat
-its flesh even after it has been boiled; whereas the odour of
-chloroform cannot be perceived in the bodies of animals
-that have been killed by it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>If ether is exposed to atmospheric air by being kept a
-long time in a bottle but partly filled, it is apt to be decomposed
-into acetic acid and water.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>The following Table shows the result of experiments
-which I made to ascertain the quantity of vapour of ether
-that 100 cubic inches of air will take up, when saturated
-with it, at various temperatures, the barometric pressure
-being 30 inches of mercury. The ether I employed in the
-experiments was washed, but not dried. It was, therefore,
-saturated with water, of which it contained one-tenth of its
-volume. It had a specific gravity of 0·735 at 60° Fahr.,
-and it boiled at 98°.</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <th class='c021'>Temp. Fah.</th>
- <th class='c021'>Cubic inches of vapour.</th>
- <th class='c022'>Minims of ether.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>50°</td>
- <td class='c021'>52</td>
- <td class='c022'>64</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>51</td>
- <td class='c021'>54</td>
- <td class='c022'>66</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>52</td>
- <td class='c021'>56</td>
- <td class='c022'>69</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>53</td>
- <td class='c021'>59</td>
- <td class='c022'>72</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>54</td>
- <td class='c021'>62</td>
- <td class='c022'>76</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>55</td>
- <td class='c021'>65</td>
- <td class='c022'>80</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>56</td>
- <td class='c021'>68</td>
- <td class='c022'>84</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>57</td>
- <td class='c021'>72</td>
- <td class='c022'>88</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>58</td>
- <td class='c021'>76</td>
- <td class='c022'>93</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>59</td>
- <td class='c021'>80</td>
- <td class='c022'>98</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>60</td>
- <td class='c021'>84</td>
- <td class='c022'>102</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>61</td>
- <td class='c021'>88</td>
- <td class='c022'>107</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>62</td>
- <td class='c021'>92</td>
- <td class='c022'>112</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>63</td>
- <td class='c021'>97</td>
- <td class='c022'>117</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>64</td>
- <td class='c021'>102</td>
- <td class='c022'>122</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>65</td>
- <td class='c021'>107</td>
- <td class='c022'>128</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>66</td>
- <td class='c021'>112</td>
- <td class='c022'>134</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>67</td>
- <td class='c021'>117</td>
- <td class='c022'>140</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>68</td>
- <td class='c021'>123</td>
- <td class='c022'>147</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>69</td>
- <td class='c021'>130</td>
- <td class='c022'>156</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>70</td>
- <td class='c021'>138</td>
- <td class='c022'>165</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the above Table the air is a constant quantity of 100
-cubic inches, which becomes expanded to 152, and so on;
-but the following Table shows the quantity of vapour in
-100 cubic inches of the saturated mixture of vapour and
-air at different temperatures:—</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <th class='c021'>Temp. Fah.</th>
- <th class='c021'>Air.</th>
- <th class='c022'>Vapour.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>40°</td>
- <td class='c021'>73</td>
- <td class='c022'>27</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>42</td>
- <td class='c021'>72</td>
- <td class='c022'>28</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>44</td>
- <td class='c021'>70</td>
- <td class='c022'>30</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>46</td>
- <td class='c021'>69</td>
- <td class='c022'>31</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'><span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>48</td>
- <td class='c021'>67</td>
- <td class='c022'>33</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>50</td>
- <td class='c021'>66</td>
- <td class='c022'>34</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>52</td>
- <td class='c021'>64</td>
- <td class='c022'>36</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>54</td>
- <td class='c021'>62</td>
- <td class='c022'>38</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>56</td>
- <td class='c021'>60</td>
- <td class='c022'>40</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>58</td>
- <td class='c021'>57</td>
- <td class='c022'>43</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>60</td>
- <td class='c021'>54</td>
- <td class='c022'>46</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>62</td>
- <td class='c021'>52</td>
- <td class='c022'>48</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>64</td>
- <td class='c021'>49</td>
- <td class='c022'>51</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>66</td>
- <td class='c021'>47</td>
- <td class='c022'>53</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>68</td>
- <td class='c021'>45</td>
- <td class='c022'>55</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>70</td>
- <td class='c021'>42</td>
- <td class='c022'>58</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>72</td>
- <td class='c021'>40</td>
- <td class='c022'>60</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>74</td>
- <td class='c021'>37</td>
- <td class='c022'>63</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>76</td>
- <td class='c021'>34</td>
- <td class='c022'>66</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>78</td>
- <td class='c021'>32</td>
- <td class='c022'>68</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>80</td>
- <td class='c021'>29</td>
- <td class='c022'>71</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>The absorption of caloric during the evaporation of ether
-is much greater than during that of chloroform, owing both
-to the greater quantity of vapour it yields on account of
-its lower boiling point, and to the lower specific gravity of
-the vapour. The evaporation of ether from the bulb of a
-thermometer usually lowers the temperature nearly to zero
-of Fahrenheit. When the inhalation of ether was first
-commenced, the inhalers employed consisted generally of
-glass vases containing sponge, to afford a surface for the
-evaporation of the ether. Both glass and sponge being
-very indifferent conductors of caloric, the interior of the
-inhalers became much reduced in temperature, the evaporation
-of ether was very much checked, and the patient
-breathed air much colder than the freezing point of water,
-and containing very little of the vapour of ether. On this
-account, and through other defects in the inhalers, the
-patient was often very long in becoming insensible, and, in
-not a few cases, he did not become affected beyond a degree
-of excitement and inebriety.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To ensure the ether taking effect in a short time in every
-case, I made use of the conducting power of the metals,
-and the great capacity of water for caloric. The inhaler
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>which I employed was made of plated copper, and was
-placed in two or three pints of water, of the ordinary temperature.
-The form of the inhaler was that of one which
-had been contrived by Mr. Julius Jeffries for the inhalation
-of aqueous vapour.<a id='r159'></a><a href='#f159' class='c012'><sup>[159]</sup></a> No sponge or bibulous paper, or
-other material, was used; and the air, before being inhaled,
-was made to pass over a considerable surface of ether by
-means of a spiral volute, soldered to the top of the inhaler,
-and reaching nearly to the bottom. The accompanying engraving
-shows the interior of the inhaler, on a scale of half
-the dimensions, the bottom being removed.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter id001'>
-<img src='images/i_349.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
-</div>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>The Physiological Effects of Ether</em> are essentially the
-same as those of chloroform. The various degrees of narcotism
-which I described in the earlier part of this work,
-when treating of chloroform, were first described by me
-when treating of ether in 1847, before chloroform was in
-use.<a id='r160'></a><a href='#f160' class='c012'><sup>[160]</sup></a> All the remarks which I made with respect to the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>manner in which age, strength or debility, and other circumstances,
-influence the action of chloroform, apply also in
-an equal degree to ether.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I performed some experiments in 1848,<a id='r161'></a><a href='#f161' class='c012'><sup>[161]</sup></a> for ascertaining
-the proportions of vapour of ether present in the blood in
-the different degrees of narcotism. They were conducted
-on the same principles as those previously related, which
-were performed for the purpose of determining the same
-point in regard to chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 31.</em> Two grains of ether were put into a jar
-holding 200 cubic inches, and the vapour diffused equally,
-when a tame mouse was introduced, and allowed to remain
-a quarter of an hour, but it was not appreciably affected.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 32.</em> Another mouse was placed in the same
-jar, with three grains of ether, being a grain and a half to
-each 100 cubic inches. In a minute and a half, it was unable
-to stand, but continued to move its limbs occasionally.
-It remained eight minutes without becoming further affected.
-When taken out, it was sensible to pinching, but
-fell over on its side in attempting to walk. In a minute
-and a half, the effect of the ether appeared to have gone off
-entirely.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 33.</em> A white mouse in the same jar, with
-four grains of ether, was unable to stand at the end of a
-minute, and at the end of another minute ceased to move,
-but continued to breathe naturally, and was taken out at
-the end of five minutes. It moved on being pinched, began
-to attempt to walk at the end of a minute, and in two minutes
-more seemed quite recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 34.</em> Five grains of ether, being two and a
-half grains to each 100 cubic inches, were diffused throughout
-the same jar, and a mouse put in. It became rather
-more quickly insensible than the one in the last experiment.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>It was allowed to remain eight minutes. It moved its foot
-a very little when pinched, and recovered in the course of
-four minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 35.</em> A white mouse was placed in the same
-jar with six grains of ether. In a minute and a half, it was
-lying insensible. At the end of three minutes, the breathing
-became laborious, and accompanied by a kind of
-stertor. It continued in this state till taken out, at the end
-of seven minutes, when it was found to be totally insensible
-to pinching. The breathing improved at the end of a minute;
-it began to move at the end of three minutes; and
-five minutes after its removal, it had recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 36.</em> The same mouse was put into this jar
-on the following day, with seven grains of ether, being
-3·5 grains to the 100 cubic inches. Stertorous breathing
-came on sooner than before; it seemed at the point of death
-when four minutes had elapsed; and being then taken out,
-was longer in recovering than after the last experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 37.</em> Two or three days afterwards, the same
-mouse was placed in the jar, with eight grains of ether,
-being four grains for each 100 cubic inches. It became insensible
-in half a minute. In two minutes and a half, the
-breathing became difficult; and at a little more than three
-minutes, it appeared that the breathing was about to cease,
-and the mouse was taken out. In a minute or two, the
-breathing improved; and in the course of five minutes from
-its removal, it had recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The temperature of the mice employed in the above experiments
-was about 100°. That of the birds in the following
-experiments was higher, as is stated; and they differ
-widely from the mice in the strength of vapour required to
-produce a given effect, although I found but little difference
-between the mice and birds, in this respect, in the former
-experiments on chloroform. And one of the linnets was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>employed in both sets of experiments. Having seen MM.
-Dumeril and Demarquay’s statement of the diminution of
-animal temperature from inhalation of ether and chloroform,
-before the following experiments were performed, the thermometer
-was applied at the beginning and conclusion of
-some of them. I have selected every fourth experiment
-from a larger series on birds.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 38.</em> 18·4 grains of ether were diffused
-through a jar holding 920 cubic inches, being two grains to
-each 100 cubic inches, and a green linnet was introduced.
-After two or three minutes it staggered somewhat, and in
-a few minutes more appeared so drowsy, that it had a difficulty
-in holding up its head. It was taken out at the end
-of a quarter of an hour, quite sensible, and in a minute or
-two, was able to get on its perch. The temperature under
-the wing was 110° before the experiment began, and the
-same at the conclusion.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 39.</em> Another linnet was placed in the same
-jar, with four grains of ether to each 100 cubic inches of
-air. In two minutes it was unable to stand, and in a minute
-more, voluntary motion had ceased. It lay breathing quietly
-till taken out, at the end of a quarter of an hour. It moved
-its foot slightly when it was pinched. In three minutes it
-began to recover voluntary motion, and was soon well. The
-temperature was 110° under the wing, when put into the
-jar, and 105° when taken out.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 40.</em> A green linnet was put into the same
-jar with 55·2 grains of ether, being six grains to 100 cubic
-inches. It was insensible in a minute and a half, and lay
-motionless, breathing naturally, till taken out at the end of
-a quarter of an hour. It moved its toes very slightly when
-they were pinched with the forceps, and it began to recover
-voluntary motion in two or three minutes. Temperature
-110° before the experiment, and 102° at the end.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span><em>Experiment 41.</em> A linnet was placed in the same jar,
-containing eight grains of ether to each 100 cubic inches.
-Voluntary motion ceased at the end of a minute. The
-breathing was natural for some time, but afterwards became
-feeble, and at the end of four minutes appeared to have
-ceased; and the bird was taken out, when it was found to
-be breathing very gently. It was totally insensible to
-pinching. The breathing improved, and it recovered in four
-minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 42.</em> 9·2 grains of ether, being one grain to
-each 100 cubic inches of air, were diffused through the jar,
-holding 920 cubic inches of air, and a frog was introduced.
-At the end of a quarter of an hour, it had ceased to move
-spontaneously, but could be made to move its limbs, by inclining
-the jar so as to turn it over. At the end of half an
-hour, voluntary motion could no longer be excited, and the
-breathing was slow. It was removed, at the end of three-quarters
-of an hour, quite insensible, and the respiratory
-movements being performed only at long intervals, but the
-heart beating naturally; and it recovered in the course of
-half an hour. The temperature of the room was 55° at the
-time of this experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>We find from the 32nd experiment, that a grain and a
-half of ether for each 100 cubic inches of air, is sufficient
-to induce the second degree of narcotism in the mouse;
-and a grain and a half of ether make 1·9 cubic inch of
-vapour, of specific gravity 2·586. Now the ether I employed
-boiled at 96°. At this temperature, consequently,
-its vapour would exclude the air entirely; and ether vapour,
-in contact with the liquid giving it off, could only be raised
-to 100° by such a pressure as would cause the boiling point
-of the ether to rise to that temperature. That pressure
-would be equal to 32·4 inches of mercury, or 2·4 inches
-above the usual barometrical pressure; and the vapour
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>would be condensed somewhat, so that the space of 100
-cubic inches would contain what would be equivalent to
-108 cubic inches at the usual pressure. This is the quantity,
-then, with which we have to compare 1·9 cubic inch,
-in order to ascertain the degree of saturation of the space
-in the air-cells of the lungs, and also of the blood; and by
-calculation, as when treating of chloroform,</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>1·9 is to 108 as 0·0175 is to 1.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c023'>So that we find 0·0175, or 1–57th to be the amount of
-saturation of the blood by ether necessary to produce
-the second degree of narcotism; and as by Experiment 35,
-three grains in 100 cubic inches produced the fourth degree
-of narcotism, we get 0·035, or 1–28th, as the amount of saturation
-of the blood in this degree. Now this is within
-the smallest fraction of what was found to be the extent of
-saturation of the blood by chloroform, requisite to produce
-narcotism to the same degrees. But the respective amount
-of the two medicines in the blood differs widely; for whilst
-chloroform required about 288 parts of serum to dissolve
-it, I find that 100 parts of serum dissolve five parts of ether
-at 100°; consequently 0·05 × 0·0175 gives 0·000875, or one
-part in 1142, as the proportion in the blood in the second
-degree of narcotism; and 0·05 × 0·035 gives 0·00175, or one
-part in 572, as the proportion in the fourth degree.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In Experiment 42 the frog was rendered completely insensible
-by vapour of a strength which was not sufficient to
-produce any appreciable effect on the mouse in Experiment
-31. This is in accordance with what was met with in the
-experiments with chloroform. Air, when saturated with
-ether at 55°, contains 32 grains in each 100 cubic inches;
-so that the blood of the frog might contain 1–32nd part
-as much as it would dissolve, which, although not quite so
-great a proportion as was considered the average for the
-fourth degree of narcotism in the mice, yet was more
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>than sufficient to render insensible the mouse in Experiment
-34.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There is a remarkable difference between the birds and
-the mice, in respect to the proportions of ether and air required
-to render them insensible, a difference that was not
-observed with respect to chloroform. In some experiments
-with ether on guineapigs, which are not adduced, they were
-found to agree with mice in the effects of various quantities.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The birds were found to require nearly twice as much;
-five grains to 100 cubic inches, the quantity used in an experiment
-between the thirty-ninth and fortieth, which is not
-related, may be taken as the average for the fourth degree
-of narcotism in these birds, with a temperature of 110°.
-By the kind of calculation made before, we should get a
-higher amount of saturation of the blood than for the same
-degree in mice. But as serum at 110° dissolves much less
-ether than at 100°, the quantity of this medicine in the
-blood of birds is not greater than in that of other animals;
-and, considered in relation to what the blood would dissolve
-at 100°, the degree of saturation is the same.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>By Experiments 36, 37, and 41, we find that with ether,
-as with chloroform, a quantity of vapour in the air, somewhat
-greater than suffices to induce complete narcotism, has the
-effect of arresting the respiratory movements.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In treating of chloroform (page 74), the average quantity
-of serum in the adult human subject was estimated at 410
-fluidounces. In order to find the quantity of ether in the
-system, we may multiply 410 by 0·000875 for the second
-degree of narcotism, and by 0·00175 for the fourth degree,
-when we shall obtain 0·358 and 0·71 of an ounce, <em>i. e.</em> f. ʒii.
-♏︎l in the first instance, and f. ʒv. ♏︎xl in the second. In
-the third degree of narcotism, in which surgical operations
-are usually performed, the quantity is intermediate, or a
-little over four drachms.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span><em>On the Administration of Ether.</em> About a fluid ounce
-of ether is usually inhaled by an adult patient in becoming
-insensible; fully one-half of this is, however, thrown back
-from the lungs, windpipe, nostrils, and face-piece, without
-being absorbed. I usually put two fluid ounces of ether
-into the inhaler above described, at the beginning of the inhalation,
-and this quantity often lasts to the end of the
-operation, if it is not a protracted one. The inhaler is connected,
-by means of a wide elastic tube, with a face-piece
-similar to that described and delineated in treating of chloroform.
-It is necessary that the inhalation should commence,
-as in the case of chloroform, with the expiratory
-valve of the face-piece turned on one side, for the admission
-of air which is not charged with ether, and that the vapour
-should be admitted to the air-passages by degrees, to avoid
-the irritation that would arise from suddenly inspiring any
-considerable quantity of the vapour. The vapour of ether
-is very much less pungent than an equal quantity of the
-vapour of chloroform; but as the patient requires to breathe
-about six times as much of it in the inspired air, it feels
-quite as pungent as that of chloroform, and, perhaps, a little
-more so. Whilst the patient never requires to take in more
-than four or five per cent. of vapour of chloroform in the
-inspired air, he requires to inhale about thirty per cent. of vapour
-of ether, in order to be rendered insensible in a convenient
-time. The air-passages, however, soon get accustomed
-to the presence of the vapour of ether, and in a minute and a
-half or two minutes after the patient begins to inhale, he can
-usually bear the valve to be closed so far as to charge the air
-with as much vapour as is necessary speedily to cause insensibility.
-The inhaler yields quite sufficient vapour when the
-water-bath is at 50° Fahr.; and at the seasons of the year
-when the temperature of the water is higher, the expiratory
-valve of the face-piece can be left more or less open to admit
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>a portion of air which has not passed through the
-inhaler.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I prefer the flavour of ether vapour to that of chloroform;
-and the sensations I experience from the inhalation
-of ether are more pleasurable than those from chloroform.
-Many persons agree with me on both those points; but
-some prefer chloroform. The quantity of ether expended
-in causing insensibility is eight or ten times as great as that
-of chloroform, but the quantity used in a protracted operation
-is not so disproportionate; for, owing to the great solubility
-of ether and the large quantity of it which is
-absorbed, it is much longer in exhaling by the breath, and
-when the patient is once fairly insensible, it does not require
-to be repeated so frequently as chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In administering ether, I usually rendered adult patients
-insensible in four or five minutes, and children in two or
-three minutes. A somewhat longer time was occasionally
-occupied in cases in which the air-passages were irritable,
-or where there was much rigidity and struggling. I never
-failed to make the patient insensible in any one instance in
-which I administered ether. I have notes of 152 cases in
-which I administered ether, before chloroform was introduced,
-and twelve cases in which I have exhibited it since.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Nearly all the great operations of surgery were included
-several times amongst the cases in which I administered
-ether. Amputation of the thigh was performed in nineteen
-cases; fifteen of the patients recovered, and four died.
-Amputation of the leg was performed eleven times; eight
-of the patients recovered, and three died. The arm was
-amputated three times; one of the patients died, and two
-recovered. There were thus thirty-three of the larger amputations
-with eight deaths, being a mortality of twenty-four
-per cent. There were two amputations of the forearm,
-and both patients recovered. There were nine operations of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>lithotomy; seven of the patients recovered, and two died.
-Five of the patients were children, who all recovered; the
-two deaths occurring amongst the four adult patients.
-Eighteen female patients had the breast removed for tumour,
-and they all recovered except one.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On July 1st, 1847, Mr. Cutler amputated the leg of a
-man, aged forty-four, in St. George’s Hospital, who had
-suffered from disease of the tibia and ankle, which had
-existed thirty years, and was caused by an accident. This
-patient died on the seventh day, of sloughing phagedena,
-which was present in the hospital. It was then found that
-he had disease of the heart. Its structure was soft and
-easily lacerable; much fat was mixed up with the muscular
-structure. The aortic valves were much thickened, and
-almost cartilaginous in structure. Two of them were so
-much contracted that they were together about the size of
-a healthy one. The left ventricle was dilated, and the right
-ventricle still more so; its walls being extremely thin.
-The ether had acted quite favourably on this man.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I administered ether repeatedly in infants and old people.
-Some of the infants were operated on by Mr. George Pollock,
-in 1847, for congenital cataract by drilling; and two
-of them were operated on, in 1857, for hare-lip, by Mr. Fergusson
-and Mr. Bowman. A gentleman, one of whose toes
-the late Mr. Liston amputated in 1847, was said to be
-subject to apoplectic attacks. The ether acted very favourably.
-Amongst the operations which Mr. Liston performed
-on patients to whom I administered ether, was the tying
-of the external iliac artery in a man, aged forty, for an
-aneurism of the groin, situated partly above Poupart’s ligament.
-The patient lay perfectly still in this, as in all the
-other important operations in which I administered ether.
-He recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On June 18th, 1847, I exhibited, in University College
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>Hospital, ether to a man, aged forty-two, with stricture of
-the urethra, caused by an accident. He passed his urine
-only in drops, and the attempts to pass a catheter had all
-failed. It was Mr. Liston’s intention to divide the urethra
-in the perinæum, but when the patient was placed fully
-under the influence of ether to the fourth degree of narcotism,
-a catheter (No. 1) passed into the bladder, and the
-operation was not required. Larger catheters were introduced
-in a few days, and on July 27th, the patient was discharged,
-being able to pass his urine in a good stream.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Ether was administered in many cases of midwifery by
-Dr. Simpson, who had first applied it in obstetric cases, and
-by a number of other practitioners. I only exhibited it in
-one case, and then only for a short time. Mr. Lansdown of
-Bristol used it in thirty cases.<a id='r162'></a><a href='#f162' class='c012'><sup>[162]</sup></a> In one case, it was continued
-for eleven hours and a half, and fourteen fluid ounces
-of ether were used. He said that he invariably found the
-perinæum relaxed before the head came to bear on it,
-thereby not requiring the pressure of the head to force it
-open, in cases where ether was used. He says: “I find the
-uterus sending out the placenta immediately after the expulsion
-of the child, and there has been scarcely any hæmorrhage
-following.” Mr. Lansdown said that he had
-found the action of the uterus to be induced by ether, when
-in a sluggish state, but he had not found this effect from
-chloroform, in the cases in which he had used it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Ether was used with great advantage in most of the
-kinds of medical cases in which chloroform was afterwards
-applied. In the summer of 1847, an infant, nine months
-old, was brought to me in a convulsive fit, which had lasted
-twenty minutes. I poured twenty minims of ether on a
-sponge, and applied it to its mouth and nostrils; in two or
-three minutes, the quantity was repeated. The spasm subsided,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>and the child fell asleep. It had no return of the fit.
-It was labouring under hooping-cough at the time, which
-had existed a week.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The inhalation of ether was employed in the treatment of
-asthma, hooping-cough, and tetanus, before it was employed
-in surgical operations. It has been already stated (page 14)
-that Dr. Richard Pearson administered the vapour of ether
-in consumption in 1795. Dr. Robert Willis sent an article
-to the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite> on February 2nd, 1847,<a id='r163'></a><a href='#f163' class='c012'><sup>[163]</sup></a> in which
-the following passages occur.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“Ether, given by the mouth, has long been familiarly
-employed in the treatment of asthma. I have for many
-years been aware of the fact that it is vastly more efficacious
-administered directly in vapour by the breath. My
-plan of using it is extremely simple. I have had recourse
-to no kind of apparatus for this purpose, but have been
-content to pour two, three, or four drachms of the fluid
-upon a clean handkerchief, and to direct this to be held
-closely to the mouth and nostrils: a single short and difficult
-inspiration is hardly made before the effect is experienced;
-and I have occasionally seen the paroxysm ended in
-six or eight minutes, the respiration having in that brief
-interval become almost natural.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“It is not otherwise with hooping-cough: the paroxysms
-of coughing are positively cut short by having the ether and
-the handkerchief in readiness, and using them when the fit
-is perceived to be coming on.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have been informed of a case of tetanus which was
-treated successfully by inhalation of ether more than twenty
-years before this medicine was used to prevent the pain of
-operations, but I am not able at present to give a reference
-to the case. Mr. C. A. Hawkesworth, surgeon, of Burton-on-Trent,
-wrote me an account of a case of tetanus, which
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>had recovered under the inhalation of ether in 1847. The
-patient was a healthy-looking butcher’s boy, about twelve
-years old, who had received a slight scalp wound, which
-was followed by general tetanus. Mr. Hawkesworth administered
-the vapour of ether to him during the greater
-part of one day. The spasm relaxed most completely whilst
-the influence of the ether continued, but returned in great
-degree when the inhalation was intermitted. He took no
-other medicine except calomel and jalap, with a view to
-purgation; the calomel, however, acted on his mouth. He
-recovered speedily and completely. Some other cases of
-recovery from tetanus under the inhalation of ether have
-been recorded in the medical journals.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In February, 1847, Dr. Sibson related several cases of
-facial neuralgia that had been greatly benefited by the inhalation
-of ether;<a id='r164'></a><a href='#f164' class='c012'><sup>[164]</sup></a> and it has been used in many cases since.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The inhalation of ether causes an increased flow of saliva
-in many cases; quite as frequently, in fact, as chloroform.
-Vomiting also follows the use of ether quite as often as that
-of chloroform. The insensibility from ether lasts longer than
-that from chloroform without repeating the inhalation when
-the narcotism is carried to the same degree. When the narcotism
-from ether is carried to the fourth degree there is
-generally a complete absence of pain for three minutes, and
-a state of unconsciousness for five minutes longer, a period
-during which any pain there might be would not be remembered
-afterwards. On account of this longer duration
-of the effects of ether, it is better adapted than chloroform
-for certain operations on the face, as removal of tumours of
-the jaws, the operation for hare-lip, and making a new nose.
-The relaxation of the muscular system from the effects of
-ether seems greater in general than from chloroform, and
-ether therefore seems to be the better agent to employ in
-the reduction of old dislocations, and strangulated hernia.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span><em>Great safety of Ether.</em> I believe that ether is altogether
-incapable of causing the sudden death by paralysis of the
-heart, which has caused the accidents which have happened
-during the administration of chloroform. I have not been
-able to kill an animal in that manner with ether, even
-when I have made it boil, and administered the vapour
-almost pure. The heart has continued to beat after the
-natural breathing has ceased, even when the vapour has
-been exhibited without air; and in all cases in which
-animals have been made to breathe air saturated with ether
-vapour, at the ordinary temperatures of this country, they
-have always recovered if they were withdrawn from the
-vapour before the breathing ceased. Even in cases where
-the natural breathing had ceased, if the animal made a
-gasping inspiration after its removal from the ether it
-recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I hold it, therefore, to be almost impossible that a death
-from this agent can occur in the hands of a medical man
-who is applying it with ordinary intelligence and attention.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I am only aware of two deaths which have been recorded
-as occurring during the administration of ether, and it is
-not probable that the death in either case was due to
-the ether. The first of these cases occurred in France,
-at the Hotel Dieu d’Auxerre, on July 10th, 1847.<a id='r165'></a><a href='#f165' class='c012'><sup>[165]</sup></a> The
-patient was a man fifty-five years of age, who had a cancerous
-tumour of the left breast of seven months duration.
-He was robust, and had no general lesion resulting from
-the cancerous disease. The ether was exhibited with the
-apparatus of Charrière. The patient had hardly inhaled
-two or three minutes when he became strongly excited.
-The trunk and limbs were agitated with violent starts and
-shocks. The breathing became frequent, and the face injected.
-He endeavoured to push away the inhaler, and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>babbled as if drunk. This state lasted for five minutes,
-and the prick of a pin showed that sensibility still remained.
-The apparatus was still applied, but in opening to the
-ether vapour an issue as large as the instrument permitted;
-for the tap which gave passage to it had hitherto been but
-half turned, and that progressively. At the end of ten
-minutes from the beginning of inhalation, the relaxation
-and immobility of the limbs was complete, the insensibility
-was not doubtful, the respiration was deep, gentle, but free
-from râle. The muscles of the face had ceased to be agitated,
-and it was of a violet red colour, as was also the skin
-in front of the chest; the pupils were turned upwards,
-dilated and immovable.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The apparatus was taken away, and the operation was
-commenced; but the incision had only given issue to a
-small quantity of black blood, when it was perceived that
-the features were altered and become entirely violet, and
-that the respiration was extremely feeble. The pulse,
-touched on this moment for the first time, was soft, full,
-and very slow. All at once it ceased to beat.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Twenty-four hours after death, all parts of the body
-yielded a strong odour of ether. The blood was deep
-black, fluid, and rather viscous. The blood which gorged
-the back part of the lungs had a consistence and colour
-somewhat like treacle. The mucous membrane of the
-bronchi, trachea, and larynx was very much congested.
-The spleen was so softened in its interior as to resemble
-the lees of wine.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This patient appears to have died rather from the want
-of admission of sufficient air to the lungs than from the
-effects of ether. The apparatus was applied without intermission,
-long after the face became injected, and was kept
-applied till it became of a violet colour. The pulse was
-not felt till the patient was dying. Artificial respiration
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>was not attempted, although it would most likely have restored
-the patient.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The other death which happened whilst the patient was
-under the influence of ether took place at the Hotel Dieu
-de Lyons, on September 11th, 1852.<a id='r166'></a><a href='#f166' class='c012'><sup>[166]</sup></a> The patient was a
-woman, aged fifty-five, but looking much older. She was
-affected with a tumour of the superior maxillary bone, and
-was weak and in a bad state of general health. M. Barrier
-was reluctant to remove the tumour, but yielded to the entreaties
-of the patient. The ether was administered from a
-sponge placed in a bladder, and the patient was quickly put
-to sleep. M. Barrier had made the incisions in the face, and
-had just divided the ascending process of the jaw, when the
-breathing stopped. There was no pulse at the wrist, and it
-was doubtful whether there was any at the precordial region.
-The patient was placed horizontally, and artificial
-respiration and other measures were applied, but without
-success.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This patient evidently died of hæmorrhage; the mode of
-death which M. Barrier must have been dreading, as we
-perceive from his reluctance to perform the operation. According
-to the result of my experiments on animals, ether is
-not capable of causing the kind of death which this patient
-died.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There were three or four cases in which ether was blamed
-by the operating surgeons for causing the death of patients,
-who recovered from its effects, and, died some days, or at
-least hours, afterwards. The nature and circumstances of
-the operation were sufficient to account for the fatal result
-in each of these cases, whilst the extended use of ether has
-confirmed the opinion that it cannot be the cause of deaths
-which occur days, or even hours, after its use.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>On Friday, the 12th of February, 1847, Mr. Roger Nunn
-performed lithotomy, in the Colchester Hospital, on a man
-who, as it was found after his death, had disease of the kidneys.
-The ether seemed to act favourably. Mr. Nunn says:
-“There was neither difficulty nor loss of time in cutting
-into the bladder; but having done so, some little delay
-occurred in grasping the stone, which was small, very flat,
-and lying in the posterior part of the bladder; the delay
-was also increased by the extremely relaxed state of the
-bladder itself, which seemed to fall in folds on the forceps,
-and to cover the stone.”<a id='r167'></a><a href='#f167' class='c012'><sup>[167]</sup></a> This delay in grasping the stone
-is attributed by Mr. Nunn to a collapsed state of the bladder
-caused by the ether, but it can only have arisen from the
-fact of the urine having escaped from the bladder, before the
-stone was seized. The small vessels divided in making the
-first incision showed much inclination to bleed, and Mr.
-Nunn secured them immediately after the patient was put
-to bed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Speaking of his patient and the ether, Mr. Nunn says:
-“He recovered from its effects after a short time, and continued
-in a quiet passive state, but without decided reaction
-for twenty-four hours. At this period he had a chill, which
-lasted for nearly twenty minutes.” Stimulants were given,
-but without much effect. The patient seemed incoherent
-from eight o’clock <span class='fss'>P.M.</span> of Saturday till nine <span class='fss'>A.M.</span> of the following
-day. From this time he gradually sank, and died at
-five o’clock <span class='fss'>P.M.</span> of that day, Sunday, being sensible to
-the last.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On March 9th, 1847, Mr. Wm. Robbs, of Grantham, removed
-an osteo-sarcomatous tumour from the back part of
-the left thigh of Ann Parkinson, a married woman, aged
-twenty-one, the mother of one child.<a id='r168'></a><a href='#f168' class='c012'><sup>[168]</sup></a> Mr. Robbs tried to
-make his patient insensible with ether, but did not succeed.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>He says, indeed, that in about ten minutes its usual effects
-were produced; but these could not have been its full and
-proper effects; for he says, “she appeared quite sensible to
-the pain during the whole of the operation.” It is reported
-that she appeared to feel the first cut. Mr. Robbs says that
-during the early part of the operation, the patient “cried
-out much, complained, and writhed in great agony of pain.”
-The operation was begun by an incision commencing midway
-between the tuberosity of the ischium and the trochanter
-major, and extending about six inches down the
-thigh. The fascia was next divided, and the muscles were
-next separated with the handle of the scalpel, so as to expose
-the upper surface of the tumour. After this had been
-done, the inhaler was replaced to the mouth of the patient
-whilst the operation proceeded, but the ether appeared to
-take no effect. The tumour was “very adherent to the
-long head of the biceps flexor cruris, which nearly covered
-it anteriorly, while posteriorly it rested on the sheath of the
-great sciatic nerve. It took its origin from the common
-tendon of the flexor muscles, close to the tuber ischii, and
-was inserted into the short head of the same muscle just
-below its origin.” Mr. Robbs says: “The dissection was
-protracted longer than I expected, from the violent contractions
-of the muscles, and the struggles of the patient.” He
-estimated the time occupied in the operation at twenty-five
-or thirty minutes; and the sister-in-law of the patient, who
-gave her evidence at the inquest, expressed her opinion that
-the operation lasted an hour all but five minutes. At the
-end of the operation, the patient appeared very faint, and
-the pulse was very rapid and feeble. The patient remained
-much depressed, with a pulse of 140 in the minute, small,
-and without much power, having her intellect perfect; she
-died forty hours after the operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A coroner’s inquest was held, but neither the coroner nor
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>any of the jury appeared to have any knowledge or suspicion
-that a surgical operation on the thigh could possibly
-be the cause of death. A surgeon who gave evidence
-stated, that “the shock from the operation was not simply
-the cause of death, as the seat of the disease was not essential
-to life.” The verdict was, that the death of deceased
-was caused by the inhalation of ether; and that no blame
-was attached to the surgeon, as ether had been used and
-recommended by eminent medical men.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I cannot tell whether Mr. Robbs would have undertaken
-the operation if ether had not been about to be used, but if he
-had undertaken it without ether, one may presume that he
-would have done what every surgeon does who undertakes
-a great operation, that he would have informed the patient
-and her friends that it would be attended with some amount
-of danger. In his communication to the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite>,
-Mr. Robbs complains of the friends of his patient having
-thought it necessary to obtain a coroner’s inquest; but he
-has himself to blame for that. After he had attributed
-the death entirely to a new agent, which had been given
-with a view to prevent the pain, and had entirely failed
-even in that, it was very natural that they should seek for
-a legal investigation of the affair.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Robbs makes no admission that the pain his patient
-suffered could be due to any defect in the administration of
-the ether. He states, that he “was quite unprepared for
-that perfect state of prostration of the brain and nervous
-system which it appears in this case to have induced”.
-The fact of the patient crying much, and complaining, and
-writhing in great agony of pain, and the contraction of
-the muscles, and the struggles which protracted the operation,
-do not look like a prostration of the brain and nervous
-system. At the end of the operation she was, to be sure,
-prostrated by its long duration, and the great loss of blood
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>which must have occurred; but her brain and nervous system
-were not so much affected as the vascular and muscular
-system. She spoke of the operation as having been very
-severe, and she retained her mental faculties perfectly to
-her death. Ever since 1818 many of the students at lectures
-on chemistry had inhaled the vapour of ether to quite
-as great an extent as Mr. Robbs’ patient.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As a proof how far the feelings will suspend both reason
-and common sense, it may be mentioned that some of the
-medical men, who were strongly opposing the use of ether
-in 1847, did not hesitate to allude to the inquest in this
-case, as showing that ether had caused the death of a patient.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Eastment, of Wincanton, Somersetshire, related a
-case<a id='r169'></a><a href='#f169' class='c012'><sup>[169]</sup></a> in which he attributed the death of the patient to
-ether. It was apparently the first time he had seen ether
-employed on the human subject; and with a larger experience
-of its effects, he would no doubt alter his opinion
-respecting the cause of death in the case he related.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A boy, aged eleven years, became entangled in the machinery
-of a mill, about eight <span class='fss'>A.M.</span>, on February 23rd, 1847,
-in consequence of which he sustained a very severe compound
-fracture of the left thigh, with great laceration of the
-soft parts, and a simple fracture of the right thigh. The
-surgeons in attendance waited till four <span class='fss'>P.M.</span> for the boy to
-recover from the shock of the injury, and then performed
-amputation of the left thigh. Ether was given, but so
-badly, that the patient’s sufferings were so severe on the
-circular incision being made, that it appeared to be a complete
-failure. The inhalation was repeated, however, and
-the pain of the latter part of the operation was prevented.
-The patient died three hours after the operation, being in a
-state of great exhaustion, with occasional mental excitement,
-during the three hours.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>This patient’s chance of life would probably have been
-improved if the ether had been more effectually given, so as
-to prevent all the pain of the operation; but I believe that
-his chance of recovery would have been most improved by
-administering the ether soon after the accident in the morning,
-which would most likely have removed the collapse, and
-enabled the surgeon to perform amputation at once, and
-thus have prevented the eight hours suffering and depressing
-effects of the great laceration of the thigh.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Bouisson<a id='r170'></a><a href='#f170' class='c012'><sup>[170]</sup></a> has mentioned a case in which death was
-attributed to ether by a surgeon named Roël, of Madrid.
-Dolorès Lopes, aged fifty, of very feeble constitution, and
-addicted to drunkenness, had long suffered from a cancerous
-tumour of the breast. It was removed after the patient had
-inhaled ether for half an hour, and it weighed three pounds
-and a quarter. The patient died seven hours after the operation.
-But the operation itself was sufficient to account for
-the death of such a patient; and she could not die from
-ether at the end of seven hours after inhaling it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On account of its great safety, ether is extremely well
-adapted for medical cases, in which it is necessary that a
-narcotic vapour should be administered by the patient’s
-nurse.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>The Combination of Chloroform and Ether.</em> Some practitioners
-have recommended the inhalation of the vapour
-from a mixture of chloroform and ether; but the result is a
-combination of the undesirable qualities of both agents,
-without any compensating advantage. Ether is about six
-times as volatile as chloroform—that is to say, if equal
-measures of each be placed in two evaporating dishes kept
-side by side, at the same temperature, the ether evaporates
-in about one-sixth the time of the chloroform; and when
-the two liquids are mixed, although they then evaporate
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>together, the ether is converted into vapour much more rapidly;
-and, in whatever proportions they are combined,
-before the whole is evaporated the last portion of the liquid
-is nearly all chloroform: the consequence is that at the
-commencement of the inhalation the vapour inspired is
-chiefly ether, and towards the end nearly all chloroform:
-the patient experiencing the stronger pungency of ether
-when it is most objectionable, and inhaling the more powerful
-vapour at the conclusion, when there is the most need to
-proceed cautiously.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A death which occurred during a surgical operation in
-America, has been attributed to the mixture of chloroform
-and ether which was employed;<a id='r171'></a><a href='#f171' class='c012'><sup>[171]</sup></a> but there is no doubt that
-the patient died of hæmorrhage. Dr. R Crockett, of Wytheville,
-Virginia, removed a fatty tumour from the back of a
-boy, aged five years. Four parts of washed ether by measure
-were mixed with one part by measure of chloroform,
-and a drachm of this mixture was poured on a funnel-shaped
-sponge which was applied near the mouth and nostrils.
-The tumour was very large, and required two incisions of
-nine inches in length for its removal. Six arteries required
-to be tied; and just as the last one was secured, the child
-began to vomit. He was found to be pulseless, and he died
-three or four minutes from the commencement of vomiting.
-Dr. Kincannon, who was present, and watching the patient,
-said that up to the time he began to vomit, there was nothing
-in the circulation or respiration to produce the least
-apprehension.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The operator said that the patient probably lost four
-ounces of blood, certainly not six. It must be observed
-that as the blood during an operation is carried away by
-the sponges, it is impossible to estimate the amount. It
-could be ascertained only by an analysis of the water in
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>which the sponges are washed. But even admitting that in
-the present case the loss of blood did not exceed six ounces,
-it is probable that this amount, flowing suddenly from a
-child of five years of age, might cause death. Vomiting
-does not take place when a patient is deeply under the influence
-of ether or chloroform, and the fact of no signs of
-over narcotism having appeared, confirms the view that
-death was occasioned by the loss of blood.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>
- <h2 class='c004'>AMYLENE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'>This substance was discovered and described in 1844 by
-M. Balard, Professor of Chemistry to the Faculty of Sciences
-of Paris.<a id='r172'></a><a href='#f172' class='c012'><sup>[172]</sup></a> M. Auguste Cahours had given this name
-five years previously to a product which is isomeric with
-amylene, and is produced at the same time, but is now
-termed paramylene.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Amylene is made by distilling amylic alcohol with chloride
-of zinc. The amylic alcohol is obtained from crude
-fusel oil, otherwise called oil of grain, or oil of potatoe
-spirit. The fusel oil must be submitted to a careful distillation,
-with a thermometer in the retort. It begins to boil
-at a comparatively low temperature, but that portion only
-is to be retained which comes over from 266° to 284° Fah.
-Caustic potash is added, to decompose the œnanthic ether
-which the distilled liquid contains, and it is then redistilled,
-and that portion which boils steadily at 270° Fah. is
-collected as pure amylic alcohol. Amylene can be obtained
-from amylic alcohol in the same manner that olefiant gas, or
-ethylene, can be made from common alcohol, namely, by
-heating it with dishydrating agents, as sulphuric, phosphoric,
-fluoboric and fluosilic acids, and chloride of zinc;
-but most conveniently with the last substance, which is the
-one that M. Balard employed. The product which is obtained
-when amylic alcohol and chloride of zinc are distilled
-together, contains at least three distinct hydrocarbons,
-amylene, paramylene, and metamylene; and the amylene
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>which is the most volatile is separated from the others by
-successive distillations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Amylene is a colourless and very mobile liquid, of extremely
-low specific gravity; being one of the lightest
-liquids known. The amylene made for me by Mr. Bullock<a id='r173'></a><a href='#f173' class='c012'><sup>[173]</sup></a>
-had a specific gravity of 0·659 at 56°. It is very volatile,
-boiling at 102° Fah. according to M. Balard, and at 95° according
-to Frankland, and the specific gravity of its vapour
-is 2·45. It is composed of ten atoms carbon and ten atoms
-hydrogen, and bears the same relation to amylic alcohol that
-olefiant gas, or ethylene, bears to common alcohol.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is inflammable, burning with a brilliant white flame;
-and in pouring it out by candle light, the same care is required
-as in dealing with sulphuric ether. A slight explosion
-may be obtained by applying a light to a mixture of a
-small amount of its vapour with a large quantity of air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is soluble in alcohol and ether in all proportions, but is
-very sparingly soluble in water, being in fact a hundred
-times less soluble than many substances which are ordinarily
-spoken of as insoluble. From a number of careful
-experiments which I made, I found that water dissolves
-2·35 per cent. of its volume of the vapour of amylene. It
-follows therefore, from the specific gravity of amylene and
-of its vapour stated above, that amylene requires 9319 parts
-of water for its solution. The water which has dissolved
-this small quantity of amylene tastes as distinctly of it as
-amylene itself.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Amylene has more odour than chloroform, but much less
-than sulphuric ether, and the odour does not remain long in
-the patient’s breath. The smell of amylene somewhat resembles
-that of wood spirit. The first specimens which Mr.
-Bullock made were slightly offensive, but the odour improved
-and diminished in strength, as he obtained the substance
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>in a state more nearly approaching to purity. Many
-persons, who thought the odour disagreeable at first, began
-to like it after they had been exposed to it three or four
-times. It is almost without taste, and it produces no irritation,
-or effect of any kind on the sound skin, even when
-confined, and prevented from evaporating. The vapour is
-almost entirely without pungency, furnishing in this respect
-a remarkable contrast to both ether and chloroform. Its
-presence can be perceived on first beginning to inhale it,
-but after two or three inspirations, one cannot tell whether
-the air one is breathing contains any of the vapour or not.
-It does not cause any cough unless there is great irritability
-of the air-passages, or the vapour is breathed of great
-strength in the very first inspirations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Amylene produces about as much cold during its evaporation
-as sulphuric ether does. If a sponge or piece of blotting paper
-wetted with amylene is exposed to the air, a
-portion of the moisture of the air becomes condensed on its
-surface, by the cold caused during the evaporation of the
-amylene; and by the further effect of the cold the condensed
-moisture is frozen, and the sponge or paper is
-covered with hoar frost.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The boiling point of pure amylene would probably be that
-which I have quoted above from Frankland, viz., 35° cent.
-or 95° Fah.; but the amylene which has been obtained for
-inhalation contains other hydrocarbons of an analogous composition,
-and its boiling point is not steady: 95° Fah. was
-indeed about the average boiling point of the greater part of
-the amylene furnished to me by Mr. Bullock, for it usually
-commenced to boil at 86°, and as it evaporated, the boiling
-point gradually rose to 109°, or higher.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>No method is at present known of separating amylene
-from the products which come over with it, except a number
-of distillations; and although these may be carried so far as
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>to obtain a small quantity almost pure, the price of it would
-be too great to admit of its employment for inhalation.
-For this purpose, one must be content with a product approaching
-to purity. Dr. Debout, in an article on amylene,<a id='r174'></a><a href='#f174' class='c012'><sup>[174]</sup></a>
-says that the boiling point commences at 28° (82°
-Fah.), and rises gradually to 40° or 45° (104° or 113°) in
-the best products which have been obtained by Mr. Bullock
-of London, M. Hepp of Strasbourg, and the house of Ménier
-at Paris.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Duroy published an elaborate paper on amylene, on
-April 9th, 1857.<a id='r175'></a><a href='#f175' class='c012'><sup>[175]</sup></a> In this paper, he gives the result of an
-examination of four specimens of amylene: the first, which
-he calls <span class='fss'>A</span>, was amylene made by Mr. Bullock; the second
-(<span class='fss'>B</span>) was the amylene of M. Ménier; the third (<span class='fss'>C</span>) was some
-that he had prepared according to the process of M. Hepp;
-the fourth (<span class='fss'>D</span>) was amylene which he had obtained by a
-process which he described. In this process, he employed
-dry chloride of zinc and amylic alcohol. M. Balard recommended
-a solution of chloride of zinc of a certain strength
-to be used. I may state, however, that Mr. Bullock had
-from the first used dry chloride of zinc.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following table shows the temperature at which the
-different specimens began to boil, and the temperature to
-which they rose before being boiled entirely away.</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>A 30°</td>
- <td class='c016'>cent.</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 86°</td>
- <td class='c016'>Fah.</td>
- <td class='c021'>to 46°</td>
- <td class='c016'>cent.</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 115°</td>
- <td class='c017'>Fah.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>B 29</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 84</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>to 75</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 167</td>
- <td class='c017'>„</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>C 30</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 86</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>to 62</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 143</td>
- <td class='c017'>„</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c021'>D 31</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 88</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>to 57</td>
- <td class='c016'>„</td>
- <td class='c021'>= 134</td>
- <td class='c017'>„</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c023'>Mr. Bullock’s amylene went through the smallest range of
-temperature whilst boiling away.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Duroy found that potassium was oxidized to a certain
-extent in all these specimens of amylene, and a small quantity
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>of hydrogen gas was produced, showing that they did
-not consist entirely of hydrocarbons, but that there distilled
-over with them a small quantity, either of amylic alcohol,
-or amylic ether.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following table shows the cubic centimetres of hydrogen
-gas which were disengaged from three grammes of each
-of the different kinds of amylene.</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>A</td>
- <td class='c017'>64</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>B</td>
- <td class='c017'>91</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>C</td>
- <td class='c017'>75</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>D</td>
- <td class='c017'>69</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>Examined in this way, Mr. Bullock’s amylene showed the
-smallest quantity of impurity; and, next to that, the amylene
-made by M. Duroy.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Duroy found that amylene can be purified from the
-substances containing oxygen by distilling it again with
-dry chloride of zinc. He was able to obtain pure amylene,
-boiling steadily at 35° cent., but to get at this result he
-made so many distillations that he had only forty grammes
-of amylene from five litres of amylic alcohol.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>He states that the following are the characters of absolute
-amylene.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To boil steadily at 35° cent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To be without action on potassium, and to preserve that
-metal like naphtha.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Not to be coloured, even by prolonged contact with caustic
-potassa.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Not to give rise to valerianic acid under the action of
-hydrated potassa.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following table shows the amount of vapour of amylene
-in air which is saturated with it at various temperatures.
-The specimen of amylene with which I made the
-experiments began to boil at 95° Fah.</p>
-
-<table class='table1'>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='3'><span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <th class='c016'>Temp. Fah.</th>
- <th class='c016'>Vapour.</th>
- <th class='c017'>Air.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>24°</td>
- <td class='c016'>20·3</td>
- <td class='c017'>79·7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>26</td>
- <td class='c016'>20·9</td>
- <td class='c017'>79·1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>28</td>
- <td class='c016'>21·6</td>
- <td class='c017'>78·4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>30</td>
- <td class='c016'>22·3</td>
- <td class='c017'>77·7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>32</td>
- <td class='c016'>23·2</td>
- <td class='c017'>76·8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>34</td>
- <td class='c016'>24·3</td>
- <td class='c017'>75·7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>36</td>
- <td class='c016'>25·5</td>
- <td class='c017'>74·5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>38</td>
- <td class='c016'>26·8</td>
- <td class='c017'>73·2</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>40</td>
- <td class='c016'>28·2</td>
- <td class='c017'>71·8</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>42</td>
- <td class='c016'>29·6</td>
- <td class='c017'>70·4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>44</td>
- <td class='c016'>31·1</td>
- <td class='c017'>68·9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>46</td>
- <td class='c016'>32·7</td>
- <td class='c017'>67·3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>48</td>
- <td class='c016'>34·3</td>
- <td class='c017'>65·7</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>50</td>
- <td class='c016'>36·0</td>
- <td class='c017'>64·0</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>51</td>
- <td class='c016'>36·9</td>
- <td class='c017'>63·1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>53</td>
- <td class='c016'>38·6</td>
- <td class='c017'>61·4</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>55</td>
- <td class='c016'>40·0</td>
- <td class='c017'>60·0</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>57</td>
- <td class='c016'>42·5</td>
- <td class='c017'>57·5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>58</td>
- <td class='c016'>43·7</td>
- <td class='c017'>56·3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>59</td>
- <td class='c016'>45·0</td>
- <td class='c017'>55·0</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>60</td>
- <td class='c016'>46·5</td>
- <td class='c017'>53·5</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>61</td>
- <td class='c016'>47·7</td>
- <td class='c017'>52·3</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>63</td>
- <td class='c016'>50·4</td>
- <td class='c017'>49·6</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>65</td>
- <td class='c016'>53·1</td>
- <td class='c017'>46·9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>67</td>
- <td class='c016'>55·9</td>
- <td class='c017'>44·1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>69</td>
- <td class='c016'>58·8</td>
- <td class='c017'>41·2</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>71</td>
- <td class='c016'>61·9</td>
- <td class='c017'>38·1</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>73</td>
- <td class='c016'>65·1</td>
- <td class='c017'>34·9</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c016'>75</td>
- <td class='c016'>68·6</td>
- <td class='c017'>31·4</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='c006'>I was not aware of the existence of amylene till 1856, or
-I should have tried it sooner; for I made inquiry in 1848
-for a substance named eupion by Reichenbach, its discoverer,
-but was unable to obtain it. Eupion is a carbo-hydrogen,
-described as having all the physical characters
-which belong to amylene, though obtained in a different
-way; and I believe it is the same substance, or the hydride
-of amyle. Reichenbach obtained it from coal tar, but other
-chemists have not been able to make it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Judging from experiments which I had made on analogous
-substances, there could be no doubt of amylene
-causing insensibility when inhaled; but I could not tell,
-without actual trial, whether it might not be unpleasant in
-its action.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>I believe that amylene had but rarely been made, and
-only in very small quantity, until I requested Mr. Bullock
-to make it for me. For some time afterwards, soon after
-my first paper had appeared on the subject, M. Berthé, of
-Paris, made some amylene and submitted it to M. Balard,
-its discoverer, who acknowledged its purity, and was astonished
-at the great quantity M. Berthé had obtained. This
-quantity, however, appears to have only been forty grammes,
-or about ten fluid drachms.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As soon as Mr. Bullock succeeded in making some amylene
-for me, I proceeded to perform some experiments with
-it on small animals. I found that it was necessary that an
-animal should breathe air containing about 10 per cent. of
-the vapour in order to lose its consciousness, and that 20
-per cent. caused a deep state of insensibility, whilst 25 per
-cent. could be breathed with perfect safety.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following are a few of the experiments.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 43.</em> A guinea pig was placed in a glass jar
-holding four hundred and twenty-eight cubic inches. Fifteen
-grains of amylene were dropped through a small tube
-in the air-tight cover of the jar, fell upon blotting paper
-suspended within, and quickly evaporated and became
-mixed with the air. In three or four minutes the guinea
-pig staggered and became altered in its manner. It did not
-become further affected, although it was allowed to remain
-for ten minutes. When taken out its sensibility did not
-seem impaired. Each grain of amylene produces 1·315
-cubic inch of vapour, and consequently the air in this experiment
-contained 4·6 per cent. of vapour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 44.</em> The same guinea pig was placed in the
-same jar three days afterwards, and twenty-five grains of
-amylene were introduced in the same manner. At the end
-of two or three minutes the guinea pig seemed estranged
-in its manner, and turned its head from side to side. In a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>little time it seemed getting drowsy, but at the end of
-twelve minutes it was still on its legs and moving voluntarily.
-Eleven grains more of amylene were now introduced.
-In a little time it sank down unable to stand, and
-on being turned over by inclining the jar it made efforts to
-right itself, which became more and more feeble. It was
-taken out at the end of fifteen minutes, <em>i. e.</em>, three minutes
-after the introduction of the additional amylene. It gave a
-slight squeak, and moved its feet and eyelids on being
-lifted. On being pricked it gave decided evidence of sensation.
-It recovered in a few minutes. There were 7·7 cubic
-inches of vapour in each one hundred cubic inches of air
-in the first part of the experiment, and eleven cubic inches
-in the latter part.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 45.</em> Six fluid drachms of amylene in a little
-bottle were put into a glass jar of the capacity of one thousand
-six hundred cubic inches, and the mouth of the jar
-was tied over with a large piece of oiled silk. The bottle
-was emptied by inclining the jar, and the amylene was
-made to run about the sides of the jar till it had all evaporated.
-A guinea pig was then folded in the superabundant
-oiled silk beyond the string which tied it, the string was
-then opened, and the animal introduced into the jar without
-allowing any communication with the external air. The
-guinea pig began to be affected within half a minute, and
-in a minute it was lying insensible, but moved its limbs
-when it was rolled about in the jar. In two minutes it
-was flaccid, and could be rolled about without causing any
-resistance or muscular action. It lay relaxed and motionless
-till taken out at the end of four minutes, although by
-an occasional motion of the eyelids it seemed not altogether
-insensible. It was quickly taken out, but the moment it
-was removed it began to kick, and being pricked it flinched.
-It was not able to stand for two minutes, but after this it
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>quickly recovered. Six fluid drachms of amylene weigh
-240 grains, and produce 315 cubic inches of vapour; consequently
-there was nearly 20 per cent. of vapour in the air
-in this experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 46.</em> A guinea pig, a fortnight old, was placed
-in the jar holding 428 cubic inches, and eighty-two grains
-of amylene were introduced on blotting paper. It was six
-minutes in evaporating. The guinea pig became gradually
-affected, and, a minute or two before the amylene had all
-evaporated, it was lying unable to walk. It was allowed
-to remain till ten minutes had elapsed, that is, four minutes
-after the amylene was all converted into vapour; but it did
-not, apparently, become quite insensible. The limbs were
-never quite relaxed, and when turned over in the jar there
-was a little motion of the limbs and head. There was also
-a little quivering motion of the limbs occasionally when
-not disturbed, and at one time it opened and shut its
-mouth. On its removal, pricking the soft parts of its toes
-caused sometimes a slight groan. It recovered slowly and
-gradually. In ten minutes it was quite conscious, but not
-as brisk as before the experiment. There was 25 per cent.
-of vapour in the air the guinea pig breathed in this experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Guinea pigs have a great tendency to flinch when pricked
-whilst they are under the influence of amylene. I did not
-find this to be the case with other animals.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 47.</em> A lean, starved cat was placed in a glass
-jar holding 1,600 cubic inches, and 120 grains of amylene
-were introduced upon blotting paper. The cat became inebriated
-whilst the amylene was evaporating; and by the
-time it had all evaporated—which was four and a half
-minutes—the cat had sunk down in a state of insensibility.
-The eyes were turned downwards, so as to expose the white;
-but its limbs were not relaxed. In a minute or two afterwards
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>it made no effort when rolled about in the jar. It
-was taken out at the end of nine minutes from the commencement
-of introducing the amylene. It was breathing
-noisily; its limbs were not relaxed; it was totally insensible
-to pricking of the ears and paws. It began to recover
-in about a minute: in two or three minutes it flinched on
-being pricked; it staggered for two or three minutes longer,
-and in ten minutes it was pretty well recovered. The amylene
-would produce 158 cubic inches of vapour, or very
-nearly ten per cent. in this experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 48.</em> A linnet was placed in a jar holding
-428 cubic inches, and forty grains of amylene were introduced
-on blotting paper. In two minutes it had evaporated.
-Until it had nearly evaporated, the bird was hardly affected,
-only evincing a desire to escape. As soon as the amylene
-had evaporated, the linnet lay unable to move, but evincing
-consciousness and sensibility by the motion of its eyelids
-and eyes, and by moving its legs when it was turned over
-by inclining the jar. It remained in this state for three
-minutes, when eight grains more of amylene were introduced
-into the jar. The bird almost immediately closed its eyes;
-and it opened its bill a little, from which a little liquid
-flowed. The motion of its legs also ceased, and its breathing
-was slower. It was taken out half a minute after the last
-portion of amylene was introduced. It seemed quite insensible
-when removed, but began to recover in a few seconds.
-When its foot was pricked, twenty or thirty seconds after
-its removal, it flinched. In two or three minutes it was
-quite recovered. There were 12·3 per cent. of vapour in
-the air in the first part of this experiment; and 14·7 per
-cent. in the latter part.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 49.</em> Another linnet was placed in the same
-jar, and forty-eight grains of amylene were introduced in
-the same manner. It took nearly three minutes to evaporate,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>hoar frost being produced on the blotting paper. The
-bird began to stagger when the amylene was about half
-evaporated; and by the time it was all evaporated, the
-bird was lying apparently insensible, with its eyes closed,
-and breathing quickly. It was allowed to remain two and
-a half minutes, during which it did not alter. It was often
-rolled about by moving the jar; and during the last minute
-and a half it made no effort, except once or twice a slight
-motion of the wings. It was taken out two and a half
-minutes after the amylene had all evaporated. It was quite
-passive, and insensible to pricking of the toes, for half a
-minute or so after its removal, when it began to recover,
-went through a stage of staggering, and was well in three
-or four minutes. The amount of vapour in the air, in this
-experiment, amounted to 14·7 per cent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 50.</em> Fifty grains of amylene were diffused
-in a glass jar holding 330 cubic inches, and a linnet was
-introduced by momentarily moving the lid a little to one
-side. It was quickly affected, and in about a quarter of a
-minute was lying quite insensible. It remained so, breathing
-quickly and naturally, and made no effort whatever
-when rolled about in the jar. It was allowed to remain
-three minutes, and there was a slight fluttering motion of
-the wings just before its removal. It was quite passive
-when removed, and insensible to pricking of the soft part of
-the foot. It began to recover its sensibility in three-quarters
-of a minute. In two minutes it was able to stand, and
-in six minutes it got on the perch. There was twenty per
-cent. of vapour in the air in this experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As amylene boils nearly at the temperature of the blood,
-that fluid would be able to absorb about one-fifth as much
-as it would be able to dissolve, when an atmosphere is
-breathed containing twenty per cent. of the vapour, which
-produces a complete state of insensibility, or the fourth
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>degree of narcotism. When ten per cent. is breathed, which
-has been shown to cause the second degree of narcotism,
-about one-tenth as much vapour as the blood would dissolve
-must be absorbed. In treating of chloroform and
-ether, it was previously shewn that the fourth degree of
-narcotism was caused by one twenty-eighth part as much of
-these agents as the blood would absorb; and the second
-degree by one fifty-sixth part. And these were the proportions
-absorbed of several other agents which are made from
-ordinary alcohol, and will afterwards be mentioned.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Although the proportion of amylene absorbed is large in
-relation to the whole quantity which the blood would dissolve,
-it is a very small amount on account of the extremely
-slight solubility of the agent. If we estimate the average
-amount of serum of the blood in the human adult at 410
-fluid ounces, as before, then, as amylene requires 9,319 parts
-of watery fluids for its solution (as nearly as I could ascertain),
-the quantity of this agent in the system must be
-rather less than three grains in the fourth degree of narcotism;
-rather less than a grain and a half in the second
-degree; and a very little over two grains in the third degree
-of narcotism, the condition in which surgical operations
-are usually performed. Amylene is therefore, when
-absorbed, about as powerful in its medicinal properties as
-the alkaloids.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The following fact also proves that but a very small quantity
-of amylene is absorbed. In breathing this agent backwards
-and forwards from a small bladder containing 200
-cubic inches of air, fourteen minims was the largest quantity
-I could put into the bladder without being rendered
-unconscious; but in employing a large bladder holding 670
-cubic inches, I could put in forty-five minims, and breathe
-it backwards and forwards for some time without being
-rendered unconscious. With fifty minims of amylene I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>immediately forgot where I was; but awoke in a minute or
-two, seated in the same position, and with the bladder in
-my hand. Fifty minims of amylene would produce between
-six and seven per cent. of vapour in the bladder; and after
-the air in the lungs became mixed with that in the bladder,
-there would be rather more than five per cent. of vapour
-in it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Viewed in the light of the small quantity which requires
-to be absorbed into the system to cause insensibility, amylene
-is a very powerful agent; but when considered in relation
-to the quantity which is consumed during inhalation
-in the ordinary way, it is very far from being powerful.
-This arises from the great tension and the small solubility
-of the vapour, in consequence of which it is, with the exception
-of a small fraction, expelled from the lungs again without
-being absorbed. In this respect it resembles, to a great
-extent, the nitrogen gas of the atmosphere, with which the
-lungs are always four-fifths filled, while the blood contains
-but a few cubic inches. It takes from three to four fluid
-drachms of amylene to cause insensibility in the adult.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I found, by my experiments on animals, that amylene is,
-like chloroform and some other agents, capable of causing
-sudden death by over-narcotism of the heart, and paralysis
-of that organ; but that it is more difficult to cause this
-kind of sudden death with amylene than with chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 51.</em> One hundred and twenty grains of amylene
-were made to evaporate in a jar holding 330 cubic
-inches, and a full grown guinea pig was suddenly introduced,
-the cover being partly removed for a moment. It
-was allowed to remain for about a minute, when the breathing
-became of a gasping character. Being taken out, and
-the stethoscope applied immediately to the chest, the heart
-could not be heard to beat; and its action did not return,
-although the gasping continued for about a minute. There
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>was nearly 48 per cent. of vapour in the air in this experiment,
-except that a small quantity might escape as the
-guinea pig was introduced. I had tried guinea pigs with
-smaller proportions of vapour in the air, but had not succeeded
-in arresting the action of the heart.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The lungs were rather congested, and the right cavities of
-the heart were filled, and somewhat distended with coagulated
-blood.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 52.</em> A kitten, six weeks old, was placed in
-a jar holding 330 cubic inches, after ninety-five grains of
-amylene had been made to evaporate and diffuse itself. The
-kitten remained three-quarters of a minute in the jar, and
-was suddenly taken out. It was scarcely insensible on its
-removal, but soon became so. The stethoscope was applied,
-and the heart was found to be beating rapidly. The kitten
-quickly recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>One hundred and six grains of amylene were made to
-evaporate in the same jar, and the kitten was quickly introduced,
-as before, by moving the cover for a moment. It
-was allowed to remain for half a minute, and removed with
-the same symptoms and result as before.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The same quantity of amylene was employed, and the
-kitten was introduced again, and allowed to remain for fifty
-seconds. On its first removal the heart was not beating,
-but the kitten was gasping; and just afterwards the heart
-was heard to be beating rapidly. The kitten quickly recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>One hundred and twenty grains of amylene were allowed
-to evaporate in the jar, and the kitten was introduced again.
-It was allowed to remain a minute, and was taken out as
-the breathing appeared to be on the point of ceasing. The
-heart was beating when the stethoscope was employed, and
-the kitten quickly recovered. It seemed impossible to kill
-it with amylene, except by allowing it to remain and inhale
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>the vapour, by those gasping inspirations which took place
-when the action of the heart was arrested, and which restored
-the action of this organ, when the kitten was withdrawn
-from the vapour. In the different parts of this
-experiment there were 37, 42, and 47 per cent. of amylene
-in the air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>When mice are placed in air containing 30 per cent. and
-upwards of vapour of amylene, they usually recover, as in
-the following experiment, if the breathing has not entirely
-ceased on their removal; whilst if they are placed for a
-quarter of a minute in air containing 8 or 10 per cent. of
-vapour of chloroform, they generally die, although they may
-be breathing well, and hardly insensible, when they are
-removed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><em>Experiment 53.</em> Eighty grains of amylene were introduced
-into a jar holding 330 cubic inches, and when it had
-evaporated, a white mouse was introduced. In about five
-seconds it was quite insensible, and in about a quarter of a
-minute the breathing appeared to have ceased. The mouse
-was quickly withdrawn, and immediately began to gasp.
-After a few gasps the quick breathing returned. In half a
-minute after its removal the mouse was recovering, and it
-was soon quite well. There was 32 per cent. of vapour of
-amylene in the air in this experiment.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I administered amylene with the inhaler which I had
-used for several years in exhibiting chloroform, and which
-I have described in treating of that agent. In administering
-chloroform it is desirable that the patient should breathe
-4 or 5 per cent. of the vapour in the air he inspires; and
-the air, when saturated with vapour of chloroform at 60°,
-contains 12 per cent., or nearly three times as much as the
-patient ever requires. In administering amylene for surgical
-operations, it is desirable that the patient should take
-in 15 per cent. of the vapour with the air he breathes; and
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>air, when saturated with this vapour at 60°, contains 465.
-per cent., or fully three times as much as the patient ever
-requires. It therefore seemed reasonable that the inhaler
-which had answered so well with the former agent, might
-be employed in the same manner, and used successfully
-with the latter agent. Vapour of chloroform, when inhaled
-of twice the proper strength, <em>i. e.</em>, of 8 or 10 per cent., is
-capable of causing sudden death by over-narcotism of the
-heart; but amylene is required to be of nearly 40 per cent.,
-or more than twice the proper strength, before it could produce
-this result: and it seemed, therefore, reasonable to
-expect that the inhaler which had been employed for so
-many years with chloroform, might be employed in exhibiting
-amylene with an equally satisfactory result. And if the
-amylene furnished for inhalation had been a constant and
-uniform product, boiling steadily at the same temperature,
-like chloroform, there is no doubt that these expectations
-would have been fulfilled.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I first administered amylene, in King’s College Hospital,
-on the 10th of November 1856, to two boys, about fourteen
-years old, previous to Mr. Samuel Cartwright extracting
-some teeth. I had but a few drachms, and being very sparing
-of its use, it did not entirely remove consciousness in
-either case, and the pain was not altogether prevented: the
-effects, however, as far as they extended, were so favourable
-as to encourage a further trial, which was made in the same
-institution, on December 4.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On this occasion I exhibited the amylene to four patients—two
-men, a young woman, and a girl of ten years old: it
-occasioned complete unconsciousness and absence of pain in
-each case. The first man was about thirty-five years of age.
-Half a fluid ounce of amylene was put into the inhaler, and
-he inhaled for three minutes. At first the valve of the face-piece
-was about one-third open, but it was gradually moved
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>till it was almost closed. The man breathed readily, without
-coughing, and in a very little time seemed to be unconscious.
-The pulse became quick and slightly irregular; the
-skin became flushed; and in about two minutes there was
-a rather free sweating of the forehead; the eyes did not
-turn upwards; the conjunctivæ did not become insensible;
-there was no relaxation of the limbs, and, on the contrary,
-no struggling. The patient sat well, supporting himself,
-without any tendency to slide out of the chair; the mouth
-was partly open, and there was a tendency to laugh, just
-as the amylene was discontinued. The tooth was extracted
-by Mr. S. Cartwright, without making him flinch or cry in
-the least. In less than a minute he awoke. He looked a
-little strange at first, but immediately remembered all the
-circumstances of his situation, but knew nothing of the
-operation; and, three minutes after the extraction of the
-tooth, and six minutes after entering the room, he went
-away feeling, as he said, quite well. The amylene put into
-the inhaler was nearly used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A young man, about twenty years old, next inhaled the
-same quantity, in exactly the same manner, for just three
-minutes; there was no irregularity of pulse, and no sweating;
-otherwise the symptoms were exactly the same. The
-tooth was extracted without his knowledge, and without
-causing a cry or flinch. He awoke, and was able to go in
-three minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A young woman in bad health, an out-patient of one of
-the physicians of the hospital, next inhaled. She breathed
-the amylene for four minutes, and about three drachms
-were used. The effect was carried to the commencement of
-the third degree of narcotism; and the eyes were inclined
-to turn up, but did not do so persistently. The edges of the
-eyelids also remained sensible. There was a little trouble
-and delay in getting the mouth open, as the muscles of the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>jaws were rather rigid; and when the tooth was extracted,
-she flinched, and cried out a little. She did not remember
-the operation. She said she had had a very unpleasant
-dream, and she was dizzy and uncomfortable for about ten
-minutes, after which she was better.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A little girl ten years old inhaled for four minutes, and
-between two and three drachms were used. The eyes were
-turned up for a short time. She did not flinch or cry as
-the first tooth came out, but did both as two others were
-afterwards extracted. She did not, however, know anything
-afterwards of the operation. She recovered her consciousness
-in a minute or two, and quite recovered from the
-effects of the vapour in a few more minutes. There was no
-sickness, and no increased flow of saliva, in any of the cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On December 11th, I administered the amylene again in
-five more cases of tooth-drawing, with very similar results
-to those obtained in the previous cases; and on December
-13th, I exhibited it in some more important cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Fergusson performed an operation for fungus of the
-testicle; Mr. Bowman removed some diseased glands from
-the groin; and there were two cases of tenotomy, in one of
-which forcible extension of the knee was made.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>From November 1856 to July 1857, I exhibited amylene
-in 238 cases. There were seven cases of lithotomy; six of
-the patients were children, and the seventh a young man of
-seventeen. They all recovered. Five of the operations
-were performed by Mr. Fergusson, in King’s College Hospital;
-and two were performed in St. George’s Hospital, by
-Mr. H. C. Johnson and Mr. George Pollock.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There were five cases of resection of the knee; three of
-the patients got well, and two died. These operations were
-performed in King’s College Hospital, one of them by Mr.
-Partridge, and the other four by Mr. Fergusson. Of the
-seventeen cases of resection of the knee, mentioned at page
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>280, in which chloroform was administered, I know the result
-only in thirteen of the cases. Of these, eight recovered,
-one of them after undergoing subsequent amputation at the
-thigh; and five died.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Some statistics of this operation have been gathered by
-collecting the cases which happen to be reported in the
-medical journals, but such statistics are likely to be extremely
-erroneous. The cases that are reported are probably
-far more favourable than those that are not reported.
-A surgeon undertakes an operation of this kind with no
-other view than the benefit of his patient, and without
-thinking of the medical journals; and, if his first or second
-case is unsuccessful, he is probably not inclined to repeat
-the operation. If the cases should be successful, however,
-he is inclined to repeat the operation when opportunity
-occurs, and may ultimately give the result of his experience
-to the profession.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Bowman removed the head of the femur in two little
-boys to whom I administered amylene; they both recovered,
-as did a girl who inhaled amylene whilst Mr. Fergusson
-performed resection of the elbow. I administered amylene
-in four cases of amputation of the thigh: one of these
-operations was performed by Mr. Henry Lee, on January
-7th, 1857, on a girl aged twelve or thirteen, who underwent
-resection of the knee on the 1st of November previously.
-That operation was performed by Mr. Bowman, and
-the girl inhaled chloroform. At the time of the amputation,
-she was suffering from pyæmia, was extremely weak,
-and had a pulse of 150 in the minute. The vapour was
-exhibited to the patient in bed, before her removal to the
-operating table. There was an examination of the knee
-before the operation; and the anæsthesia was kept up till
-the dressings were applied, which was twenty-five minutes
-from its commencement, and nearly three fluid ounces of
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span>amylene were used. She went through the operation extremely
-well. There was no sign of pain, and the pulse
-remained the same throughout the operation, and there was
-no depression. The patient recovered.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There was one operation of amputation below the knee
-by Mr. Fergusson, in which I administered amylene. The
-patient was a woman of twenty. The operation was performed
-on account of paralysis of the muscles of the leg
-and foot. She recovered. There was an amputation of the
-forearm; two amputations of the great toe, with its metatarsal
-bone; and two or three of toes and fingers: four
-cases of operation for stricture of the urethra by perinæal
-section—three of them by Mr. Fergusson, and one by Mr.
-Curling. There were three operations of lithotrity, two for
-hæmorrhoids and prolapsus ani, and four for fistula <em>in ano</em>.
-There were nine operations for the removal of tumours of
-the female breast; there were seventeen operations for
-necrosis of the tibia, femur, lower jaw, and other bones.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I administered amylene in several operations on the eye.
-There were two operations for cataract by extraction, and
-one by drilling, performed by Mr. Bowman; eight cases of
-excision of the eye by that surgeon, as well as some operations
-for artificial pupil, for the removal of foreign bodies
-from the eye, for staphyloma, and one for the separation of
-the eyelids from the globe. There were also twelve operations
-for strabismus, eleven of them by Mr. Bowman, and
-one by Mr. Fergusson.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I exhibited amylene in forty-eight operations of tenotomy.
-Several of them were performed by Mr. Fergusson, but
-the greater number were performed by Mr. W. Adams
-and the late Mr. Lonsdale, in the Orthopædic Hospital.
-The narcotism was scarcely carried beyond the second degree
-in any of these cases. The eyes were open, and the
-features generally had an expression as if the mind was
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>active on some subject or other. The muscles were nearly
-always in a state of tension, at least they were not relaxed
-in any case. Many of the patients were children,
-and a number of them only inhaled between one and two
-minutes. There were five operations for the forcible extension
-of stiff joints, and two for dislocation of the humerus:
-the latter were treated in the St. James’s Parochial Infirmary.
-The first case was a dislocation downwards in a
-woman aged sixty-eight. She inhaled for three minutes,
-when, extension being made, the bone slipped into its place
-with the utmost ease, although Mr. French had found a
-good deal of resistance in an attempt he made just before
-sending to me—not any serious resistance or pain, but so
-much of both as led him to think it would be a good opportunity
-for trying the amylene. In two minutes after the
-reduction of the dislocation, and five minutes after beginning
-to inhale, the patient was quite awake again, and said
-that she had felt nothing. The other case was a dislocation
-forwards in a man aged seventy-two. No attempt to reduce
-it was made till the amylene was administered. The
-case was under the care of Mr. Buzzard. After inhaling
-two or three minutes, the old man got into a state of muscular
-rigidity, and did not get beyond this state, although I
-continued the inhalation nearly ten minutes, until about
-two ounces of amylene were used. He was quite insensible,
-but the rigidity prevented the reduction of the dislocation.
-So I discontinued it, and sent for some chloroform, which I
-administered a few minutes afterwards. It produced muscular
-rigidity rather stronger than that which the amylene
-had caused; but, by continuing the inhalation steadily for
-about two minutes, the limbs became relaxed, and the
-humerus slipped easily into its place. This is the only case
-in which the amylene has not effected the purpose for
-which I have exhibited it; and I have no doubt that I
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>could have produced relaxation of the voluntary muscles
-by increasing the strength of the vapour the patient was
-breathing; for I have always been able to produce relaxation
-of the muscular system of animals with it; but there
-were one or two circumstances which at the moment stood
-in the way of this. The patient’s face was so hollow from
-his loss of teeth that the face-piece fitted badly; and, as it
-was early in a frosty morning, the water-bath of the inhaler
-was colder than usual. These defects could have been remedied
-if necessary, but I thought it as well to use chloroform;
-and I am inclined to think that chloroform and
-ether are better agents to employ in those instances where
-relaxation of the voluntary muscular system is required.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Sixteen tumours of different kinds were removed from
-different parts of the body, in addition to the tumours of
-the breast previously mentioned, in cases in which I administered
-amylene; and there was also a number of miscellaneous
-operations which I have not mentioned.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>One of the patients of the late Mr. Lonsdale at the
-Orthopædic Hospital was a girl of seventeen, who had the
-scapula drawn up in an extraordinary manner by the action
-of the muscles. When she became unconscious from the
-amylene the shoulder came into its right position, with
-hardly any pressure, although her muscular system was not
-in the least relaxed from the action of the vapour; and the
-deformity remained absent for three days. The amylene
-was repeated three or four times with the same temporary
-benefit, and chloroform was given on one occasion when I
-was not present with a similar result. I have not heard of
-the subsequent progress of the case. I cannot suppose that
-the direct effect of amylene would remain three days on the
-nervous system, and I conclude that the result was brought
-about by some change in the emotions of the patient.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I gave amylene in twenty-four cases of tooth-drawing,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>including those which were previously mentioned. One of
-the cases was that of a lady under the care of Dr. Oldham.
-She was suffering from a large ovarian tumour, and was
-unable to rise from the sofa. Mr. Bell extracted four teeth
-whilst she was under the influence of the amylene. She
-became insensible without the least excitement, was perfectly
-quiet during the operation, and recovered in a minute
-or two, feeling quite cheerful and well.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have administered amylene in seven cases of labour.
-The first patient was under the care of Mr. Buzzard in St.
-James’s Infirmary, on January 20th, 1857. It was the
-patient’s second labour, and was a lingering one, having
-lasted thirty-five hours. I administered the amylene only
-during the last twenty minutes preceding the birth of the
-child, the head being advanced so as to rest on the perinæum.
-The vapour was given, well diluted, at the beginning
-of each pain. The patient breathed very deeply, and
-got relief very quickly from each pain; the mind was quite
-clear between the pains, and I could not tell whether or
-not the consciousness was removed for half a minute or so
-during each pain. Half a fluid ounce of amylene was used.
-The next case occurred in an out-patient of King’s College
-Hospital, under the care of Mr. Meadows, Dr. Farre’s
-assistant. It was the patient’s third confinement. I arrived
-three hours after the commencement of labour, and two
-hours before the birth of the child. The os uteri was
-almost dilated on my arrival, and the pains were very
-strong, recurring every three minutes or so. They continued
-to increase in strength to the last. The patient was
-probably unconscious for a brief period during the uterine
-contractions, while the amylene was administered, but between
-the pains she was quite conscious. Under the use of
-chloroform, in a labour with brisk and frequently recurring
-pains, as in this case, the patient usually sleeps on from one
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>pain to another. The amount of amylene inhaled in this
-case was three fluid ounces. The quantity used in each of
-these cases must have been about half a fluid drachm in
-each pain, and this is the quantity I had previously recommended
-Dr. Tyler Smith to employ, when he did me the
-honour to ask me some questions about amylene before he
-employed it in a case of labour. The results arrived at by
-Dr. Tyler Smith, in a case in which he employed amylene,
-were similar to my own, viz. relief of suffering during the
-uterine contraction, consciousness between the pains, and
-no interference with the progress of the labour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On April 28, 1857, I administered amylene in Brownlow
-Street, Drury Lane, to a woman in her sixth labour, attended
-by Mr. Ponsonby R. Adair, one of Dr. Farre’s assistants.
-She had been in labour since three <span class='fss'>P.M.</span> the previous
-day. The os uteri was fully dilated, and the amylene was
-commenced at 5·25 <span class='fss'>A.M.</span>, and continued till 5·50, when the
-child was born. The placenta was expelled in a few minutes
-with very little bleeding. The amylene was exhibited with
-the inhaler at the beginning of each pain, which it soon relieved,
-although the patient did not become unconscious.
-The pains came on every two minutes or so, and kept increasing
-in force till the birth. About six drachms of amylene
-were used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On May 1st., I administered amylene to another woman
-in her sixth labour, also attended by Mr. Adair. The vapour
-was commenced at 9·30 <span class='fss'>P.M.</span>, the patient having been in
-labour a few hours. The os uteri was not fully dilated.
-The pains came on regularly every three minutes, but were
-not very strong; they, however, gradually increased, and
-the child was born at half-past eleven. The cord was round
-the neck, and the child was nearly asphyxiated in the birth,
-but it was restored readily by Dr. Marshall Hall’s method.
-The placenta was expelled a few minutes after the child
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>with very little hæmorrhage. The patient inhaled with
-every pain, which was very quickly relieved. The last
-quarter of an hour, she seemed to be altogether unconscious.
-About three fluid ounces of amylene were used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On May 14th, I exhibited amylene for about an hour to
-a woman in her third labour, attended by Mr. Adair. The
-os uteri was nearly dilated when I arrived, and the patient
-had been in labour about ten hours. The pains occurred
-every three or four minutes, but were not strong. Amylene
-was inhaled with each pain for about an hour, when the
-pains almost ceased, just as the os uteri was fully dilated.
-I waited for half an hour without giving amylene, and then
-left to attend to another engagement. Mr. Adair informed
-me that the pains returned soon after I left, and that the
-child was born in about half an hour. The patient was
-hardly rendered unconscious by the amylene. Between two
-and three fluid ounces were used.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I exhibited amylene for an hour and ten minutes, on May
-25th, to a woman aged 20, in her first labour. She was
-attended by Mr. Adair. She had been in labour since three
-<span class='fss'>P.M.</span> the previous day, and the os uteri was not fully dilated.
-The amylene was commenced at 9·30 <span class='fss'>A.M.</span>, and inhaled with
-each pain, which it relieved in a very manifest way. The
-pains recurred every two minutes and a half. I left off
-giving the amylene at 10·40 to attend to other business.
-Mr. Adair informed me that the labour was concluded at
-one <span class='fss'>P.M.</span></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On July 1st, I exhibited amylene to a woman in labour
-with her third or fourth child. Labour commenced at midnight
-of June 27th, and continued during the following day
-till the os uteri was dilated to the size of a crown piece,
-when the pains subsided on the evening of that day, and
-did not return to be effectual till the evening of July 1st.
-The amylene was commenced at 10·25, the os uteri being
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>almost dilated, and the pains recurring every three or four
-minutes. The uterine contractions increased in force and
-frequency, and the child was born at 11·45. There was a
-gush of blood two or three minutes after the birth of the
-child, and Mr. Adair introduced his hand and removed the
-placenta, which was only partially detached. The hæmorrage
-immediately ceased. The patient was feeble and emaciated,
-and had suffered repeated beatings by her drunken husband.
-She recovered favourably, as did the other patients.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The action of the amylene was very favourable in these
-obstetric cases. The pains were relieved very promptly by
-it, generally by the time the patient had taken two or three
-inspirations, and the effect of the vapour passed off in most
-cases between each pain.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The great ease with which amylene can be breathed,
-owing to its entire want of pungency, is a decided advantage
-which it possesses over both ether and chloroform.
-Insensibility can always be induced with amylene in as
-short a time as is desirable, namely, in from three to four
-minutes in the adult, and about two minutes in young
-children. It is not desirable to cause insensibility in a
-shorter time than this with any agent. If narcotism is induced
-too quickly, the symptoms are not uniform or in
-regular order, owing, no doubt, to the circumstance that the
-narcotic vapour is not equally distributed through the
-blood, which must convey it to the nervous centres. Insensibility
-can, indeed, be generally induced with chloroform
-in the time above mentioned, but there are many cases in
-which there is considerable delay at the commencement of
-inhalation, owing to the pungency of the vapour, especially
-in nervous and in sensitive patients, and in persons with
-irritability of the air-passages from chronic bronchitis,
-phthisis, or any other cause.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the use of amylene, absence of pain has been obtained
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>with less profound coma than usually accompanies the employment
-of chloroform and ether. There are some cases,
-indeed, in which the minor parts of an operation, under
-these latter agents, may be performed without pain while
-the patient is in a semi-conscious state, or even altogether
-conscious, but they form an exception; while in the use of
-amylene, the patient has very often been half-conscious
-during the operation. In operations under chloroform, the
-patients usually indicate the necessity of repeating the inhalation
-by a tendency to flinch or cry, without showing
-any signs of consciousness; but in the use of amylene, they
-have more frequently begun to look about and to speak
-before showing any sign of pain. There are some patients
-who will not lie still under the surgeon’s knife while chloroform
-is being used, unless its effects are carried so far that
-the breathing is on the borders of being stertorous, but I
-have not met with any such case in using amylene.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The greater number of the operations under amylene were
-performed while the patient was in the second degree of
-narcotism, being apparently awake, although not really conscious
-of surrounding objects. This usual absence of coma
-in the employment of amylene cannot be looked on otherwise
-than as an advantage. It must conduce to the safety
-of the agent when the proportion of vapour in the air is
-properly regulated. The reason why no accident is known
-to have happened from chloroform, in the practice of midwifery,
-when superintended by a medical man, is no doubt
-due to the circumstance that it is only requisite to induce
-a slight effect, in comparison with the effect required in surgical
-operations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The best indication that the patient will quietly bear an
-operation under chloroform, is the more or less complete
-absence of sensibility of the ciliary edge of the eyelid; but
-during the inhalation of amylene the patient is often entirely
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>regardless of the surgeon’s knife, whilst the edges of the
-eyelids retain their full sensibility, and the slightest touch
-causes strong winking. In operations on the eye, however,
-and in all other cases where great steadiness on the part of
-the patient is required, I have thought it best to continue
-the amylene till the sensibility of the margin of the eyelids
-was almost abolished; and to effect this it has usually been
-requisite to carry the influence of the vapour as far as the
-beginning of the third degree of narcotism, or that condition
-in which there is no longer voluntary motion of the
-eyes, or any other part, and in which the eyelids are usually
-closed, and the pupils inclined upwards. But even in these
-cases the patient has usually reverted to the second degree
-of narcotism before the end of the operation, and has shown
-signs of ideas by the voluntary motion of the eyes and eyelids,
-or in some cases by speaking. In several cases, however,
-the sensibility of the eyelid has been removed in the
-second degree of narcotism; and important operations have
-been commenced before the patient was “off”, to use an
-expression familiar on these occasions. One instance of this
-kind was the operation of lithotomy by Mr. Fergusson, on
-the 14th of March, 1857, in a young man, aged 17, in
-King’s College Hospital. The sound was first introduced,
-and the stone being detected, the assistants were requested
-to tie the patient up; and finding his limbs somewhat
-rigid, they requested me to give him some more vapour. If
-I had been using chloroform I should have done so without
-any request, in order to cause relaxation; but I allowed
-the effect of the amylene to partially subside, and in less
-than a minute the bandages could be easily applied. I then
-proceeded to give a little more amylene, but soon found
-that the margin of the eyelids was insensible; so the operation
-was performed whilst he was calmly looking about, as
-if awake; but he showed no sign of pain, and knew nothing
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>of the operation. I never saw a capital operation performed
-on the adult, under the influence of chloroform or ether,
-whilst the patient was in this condition; but I once administered
-chloroform in St. George’s Hospital to a child of
-three or four years old, which was cut for stone whilst lying
-calmly with its eyes open, and holding a toy in its hand, all
-the time of the operation, without letting it fall.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The pulse is almost always increased in frequency and
-force during the inhalation of amylene,—especially during
-the early part of the inhalation, and to a greater extent
-than happens with chloroform. The respiration is very often
-accelerated during the inhalation,—about as often, I think,
-as with ether, and more frequently than with chloroform.
-In many of the early cases in which I administered amylene,
-the pupil was dilated for a short time; but I consider
-that this arose from giving the vapour rather stronger than
-is desirable. I afterwards gave it more gently, and very
-seldom observed the pupils to be dilated. They remained,
-as nearly as I could tell, of the natural size, and also sensible
-to light, in the cases where I made an observation on
-that point.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The colour of the countenance is generally heightened
-more or less during the whole period of the inhalation, and
-in a few cases there was sweating,—a symptom met with
-now and then under the influence of chloroform and ether.
-Amylene does not cause the great increase in the flow of
-saliva which is so often met with during the inhalation of
-chloroform, and especially of ether.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There is a tendency to laugh during the inhalation of
-amylene much more frequently than during the use of chloroform.
-It occurs just after the patient has lost his consciousness,
-but is soon subdued by the increasing effect of
-the vapour. I only met with strong mental excitement in
-a very few patients, chiefly females. It subsided in half a
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>minute in one case, on leaving off the vapour, and did not
-recur when the inhalation was resumed. In the other cases
-it was subdued by continuing the inhalation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The expression of the countenance generally remains calm
-and cheerful during the action of amylene; but in a few
-instances there is a singular, and even unpleasant, aspect of
-the face for a short time, arising apparently from a brief
-spasmodic action of the muscles.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I met with less rigidity and struggling during the administration
-of amylene than in the use of chloroform; but
-this probably arose from the circumstance that the effects
-of amylene were very frequently not carried to that degree
-in which rigidity and struggling are liable to appear. It is
-in the third degree of narcotism from narcotic vapours that
-rigidity is met with in those cases in which it occurs, but
-the greater number of the operations under amylene were
-performed in the second degree of narcotism. The rigidity
-from amylene, when it occurs, is of a somewhat different
-kind, and takes place in patients in whom we should not
-expect it from chloroform. In the spasm and rigidity from
-the latter agent, the head is more commonly bent forwards
-or turned to one side, although it is occasionally thrown
-back; but under amylene, the latter is the usual position it
-assumes when rigidity occurs, constituting a brief opisthotonos.
-The rigidity under the influence of chloroform is
-usually accompanied with struggling, while in that caused
-by amylene the patient is generally quieter. The persons
-in whom rigidity and struggling are most violent from the
-effects of chloroform are lean, muscular men, who work at
-hard labour, or follow athletic sports, such as hunting, and
-especially boating; while those who lead a sedentary life,
-or are reduced by illness, seldom exhibit these phenomena.
-Women and children seldom exhibit any rigidity under
-chloroform, and fat persons least of all. Old people do
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>sometimes, especially if thin. Under the use of amylene,
-on the other hand, I have most frequently met with some
-amount of rigidity in children and young persons, while
-many robust men, in whom it would be almost certain to
-occur under chloroform, have not shown any signs of it.
-The cause of this probably is, that the operation has generally
-been performed without carrying the narcotism beyond
-the second degree, while rigidity does not take place till the
-third degree is attained. In every case where rigidity and
-struggling have occurred in the employment of chloroform,
-however violent these symptoms might be, I have continued
-the vapour gently and steadily till they were subdued, either
-by removing the tendency to these symptoms, or by carrying
-the narcotism to the fourth degree, which is accompanied
-by relaxation of the voluntary muscular system, and usually
-with some tendency to stertor. In the use of amylene, on
-the contrary, I have not attempted to subdue the spasm by
-continuing the inhalation, but have, with the exception of a
-case of dislocation previously mentioned, withdrawn the
-vapour when the rigidity appeared, and the operation has
-either been performed at once, or else, if it was of a nature
-that the spasm would interfere with, I have waited a short
-time, and exhibited a little more vapour very gently, so as
-to get a state of anæsthesia without the recurrence of the
-spasm.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Jones, of Jersey, favoured me with the following
-account of a case in which amylene acted much more favourably
-on his patient than chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>John D., æt. 41, stout and of very ruddy complexion, so
-injured his leg that it was deemed advisable to saw off the
-fractured ends of the tibia. Chloroform was at first given
-(March 16, 1857), but the effect it produced, though administered
-with the utmost caution, was evidently of so
-dangerous a nature, that it is more than probable that death
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span>would have resulted had it been persevered in longer than
-five or six minutes (the period it was employed). The
-patient became quite apoplectic, and had two or three very
-severe convulsions. Amylene was at once substituted, and
-with the happiest result. The patient appeared conscious,
-but was not so, and the operation, which was a tedious one,
-was commenced and finished without his experiencing the
-least pain, indeed without his having the slightest knowledge
-that operative measures had been resorted to.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Amylene differs widely from chloroform, and still more
-from sulphuric ether, in the promptitude with which patients
-generally recover from its effects. This is a character of
-amylene which might have been predicted from its physical
-properties. I have many times observed how quickly, and,
-indeed, almost instantaneously, small animals recover from
-the stupor occasioned by certain permanent gases which are
-sparingly soluble in watery fluids, as olefiant gas, carbonic
-oxide and carbonic acid gases, nitrous oxide and the gaseous
-oxide of methyle. Now amylene is so volatile as to approach
-to a permanent gas; at a temperature a little above that of
-the human body it would be a gas, and the vapour is very
-sparingly soluble in watery fluids, and consequently in the
-blood. Sulphuric ether is, indeed, as volatile as amylene. I
-cannot remember any other two bodies whose volatility is
-so nearly alike; but sulphuric ether is very soluble in
-watery fluids, in comparison with amylene. Water dissolves
-a tenth of its volume of liquid ether, or 23 volumes of the
-vapour. Consequently a large quantity of ether is absorbed
-during inhalation, and the blood has to pass many times
-through the lungs before it is freed from it. The quantity
-of amylene which is absorbed is, on the contrary, extremely
-small, as I have explained above, and this, together with its
-volatility, is no doubt the reason why the patient recovers
-so promptly from its influence. In about a minute after
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_404'>404</span>the operation is concluded, and the inhalation left off, the
-patient usually awakes from the influence of amylene, and
-completely recovers his consciousness. The same quick recovery
-may take place after chloroform, but more frequently
-it is a few minutes before the patient is quite conscious. I
-have seen two or three instances in which a child has slept
-for twenty minutes or half an hour after amylene, but it
-must be remembered that children sometimes sleep for
-hours after chloroform in cases where the operation has not
-produced a painful wound. The quick recovery of the
-patient is a decided advantage in all minor operations. In
-great operations, where the patient is obliged to keep his
-bed afterwards, it is of less consequence whether he wakes
-promptly or not, although, even under these circumstances,
-his friends are generally anxious to see him recover his
-consciousness. The smarting of the wound after an operation
-is often prevented longer when chloroform has been
-employed than after the use of amylene, and this may be
-considered as a slight advantage which chloroform possesses
-in certain cases. In some instances, however, in which
-chloroform has been used, the patient begins to show symptoms
-of suffering pain in the wound before he has entirely
-recovered his consciousness, while after amylene I have not
-seen symptoms of pain in the wound till consciousness had
-completely returned. In any cases where the pain after an
-operation, either from a wound or ligatures or caustic, is
-very great, the inhalation of the agent which has been employed
-may be gently repeated at times until the pain has
-a tendency to subside, or till an opiate shall take effect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient generally seems surprised or confused on first
-recovering from the effects of the amylene, but in a few
-seconds he becomes, in most cases, completely conscious of
-his position, and feels that his mind has been wandering.
-He often says he does not know where he has been in his
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span>dreams, or that he has been a long way. Sometimes he
-does not remember exactly what he has dreamed about; at
-other times he does. All this is common enough after
-chloroform, except that the process of recovery is generally
-much slower; but there is one condition of mind which is
-very common after chloroform, which I have rarely met
-after amylene, I allude to that condition in which the patient
-asserts that the vapour has not taken effect, and that
-he has not been asleep at all.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Amylene appears to support the pulse under loss of blood
-at least as well as chloroform. I have not found the pulse
-to fail, although there was rather free hæmorrhage in some
-of the operations.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There has been a little headache in a few of the cases as
-the effects of this agent were subsiding, but it passed off in
-a few minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In administering amylene, the vapour must be given of
-such a strength as will cause insensibility in about three
-minutes, or it will not succeed at all unless the strength of
-the vapour be altered. In giving chloroform, the vapour
-may be of less than half the desirable strength, and by continuing
-more than twice the usual time, the patient may be
-rendered insensible; and in using sulphuric ether, the vapour
-may be breathed of one-seventh the proper strength,
-and by continuing it constantly for seven times the usual
-period, <em>i. e.</em>, for half an hour, the patient might be rendered
-insensible; but in using amylene, time will not make up for
-deficiency in the strength of the vapour. If the vapour be
-not strong enough to cause insensibility in about three minutes,
-it might be breathed for an indefinite period without
-causing insensibility; and the patient is solely affected by
-what he has inhaled within two or three minutes.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On account of the very rapid subsidence of the effects of
-amylene, it requires to be very frequently repeated during
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>the performance of an operation. The patient generally requires
-to inhale a little of it every half minute or so to keep
-up its effect. On this account, it is not well adapted for
-certain operations on the face. I did, however, administer
-it with complete success in several operations on the face in
-King’s College Hospital. Amongst these, there were four
-operations by Mr. Fergusson for making a new nose in
-which I administered amylene, and succeeded in preventing
-the pain by holding a hollow sponge, wetted with that agent
-frequently, near the mouth and nose.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In cases of tooth-drawing, in which a number of teeth or
-stumps have to be taken out, the effects of the amylene are
-apt to pass off before the operation is completed, and the
-inhalation has to be repeated once or twice, but in cases
-when only one or two teeth require to be extracted, amylene
-has a great advantage in the promptitude with which the
-patient recovers from its effects. There is occasionally some
-difficulty in opening the mouth with amylene, as with chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The patient has nearly always a very cheerful expression
-of countenance when he recovers from the amylene, and the
-state of his mind, as indicated by his conversation, corresponds
-to his look. Dr. Debout has noticed the same circumstances.
-Speaking of the patients operated on under
-amylene in Paris, he says, “A leur réveil et le premier
-moment de stupeur passé, leur physionomie est épanouie.”
-The same state of countenance and mind is met with after
-chloroform only now and then, and is by no means the rule.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Hysterical symptoms occurred in a few women after
-operations under amylene. They were met with about as
-frequently, I think, as after chloroform. These symptoms
-generally subsided in a few minutes; but in one or two
-young women in the hospital, they lasted nearly an hour.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The greatest advantage that amylene possesses over ether
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>and chloroform, is the great infrequency with which it excites
-sickness. I only saw vomiting occur in two of the 238
-cases in which I administered amylene, although it occurred
-before I left the patients’ room in twenty-two cases out of
-100 in which I administered chloroform and kept an account
-of this symptom, at the time I was using amylene.
-In the greater number of the cases in which chloroform was
-exhibited, the patients had been requested not to take a
-meal; whilst in the cases in which amylene was administered,
-no directions regarding diet had as a general rule
-been given.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I made subsequent inquiries respecting most of the patients
-who inhaled amylene, and I was only able to hear of
-sickness in eight or ten cases, and it was not distressing or
-troublesome in any of these. It generally occurred three or
-four hours after the amylene, and subsequently to the
-patient taking his first meal after the inhalation. In one of
-the two cases in which vomiting occurred after amylene
-before I left the room, there was retching for four hours;
-but I did not hear of so much sickness after any other case
-in which I administered this agent; and there was no
-faintness or depression either in this case or any other in
-which amylene was employed, although faintness and depression
-often accompany the sickness which is occasioned
-by chloroform. Some of the patients who inhaled amylene
-without being sick, had previously suffered from sickness
-after inhaling chloroform. I administered amylene, on
-January 30th, 1857, to a lady, about twenty-five, whilst
-Mr. Bowman operated for strabismus, and there was no
-vomiting or sickness, either at the time of the operation or
-afterwards; but the same patient had undergone a similar
-operation a week previously, when chloroform was administered,
-and on that occasion vomiting commenced before the
-operation was finished, and recurred every quarter of an
-hour, with violent retching, for twelve hours.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>I had the misfortune to lose two patients from the inhalation
-of amylene. The following are the particulars of
-these cases.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Fergusson requested me to assist him on the 7th of
-April, 1857, in the case of a gentleman on whom he was
-about to operate for fistula <em>in ano</em>. The patient was thirty-three
-years of age, and was in good health, with the exception
-of the local complaint, although he had lived somewhat
-freely. Mr. Fergusson examined the patient’s chest the day
-before the operation, and found the sounds of the heart to
-be normal. I felt his pulse just before he began to inhale.
-It was natural, but somewhat accelerated, as usually happens
-just before an operation. He was lying on his side in
-bed. About six fluid drachms of amylene were put into the
-inhaler (I never intentionally used all I put in, but added
-more before the paper became dry), and he breathed steadily
-and gently. The valve was gradually advanced over the
-opening in the face-piece till it about three-quarters covered
-it, and the patient appeared to become quietly unconscious
-in about two minutes. He breathed quickly for a few inspirations
-just as he appeared to become unconscious. Just
-after this, Mr. Fergusson came and felt the patient’s pulse,
-and he says it was very good. I felt it also. I looked at
-my watch at this time, and it was two minutes and a half
-or two and three-quarters from the beginning of the inhalation.
-Mr. Fergusson commenced to use the probe, and,
-finding the patient did not flinch, he began to use the bistoury.
-Mr. P. C. Price assisted at the operation. I held
-the patient’s thigh with one hand, as I often do in such an
-operation, lest he should flinch. He did not flinch, however,
-but kept his limbs tense, without moving them. Just
-at this moment, I observed that the valve of the face-piece,
-which I had left three-quarters covering the opening, had
-moved so as to cover it entirely, but I cannot say whether
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_409'>409</span>or not the patient had taken an inspiration a little stronger
-than I intended, and thought nothing of the matter, as I
-have frequently had to close the valve completely in giving
-amylene. It could not, however, have been many seconds
-in that position, for I paid no attention to the operation,
-except so much as was requisite to guide me in what I was
-doing. The inhalation was discontinued at the moment I
-have mentioned, and on looking round directly after, I
-found that the operation, which had apparently been but
-one incision, was finished. I now began to feel for the
-pulse, more out of constant habit, and from a scientific
-curiosity, than from any supposed necessity of doing so.
-Although it had been good only half a minute before, I
-could not find it in the left wrist, and only a slight flutter
-in the right one. His breathing was, however, good, indeed
-quite natural, and he did not seem even to be very insensible,
-for there was some motion both of his features and
-limbs, as if he were about to awake. I watched the patient
-with great anxiety, thinking that surely his good and natural
-breathing would restore the pulse, and feeling that at
-all events this superseded any other measures at the moment.
-In two or three minutes, however, he seemed to be
-getting more insensible; he did not wink on the edge of
-the eyelids being touched, and the breathing was getting
-slower and deeper. I called Mr. Fergusson’s attention to
-the patient, and both he, who was preparing to go away,
-and Mr. Price, who had all the time been standing by the
-patient, were surprised to find that anything could be
-wrong, as they had seen the patient going on apparently so
-well, not only during the inhalation, but after it was discontinued.
-They dashed cold water in his face, which did
-not seem to have any effect. His countenance was now
-livid, and his breathing of a gasping character. It soon
-began to leave off, with the exception of deep, distant,
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_410'>410</span>gasping inspirations, and we therefore began to perform
-artificial respiration, by Dr. Marshall Hall’s method, placing
-him in the prone position, and bringing him partly round,
-while Mr. Price kept the mouth open. The air could be
-distinctly heard passing through the larynx during this motion.
-We also tried pressing on the chest with the head on
-one side and the mouth open, which answered very well as
-regarded the ingress and egress of air. Inflation from mouth
-to mouth was tried, but did not seem to answer so well.
-Although deep gasping inspirations were made by the patient
-till fully ten minutes had elapsed from the failure of
-the pulse, the measures used had no effect; I believe that I
-heard a feeble motion of the heart even after this period;
-and, as Mr. Fergusson perceived a slight pulsation at the
-same time in the right wrist, I was probably not mistaken.
-There were no further signs of life after this, although the
-artificial respiration was continued for a long time. I am
-quite sure as to the length of time respiration continued
-after the failure of the heart’s action. The pulse ceased to
-be distinctly perceptible at ten minutes before five, and the
-patient was still breathing at five o’clock. He had not
-taken food for some hours, but drank a pint bottle of ale a
-little while before the operation. A good portion of amylene
-remained in the inhaler after it had been uncovered for
-an hour and a half.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There was an examination of the body forty-eight hours
-after death. The body was rigid. There was a good amount
-of fat beneath the integuments. The cartilages of the ribs
-were ossified. The lungs were large, and did not collapse;
-they completely filled the cavity of the chest, and seemed by
-their texture to be emphysematous, although there were no
-large cells on the surface. There was a little congestion at
-the posterior surface of the left one, otherwise they were not
-very vascular. There was a little clear fluid in the pericardium.
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_411'>411</span>There was a good deal of fat on the surface of the
-heart, which was somewhat larger than natural. It was
-removed by cutting the great vessels before it was opened,
-and in removing it three or four ounces of dark-coloured
-fluid blood escaped. The right ventricle was somewhat
-dilated, otherwise the heart was healthy; the walls of the
-left ventricle seemed very thick, but it was contracted, so
-as almost to obliterate the cavity. The liver was vascular,
-dark-coloured, and friable. The stomach was healthy, and
-contained only a little mucus. The other organs were not
-examined. There was no odour of amylene in the body.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I believe the patient had emphysema of the lungs. There
-was no such force used in the artificial respiration as could
-permanently dilate the air-cells, and the dilatation of the
-right ventricle indicates some chronic obstruction to the
-pulmonary circulation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The other death from amylene occurred in St. George’s
-Hospital on July 30th, 1857, in a case in which Mr. Cæsar
-Hawkins removed a small epithelial tumour from the back.
-The patient, a short, muscular man, was a tailor, twenty-four
-years of age, who had been in the Hospital several
-months, and had had three similar tumours removed, by as
-many operations, under chloroform; the last of these operations
-having been performed three weeks previously. He
-inhaled the amylene without any difficulty; in about two
-minutes he appeared to be unconscious, and, in another minute,
-the sensibility of the margin of the eyelids was somewhat
-diminished, and I told Mr. Hawkins that he might
-perform the operation. For this purpose the patient, who
-had been lying on his side on the table, was turned a little
-more on his face, or at least it was attempted to turn him,
-when he burst out into a kind of hysterical excitement,
-laughed loudly, and was with difficulty held on the table.
-Nothing was done during this excitement, which lasted
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_412'>412</span>about a minute. After it had subsided, I administered a
-little more amylene, although the patient had not recovered
-his consciousness; and then Mr. Hawkins performed the
-operation, which I believe did not last more than two minutes
-altogether. During the operation, the patient was
-turned on his face. He rested, I think, chiefly on his knees
-and elbows. He was muttering in an incoherent manner,
-and making slight attempts to move, but was easily restrained.
-I gave him an inspiration or two of amylene now
-and then during the operation, with the intention of preventing
-his waking prematurely; for this purpose, I turned
-the head a little to one side, and raised the face a little from
-the table.<a id='r176'></a><a href='#f176' class='c012'><sup>[176]</sup></a> I had concluded that the patient would not require
-any more amylene, and was expecting that he would
-show signs of returning consciousness or sensibility almost
-as soon as Mr. Hawkins had tied the suture which he was
-introducing; but, instead of this, the limbs became relaxed,
-and the breathing, though free enough, took on a noisy,
-snoring character.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This is a state which is common enough in the use of
-chloroform, and excites no alarm whatever, but I felt that it
-ought not to occur in the use of amylene, especially after it
-was left off. I therefore sought again for the pulse at the
-wrist, and could perceive it only with difficulty, if at all. I
-spoke to Mr. Hawkins, and we immediately turned the patient
-on his back. His face had already become livid, and
-his breathing was of a gasping character. Mouth to mouth
-insufflation of the lungs was performed, and between the
-insufflations there were spontaneous acts of inspiration,
-during which the air seemed to enter the lungs freely. In
-a minute or two, the lips became of a proper colour, and
-the countenance had altogether such a natural aspect that
-the patient seemed to be recovering. The pulse at the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_413'>413</span>wrist, however, could not be felt. No one listened to the
-chest at this time, for fear of interrupting the process of
-artificial respiration. After two or three minutes, Dr. Marshall
-Hall’s method of artificial breathing was substituted
-for the insufflation, and it was continued very perfectly by
-the house surgeons and others for an hour and a half, with
-the exception of two short intermissions, which will be
-mentioned. During three-quarters of an hour of this time,
-there were spontaneous inspirations, during which air entered
-the lungs, in addition to that which entered during
-the turning process. Twenty minutes after the accident,
-the process of artificial respiration was suspended for about
-a quarter of a minute, to enable me to listen to the chest.
-I thought I could hear the heart beating regularly, but very
-feebly, and certainly there was a good vesicular murmur,
-and the air seemed to enter the lungs by the patient’s own
-breathing, almost as freely as in health. At the end of
-three-quarters of an hour, with the permission of Mr. Hawkins,
-I introduced two hare-lip pins which had been connected
-with the electro-magnetic battery, with the intention
-of performing galvano-puncture of the heart. The needles
-were introduced to the depth of about an inch and a half
-between the cartilages of the ribs, just to the left of the
-sternum, and on a level with the nipple. They were afterwards
-found to have penetrated the walls of the left ventricle,
-near the septum, but without reaching the cavity.
-There was a quivering contraction of the pectoral muscle
-when the needles were first applied, but no effect on the
-heart. The needles ought probably to have been coated
-with some non-conducting substance almost as far as their
-points. There were no further efforts of inspiration after
-this time, but this was probably only a coincidence. The
-electro-magnetic battery had been applied in the early part
-of the treatment by means of the wet sponges applied to
-each side of the chest, but it produced no effect.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_414'>414</span>An examination of the body was made by Mr. Holmes,
-the Curator of the Hospital Museum, on the following day.
-A good deal of dark-coloured fluid blood flowed from the
-right cavities of the heart, and the left cavities contained
-but little blood. The heart was pale and somewhat friable;
-but a microscopic examination by Mr. Holmes did not show
-any fatty degeneration. The lungs were moderately vascular,
-and contained some small epithelial tumours of the
-same character as those removed from the back. There was
-a large cyst in one kidney; but, with these exceptions, the
-organs were healthy. The vessels of the brain were not
-distended, and that organ was altogether less vascular than
-is usual after sudden death. No smell of amylene was perceived
-in the body.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The continuance of the respiration so long after the heart
-was paralyzed in these two cases, and especially in the
-second one, is a remarkably curious event. The respiration
-continued after the heart had ceased to act in several cases
-of death from chloroform, but not for so long a time as in
-these deaths from amylene. It is probable that there must
-have been some little circulation going on through the
-brain whilst the respiration lasted, and in fact, the slight
-fluttering pulse and feeble sounds of the heart, once or twice
-perceived, indicate that the circulation was not absolutely
-arrested. Under these circumstances, we may inquire why
-the action of the heart does not recover. If the circulation
-were going on in the coronary arteries, it might be expected
-that the blood from the lungs, which has been aerated by
-respiration, and freed from the narcotic vapour, would restore
-the action of the heart. But it is probable, for the
-reasons stated at page 262, when treating of accidents by
-chloroform, that the circulation through the coronary arteries
-is arrested.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The accident clearly commenced at the heart in both these
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_415'>415</span>cases, and I believe that the brain was never more than partially
-under the influence of the amylene in either of them.
-In the <cite>Medical Times and Gazette</cite> of July 25th, 1857, M.
-Devergie is related to have expressed an opinion in the
-Academy of Medicine of Paris, that the first of the above
-deaths from amylene was caused, in great part, under the
-influence of true asphyxia, using that term in its modern
-acceptation. Now that is altogether an error, arising, probably,
-from M. Devergie not having seen any original account
-of the case. There was no cause of asphyxia, either internal
-or external; the patient breathed well until after his heart
-had ceased to beat, unless in the most feeble and doubtful
-manner. The valve which was closed only altered the
-direction, but not the amount of air. In fact, the patient
-was throughout supplied with as much air as could enter
-through a tube twice the size of his windpipe.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I had scarcely any hope of the patient in St. George’s
-Hospital from the very commencement of the accident; for
-I felt that if he could be recovered by artificial respiration,
-his own breathing would have remedied the accident, even
-before it was discovered. From what has been published
-respecting the pulse sometimes stopping and commencing
-again, during the inhalation of chloroform, it is probable
-that many accidents, in which the heart has been nearly
-paralysed, have happened, and rectified themselves, without
-attracting much notice.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have no doubt that in each of these accidents the patient
-must have taken into his lungs at one moment air containing
-upwards of thirty per cent. of vapour of amylene. And
-there is no doubt that the cause of this was the unsteady
-boiling point of the agent. If the amylene with which I
-was supplied had boiled steadily at the same temperature,
-there is no doubt that the means which I was employing,
-and which had enabled me for ten years, whilst exhibiting
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_416'>416</span>chloroform, to give four per cent. of the vapour, probably
-without ever allowing the quantity to exceed six per cent.,
-would have enabled me to give fifteen per cent. of vapour
-of amylene without permitting the quantity to exceed
-twenty per cent.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The alteration in the boiling point of a specimen of amylene
-from 86° to 115° Fah. would cause it to give off more
-than twice as much vapour in the beginning of its evaporation
-as towards the end; and, moreover, the different
-specimens of it did not always possess the same amount of
-volatility.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The temperature of the external air as it influenced that
-of the water-bath of the inhaler would have some influence
-over the evaporation of the amylene, but I altered the
-amount of evaporating surface of paper according to the
-season of the year for amylene, as I was in the habit of
-doing for chloroform. The highest temperature of April 7,
-the day on which the first accident happened, was at Greenwich,
-according to the Report of the Astronomer Royal, 62°;
-and on July 30, the day on which the second accident happened,
-was 78·7°. After the first accident, I had reduced
-the surface of bibulous paper in the inhaler to one-half of
-what it had previously been.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The first of the above accidents happened in the 144th
-case in which I administered amylene, and the second in the
-238th case. In the ninety cases and upwards in which I
-administered amylene between these two accidents, I never
-had occasion to feel a moment’s uneasiness about it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the future cases in which I employ amylene, it is my
-intention to administer it from a bag or balloon, putting in
-so much of the liquid as will make fifteen per cent. of vapour
-when the bag is filled up with air. In this manner,
-the variability in the boiling point of the amylene can have
-no influence whatever on the amount of vapour which the
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_417'>417</span>patient breathes; and if the vapour be breathed over again,
-within certain limits, in the manner of nitrous oxide gas,
-there will be a great saving in the amount of amylene consumed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In my first paper on amylene, which was read on January
-10th, 1857, I said: “While I cannot venture to predict
-for it the absolute safety which seems to attend sulphuric
-ether under all circumstances, I trust that it will be perfectly
-safe with careful management”<a id='r177'></a><a href='#f177' class='c012'><sup>[177]</sup></a> And I added
-further on, “It is my opinion that the cold produced during
-its evaporation would, in all the ordinary methods of inhalation,
-prevent the air from taking up a quantity of the
-vapour which would be dangerous.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Although amylene was largely used in Paris, Strasbourg,
-Montpelier, and Lyons, soon after I published my first
-account of it, and although I have lately heard that it is
-still employed in Paris and Berlin, nearly eighteen months
-after its first use in these places, I am happy that I have
-not heard of any accident from its use except the two which
-happened in my own hands.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>M. Giraldis, of Paris, who was present at the operating
-theatre of St. George’s Hospital when the accident happened
-at that institution, had already employed amylene in
-100 cases in children, and I believe that he continues to use
-it. Given on a handkerchief or sponge, I believe that amylene
-is safer than chloroform, owing to the greater cold
-produced during its evaporation, and the limit thereby put
-to the amount of vapour which is given off; but I have
-seldom given it in this manner, as I do not think it would
-be certain and regular in its action, and any doubt on these
-points would, with me, have quite overbalanced its other
-advantages. In applying amylene on a sponge, M. Rigaud
-of Strasbourg used 100 grammes (between four and five
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_418'>418</span>fluid ounces) in making an adult patient insensible, although
-half a fluid ounce suffices with the inhaler I employed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Mr. Clarke, of Bristol, in a paper which he published on
-amylene,<a id='r178'></a><a href='#f178' class='c012'><sup>[178]</sup></a> says: “It seemed impossible to get too much
-into the system, and with this I have been greatly impressed;
-it is this fact that appears to me to promise an
-immunity from danger.... It requires to be given almost
-unintermittingly, and requires the same amount of attention
-to keep up its effects as chloroform does to keep the patient
-safe. The direction of the attention, however, is one less
-calculated to give anxiety.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Dr. Debout stated, as the result of some experiments on
-animals, in which he was assisted by M. Duroy, that if it
-sufficed to double the quantity of chloroform in order to
-transform the anæsthetic dose of that agent into a poisonous
-dose, it was necessary to quadruple that of ether, and to
-quintuple that of amylene, in order to arrive at the same
-result; and that, therefore, the innocuousness of the new
-agent was still greater than that of sulphuric ether.<a id='r179'></a><a href='#f179' class='c012'><sup>[179]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In a paper which Professor Tourdes, of Strasbourg, read
-before the Academy of Medicine of Paris, he came also to
-the conclusion, from a series of experiments and observations,
-that “amylene was evidently much less dangerous
-than chloroform, perhaps even than ether.”<a id='r180'></a><a href='#f180' class='c012'><sup>[180]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c006'>According to my experiments, amylene ought to be placed
-between chloroform and ether in respect to its comparative
-safety by the ordinary methods of administration; and by
-breathing it from a bag, in the manner previously mentioned,
-it would be absolutely safe, so long as the right
-quantity were put into the bag.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Papers on amylene were read to the Academy of Medicine
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_419'>419</span>of Paris by Dr. Debout and M. Tourdes, and were reported
-on favourably. M. Giraldis afterwards presented a
-paper in which he stated the very favourable result of
-seventy-nine cases in which he had employed it. The Academy
-on this occasion recommended the disuse of amylene
-on account of the accidents which had happened in my
-hands, apparently overlooking the circumstance that M. Giraldis
-himself had been much more successful in the use of
-amylene than in that of chloroform. M. Jobert de Lamballe,
-the reporter of the Commission, stated that amylene
-deprived the blood of its red colour and that chloroform
-does not. But there is no difference between these agents in
-this respect; the blood retains its proper colour under the
-use of either of them, unless the effects are carried so far as
-to interfere with the breathing.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_420'>420</span>
- <h2 class='c004'><span class='large'>THE MONOCHLORURRETTED</span><br /> CHLORIDE OF ETHYLE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'>This substance was discovered some few years ago by M.
-M. G. Regnault. It is made by exposing to the sun’s rays
-a mixture of the vapour of chloride of ethyle (muriatic
-ether) and chlorine gas. One equivalent of the hydrogen of
-the chloride of ethyle is replaced by an equivalent of chlorine.
-Its composition is four atoms carbon, four atoms
-hydrogen, and two atoms chlorine. It has the same composition
-as Dutch Liquid, which is made by the combination
-of olefiant gas and chlorine gas; the specific gravity of its
-vapour, 3·42, is also the same as that of Dutch liquid,
-which it resembles also in taste and smell. The boiling
-point is however different, and it differs from Dutch liquid
-in not being decomposed by an alcoholic solution of potassa.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I tried several times to make the monochlorurretted
-chloride of ethyle in 1849 and 1850, but did not succeed
-in procuring more than a drachm or two at once,
-owing to the constant over-action of the chlorine and
-the production of other chlorurretted products. In 1851,
-however, these products which result from the decomposition
-of muriatic ether by chlorine gas were recommended in
-Paris as local applications in rheumatism and other painful
-affections, and Mr. Mason was kind enough to obtain for me
-from that capital a pint bottle of a liquid consisting chiefly
-of the monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle. It was mixed
-with a certain portion of the bichlorurretted and terchlorurretted
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_421'>421</span>products, but I was able to separate by distillation
-as much of the monochlorurretted product as enabled me to
-administer it to twenty-two patients. Mr. Mason was,
-however, not able to obtain any more liquid containing any
-of the monochlorurretted chloride. What he afterwards
-was able to obtain had a very high boiling point, and consisted
-chiefly of chloride of carbon; carbon four atoms,
-chlorine five atoms.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle resembles chloroform
-very much in taste and smell, and in its physiological
-properties. Its boiling point is 149°, whilst that of
-chloroform is 140°; the specific gravity of its vapour is
-also lower; for these reasons, it is considerably less volatile
-than chloroform, and it is therefore pretty certain that it
-would not be liable to cause the sudden deaths which have
-occasionally been produced by the administration of chloroform,
-even if it were given freely and with no great care.
-The difficulty of procuring it in a state of purity is, however,
-a barrier to its introduction into practice.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I first administered this preparation in King’s College
-Hospital, on June 20th, 1851, to a young woman, whilst
-Mr. Wm. Hewett, the house surgeon, repeated the operation
-of paring off venereal warts and applying nitric acid. The
-patient breathed it very readily without appearing to suffer
-from the pungency. She was a little longer in becoming
-unconscious than on former occasions from the chloroform,
-but soon after becoming unconscious, the sensibility of the
-conjunctiva diminished, and the operation was commenced.
-There was some flinching, so that she required to be held,
-but there were no cries or other signs of sensation. Consciousness
-returned almost immediately, and she seemed
-more exhilarated than after chloroform. She had had her
-dinner just before the operation, and at one time, soon after
-recovering her consciousness, she said that she felt rather
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_422'>422</span>sick, but this feeling passed off without vomiting, and she
-did not remember it afterwards. She did not begin to cry
-out from the smarting till twenty minutes after the operation,
-when she had been quite conscious, collected, and
-rational for a quarter of an hour, although on the two former
-occasions, after chloroform had been inhaled, she began
-to cry immediately after the operation, and almost before
-consciousness had returned. Next day she was very well.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On the following day I administered the same preparation
-to three patients on whom Mr. Fergusson operated in King’s
-College Hospital. The first was a boy seven years old, who
-had the forefinger removed, together with part of the metacarpal
-bone, on account of a large enchondroma. The second
-was an infant three months old, which was operated on for
-hare-lip; and the third was a woman about thirty-five, who
-had some venereal warts removed from the pudenda. There
-was no sickness in either of the cases, although the little
-boy and the woman had taken their dinners just before the
-operation.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>On June 25th, I administered the preparation with the
-chloroform inhaler, as in all the other cases, to a muscular
-young man, about 25, whilst Mr. Henry Lee removed some
-piles, and applied nitric acid to the raw surface. The patient
-was six feet three inches in height, and weighed fourteen
-stone. He became insensible rather slowly, with low muttering
-and a good deal of rigidity. The operation lasted
-about ten minutes, during which the inhalation was repeated
-two or three times. There was no pain. He recovered
-his consciousness in two or three minutes after the
-conclusion of the operation; he said that he felt drunk, and
-he appeared so for a few minutes. He was very cheerful,
-and had no sickness, although he had had his dinner just
-before coming to the hospital to have the operation performed.
-Half a fluid ounce of the monochlorurretted compound
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_423'>423</span>was inhaled, being about the same quantity as would
-have been consumed of chloroform.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The other operations in which I administered this preparation,
-consisted of the removal of a tumour situated below
-the angle of the jaw in a young woman, by Mr. Fergusson;
-an operation on the tibia and fibula of a little boy, for ununited
-fracture, by Mr. Bowman; trephining the tibia of a
-young man, and giving exit to a collection of pus, by Mr.
-Henry Lee; an operation for necrosis of the tibia, by the
-late Mr. Avery; two operations for hare-lip; two operations
-for fistula <em>in ano</em>; one for nævus on the forehead; one for
-tenotomy; and one for removal of a fatty tumour, by Mr.
-Fergusson.<a id='r181'></a><a href='#f181' class='c012'><sup>[181]</sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='c005'>THE END.</p>
-
-<div class='chapter'>
- <span class='pageno' id='Page_425'>425</span>
- <h2 class='c004'>INDEX.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<ul class='index c002'>
- <li class='center'>A.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Absorption of vapours by fluids, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— —— by the lungs, formula of, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Academy of Medicine of Paris, reports by, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>Accidents from chloroform, treatment and prevention of, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>–62</li>
- <li class='c024'>Age, influence of, on effects of chloroform, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Age in fatal cases from chloroform, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>–1;
- <ul>
- <li>from amylene, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>–2</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Air, saturation of, with chloroform vapour, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>with amylene, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of, in lungs, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— respired during chloroform, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Allen, Mr., on a fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>Alleged fatal cases from chloroform, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–12</li>
- <li class='c024'>Ammonia, use of, after chloroform, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of, during accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Amputations under chloroform of thigh, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>–7;
- <ul>
- <li>of leg, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>;</li>
- <li>of arm, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>–8;</li>
- <li>of the ankle, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>;</li>
- <li>of other parts, <em>ib.</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Amylene, first application of, by author, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— applications of, in Paris, Strasbourg, and Lyons, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— discovery of, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>preparation of, <em>ib.</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chemical and physical characters of, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— volatility of different specimens of, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— experiments with, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>–86</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— administration of, for operations, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— administration of, in parturition, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of administration of, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>–7, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>–6, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— symptoms produced by, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— spasms and rigidity from, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— does not produce vomiting, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on different persons, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on author, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of, required to produce insensibility, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on the heart, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— time of inhalation of, to produce insensibility, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on consciousness, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>–403</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— promptitude of action of, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on respiration and circulation, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— —— on the salivary glands, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chloroform, and sulphuric ether, effects of, compared, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— after-effects of, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— fatal cases from inhalation of, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>–16</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of vapour of, inhaled in fatal cases, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_426'>426</span>Amylene, author’s prediction regarding safety of, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of administration of, by M. Rigaud, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>–18</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— Mr. Clarke’s remarks on, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>;</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— Dr. Debout’s remarks on, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— Professor Tourdes’ remarks on, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— author’s computation of safety of, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— M. Giraldis on use of, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— M. Jobert de Lamballe on use of, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>Anæsthesia, modes of production of, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>Anæsthetics, definition of, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Ancients, views of the, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Animals, various, experiments on, with narcotic vapours, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a> to 73</li>
- <li class='c024'>Anus, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>Animation suspended by chloroform, treatment of, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>–62</li>
- <li class='c024'>Apuleius on effects of mandragora, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Apoplexy, administration of chloroform after, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Aretæus’ description of mandragora, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Arnott, Dr. James, statistics of operations before and after introduction of etherisation, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on pyæmia following chloroform, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Arteries, coronary, circulation of the, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Artificial respiration, value of, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>–7, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— applied in cases of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>–8, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>–8, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>–1, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>–7, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Artificial respiration applied in case of death from amylene, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>–413</li>
- <li class='c024'>Arteries, ligature of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>–291</li>
- <li class='c024'>Aschendorf, Dr., on alleged fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Asphyxia idiopathica, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Asphyxia, death from, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Asthma, treatment of, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Athletics least susceptible of chloroform, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Augustus of Poland, operation on, without pain, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Aurelianus Cælius on mandragora, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></li>
- <li class='center'>B.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Balard, Professor, discovery of amylene, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Balloon for inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Barlow, Mr. W. F., report on case of alleged death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Barrière, M., case of alleged death from ether, <a href='#Page_364'>364</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Bath warm, use of, in fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Beddoes, Dr., administration of gases in disease, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— his pneumatic institution at Bristol, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>Bell, Mr. Jacob, on chloric ether, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Belladonna, effects of, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Berthé, M., discovery of amylene, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Bickersteth, Mr., on supposed effect of surgeon’s knife on pulse, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— on the pulse during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>–50</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— cases of resuscitation from over effects of chloroform, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>Bigelow, Dr., use of sulphuric ether as an anæsthetic, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— administration of chloric ether by, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Birds quickly affected by chloroform, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Black, Dr. Patrick, on asphyxia and syncope, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— on closure of the glottis by chloroform, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— on modes of inhaling chloroform, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_427'>427</span>Blood, serum of, absorption of chloroform by, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— absorption of amylene by, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— quantity of, in body, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>amount of serum, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chemical examination of, in alleged case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— condition of, after death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— saturation of, with ether, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Blood-letting in accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— from external jugular, tried in case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Body, temperature of, falls under chloroform, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Bolton, Mr. Andrew, case of puerperal convulsions treated with chloroform, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Bone, removal of tumours of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Boot, Dr., first operation in England without pain, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Bouisson, M., on a case of supposed death from ether, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Bowman, Professor, removal of pus from frontal sinus after inhalation by chloroform, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Breathing modified by chloroform vapour, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— conditions of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Breast, tumours of, removal under chloroform, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>Breton, supposed death of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>–200</li>
- <li class='c024'>Brodie, Sir Benjamin, on use of chloroform in lithotrity, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Buck, Mr. Gurdon, report of death from chloroform by, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Bullock, Mr. Lloyd, manufacture of amylene by, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Bursa, the, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li>
- <li class='center'>C.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Cahours, M. Auguste, invention of name of amylene, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Cancer of the lip, operation for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Cases dangerous from chloroform, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>–60</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of death from chloroform during labour, from neglect, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Cases, fatal, from inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>–200</li>
- <li class='c024'>Case 1, of Hannah Greener, Winlaton, Newcastle, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>–7;
- <ul>
- <li>2, of Martha G. Simmons, Cincinnati, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>–30;</li>
- <li>3, of Patrick Coyle, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>–1;</li>
- <li>4, of Mdlle. Stock, Boulogne, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>–5;</li>
- <li>5, of a woman at Hyderabad, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>;</li>
- <li>6, of Charles Desnoyers, Hôtel-Dieu, Lyons, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>–6;</li>
- <li>7, of a young gentleman at Govan, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>;</li>
- <li>8, of John Griffith, New York, Hospital, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>–8;</li>
- <li>9, of J. Verrier, Hôtel-Dieu, Lyons, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>–141;</li>
- <li>10, of Samuel Bennett, Westminster, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>–2;</li>
- <li>11, of Mdlle. Labrune, at Langres, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>–3;</li>
- <li>12, of John Shorter, St. Thomas’s Hospital, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>–5;</li>
- <li>13, of Mrs. Jones, at Shrewsbury, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>–6;</li>
- <li>14, at Berlin, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>;</li>
- <li>15, of William Bryan, Kingston, Jamaica, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>;</li>
- <li>16, of an artilleryman, Mauritius, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>–8;</li>
- <li>17, at Seraphim Hospital, Stockholm, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>–50;</li>
- <li>18, of a boy of seven, Glasgow Infirmary, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>–1;</li>
- <li>19, of Alexander Scott, Guy’s Hospital, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>–2;</li>
- <li>20, of James Jones, Cavan Infirmary, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>–3;</li>
- <li>21, of John Holden, Stepney Workhouse, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>–5;</li>
- <li>22, of Mdme. Simon, Strasbourg, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>–5;</li>
- <li>23, at Seaman’s Hospital, Greenwich, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>–7;</li>
- <li>24, of Elizabeth Hollis, Chipping Norton, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>–8;</li>
- <li>25, of Thomas Hayward, of Bartholomew’s Hospital, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>–61;</li>
- <li>26, of Mdme. W., at Ulm, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>;</li>
- <li>27, of Mr. John Atkinson, Melbourne, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</li>
- <li>28, of Mr. Martin, at Melrose, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>–3;</li>
- <li>29, of Henry Hollingsworth, Manchester Royal Infirmary, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>–4;</li>
- <li>30, of Caroline Baker, of University College Hospital, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>;</li>
- <li>31, of a French soldier, Hôtel</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_428'>428</span>Dieu., d’Orléans, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>–6;
- <ul>
- <li>32, of John Mitchell, at Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>–70;</li>
- <li>33, of E. R., at University College Hospital, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>–2;</li>
- <li>34, of Ann Smith, at St. Bartholomew’s, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>–4;</li>
- <li>35, of a young man in Vienna, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>;</li>
- <li>36, of a young girl at Neustedt, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>–5;</li>
- <li>37, of Jane Morgan, Bristol Infirmary, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>–6;</li>
- <li>38, of a woman, Hôpital St. Antoine, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>–7;</li>
- <li>39, of Mrs. Harrup, Sheffield, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>–8;</li>
- <li>40, of Walter Hollis, Lock Hospital, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>–80;</li>
- <li>41, of a man, at Middlesex Hospital, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>–2;</li>
- <li>42, of George Sands, University College Hospital, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>–4;</li>
- <li>43, of a woman, in Guy’s Hospital, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>–7;</li>
- <li>44, of John Cannon, Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>–8;</li>
- <li>45, of a lady, London, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>–9;</li>
- <li>46, of Mrs. H., Edinburgh, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>–90;</li>
- <li>47, of a sailor, St. Thomas’s Hospital, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>–2;</li>
- <li>48, of a boy, recorded by Mr. Paget, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>–4;</li>
- <li>49, of a man, Liverpool Infirmary, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>–6;</li>
- <li>50, of Ann Stoner, King’s College Hospital, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>–9;</li>
- <li>cases, supposed, of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>;</li>
- <li>case, fatal, during labour from neglect, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Cases, alleged fatal, from inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–12;
- <ul>
- <li>of Mr. Walter Badger, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>;</li>
- <li>case reported by M. Malgaigne, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>;</li>
- <li>of a woman, in Paris, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>of a child, in the hospital, Madrid, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>of a child, by Dr. Aschendorf, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>–5;</li>
- <li>case by the author, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>–9;</li>
- <li>case at St. George’s Hospital, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>–12</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Cases, alleged fatal, from ether, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— medical, inhalation of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–44.
- <ul>
- <li><em>See Medical Cases</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— surgical, use of chloroform in different kinds of, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–318.
- <ul>
- <li><em>See Operations</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— fatal, from inhalation of amylene, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>–16</li>
- <li class='c024'>Cats, experiments on, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Cat, experiment on, with amylene, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>Cataract, operations for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Cause and prevention of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>–120</li>
- <li class='c024'>Causes, supposed, of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>–45.
- <ul>
- <li><em>See Death</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Cerebral diseases and chloroform, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— treated by chloroform, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>Chaffinch, experiments on, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Charrière, M., inhaler for chloroform by, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Chassaignac, M., on tolerance of chloroform, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Chevalier, M., on asphyxia idiopathica, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Chinese, use of Indian hemp by, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Chloroform, first experiments with, by Glover, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>first experiments with, by Flourens, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— recommended by Dr. Simpson, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— rapid introduction of, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— first death from, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— disused in Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Naples, and Lyons, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— history and composition of, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— analysed by M. Soubeiran, and named bichloric ether, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— examined by Liebig, and named liquid chloride of carbon, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— examined by Dumas, and named chloroform, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— called chloroformyl in London Pharmacopœia, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of preparation of, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chemical and physical properties of, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>–30</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— adulterations of, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, mixed with alcohol, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_429'>429</span>Chloroform, how to be preserved, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— properties of vapour of, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— quantity of vapour of, taken up by air at various temperatures, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of inhalation of vapour of, at different temperatures, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— physiological effects of, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— a narcotico-irritant, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— degrees of narcotism from, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>–43</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— symptoms during first degree, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>–37;
- <ul>
- <li>second degree, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>–38;</li>
- <li>third degree, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>–42;</li>
- <li>fourth and fifth degrees, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>–43</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects on the heart of a sudden overdose of, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— produces post-mortem rigidity, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on pulse, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— action of, on the nervous system, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>–45</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, during an operation, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— varying effects of, on patients, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— circumstances which influence or modify its effects, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— influence of age in modifying effects of, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>–50</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, as regards strength or debility, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects when given slowly, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, in hysteria, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, in epilepsy, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, during menstrual period, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, during pregnancy, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, in cases of disease of the lungs, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, in case of phthisis described, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>–54</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, in cases of heart disease, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>–56</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, in cerebral disease, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>–57</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on the insane, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, on hard drinkers, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>–58</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of vapour of, absorbed to cause the various degrees of narcotism, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>–74</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— is absorbed into the circulation during inhalation, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— is exhaled in the secretions, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— experiments on inhalation of, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>–74.
- <ul>
- <li><em>See Experiments</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— absorption of, by blood serum, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— proportion of, required to arrest respiration, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— action of, on frogs, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>–73</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— action of, on chaffinch, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— action of, on animals of warm and cold blood, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>–73</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— preparations for administering the, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— should not be administered after a meal, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— vomiting in relation to administration of, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>–75</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— position of patient during inhalation of, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— fears regarding the, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>–77</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— and fear, relative effects of, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— removes fear as it destroys consciousness, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— prevents syncope from fear, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>–78</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of administering the, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of, required to produce insensibility, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— Dr. Simpson’s administration of the, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— objections to administration of, on handkerchief, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>–79</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— may cause death without producing insensibility, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_430'>430</span>Chloroform, effects of, not modified by idiosyncracies, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— inhaled from a balloon, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— inhaler for, the author’s, described, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>–84</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— diagram of, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of, used for inhalation, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— how to be administered with inhaler, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of, in obstetric cases, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of, in surgical operations, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— signs of insensibility from, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, eyelid test, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effect of, on breathing, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>–93</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effect of, on pupil, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>–94, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on position of the eyes, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— accumulation of, in lungs, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— rigidity and struggling under, to be subdued by continued inhalation, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on tolerance of, M. Chassaignac, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— how long to be inhaled by patients of different ages, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— always takes effect, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>–96</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— repetition of, during operations, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— recovery from, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>–100</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— sequelæ of inhalation of, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>–107</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— cause and prevention of death from, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>–120</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effect of prolonged inhalation of, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— experiments illustrating mode of dying from, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>–120</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— paralyzing effects on the heart from large doses of, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— fatal cases of inhalation from, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>–200</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— alleged cases of death from inhalation of, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–212</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— danger of rapid inhalation of, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— the mode of administration of, in fatal cases from, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>–5, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>–9, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>–6, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>–4, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>–1, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of inhalation of, in alleged cases of death from, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>–10</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— symptoms in the fatal cases of inhalation of, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>–17</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of death in accidents from, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— table of fatal cases of inhalation of, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>–22</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— supposed causes of death from, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>–45,
- <ul>
- <li><em>see Death</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— state of the chief organs after death from, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— further remarks on the prevention of accidents from, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>–51</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— rules in administration of, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— treatment of suspended animation from, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>–62</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— the effect of, on the results of operations, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>–70</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— benefits conferred by, in operations, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— administration of, in the different kinds of operations, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–318,
- <ul>
- <li><em>see Operations</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— in parturition, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>–29</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— introduced by Dr. Simpson into obstetric practice, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— need not produce unconsciousness during labour, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— cases of labour in which it may be employed, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>–20</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— period for its administration in labour, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of administration in labour, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>–21</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— does not influence the duration of labour, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_431'>431</span>Chloroform, its use in operations during labour, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— its use in peculiar cases of labour, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— death from, by neglect during labour, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— in relation to puerperal convulsions, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— inhalation of, in medical cases, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–44</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— frequent and long continued use of, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— and ether, analogous action of, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— and ether, combination of, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>–79</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— sulphuric ether, and amylene, effects of, compared, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Chowne, Dr., cases of hysteria treated with chloroform, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>–41</li>
- <li class='c024'>Circumstances which influence or modify the effects of chloroform, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Clarke, Mr., on amylene, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Clement, Mr., on case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>Clover, Mr., his mode of administering chloroform, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Cockle, Dr., on the circulation in the coronary arteries, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Cocks, Mr. W. G. H., on treatment of laryngismus stridulus with chloroform, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Colston, Mr. G. Q., administration of nitrous oxyde by, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>–15</li>
- <li class='c024'>Combination of chloroform and ether, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>–71</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— case of supposed death from inhalation of, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Consciousness, recovery of, after chloroform, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Consumption, treatment of, by ether, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Convulsions, epileptiform, in fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— infantile, use of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— puerperal, use of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— treatment of, with ether, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Corfe, Dr., report of a post-mortem after death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Countenance, expression of, under amylene, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Crockett, Dr., on a case of supposed death from combination of chloroform and ether, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Croup, spasmodic, use of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>–2</li>
- <li class='center'>D.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Davy, Sir Humphrey, experiments of, with nitrous oxyde, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— suggested use of nitrous oxyde by, to remove pain of operations, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Death from chloroform without insensibility, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>–133</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— cause and prevention of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>–20</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— under chloroform from paralysis of heart, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>–9, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— two modes of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— from chloroform, cases of, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>–200,
- <ul>
- <li><em>see Operations, fatal</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— symptoms of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>–28, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>–41, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>–6, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>–8, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>–4, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>–8, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>–1, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>–3, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>–5, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>–6, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>–7, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>–8, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>–9, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>–1, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>–3, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>–6, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>–8, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>–4, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>–6, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— from chloroform, cases of alleged, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of, in accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— supposed causes of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>–45;
- <ul>
- <li>age, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>–31;</li>
- <li>idiosyncracy, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>–2;</li>
- <li>impurity of chloroform, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li>
- <li>apparatus employed, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li>
- <li>exclusion of air, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>–4;</li>
- <li>closure of the glottis, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>–8;</li>
- <li>exhaustion from struggling, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>–9;</li>
- <li>sitting posture, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>–40;</li>
- <li>effect of surgeon’s knife, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>–3;</li>
- <li>sudden death from other causes, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>–5;</li>
- <li>falling back of the tongue, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_432'>432</span>Death, sudden, from other causes during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— during operations without anæsthetics, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Debout, Dr., on amylene, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Delarue, M., on titillation of the uvula during accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Delirium cum tremore, treatment of, by chloroform, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— in fever, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Delphos, Priestess of, intoxicated by narcotic fumes, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Demarquay, M., on closure of the glottis by chloroform, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Diagram of chloroform inhaler, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of ether inhaler, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Dinners, late, a cause of hæmorrhoids, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Dioscorides, on decoction of mandragora, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on symptoms from mandragora, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Discovery of anæsthetics, importance of, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Dislocations, reduction of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>Devergie, M., on closure of the glottis by chloroform, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on death from amylene, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Dominus Hugo, his recipe for a narcotic, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— his prescription for a local application, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Dumas, M., on analysis of chloroform and name, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Duroy, M., anæthesimeter of, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on amylene, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>Dutch liquid, nature of, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='center'>E.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Ear, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Eastment, Mr., case by, of alleged death from ether, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>Effect of chloroform on the results of operations, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>–70</li>
- <li class='c024'>Elbow, excision of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>–80</li>
- <li class='c024'>Electricity, use of, in a fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— value of, during accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of, in case of death of from amylene, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Emphysema, in a fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Epilepsy, influence of chloroform on, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>Esdaile, Dr., on hypnotism in the Hindoos, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Ether, <em>sulphuric</em>, or ether, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a> to 27, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a> to 371</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects of, vapour, described by Faraday, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— effects experimentally shewn by Professor Turner, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— vapour as an anæsthetic, discovery of, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— application of, summary, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— treatment of diseases by, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— supposed death from, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of, in Massachusetts Hospital, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Naples, and Lyons, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— action of, on nervous centres, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— administered for operation for removal of pus from frontal sinus, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— history and composition of, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chemical and physical properties, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— physiological effects of, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>–55</li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_433'>433</span>Ether, <em>sulphuric</em>, administration of, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— in medical cases, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>–61</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— great safety of, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>–3, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— alleged deaths from, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chloroform and amylene, effects of, compared, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— saturation of the blood with, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>flavour of, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>;</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— quantity of, inhaled to produce insensibility, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— operations under, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— and chloroform, combination of, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>–71</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— —— analogous action of, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>–50</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— <em>chloric</em>, composition of, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chloric, introduction of, as an anæsthetic, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— its relation to chloroform, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— author’s experiments with, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>named by Dr. Thompson, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— alcoholic solution of, made by Guthrie, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— known as a diffusible stimulant, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Eupion, properties of, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Excitement, muscular, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Exhaustion from struggling, a supposed cause of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>Experiments with chloroform, mode of conducting the, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on animals with chloroform, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>–74</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— illustrating modes of dying from chloroform, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— with ether, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>–5;
- <ul>
- <li>with amylene, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>–386</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Eye, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Eyelids, sensibility of, under chloroform, a test, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></li>
- <li class='center'>F.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Face, division of nerves of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Faintness from chloroform, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>Faraday, Professor, description of effects of ether vapour, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Farr, Dr. Arthur, on hysteria treated with chloroform, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Fatal cases from inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>–200</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— alleged, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–12</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— alleged, from inhalation of ether, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Fear, effects of, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>subsides with unconsciousness, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— possible cause of death, cases of, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>–12</li>
- <li class='c024'>Femur, excision of head of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Fenwick, Dr., statistics of operations since the introduction of anæsthetics, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>–70, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Fergusson, Mr., on utility of chloroform in lithotrity, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— improvement of operation by, for removal of jaw, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— operation by, for hare-lip, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— observations of, in case of death from amylene, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>–11</li>
- <li class='c024'>Fibrine separated after application of galvanism, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Fife, Sir John, on the <em>post-mortem</em> appearances in a case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Flourens, M., experiments by chloroform, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on the action of sulphuric ether, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Frogs, experiments on, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of action of chloroform upon, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— modified by different temperatures, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Further remarks on the prevention of accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>–51</li>
- <li class='c002'><span class='pageno' id='Page_434'>434</span>%center%G.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Galvanism applied in cases of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>–8, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Garner, Mr., on treatment of neuralgia with chloroform, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Garrod, Dr., report of <em>post-mortem</em> after a death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Giraldis, M., on use of amylene, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><cite>Glasgow Herald</cite>, report by, of case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Glottis, closure of, during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>–38</li>
- <li class='c024'>Glover, Dr., first experiments with chloroform, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— report of <em>post-mortem</em>, appearances after death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Gorré, M., on death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Guineapigs, experiments on, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>–67</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— experiments on, with amylene, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>–385</li>
- <li class='c024'>Guthrie, Mr., method of obtaining chloric ether, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='center'>H.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Hall, Dr. Marshall, reference to the author, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— description of his “ready method”, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— his “ready method” of artificial respiration tried in fatal cases from chloroform, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— “ready method” applied in cases of death from amylene, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>–13</li>
- <li class='c024'>Haller on influence of the blood in the heart, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hæmorrhage, a cause of death during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>–4, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— death from, during removal of tumour from jaw, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— secondary, after operations, prevented by chloroform, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hæmorrhoids, operations for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— why prevalent in the upper classes, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hard drinkers, effects of chloroform on, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Hare-lip, operations for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>Harlequin, a, note concerning, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Harrison, Mr., observations by, in fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>Hawkesley, Dr., invention of mouth-piece for an inhaler by, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hawkesworth, Mr. C. A., on tetanus treated with ether, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>Hayward, Dr., operation by, on a patient narcotized by ether, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Head symptoms supposed as result of chloroform, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— condition of, after death by chloroform, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Heart, diseases of, in relation to chloroform, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— symptoms during recovery from chloroform, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— fatal cases from chloroform inhalation during diseases of, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Heart, special influence of chloroform on, in different animals, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>–13, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— human, special influence of chloroform upon, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— sudden death from paralysis of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>–9, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— condition of, during syncope, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>–5, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— condition of, after death, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— circulation in coronary vessels of, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— paralysis of, in case of death from amylene, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hernia, strangulated, operations for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Herodotus on inhalation of narcotic vapours, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hewitt, Mr. Prescott, report of fatal operation for removal of tumour from jaw, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_435'>435</span>Hillier, Dr., report of a fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>History of anæsthetics, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hoa-tho, his use of Indian hemp for deadening pain, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hoffberg, use of mandrake as a narcotic, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Holmes, Mr. Thomas, on pyæmia and chloroform, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hooping-cough, treatment of, by chloroform, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>by ether, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Housz, Dr., oxygen inhaler of, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hunter, Mr. John, death of, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hydrocephalus, treatment of, by chloroform, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Hysteria, influence of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— cases of, in which chloroform was administered, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— after chloroform, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>–7;
- <ul>
- <li>after amylene, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Hysterical paralysis and contractions treated by chloroform, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>–40</li>
- <li class='center'>I.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Idiosyncrasy, supposed case of, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— supposed cause of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Indian hemp as a narcotic, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— fumes of, inhaled by Hindoos, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Inhalation, definition of, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>reasons for, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— agents administered by, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>how to be performed, <em>ib.</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Inhalers for chloroform, description of, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>–86;
- <ul>
- <li>diagram of, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of M. Charrière and Duroy, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of the author, use of, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for ether, diagram of, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Insanity, use of chloroform during, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Insensibility by chloroform, a <em>process</em>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— signs of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— eyelid test of, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></li>
- <li class='center'>J.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Jackson, Dr. Charles J., assertion of priority of application of ether as an anæsthetic, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Jaw, upper, removal of tumours of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— lower, removal of tumours of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Jeffreys, Mr. Julius, inhaler of, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Joints, stiff, forcible movement of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Jones, Mr., of Jersey, report of operation by, under amylene, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>Jorden, Mr., operation by, in fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Jugular, external, opened in deaths from chloroform, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— value of opening the, during accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Julien Stanislaus on Chinese medicine, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li>
- <li class='center'>K.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Kittens, experiments on, with amylene, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>Knee, excision of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Kobelt, M., prosecution of, for fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></li>
- <li class='center'>L.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Labour, cases of, in which chloroform may be used, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>–20</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— consciousness need not be destroyed during, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— period of, for exhibition of chloroform, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— mode of administering chloroform during, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of chloroform during operations in, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_436'>436</span>Labour, use of amylene during, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>–7;
- <ul>
- <li>use of ether during, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Lamballe, M. Jobert de, on use of amylene, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Lansdown, Mr. W., on ether in midwifery, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Laryngismus stridulus, treatment of, by chloroform, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Laryngotomy, operation of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Lawrence, Mr., on chloric ether, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Lefevre, Sir George, case of syncope, related by, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Leg, amputation of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Letheon, Morton’s term for ether, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Liebig, Dr. Justus, on analysis of chloroform or liquid chloride of carbon, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— proposed name of perchloride of formyle, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Liégard, on deadening pain by compression, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Ligature of arteries under chloroform, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>–91</li>
- <li class='c024'>Limbs, state of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Linnets, experiments on, with ether, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>–3;
- <ul>
- <li>with amylene, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>–2</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Lip, cancer of, operation for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Liston, Mr., first operations on patients etherized, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— case of fatal operation from hæmorrhage, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Lithotomy, administration of chloroform for, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>Lithotrity, administration of chloroform for, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Lonsdale, Miss, first patient who inhaled ether in England, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Lopez, Dolorès, supposed death of, from ether, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Lungs, diseases of, administration of chloroform during, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— condition of, after death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>–6</li>
- <li class='center'>M.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Mackenzie, Dr., of Kelso, on a case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Majer, Dr., on a fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Malgaigne, M., opinion of, on the case of Mdlle. Stock, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— case by, of death from chloroform with exhaustion, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Mandragora, narcotic effects of, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>antidote for, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Mandrake, once used as a narcotic, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Mania, treatment of, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Marshall, Mr. Peter, the author’s experiments with, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>–20</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on case of death from fright, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Masson and Triquet, action brought against, for causing death by imprudent use of chloroform, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Maygarth, Mr., on a case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Meals, rules regarding the, before inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Medical cases, inhalation of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–44;
- <ul>
- <li>in neuralgia, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–31;</li>
- <li>in spasmodic asthma, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>;</li>
- <li>in spasmodic croup, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>–2;</li>
- <li>in laryngismus stridulus, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>;</li>
- <li>in hooping-cough, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>in infantile convulsions, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>–3;</li>
- <li>in delirium cum tremore, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>–4;</li>
- <li>in delirium in fever, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>–5;</li>
- <li>hydrocephalus, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>;</li>
- <li>in tetanus, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>–6;</li>
- <li>in epilepsy, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>–7;</li>
- <li>in puerperal convulsions, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>–8;</li>
- <li>in hysterical paralysis and contractions, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>–41;</li>
- <li>in mania, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>;</li>
- <li>in spasmodic pain, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>–3;</li>
- <li>in frequent and long continued use of chloroform, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>–4</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Medical cases, inhalation of ether in, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>–61;
- <ul>
- <li>in convulsions, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>–60;</li>
- <li>in asthma, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>;</li>
- <li>in hooping-cough, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>;</li>
- <li>in consumption, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>;</li>
- <li>in tetanus, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>–1;</li>
- <li>in neuralgia, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Meggison, Dr., on a case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Meissner, A. G., sketches by, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Menstruation, use of chloroform during, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_437'>437</span>Mesmerism, presumed effects of, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Mice, white, experiments on, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— quickly affected by chloroform, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— experiments on, with ether, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>–1;
- <ul>
- <li>with amylene, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>–7</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Miller, Prof., on modes of administering chloroform in Edinburgh, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Modes of death in accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— discovery and preparation of, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— chemical and physical characters of, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— supplied to author by Mr. Mason, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— administration of, by author, as an anæsthetic, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>–2;
- <ul>
- <li>effects of, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>–3</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— quantity inhaled to produce insensibility, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>Moore, Mr. James, on compression of nerves to deaden pain, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Morbid appearances in cases of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>–30</li>
- <li class='c024'>Morton, Dr., first application of sulphuric ether by, for removal of pain; his dispute with Dr. Jackson; his claims for priority, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>–18, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Morion, a kind of mandragora used before operations, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Mouth, operations in, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>–300</li>
- <li class='center'>N.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Nævi, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Nails, evulsion of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Narcotics, nature of, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Narcotism, degrees of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>–43</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of vapour of chloroform absorbed to cause the various degrees of, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>–74</li>
- <li class='c024'>Necrosis, operations for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>Nerves of sensation, division of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Nervous system, action of chloroform upon, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Neuralgia, inhalation of chloroform for relief of, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–30</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— treatment of, by ether, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Nose, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>Nunn, Mr. Roger, on case of alleged death from ether, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a></li>
- <li class='center'>O.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Operations, surgical, author’s experience of chloroform during, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–318;
- <ul>
- <li>lithotomy 271–4;</li>
- <li>lithotrity, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>–5;</li>
- <li>stricture, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>–6;</li>
- <li>amputation of thigh, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>–7;</li>
- <li>amputation of leg, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>;</li>
- <li>amputation of arm, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>–8;</li>
- <li>amputation of ankle, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>;</li>
- <li>amputations, other, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>for necrosis, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>–9;</li>
- <li>excision of head of femur, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>;</li>
- <li>excision of elbow, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>–30;</li>
- <li>excision of knee, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>;</li>
- <li>excision of wrist, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>for tumours of jaw, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>–7;</li>
- <li>for other tumours, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>–9;</li>
- <li>for nævi, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>;</li>
- <li>ligature of arteries, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>–91;</li>
- <li>tumour of bone, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>;</li>
- <li>hare-lip, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>–3;</li>
- <li>cancer of lip, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>;</li>
- <li>division of nerves, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>–5;</li>
- <li>on the eye, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>–8;</li>
- <li>on the ear, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>;</li>
- <li>on the nose, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>–9;</li>
- <li>in the mouth, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>;</li>
- <li>plastic operations, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>–1;</li>
- <li>raising depressed skull, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>–2;</li>
- <li>for ununited fracture, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>;</li>
- <li>for dislocations, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>;</li>
- <li>extension of stiff joints, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>tenotomy, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>strangulated hernia, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>–5;</li>
- <li>hæmorrhoids and prolapsus, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>–7;</li>
- <li>fissure of anus, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>–8;</li>
- <li>fistula <em>in ano</em>, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>;</li>
- <li>ovarian tumours, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>–9;</li>
- <li>cancer of vagina, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>;</li>
- <li>rupture of perineum, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>removal of testicle, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>–1;</li>
- <li>phymosis, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>;</li>
- <li>enlarged bursa, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>evulsion of nails, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>laryngotomy, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>;</li>
- <li>extraction of teeth, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>–18</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Operations, surgical, repetition of chloroform during, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_438'>438</span><em>Operations fatal</em> under chloroform, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>–200</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of removing toe-nail, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of tooth extraction, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>–30</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for fistula, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of opening a sinus, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>–35</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of removing middle finger, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of transcurrent cauterization of wrist, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended, on great toe, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on rectum, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amputation of middle finger, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>–41</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amputation of a toe, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for tooth extraction, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for onychia of great toe, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— excision of eyeball, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of extraction of tooth, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>–147</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended, case not described, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of portion of middle finger, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended for hydrocele, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>–50</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— detection of vesical calculus, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of portion of right hand, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amputation below the knee, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended, on penis, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of testicle, <em>ib.</em></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of tooth extraction, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of fæces from rectum, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on an aneurism, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>–60</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended extraction of tooth, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended, for fistula <em>in ano</em>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— application of caustic to an ulcer, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— removal of a tumour, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— application of nitric acid to an ulcer, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— removal of a tumour, <em>ib.</em>;
- <ul>
- <li>of perineal section, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>–70</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended, for hernia, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>–72</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— application of actual cautery, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for extension of an anchylosed joint, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— to remove a lipoma, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for reduction of a dislocation, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— removal of uterine polypus, ditto, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— removal of tumour, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for phymosis, ditto, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>–80</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amputation of the thigh, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended catheterization, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended amputation of leg, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— intended excision of eyeball, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for facial neuralgia, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— dental, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>–90</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— removal of necrosed bone, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— removal of tumour, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amputation of the thigh, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— application of nitric acid, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— various, details imperfect, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>–200</li>
- <li class='c024'>Operations alleged fatal from chloroform, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–212</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of intended tooth extraction, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–3;
- <ul>
- <li>on shoulder joint, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>;</li>
- <li>for removal of breast, <em>ib.</em>;</li>
- <li>amputation of leg, <em>ib.</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of tumour, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_439'>439</span>Operation of lithotrity, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of tumour, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>–12</li>
- <li class='c024'>Operations, the effect of chloroform on results of, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>–70</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— statistics regarding, before and after chloroform, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— administration of chloroform in the different kinds of, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–318</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— performed under ether, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— in which ether is preferable to chloroform, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— attended with alleged death from ether, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— <em>under the influence of amylene</em>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>–400</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of extraction of teeth, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>–9, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of tumours, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>–393</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for tenotomy, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for lithotomy, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for resection of knee, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>–90</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for resection of head of femur, <a href='#Page_390'>390</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for amputation, <a href='#Page_390'>390</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on the eye, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for lithotrity, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for forcible extension of joints, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for reduction of dislocation, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for fistula, death from amylene during, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>–11</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— for removal of tumour, death from amylene during, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>–15</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— under the monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>Oxygen gas, artificial respiration of, in case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></li>
- <li class='center'>P.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Paget, Professor, on a fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Pain, effects of, on operations, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Parkinson, Ann, death of, alleged from inhalation of ether, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Partridge, Professor, performance of laryngotomy by, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Parturition, use of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>–29</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— use of amylene in, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>Patients, varying sensations of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— susceptible to chloroform, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— fears of, regarding chloroform, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Patients, treatment of, during recovery from chloroform, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>–100</li>
- <li class='c024'>Pearson, Dr. Richard, use of ether by, in consumption, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Pearson, Mrs., description of a case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Perinæum, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Persian Pharmacopœia, recipe for a remedium odorativum somniferum, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Phthisis pulmonalis, inhalation of chloroform during existence of, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Phymosis, operation for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Pliny on use of mandragora in operations, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Porta, John Baptista, on effects of the somniferous menstrua, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Post-mortem rigidity produced by chloroform, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— appearances after death by chloroform, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>–9, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>–41, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>–50, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>–5, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>–7, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>–60, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>–9, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>–2, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>–90, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>–2, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— in cases of alleged death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>–9, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>–12</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— appearances after alleged death from ether, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_440'>440</span>Post-mortem appearances after death from amylene, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>–11, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Posture, sitting, supposed cause of death during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>–40</li>
- <li class='c024'>Pregnancy, administration of chloroform during time of, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Preparations for inhaling chloroform, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Prevention of accidents from chloroform, further remarks on, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>–51</li>
- <li class='c024'>Prolapsus ani, operations for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>Propert, Mr., case of, where lithotrity was performed under chloroform after apoplexy, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>Pupils, state of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>–4, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Pulse, effect of chloroform on, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>–4, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— before and after inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>–8</li>
- <li class='center'>R.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Rabbits, experiments on, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Recovery from effects of chloroform, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Regnault, M. M. G., discovery of the monochlorurretted chloride of ethyle, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Reichenbach, discovery of eupion, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Respiration modified by chloroform vapour, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>–70</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— quantity of chloroform sufficient to arrest the, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— artificial, its use, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— artificial, applied in cases of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>–8, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>–8, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— artificial, value of, in accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— artificial, applied in case of death from amylene, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Richardson, Dr. B. W., on syncope, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on the cause of the fluidity of the blood, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Ricord, M., on artificial respiration in accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Ridge, Dr. Joseph, on the death of John Hunter, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Rigaud, M., mode of administration of amylene, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>–18</li>
- <li class='c024'>Riggs, Dr., extraction of tooth for Horace Wells without pain, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Robert, M., on a case of death from syncope, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Roberts, Dr., reference to a death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Robinson, Mr., first administered ether in England, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— case narrated by, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on case of alleged death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Robbs, Dr. William, on a case of alleged death from ether, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Rudge, Mr. Henry, on treatment of puerperal convulsions with chloroform, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>–8</li>
- <li class='center'>S.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Saliva, increased flow of, from chloroform, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Sassard, Ambroise Tranquille, on narcotics before operations, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Scythians inhaled narcotic vapours, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Sequelæ of the inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>–7;
- <ul>
- <li>sickness, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>–3;</li>
- <li>faintness and depression, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>–4;</li>
- <li>hysteria, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>–6;</li>
- <li>head symptoms, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>–7</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>Serum of blood, absorption of chloroform by, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— amount of, in blood, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Sibson, Dr., experiments with, on dividing pneumogastric nerves, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— his mouth-piece for inhaler, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— treatment of neuralgia by inhalation of ether, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— experiments with chloroform, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li>
- <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_441'>441</span>Sibson, Dr., on cause of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on blood in the heart after death, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Sideration, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Signs of insensibility under chloroform, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Silliman on chloric ether as a stimulant, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Simpson, Dr., on history of anæsthesia, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— his introduction of chloroform, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on use of ether during parturition, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— first administers and recommends chloroform, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on the death of Hannah Greener, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on a supposed death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— on sudden death during an operation without an anæsthetic, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— statistics of operations after chloroform, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Sitting posture supposed cause of death during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>–40</li>
- <li class='c024'>Skull, raising depressed, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Society of Emulation of Paris, on death by chloroform, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Solly, Mr., on a case of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>Soubeiran, M., on analysis of chloroform, or chloric ether, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Spasm as preceding death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Spasmodic pain, treatment of, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Squire, Mr., invention of an ether inhaler by, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Stafford, Mr. Augustus, treatment of case of, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>Stertor under chloroform how to be met, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>St. Louis Hospital, surgeon of, on number of deaths from chloroform, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Strabismus, operation for, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Strength and debility in relation to effects of chloroform, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Stricture, operations for, with chloroform, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Struggling and rigidity under chloroform how to be met, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— and rigidity under amylene, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— exhaustion from, a supposed cause of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>Supposed causes of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>–45</li>
- <li class='c024'>Surgeon’s knife, supposed effects of, during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>Sylvester, Dr., on anæsthetics, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Symptoms in cases of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>–8, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>–6, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>–8, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>–4, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>–8, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>–1, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>–3, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>–5, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>–6, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>–7, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>–8, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>–9, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>–1, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>–3, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>–6, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>–8, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>–4, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>–6, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— in alleged cases of death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>–205, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>–7, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>–10</li>
- <li class='c024'>Symptoms in fatal cases of inhalation, summary of, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>–17</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— to be attended to during administration of chloroform, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>–50</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— in cases of death from amylene, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>–10, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>–13</li>
- <li class='c024'>Syncope sometimes prevented by chloroform, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— after chloroform, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— possible deaths from, independently of chloroform, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>–9, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>–12</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— anæmic, distinguished from cardiac, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>description of, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>–4</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— the two kinds of, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— condition of heart during, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— does not commence at the brain, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— during disease of the heart, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— from mental emotion, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>–5;
- <ul>
- <li>from anger, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c024'>—— from muscular exertion, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;
- <ul>
- <li>from pain, <em>ib.</em></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li class='c002'><span class='pageno' id='Page_442'>442</span>%center%T.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Table of fatal cases of inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>–22</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— shewing ages of fatal cases from chloroform, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— Dr. Fenwick’s, on result of operations after chloroform, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— shewing quantity of chloroform vapour in air at various temperatures, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— relating to ether, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— shewing evaporation of amylene, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Teeth, extraction of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>–18</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— number of, extracted under, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— extraction, mode of administering chloroform for, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Tenotomy, performance of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>–4</li>
- <li class='c024'>Tetanus, use of chloroform in, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>–6</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— treatment of, by inhalation of ether, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>–1</li>
- <li class='c024'>Testicle, removal of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>–11</li>
- <li class='c024'>The administration of chloroform in the different kinds of operations, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>–318</li>
- <li class='c024'>The inhalation of chloroform in medical cases, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>–44</li>
- <li class='c024'>Theodoric on prevention of pain in operations, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— his directions for securing patients during operation, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Thigh, amputation of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>Thompson, Dr. Thomas, chloric ether, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Tobacco smoke inhaled in Asia and Eastern parts of Europe, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Tongue, falling back of, supposed cause of death during inhalation of chloroform, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Tourdes, Professor, on amylene, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Treatment of suspended animation from chloroform, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>–62</li>
- <li class='c024'>Triquet and Masson, action brought against, for causing death by chloroform, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Trismus, occurrence of, in fatal case from chloroform, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Tumours, ovarian operations of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>–10</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of upper jaw, removal of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>–5</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of lower jaw under chloroform, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of the female breast, removal of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— other, removal of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>–9</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— of bone, removal of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Turner, Professor, experiments on inhalation of ether vapour, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li>
- <li class='center'>U.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Uvula, titillation of, practised in an accident from chloroform, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a></li>
- <li class='center'>V.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Vagina, cancer of, operations on, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Valentin, M., on amount of blood in the body, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Vapour of chloroform, amount of, absorbed to cause the various degrees of narcotism, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>–74</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— absorption of, by fluids, laws which govern the, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— absorption of, in the lungs, formula for expressing quantity of, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Venesection tried in fatal cases from chloroform, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— value of, in accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Vomiting caused by chloroform, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>–3</li>
- <li class='c024'>—— prevention of a treatment, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— after inhalation of ether, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— rarity of, from amylene, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>–7</li>
- <li class='c002'><span class='pageno' id='Page_443'>443</span>%center%W.</li>
- <li class='c024'>Wakley, Mr. Thomas, experiments by, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Waldie, Mr., on chloroform, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>–2</li>
- <li class='c024'>Warren, Dr. J. C., operation by, on a patient narcotized by ether, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— report of death of Patrick Coyle from chloroform, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— report of death of John Griffith from chloroform, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>–8</li>
- <li class='c024'>Water, application of, during accidents from chloroform, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>—— bath of chloroform inhaler, uses of, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Watson, Dr., on dentistry and longevity, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Waugh, Mr., on a mouth-piece inhaler, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Wells, Mr. Horace, on effects of nitrous oxyde, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Wilks, Dr., report of post-mortem after death from chloroform, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Willis, Dr. Robert, on treatment of hooping-cough by inhalation of ether, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Wilson, Dr., Lumleian lectures of, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Wine of mandragora given before operations, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Woodville, Dr., on use of mandragora, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></li>
- <li class='c024'>Wrist, excision of, under chloroform, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a></li>
-</ul>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='small'><span class='fss'>T. RICHARDS, 37, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN’S INN.</span></span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='c025' />
-<div class='footnote' id='f1'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Messrs. Maule and Polyblank have an excellent photographic
-portrait of Dr. Snow in their “Scientific Portrait Gallery” series.
-Mr. Empson has also a bust, which has been greatly admired for its
-correctness and for its superiority as an artistic work.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f2'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. Dr. Murchison, who with Dr. Budd rendered Dr. Snow all that
-able assistance which the best of medicine can offer, has kindly given
-me several particulars in regard to the fatal illness, which I embody
-in the text, with many thanks.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f3'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. Dr. Murchison has also given me an outline of the <em>post-mortem</em>
-appearances, which is subjoined. “The <em>post-mortem</em> examination
-revealed slight white softening, only detectable by the microscope, in
-the right corpus striatum and optic thalamus, and fatty degeneration
-of the minute cerebral vessels. The heart was slightly fatty, but there
-was no valvular disease, nor atheromatous disease of aorta. The
-lungs were congested, and showed marked evidence of old disease at
-the apices. Both the kidneys were much contracted and granular,
-with numerous cysts, the right organ being almost entirely converted
-into cysts; with the uriniferous tubes either denuded, or containing
-granular disintegrating epithelium. There was distinct cicatrix of
-an old ulcer in duodenum, and the stomach was much congested, with
-numerous hæmorrhagic spots.”</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f4'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. See Monthly Journal of Med. Sc., vol. viii, p. 452.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f5'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. Liber iv, cap. 76.?</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f6'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. Loc. cit.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f7'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. Natural. Hist., lib. xxv, cap. 13.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f8'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. De Herbarum Virtutibus, cap. 131.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f9'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. Medical Botany, p. 236.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f10'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. De Causis Morb. Diut., lib. i, cap. 6.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f11'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. De Morbis Acutis, lib. i, cap. 4.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f12'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. Vet. Acad. Handl., 1763, vol. xxiv, p. 229.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f13'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. Comptes Rendus de l’Acad. de Sc., t. xxviii, 1849, p. 195.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f14'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. See Herodotus, book iv, 73–5.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f15'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. Lib. iv, cap. 8.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f16'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r16'>16</a>. Med. Gaz., vol. xli, p. 515.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f17'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r17'>17</a>. Observations sur la Physique, tome xvi (1780), p. 256.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f18'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r18'>18</a>. Method of preventing or diminishing Pain in several Operations of
-Surgery. Lond. 1784.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f19'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r19'>19</a>. Gazette des Hôpitaux, 1st April, 1854.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f20'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r20'>20</a>. Hypnotism is the term employed by Mr. Braid of Manchester for the
-peculiar sleep produced by the Mesmerists.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f21'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r21'>21</a>. Record of Cases treated in the Mesmeric Hospital. Calcutta, 1848.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f22'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r22'>22</a>. Cary’s Herodotus, book i, 202.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f23'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r23'>23</a>. Book iv, 73–5.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f24'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r24'>24</a>. Liber viii, cap. 1.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f25'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r25'>25</a>. Translated into Latin by Father Angelus, Paris, 1681, p. 21.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f26'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r26'>26</a>. P. 287.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f27'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r27'>27</a>. P. 88.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f28'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r28'>28</a>. See Medicinal Use of Different Kinds of Airs, by Dr. Pearson. Birmingham,
-1795.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f29'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r29'>29</a>. Researches concerning Nitrous Oxide, p. 556.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f30'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r30'>30</a>. See 32nd Congress, 2nd Session [Senate] Rep. Com. No. 421, p. 17.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f31'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r31'>31</a>. Vol. iv, p. 158.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f32'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r32'>32</a>. A Defence of Dr. Charles T. Jackson’s Claims to the Discovery of
-Etherization. Boston, 1848.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f33'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r33'>33</a>. The Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether in Surgical Operations. By
-John Snow, M.D. 1847.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f34'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r34'>34</a>. Pharmaceutical Journal, Feb. 1847, p. 357; and Med. Gaz., 1847,
-vol. xl, p. 939.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f35'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r35'>35</a>. Quoted in Med. Gaz., 1847, vol. xl, p. 1153.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f36'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r36'>36</a>. Lancet, Nov. 27, 1847, p. 575; and Med. Gaz., 1847, vol. xl, p. 1031.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f37'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r37'>37</a>. Dr. Pereira in Pharmaceutical Journal, March 1846, vol. v, No. 9.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f38'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r38'>38</a>. Silliman’s American Journal of Science and Art, vol. xxi, p. 64,
-Jan. 1832.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f39'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r39'>39</a>. Ann. de Chim. et de Physique, t. xlviii, p. 131.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f40'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r40'>40</a>. Ibid., t. xlix, p. 146.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f41'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r41'>41</a>. Ibid., t. lvi, p. 134.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f42'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r42'>42</a>. Formic acid is so named because it was originally obtained from the
-red ant (<em>Formica rufa</em>). It is now made from starch.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f43'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r43'>43</a>. Turner’s Chemistry, 8th ed., p. 1009.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f44'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r44'>44</a>. Nearly all the chloroform used in Great Britain and her colonies is
-made in Edinburgh, where the spirit duty is lower than in England. The
-London druggists have almost ceased to make it, as they find it cheaper to
-get it from the trade in Edinburgh.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f45'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r45'>45</a>. The Edinburgh druggists suffered a great loss in 1850 from purifying
-their chloroform in this way on the recommendation of Dr. Gregory, who
-was not aware of the consequences, although they had been stated by
-Dumas (<em>Ann. de Chim. et de Physique</em>, t. lvi, p. 117).</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f46'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r46'>46</a>. I have seen some specimens of chloroform that left a white, limy-looking
-stain on the hand, which I believe was a minute quantity of crystalline
-chloride of carbon. These specimens were unobjectionable for all
-practical purposes, and had the merit of keeping remarkably well.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f47'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r47'>47</a>. See Med. Gaz., vol. xl, p. 1092.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f48'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r48'>48</a>. Dr. Letheby in Med. Gaz., vol. xlvi, p. 1037.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f49'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r49'>49</a>. Lancet, Feb. 12, 1848.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f50'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r50'>50</a>. Since the above was written, I have met with an instance in which the
-pulse was only 40 in the minute, as the effects of the chloroform were
-subsiding. There was neither sickness nor loss of blood. The case was
-that of a gentleman in good general health, who inhaled chloroform
-whilst Mr. Brodhurst endeavoured to make forcible flexion of the femur
-on the pelvis. He woke without any unpleasant symptoms, and the pulse
-resumed its natural frequency.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f51'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r51'>51</a>. Gazette des Hôpitaux, 20 Mars, 1847.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f52'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r52'>52</a>. Medical Gazette, vol. xli-ii.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f53'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r53'>53</a>. According to Professor Miller, chloroform was given, at one time, in
-the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, in a somewhat slovenly, and not very
-cleanly manner; he describes the means of applying it as, “anything that
-will admit of chloroform in vapour being brought fully in contact with the
-mouth and nostrils; a handkerchief, a towel, a piece of lint, a <em>worsted
-glove</em>, a <em>nightcap</em>, a sponge.” He says, “In the winter season, the <em>glove</em>
-of a clerk, <em>dresser</em>, or onlooker, has been not unfrequently pressed into the
-service.... The object is to produce insensibility as completely and as
-<em>soon</em> as we can; and there is no saying, <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">à priori</span></i>, whether this is to be
-accomplished by <em>fifty</em> drops or <em>five hundred</em>. We begin with generally two
-or three drachms <em>spilt</em> on the handkerchief or lint; and we refresh that, or
-not, from time to time, as circumstances require.” <em>Surgical Experience
-of Chloroform</em>, Edin., 1848, pp. 16 and 17. The italics are not in the
-original.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f54'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r54'>54</a>. Curious arguments are sometimes used in support of the idea of
-peculiarities and idiosyncrasies. A medical man informed me, one day,
-that he had seen a patient inhale an ounce of chloroform without any
-effect. I expressed my opinion that if she had taken the vapour of one
-drachm into her lungs within four minutes, or the vapour of a little more
-than half a drachm within two minutes, she would have been insensible;
-and that the chloroform had mostly evaporated into the room, without entering
-the patient’s lungs. Then, he said, it would have made all of us
-insensible. Now to charge the air of a moderate sized room of twenty feet
-square and ten feet high, uniformly with only a grain and a half of chloroform
-to each hundred cubic inches, so that, if all the crevices were
-closed, a person inside might, in course of time, absorb about eighteen
-minims of the medicine, and be rendered insensible, would require nearly
-fifteen pounds of chloroform.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f55'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r55'>55</a>. The increase of effects of chloroform after the inhalation is discontinued,
-was pointed out by Prof. Sédillot of Strasbourg and myself almost
-simultaneously. I explained the circumstance in a paper read to the
-Westminster Medical Society, on January 8th, 1848, and M. Sédillot announced
-it to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, on January 10th. My
-remarks were published in the <cite>Medical Gazette</cite> of January 14th, and those
-of M. Sédillot in the <cite><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Gazette Médicale</span></cite> of January 15th.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f56'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r56'>56</a>. I have reason to conclude that the increased secretion of saliva is
-caused, not so much by the action of the chloroform on the mucous membrane
-of the mouth, and the extremities of the gland ducts, as by its
-action on the capillary circulation of the glands themselves; for on inhaling
-the vapour carefully by the nostrils, so that none enters the mouth, I
-still find that there is an increased secretion of saliva.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f57'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r57'>57</a>. London Journal of Medicine, April 1852.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In one of the latest communications of Dr. Marshall Hall to the <em>Lancet</em>,
-he did me the honour to quote the account of the three following experiments,
-together with some accompanying remarks from the <em>London
-Journal of Medicine</em>, and to make the following observation respecting the
-pages from which he quoted.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>“I have no hesitation in affirming that the first three pages of this
-paper are amongst the most able and valuable in physiology, and I beg to
-be allowed to reproduce them in the pages of the <em>Lancet</em>.” (<em>Lancet</em>, April
-18th, 1857, p. 397.)</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f58'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r58'>58</a>. Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. lviii.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f59'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r59'>59</a>. Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xlii, p. 414.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f60'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r60'>60</a>. London Journal of Medicine, April, 1852.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f61'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r61'>61</a>. London Medical Gazette, vol. xlii, 1848, p. 109.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f62'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r62'>62</a>. On the Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether, p. 82.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f63'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r63'>63</a>. Medical Gazette, vol. xlii, p. 415.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f64'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r64'>64</a>. See l’Union Médicale, 1855, No. 13.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f65'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r65'>65</a>. London Medical Gazette, vol. xli, p. 255.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f66'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r66'>66</a>. Opus cit., p. 253.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f67'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r67'>67</a>. Opus cit., p. 341.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f68'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r68'>68</a>. London Medical Gazette, vol. xli, p. 75.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f69'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r69'>69</a>. London Medical Gazette, vol. xlii, p. 80, from Western Lancet, and
-Phil. Med. Exam. April 1848.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f70'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r70'>70</a>. Vol. xliii, p. 682.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f71'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r71'>71</a>. Gazette Médicale, 8 Juillet, 1848; and London Medical Gazette,
-vol. xlii, p. 211.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f72'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r72'>72</a>. Proceedings of Academy on Feb. 6th, 1849. See London Journal of
-Med., 1849, p. 307.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f73'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r73'>73</a>. London Journal of Medicine, 1849, p. 324.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f74'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r74'>74</a>. Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xliii, p. 694.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f75'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r75'>75</a>. London Med. Gaz., vol. xlii, p. 84.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f76'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r76'>76</a>. Bouisson, Traité de la Méthode Anesthésique, p. 398.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f77'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r77'>77</a>. London Med. Gaz., vol. xliii, p. 41.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f78'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r78'>78</a>. Ibid., p. 712.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f79'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r79'>79</a>. Ibid., p. 747, from l’Union Médicale.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f80'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r80'>80</a>. Lancet, 1849, vol. i, p. 205.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f81'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r81'>81</a>. L’Union Médicale, Sept. 8th, 1849; and Med. Gaz., vol. xliv, p. 478.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f82'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r82'>82</a>. Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xliv, p. 757.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f83'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r83'>83</a>. Journal of Prov. Med. and Surg. Assoc., 1849, p. 698.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f84'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r84'>84</a>. Casper’s Wochenschrift, Jan. 12, 1850; and Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xlv,
-p. 483.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f85'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r85'>85</a>. Edin. Monthly Journal, April 1850, p. 377.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f86'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r86'>86</a>. Hygiea, October 1850, p. 602.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f87'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r87'>87</a>. Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xlvi, p. 39.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f88'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r88'>88</a>. Lancet, 1850, vol. ii, p. 21.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f89'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r89'>89</a>. L’Union Médicale, January 29, 1852.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f90'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r90'>90</a>. Medical Times, 1851, vol. ii, p. 98.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f91'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r91'>91</a>. Medical Times, 1851, vol. ii, p. 620.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f92'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r92'>92</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, vol. i, p. 293.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f93'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r93'>93</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, p. 318.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f94'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r94'>94</a>. See a clinical lecture by Mr. Stanley, Med. Times, Nov. 22, 1851.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f95'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r95'>95</a>. Gaz. Médicale, 1852, p. 630, from Medicinisches Correspondenz
-Blatt.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f96'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r96'>96</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, 1852, vol. ii, p. 531.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f97'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r97'>97</a>. Monthly Journal of Med., vol. xv, 1852, p. 377.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f98'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r98'>98</a>. Lancet, 1853, vol. i, p. 21.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f99'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r99'>99</a>. Lancet, 1853, vol. i, p. 307.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f100'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r100'>100</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 47.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f101'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r101'>101</a>. Monthly Journal, Nov. 1853, p. 427.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f102'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r102'>102</a>. Since writing the above, I have noted by the watch the time which a
-surgeon occupied in shaving the perinæum before the operation of lithotomy;
-it was twelve seconds.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f103'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r103'>103</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, 1853, vol. ii, p. 422.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f104'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r104'>104</a>. Medical Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 449.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f105'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r105'>105</a>. Ibid., p. 450.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f106'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r106'>106</a>. Edin. Monthly Jour., vol. xix, 1854, p. 372.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f107'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r107'>107</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1854, vol. i, p. 19, from Med. Zeitung von den
-Vercine für Heilkunde in Preussen, No. 44, Berlin, Nov. 2, 1853.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f108'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r108'>108</a>. Association Med. Jour., 1854, p. 109.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f109'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r109'>109</a>. L’Union Médicale, 1854, p. 171.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f110'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r110'>110</a>. Ibid., p. 187.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f111'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r111'>111</a>. Association Medical Journal, 1854, p. 315.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f112'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r112'>112</a>. Medical Times, 1854, vol. i, p. 572.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f113'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r113'>113</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, 1854, vol. ii, p. 86.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f114'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r114'>114</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1854, vol. ii, p. 390.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f115'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r115'>115</a>. Ibid., p. 442.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f116'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r116'>116</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1854, vol. ii, p. 501.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f117'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r117'>117</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, 1855, vol. i, p. 363.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f118'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r118'>118</a>. Edin. Med. Jour., 1855, p. 524.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f119'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r119'>119</a>. 1855, vol. ii, p. 479.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f120'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r120'>120</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, 1856, vol. ii, p. 442.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f121'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r121'>121</a>. Association Med. Jour., 1856, p. 903.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f122'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r122'>122</a>. Medical Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. i, p. 236.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f123'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r123'>123</a>. Lancet, 1857, vol. i, p. 429.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f124'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r124'>124</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1857, vol. ii, p. 171.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f125'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r125'>125</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1852, vol. i, p. 627.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f126'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r126'>126</a>. Gaz. Médicale, 1853, p. 304.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f127'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r127'>127</a>. Lancet, 1848, vol. ii, p. 47.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f128'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r128'>128</a>. Bouisson, Méthode Anesthésique, p. 398.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f129'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r129'>129</a>. Casper’s Wochenschrift, September 6, 1850; and London Med. Gaz.
-vol. xlvii, p. 261.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f130'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r130'>130</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, 1854, vol. i, p. 516.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f131'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r131'>131</a>. Ibid., p. 517.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f132'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r132'>132</a>. Chloroform: How shall we ensure Safety in its Administration?
-Pamphlet. London: 1855.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f133'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r133'>133</a>. See some interesting papers on the value of recumbent position in
-syncope, by Dr. Richardson, in the <cite>Association Medical Journal</cite> for 1854.
-I entirely agree with Dr. Richardson that no kind of syncope commences
-at the brain, and that, during recovery, the heart always resumes its
-functions before consciousness is restored. The restoration of the heart’s
-action in ordinary syncope by the re-supply of blood to its cavities, without
-any alteration in the condition of the brain, was well proved by
-Dr. Richardson by means of some interesting experiments on animals
-which I had the opportunity of witnessing.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f134'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r134'>134</a>. Oration before the Hunterian Society. Pamphlet, 1855.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f135'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r135'>135</a>. Hydrochloric acid gas and ammonia are no exceptions to this rule,
-for they cease to exist as gases so soon as they come in contact with the
-moist lining membrane of the air-passages. Carbonic acid gas will be
-treated of in another part of this work.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f136'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r136'>136</a>. See Med. Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 562.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f137'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r137'>137</a>. See above, p. 75.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f138'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r138'>138</a>. Edin. Monthly Jour., 1853, vol. xvii, p. 220.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f139'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r139'>139</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1852, vol. i, p. 627.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f140'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r140'>140</a>. L’Union Médicale, 1850, p. 411.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f141'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r141'>141</a>. Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xliii, p. 230.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f142'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r142'>142</a>. Medical Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. ii, p. 413.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f143'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r143'>143</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. ii, p. 478.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f144'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r144'>144</a>. Ib., 1857, vol. i, p. 559.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f145'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r145'>145</a>. Page 648.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f146'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r146'>146</a>. Practical Surgery, 3rd ed., p. 682.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f147'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r147'>147</a>. I never allow of a cork or any such substance being put into a
-patient’s mouth when insensible unless it is well tied to a string, lest it
-should be swallowed.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f148'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r148'>148</a>. Fourth edit., vol. ii, p. 467.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f149'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r149'>149</a>. It was made by Mr. Matthews, Portugal Street. It was not contrived
-by me.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f150'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r150'>150</a>. London Journal of Medicine, vol. i, pp. 54, 976.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f151'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r151'>151</a>. See Medical Times and Gaz., 1855, vol. i, p. 361.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f152'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r152'>152</a>. Dr. Watson defends the original name of this complaint, delirium
-tremens. He says:—“But they who object to <em>delirium tremens</em> appear
-to see no harm in delirium ferox: whereas it is just as incorrect to say
-<em>delirium</em> is fierce, as to say that it trembles: it is the patient who is
-furious, even as it is the patient who trembles.” Now, in speaking of a
-patient, we may speak either of his mind or his body: we may say that a
-person is learned, or that he is fat. A patient may be fierce on account
-of the kind of delirium with which his mind is affected, and the term
-ferox applies both to him and the complaint; but the act of trembling
-affects only his body.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f153'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r153'>153</a>. Med. Gaz., vol. xli, 1848, p. 102.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f154'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r154'>154</a>. Association Med. Jour., 1853, p. 706.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f155'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r155'>155</a>. See Med. Times and Gaz., 1853, vol. ii, p. 412.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f156'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r156'>156</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1857, vol. ii, p. 553, and 600.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f157'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r157'>157</a>. Med. Times and Gaz., 1856, vol. ii, p. 528.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f158'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r158'>158</a>. Brande’s Chemistry, 5th ed., p. 1274.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f159'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r159'>159</a>. Lond. Med. Gaz., Feb. 1842.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f160'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r160'>160</a>. On the Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether in Surgical Operations.
-London, 1847.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f161'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r161'>161</a>. Papers on Narcotism by Inhalation. Lond. Med. Gaz., vol. xli-ii.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f162'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r162'>162</a>. Lancet, Jan. 1, 1848.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f163'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r163'>163</a>. Vol. xxxix, p. 271.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f164'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r164'>164</a>. Medical Gazette, vol. xxxix, p. 358.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f165'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r165'>165</a>. Gaz. Médicale, Mars 4, 1848, p. 170.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f166'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r166'>166</a>. Gaz. des Hôpitaux, Juin 18, 1853.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f167'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r167'>167</a>. Medical Gazette, vol. xxxix, p. 414.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f168'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r168'>168</a>. Ibid., vol. xxxix, p. 585.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f169'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r169'>169</a>. Medical Gazette, vol. xxxix, p. 631.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f170'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r170'>170</a>. Méthode Anesthésique, p. 394.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f171'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r171'>171</a>. American Journal of Med. Science, July 1857, p. 284.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f172'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r172'>172</a>. Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 3ème série, tom. xii, p. 320.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f173'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r173'>173</a>. 15, Hanover Street, Hanover Square.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f174'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r174'>174</a>. <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique</span>, t. lii, p. 312.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f175'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r175'>175</a>. L’Union Médicale, p. 175.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f176'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r176'>176</a>. Less than an ounce of amylene was poured out, and it was not all used.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f177'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r177'>177</a>. Medical Times and Gazette, 1857, vol. i, p. 84.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f178'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r178'>178</a>. British Medical Journal, March 28th, 1857.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f179'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r179'>179</a>. <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bulletin Général de Thérapeutique</span>, t. lii, p. 223.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f180'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r180'>180</a>. Gazette Hebdomadaire, 1857, p. 164.</p>
-</div>
-<div class='footnote' id='f181'>
-<p class='c006'><a href='#r181'>181</a>. In the act of writing this last sentence, Dr. Snow was seized with his
-fatal illness. The sentence required, however, but the addition of a word
-or two, to render it complete.—[<span class='sc'>Editor.</span>]</p>
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-<table class='table0'>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>ANATOMY.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <th class='c007'></th>
- <th class='c022'>PAGE</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Anatomical Remembrancer</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Beale on Liver</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
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- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
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- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
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- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
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- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
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- <td class='c007'>Wilson’s Anatomy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
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- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
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- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
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- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
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- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Medical do.</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Chalmers’ Electro-Chemistry</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Fownes’ Manual of Chemistry</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Actonian Prize</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Qualitative Analysis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Chemical Tables</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Fresenius’ Chemical Analysis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Galloway’s First Step</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Analysis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Diagrams</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Griffiths’ Four Seasons</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Horsley’s Chem. Philosophy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Jones.—Mulder on Wine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Odling’s Practical Chemistry</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1021'>1021</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Plattner on Blowpipe</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Speer’s Pathol. Chemistry</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHOLERA.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Acland on Cholera at Oxford</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Baly and Gull—Reports</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Snow on Cholera</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CLIMATE.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Francis on Change of Climate</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hall on Torquay</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Haviland on Climate</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lee on Climate</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Martin on the Undercliff</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Martin (J. R.) on Tropical</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>DEFORMITIES, &amp;c.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bigg on Deformities</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bishop on Deformities</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Articulate Sounds</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Brodhurst on Spine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Clubfoot</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hare on Spine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hugman on Hip-Joint</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Inman on Spine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Tamplin on Spine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>DENTISTRY.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Blundell’s Painless Extraction</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Clark’s Odontalgist</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Gray on the Teeth</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Odontological Soc. Transactions</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1021'>1021</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>DISEASES of the URINARY and GENERATIVE ORGANS, and SYPHILIS.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Acton on Reproductive Organs</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Coote on Syphilis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Coulson on Bladder</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Lithotomy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Egan on Syphilis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Judd on Syphilis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Milton on Gonorrhœa</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Parker on Syphilis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Todd on Urinary Organs</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wilson on Syphilis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>DISEASES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bennet on Uterus</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Uterine Pathology</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bird on Children</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Brown on Women</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Scarlatina</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Eyre’s Practical Remarks</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hood on Crowing</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lee’s Ovarian &amp; Uterine Diseases</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lee on Diseases of Uterus</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Do. on Speculum</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Roberton on Women</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Rowe on Females</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Smith on Leucorrhœa</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Tilt on Diseases of Women</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Do. on Change of Life</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Underwood on Children</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>West on Women</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Whitehead on Abortion</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>HYGIENE.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Armstrong on Naval Hygiene</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Beale’s Laws of Health</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Health and Diseases</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Blundell’s Medicina Mechanica</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Carter on Training</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Cornaro on Long Life</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hartwig on Sea Bathing</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Physical Education</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hufeland’s Art</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lee’s Watering Places of England</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; do. Germany, France, and Switzerland</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lee’s Rhenish Watering Places</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pickford on Hygiene</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Robertson on Diet</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Roth on Movements</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Rumsey’s State Medicine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Van Oven’s Decline of Life</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wilson on Healthy Skin</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Mineral Waters</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>MATERIA MEDICA and PHARMACY.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bateman’s Magnacopia</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Beasley’s Formulary</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Receipt-Book</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Book of Prescriptions</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lane’s Materia Medica</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pereira’s Selecta e Præscriptis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pharmacopœia Londinensis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Prescriber’s Pharmacopœia</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Royle’s Materia-Medica</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Spurgin’s Materia Medica</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Squire’s Pharmacopœia</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Steggall’s Materia Medica</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; First Lines for Chemists</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Stowe’s Toxicological Chart</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Taylor on Poisons</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wittstein’s Pharmacy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>MEDICINE.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Adams on Rheumatic Gout</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Addison on Supra-Renal Capsules</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Addison on Cells</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Alexander on Rheumatism</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Arnott on a Local Anæsthenic</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Barclay on Diagnosis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Barlow’s Practice of Medicine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Beale on Urine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Billing’s First Principles</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bird’s Urinary Deposits</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bird on Charcoal</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Brinton on Ulcer</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Budd on the Liver</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Stomach</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Camplin on Diabetes</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Chambers on Digestion</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Davey’s Ganglionic</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Eyre on Stomach</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Fuller on Rheumatism</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Gairdner on Gout</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Garrett on E. and N. E. Winds</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1012'>1012</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Granville on Sudden Death</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Gully’s Simple Treatment</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Habershon on Stomach</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hall on Apnœa</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hall’s Observations</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Harrison on Lead in Water</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Headland on Medicines</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hooper’s Medical Dictionary</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hooper’s Physician’s Vademecum</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Jones’ Animal Chemistry</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lugol on Scrofula</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Peacock on Influenza</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Heart</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pym on Yellow Fever</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Roberts on Palsy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Robertson on Gout</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Savory’s Compendium</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Semple on Cough</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Shaw’s Remembrancer</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Steggall’s Medical Manual</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Gregory’s Conspectus</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Celsus</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Thomas’ Practice of Physic</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1002'>1002</span>Wegg’s Observations</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wells on Gout</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>What to Observe</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Whitehead on Transmission</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Williams’ Principles</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wright on Headaches</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>MICROSCOPE.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Beale on Microscope in Medicine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; How to Work</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Carpenter on Microscope</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Schacht on do.</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>MISCELLANEOUS.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Acton on Prostitution</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Atkinson’s Bibliography</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bascome on Epidemics</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bryce on Sebastopol</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Cooley’s Cyclopædia</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Forbes’ Nature and Art in Disease</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Gully on Water Cure</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Guy’s Hospital Reports</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Haycock’s Veterinary</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lane’s Hydropathy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Marcet on Food</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Massy on Recruits</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Oxford Editions</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1021'>1021</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Part’s Case Book</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pettigrew on Superstitions</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>NERVOUS DISEASES AND INDIGESTION.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Anderson on Nervous Affections</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Arnott on Indigestion</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Carter on Hysteria</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Child on Indigestion</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Downing on Neuralgia</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hunt on Heartburn</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lobb on Nervous Affections</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Radcliffe on Epilepsy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Reynolds on the Brain</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Rowe on Nervous Diseases</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1024'>1024</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Sieveking on Epilepsy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Todd on Nervous System</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Turnbull on Stomach</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>OBSTETRICS.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Barnes on Placenta Prævia</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lee’s Clinical Midwifery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pretty’s Aids during Labour</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Ramsbotham’s Obstetrics</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Midwifery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Smellie’s Obstetric Plates</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Smith’s Manual of Obstetrics</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Periodoscope</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Swayne’s Aphorisms</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Waller’s Midwifery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>OPHTHALMOLOGY.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Cooper on Near Sight</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Dalrymple on Eye</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Dixon on the Eye</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hogg on Ophthalmoscope</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Holthouse on Strabismus</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Impaired Vision</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Jacob on Eye-ball</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Jones’ Ophthalmic Medicine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Defects of Sight</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Eye and Ear</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Walton on Ophthalmic</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>PHYSIOLOGY.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Carpenter’s Human</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Comparative</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Manual</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Cottle’s Human</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hilton on the Cranium</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Richardson on Coagulation</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>PSYCHOLOGY.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bucknill and Tuke’s Psychological Medicine</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Burgess on Madness</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Burnett on Insanity</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Conolly on Asylums</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Davey on Nature of Insanity</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Dunn’s Physiological Psychology</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hood on Criminal Lunatics</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Jacobi on Hospitals, by Tuke</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Knaggs on Criminal Lunatics</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Millingen on Treatment of Insane</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Monro on Insanity</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Private Asylums</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Noble on Psychology</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Mind</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Williams (J.) on Insanity</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Williams (J. H.) Unsoundness of Mind</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1030'>1030</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Winslow’s Lettsomian</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Law of Lunacy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>PULMONARY and CHEST DISEASES, &amp;c.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Addison on Healthy and Diseased Structure</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Billing on Lungs and Heart</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1005'>1005</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Blakiston on the Chest</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bright on the Chest</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1007'>1007</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Cotton on Consumption</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Stethoscope</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Davies on Lungs and Heart</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Fenwick on Consumption</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Laennec on Auscultation</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Madden on Consumption</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Markham on Heart</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Richardson on Consumption</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Skoda on Auscultation</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Thompson on Consumption</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wardrop on the Heart</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Weber on Auscultation</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>SCIENCE.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bird’s Natural Philosophy</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Burnett’s Philosophy of Spirits</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1008'>1008</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Garner’s Eutherapeia</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hardwich’s Photography</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hinds’ Harmonies</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Holland on Appendages</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Jago on Ocular Spectres</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Jones on Vision</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Body, Sense, and Mind</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1017'>1017</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Mayne’s Lexicon</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Price’s Photographic Manipulation</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Nourse’s Students’ Tables</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1021'>1021</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Reymond’s Animal Electricity</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1023'>1023</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Taylor’s Medical Jurisprudence</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Vestiges of Creation</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Sequel to ditto</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Unger’s Botanical Letters</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1028'>1028</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>SURGERY.</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#160;</td>
- <td class='c022'>&#160;</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Arnott on Urethra</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1003'>1003</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Ashton on Rectum</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1004'>1004</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bellingham on Aneurism</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bigg on Artificial Limbs</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Bishop on Bones</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1006'>1006</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Chapman on Ulcers</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Varicose Veins</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Cooper (Sir A.) on Testis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Cooper’s (B.) Surgery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; (S.) Surg. Dictionary</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1009'>1009</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Curling on Rectum</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Testis</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1010'>1010</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Druitt’s Surgery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Fergusson’s Surgery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1011'>1011</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Gay on Femoral Rupture</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Do. on Ulcers</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1013'>1013</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Harrison on Stricture</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1014'>1014</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Higginbottom on Nitrate of Silver</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hodgson on Prostate</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1015'>1015</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Hunt on Skin</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1016'>1016</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Laurence on Cancer</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lawrence on Ruptures</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Lee on Hæmorrhoids</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Liston’s Surgery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1018'>1018</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Macleod’s Surgery of the Crimea</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Maclise on Fractures</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1019'>1019</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Nottingham on the Ear</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1020'>1020</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Nunneley on Erysipelas</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1021'>1021</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Pirrie on Surgery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1022'>1022</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Skey’s Operative Surgery</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Smith on Stricture</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1025'>1025</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Steggall’s Surgical Manual</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1026'>1026</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Thompson on Stricture</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1027'>1027</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wade on Stricture</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Watson on the Larynx</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1029'>1029</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Wilson on the Skin</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; Portraits of Skin Diseases</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>Yearsley on Deafness</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class='c007'>&#8196; Do.&#8196; on Throat</td>
- <td class='c022'><a href='#Page_1031'>1031</a></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1003'>1003</span>DR. ACLAND.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>MEMOIR ON THE CHOLERA AT OXFORD IN THE YEAR
-1854; with Considerations suggested by the Epidemic. 4to. cloth, with Maps, 12<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. ACTON, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE FUNCTIONS AND DISORDERS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE
-ORGANS IN YOUTH, IN ADULT AGE, AND IN ADVANCED
-LIFE. Considered in their Physiological, Social, and Psychological Relations. Second
-Edition. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PROSTITUTION: Considered in its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Bearings,
-with a View to its Amelioration and Regulation. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WILLIAM ADDISON, F.R.S.</div>
- <div class='c003'>I.</div>
- <div class='c003'>CELL THERAPEUTICS. 8vo. doth, 4<em>s.</em></div>
- <div class='c003'>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON HEALTHY AND DISEASED STRUCTURE, <span class='sc'>and the True
-Principles of Treatment for the Cure of Disease, especially Consumption
-and Scrofula</span>, founded on <span class='sc'>Microscopical Analysis</span>. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div><span class='sc'>DR. ALEXANDER, F.R.C.S. by exam.</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>RHEUMATISM: its Nature, Causes, and Cure.</p>
-
-<p class='c027'>GOUT: its Nature, Causes, Cure, and Prevention.</p>
-
-<p class='c027'>Post 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE ANATOMICAL REMEMBRANCER; OR, COMPLETE
-POCKET ANATOMIST. Fifth Edition, carefully Revised. 32mo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG, R.N.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OBSERVATIONS ON NAVAL HYGIENE AND SCURVY.
-More particularly as the latter appeared during a Polar Voyage. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. JAMES ARNOTT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE REMEDIAL AGENCY OF A LOCAL ANÆSTHETIC
-OR BENUMBING TEMPERATURE, in various painful and inflammatory Diseases.
-8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON INDIGESTION; its Pathology and its Treatment, by the Local
-Application of Uniform and Continuous Heat and Moisture. With an Account of an
-improved Mode of applying Heat and Moisture in Irritative and Inflammatory Diseases.
-With a Plate. 8vo. 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TREATMENT OF
-OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE URETHRA, AND OTHER CANALS, BY THE
-DILATATION OF FLUID PRESSURE. 8vo. boards, 3<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1004'>1004</span>MR. F. A. ABEL, F.C.S., &amp; MR. C. L. BLOXAM.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HANDBOOK OF CHEMISTRY: THEORETICAL, PRACTICAL,
-AND TECHNICAL. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 15<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. ADAMS, A.M.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A TREATISE ON RHEUMATIC GOUT; OR, CHRONIC
-RHEUMATIC ARTHRITIS. 8vo. cloth, with a Quarto Atlas of Plates, 21<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. ADDISON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LOCAL EFFECTS OF
-DISEASE OF THE SUPRA-RENAL CAPSULES. 4to. cloth. Coloured Plates, 21<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. ANDERSON, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, &amp; TREATMENT OF ECCENTRIC
-NERVOUS AFFECTIONS. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. T. J. ASHTON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE DISEASES, INJURIES, AND MALFORMATIONS
-OF THE RECTUM AND ANUS. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>MR. ATKINSON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. Vol. I. Royal 8vo. 16<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. WILLIAM BALY, F.R.S., &amp; DR. WILLIAM W. GULL.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>REPORTS ON EPIDEMIC CHOLERA; its Cause and Mode of
-Diffusion, Morbid Anatomy, Pathology and Treatment. Drawn up at the desire of the
-Cholera Committee of the Royal College of Physicians. With Maps, 8vo. cloth, 16<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BARLOW.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. Fcap. 8vo.
-cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BARNES.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PHYSIOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF PLACENTA
-PRÆVIA; being the Lettsomian Lectures on Midwifery for 1857. Post 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. BATEMAN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>MAGNACOPIA: A Practical Library of Profitable Knowledge, communicating
-the general Minutiæ of Chemical and Pharmaceutic Routine, together with the
-generality of Secret Forms of Preparations; including Concentrated Solutions of Camphor
-and Copaiba in Water, Mineral Succedaneum, Marmoratum, Silicia, Terro-Metallicum,
-Pharmaceutic Condensions, Prismatic Crystallization, Crystallized Aromatic Salt of Vinegar,
-Spa Waters; newly-invented Writing Fluids; Etching on Steel or Iron; with an
-extensive Variety of <em>et cætera</em>. Third Edition. 18mo. 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. LIONEL J. BEALE, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE LAWS OF HEALTH IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MIND
-AND BODY. A Series of Letters from an Old Practitioner to a Patient. Post 8vo.
-cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HEALTH AND DISEASE, IN CONNECTION WITH THE
-GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF HYGIENE. Fcap. 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1005'>1005</span>DR. BEALE, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HOW TO WORK WITH THE MICROSCOPE. Crown 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MICROSCOPE, IN ITS APPLICATION TO PRACTICAL
-MEDICINE. With 2 Plates, and upwards of 200 Engravings on Wood. Second
-Edition. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE ANATOMY OF THE LIVER. Illustrated with 66 Photographs
-of the Author’s Drawings. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SALTS OF URINE, URINARY
-DEPOSITS, and CALCULI. 37 Plates, containing upwards of 170 Figures copied
-from Nature, with descriptive Letterpress. 8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BARCLAY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BASCOME.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A HISTORY OF EPIDEMIC PESTILENCES, FROM THE
-EARLIEST AGES. 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. BEASLEY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE BOOK OF PRESCRIPTIONS; containing 2900 Prescriptions.
-Collected from the Practice of the most eminent Physicians and Surgeons, English
-and Foreign. 24mo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE DRUGGIST’S GENERAL RECEIPT-BOOK: comprising a
-copious Veterinary Formulary and Table of Veterinary Materia Medica; Patent and
-Proprietary Medicines, Druggists’ Nostrums, &amp;c.; Perfumery, Skin Cosmetics, Hair
-Cosmetics, and Teeth Cosmetics; Beverages, Dietetic Articles, and Condiments; Trade
-Chemicals, Miscellaneous Preparations and Compounds used in the Arts, &amp;c.; with
-useful Memoranda and Tables. Fourth Edition. 24mo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. HENRY BENNET.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON INFLAMMATION AND
-OTHER DISEASES OF THE UTERUS. Third Edition, revised, with Additions.
-8vo, cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A REVIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF UTERINE
-PATHOLOGY. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BILLING, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>FIRST PRINCIPLES OF MEDICINE, Fifth Edition, Revised and
-Improved. 8vo. 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1006'>1006</span>DR. O’B. BELLINGHAM.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON ANEURISM, AND ITS TREATMENT BY COMPRESSION.
-12mo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HENRY HEATHER BIGG.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MECHANICAL APPLIANCES NECESSARY FOR THE
-TREATMENT OF DEFORMITIES. Post 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ARTIFICIAL LIMBS; THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION.
-With Engravings on Wood. 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. P. HINCKES BIRD, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE DISEASES OF CHILDREN
-AND INFANTS AT THE BREAST. Translated from the French of M. Bouchut,
-with Notes and Additions. 8vo. cloth. 20<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. GOLDING BIRD, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>URINARY DEPOSITS; THEIR DIAGNOSIS, PATHOLOGY,
-AND THERAPEUTICAL INDICATIONS. With Engravings on Wood. Fifth
-Edition. Post 8vo, cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY; being an Experimental
-Introduction to the Study of the Physical Sciences. Illustrated with numerous Engravings
-on Wood. Fourth Edition. By <span class='sc'>Golding Bird</span>, M.D., F.R.S., and <span class='sc'>Charles
-Brooke</span>, M.B. Cantab., F.R.S. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JAMES BIRD.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>VEGETABLE CHARCOAL: its MEDICINAL and ECONOMIC PROPERTIES;
-with Practical Remarks on its Use in Chronic Affections of the Stomach
-and Bowels. Second Edition, 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. BISHOP, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DEFORMITIES OF THE HUMAN BODY, their Pathology
-and Treatment. With Engravings on Wood. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON ARTICULATE SOUNDS, AND ON THE CAUSES AND
-CURE OF IMPEDIMENTS OF SPEECH. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LETTSOMIAN LECTURES ON THE PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION,
-DISEASES AND FRACTURES OF BONES. Post 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BLAKISTON, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON CERTAIN DISEASES OF
-THE CHEST; and on the Principles of Auscultation. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. JOHN W. F. BLUNDELL.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>MEDICINA MECHANICA; or, the Theory and Practice of Active and
-Passive Exercises and Manipulations in the Cure of Chronic Disease. Post 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1007'>1007</span>MR. WALTER BLUNDELL.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PAINLESS TOOTH-EXTRACTION WITHOUT CHLOROFORM;
-with Observations on Local Anæsthesia by Congelation in General Surgery. Second
-Edition, 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> cloth. Illustrated on Wood and Stone.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JOHN E. BOWMAN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY, including Analysis. With numerous Illustrations
-on Wood. Third Edition. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>MEDICAL CHEMISTRY; with illustrations on Wood. Third Edition.
-Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BRINTON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE SYMPTOMS, PATHOLOGY, AND TREATMENT OF
-ULCER OF THE STOMACH. Post 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. JAMES BRIGHT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND AIR PASSAGES;
-with a Review of the several Climates recommended in these Affections. Second Edition.
-Post 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. ISAAC BAKER BROWN, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SOME DISEASES OF WOMEN ADMITTING OF SURGICAL
-TREATMENT. With Plates, 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SCARLATINA: its Nature and Treatment. Second Edition. Fcap.
-8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. BERNARD E. BRODHURST.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON LATERAL CURVATURE OF THE SPINE: its Pathology and
-Treatment. Post 8vo. cloth, with Plates, 3<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF CLUBFOOT AND
-ANALOGOUS DISTORTIONS involving the TIBIO-TARSAL ARTICULATION.
-With Engravings on Wood. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. JOHN CHARLES BUCKNILL, &amp; DR. DANIEL H. TUKE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE: containing
-the History, Nosology, Description, Statistics, Diagnosis, Pathology, and Treatment of
-Insanity. 8vo. cloth, 15<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. BUDD, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c029'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISEASES OF THE LIVER.</p>
-
-<p class='c027'>Illustrated with Coloured Plates and Engravings on Wood. Third Edition. 8vo. cloth, 16<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c029'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE ORGANIC DISEASES AND FUNCTIONAL DISORDERS
-OF THE STOMACH. 8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1008'>1008</span>DR. BURGESS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MEDICAL AND LEGAL RELATIONS OF MADNESS;
-showing a Cellular Theory of Mind, and of Nerve Force, and also of Vegetative Vital
-Force. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BURNETT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS IN RELATION TO MATTER.
-8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c029'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>INSANITY TESTED BY SCIENCE. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. BRYCE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ENGLAND AND FRANCE BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, looked at
-from a Medical Point of View. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. JOHN M. CAMPLIN, F.L.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DIABETES, AND ITS SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT. Fcap.
-8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. ROBERT B. CARTER, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
-IN PREVENTING DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. Fcap. 8vo., 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PATHOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF HYSTERIA. Post
-8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. CARPENTER, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY. With numerous Illustrations
-on Steel and Wood. Fifth Edition. 8vo. cloth, 26<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRINCIPLES OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY. Illustrated
-with 300 Engravings on Wood. Fourth Edition. 8vo. cloth, 24<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF PHYSIOLOGY. With numerous Illustrations on
-Steel and Wood. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS REVELATIONS. With numerous
-Engravings on Wood. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. CHARLES CHALMERS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY, with Positive Results; and Notes for Inquiry on
-the Sciences of Geology and Astronomy: with a Tract of Miscellanies. 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. CHAMBERS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>DIGESTION AND ITS DERANGEMENTS. Post 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. G. C. CHILD.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON INDIGESTION, AND CERTAIN BILIOUS DISORDERS
-OFTEN CONJOINED WITH IT. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1009'>1009</span>MR. H. T. CHAPMAN, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE TREATMENT OF OBSTINATE ULCERS AND CUTANEOUS
-ERUPTIONS OF THE LEG WITHOUT CONFINEMENT. Second
-Edition. Post 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>VARICOSE VEINS: their Nature, Consequences, and Treatment, Palliative
-and Curative. Post 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. J. PATERSON CLARK, M.A.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE ODONTALGIST; OR, HOW TO PRESERVE THE TEETH,
-CURE TOOTHACHE, AND REGULATE DENTITION FROM INFANCY
-TO AGE. With plates. Post 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. CONOLLY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE CONSTRUCTION AND GOVERNMENT OF LUNATIC
-ASYLUMS AND HOSPITALS FOR THE INSANE. With Plans. Post 8vo.
-cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>LEWIS CORNARO.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>SURE METHODS OF ATTAINING A LONG AND HEALTHFUL
-LIFE. Thirty-eighth Edition. 18mo., 1<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. COOLEY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>COMPREHENSIVE SUPPLEMENT TO THE PHARMACOPŒIAS.</p>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE CYCLOPÆDIA OE PRACTICAL RECEIPTS, AND COLLATERAL
-INFORMATION IN THE ARTS, PROFESSIONS, MANUFACTURES,
-AND TRADES, INCLUDING MEDICINE, PHARMACY, AND
-DOMESTIC ECONOMY; designed as a Compendious Book of Reference for the
-Manufacturer, Tradesman, Amateur, and Heads of Families. Third and greatly
-enlarged Edition, 8vo. cloth, 26<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. BRANSBY B. COOPER, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LECTURES ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF SURGERY.
-8vo. cloth, 21<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. W. WHITE COOPER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON NEAR SIGHT, AGED SIGHT, IMPAIRED VISION,
-AND THE MEANS OF ASSISTING SIGHT. With 31 Illustrations on Wood.
-Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. COOPER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A DICTIONARY OF PRACTICAL SURGERY; comprehending all
-the most interesting Improvements, from the Earliest Times down to the Present Period.
-Seventh Edition. One very thick volume, 8vo., 1<em>l.</em> 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HOLMES COOTE, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A REPORT ON SOME IMPORTANT POINTS IN THE
-TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1010'>1010</span>SIR ASTLEY COOPER, BART., F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE STRUCTURE AND DISEASES OF THE TESTIS.
-Illustrated with 24 highly finished Coloured Plates. Second Edition. Royal 4to.
-<em>Reduced from</em> £3. 3<em>s.</em> <em>to</em> £1. 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. COTTLE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY FOR STUDENTS;
-being a Condensation of the Subject, a Conservation of the Matter, and a Record of
-Facts and Principles up to the present Day. Fcap. 8vo., 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. COTTON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON CONSUMPTION: Its Nature, Symptoms, and Treatment. To
-which Essay was awarded the Fothergillian Gold Medal of the Medical Society of
-London. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PHTHISIS AND THE STETHOSCOPE: a concise Practical Guide
-to the Physical Diagnosis of Consumption. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. COULSON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISEASES OF THE BLADDER AND PROSTATE GLAND.
-The Fifth Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON LITHOTRITY AND LITHOTOMY; with Engravings on Wood.
-8 vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISEASES OF THE JOINTS. 8vo. <em>In the Press.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. CURLING, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OBSERVATIONS ON DISEASES OF THE RECTUM. Second
-Edition. 8 vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON DISEASES OF THE TESTIS,
-SPERMATIC CORD, AND SCROTUM. Second Edition, with Additions. 8vo.
-cloth, 14<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JOHN DALRYMPLE, F.R.S., F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PATHOLOGY OF THE HUMAN EYE. Complete in Nine Fasciculi:
-imperial 4to., 20<em>s.</em> each; half-bound morocco, gilt tops, 9<em>l.</em> 15<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. DAVEY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE GANGLIONIC NERVOUS SYSTEM: its Structure, Functions,
-and Diseases. 8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE NATURE AND PROXIMATE CAUSE OF INSANITY.
-Post 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1011'>1011</span>DR. HERBERT DAVIES.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASES OF THE
-LUNGS AND HEART. Second Edition. Post 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. DIXON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A GUIDE TO THE PRACTICAL STUDY OF DISEASES OF
-THE EYE. Post 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. TOOGOOD DOWNING.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>NEURALGIA: its various Forms, Pathology, and Treatment. <span class='sc'>The
-Jacksonian Prize Essay for 1850.</span> 8vo. cloth, 0<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. DRUITT, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE SURGEON’S VADE-MECUM; with numerous Engravings on
-Wood. Seventh Edition. Foolscap 8vo. cloth 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. DUNN, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>AN ESSAY ON PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. JOHN C. EGAN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>SYPHILITIC DISEASES: THEIR PATHOLOGY, DIAGNOSIS,
-AND TREATMENT: including Experimental Researches on Inoculation, as a Differential
-Agent in Testing the Character of these Affections. 8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>SIR JAMES EYRE, M.D.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE STOMACH AND ITS DIFFICULTIES. Fourth Edition.
-Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL REMARKS ON SOME EXHAUSTING DISEASES.
-Second Edition. Post 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. FENWICK.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SCROFULA AND CONSUMPTION. Clergyman’s Sore Throat,
-Catarrh, Croup, Bronchitis, Asthma. Fcap. 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. FERGUSSON, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A SYSTEM OF PRACTICAL SURGERY; with numerous Illustrations
-on Wood. Fourth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='sc'><strong>SIR JOHN FORBES, M.D., D.C.L.</strong> (oxon.), <strong>F.R.S.</strong></span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>NATURE AND ART IN THE CURE OF DISEASE. Second
-Edition. Post 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1012'>1012</span>DR. D. J. T. FRANCIS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CHANGE OF CLIMATE; considered as a Remedy in Dyspeptic, Pulmonary,
-and other Chronic Affections; with an Account of the most Eligible Places of
-Residence for Invalids in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, &amp;c., at different Seasons of the Year;
-and an Appendix on the Mineral Springs of the Pyrenees, Vichy, and Aix les Bains.
-Post 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>C. REMIGIUS FRESENIUS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN CHEMICAL ANALYSIS,
-AS PRACTISED IN THE LABORATORY OF GIESSEN. Edited by <span class='sc'>Lloyd
-Bullock</span>, late Student at Giessen.</p>
-
-<p class='c027'><span class='sc'>Qualitative</span>; Fourth Edition. 8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c027'><span class='sc'>Quantitative.</span> Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 15<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. FOWNES, PH.D., F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF CHEMISTRY; with numerous Illustrations on Wood.
-Sixth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c027'>Edited by <span class='sc'>H. Bence Jones</span>, M.D., F.R.S., and <span class='sc'>A. W. Hofmann, Ph.D.</span>, F.R.S.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CHEMISTRY, AS EXEMPLIFYING THE WISDOM AND
-BENEFICENCE OF GOD. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>INTRODUCTION TO QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS. Post 8vo. cloth, 2<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CHEMICAL TABLES. Folio, price 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. FULLER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON RHEUMATISM, RHEUMATIC GOUT, AND SCIATICA:
-their Pathology, Symptoms, and Treatment. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. GAIRDNER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON GOUT; its History, its Causes, and its Cure. Third Edition. Post
-8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. GALLOWAY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE FIRST STEP IN CHEMISTRY. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo.
-cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS. Second Edition.
-Post 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CHEMICAL DIAGRAMS. On Four large Sheets, for School and
-Lecture Rooms. 5<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> the Set.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. GARRETT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON EAST AND NORTH-EAST WINDS; the Nature, Treatment, and
-Prevention of their Suffocating Effects. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1013'>1013</span>MR. ROBERT GARNER, F.L.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>EUTHERAPEIA; or, AN EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPLES
-OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, including Researches on the Nervous System. Illustrated
-with 9 Engravings on Copper, and Engravings on Wood. 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. GAY, F.R.C.S.E.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>FEMORAL RUPTURE: ITS ANATOMY, PATHOLOGY, AND
-SURGERY. With a New Mode of Operating. 4to., Plates, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MEMOIR ON INDOLENT ULCERS. Post 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. GRANVILLE, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SUDDEN DEATH. Post 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>MR. GRAY, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRESERVATION OF THE TEETH indispensable to Comfort and
-Appearance, Health, and Longevity. 18mo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. GRIFFITHS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CHEMISTRY OF THE FOUR SEASONS—Spring, Summer,
-Autumn, Winter. Illustrated with Engravings on Wood. Second Edition. Foolscap
-8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. GULLY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE WATER CURE IN CHRONIC DISEASE: an Exposition of
-the Causes, Progress, and Terminations of various Chronic Diseases of the Viscera, Nervous
-System, and Limbs, and of their Treatment by Water and other Hygienic Means.
-Fifth Edition. Foolscap 8vo. sewed, 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE SIMPLE TREATMENT OF DISEASE; deduced from the
-Methods of Expectancy and Revulsion. 18mo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. GUY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HOOPER’S PHYSICIAN’S VADE-MECUM; OR, MANUAL OF
-THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. New Edition, considerably
-enlarged, and rewritten. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c027'>GUY’S HOSPITAL REPORTS. Third Series. Vols. I. to III., 8vo.,
-7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> each.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. HABERSHON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OBSERVATIONS ON DISEASES OF THE ALIMENTARY
-CANAL, ŒSOPHAGUS, STOMACH, CÆCUM, and INTESTINES. 8vo. cloth,
-10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1014'>1014</span>DR. MARSHALL HALL, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRONE AND POSTURAL RESPIRATION IN DROWNING
-AND OTHER FORMS OF APNŒA OR SUSPENDED RESPIRATION.
-Post 8vo. cloth. 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS IN MEDICINE.
-Post 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c027'>DITTO. <span class='fixed'>Second Series.</span> Post 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. C. RADCLYFFE HALL.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>TORQUAY IN ITS MEDICAL ASPECT AS A RESORT FOR
-PULMONARY INVALIDS. Post 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HARDWICH.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF PHOTOGRAPHIC CHEMISTRY. Fourth
-Edition. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HARE, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PREVENTION,
-CAUSES, AND TREATMENT OF CURVATURES OF THE SPINE; with
-Engravings. Third Edition. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HARRISON, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PATHOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF STRICTURE OF
-THE URETHRA. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JAMES B. HARRISON, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE CONTAMINATION OF WATER BY THE POISON
-OF LEAD, and its Effects on the Human Body. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. HARTWIG.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SEA BATHING AND SEA AIR. Fcap. 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. Fcap.
-8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. A. H. HASSALL.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MICROSCOPIC ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN BODY,
-IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. Illustrated with Several Hundred Drawings in
-Colour. Two vols. 8vo. cloth, £1. 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. ALFRED HAVILAND, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CLIMATE, WEATHER, AND DISEASE; being a Sketch of the
-Opinions of the most celebrated Ancient and Modern Writers with regard to the Influence
-of Climate and Weather in producing Disease. With Four coloured Engravings. 8vo.
-cloth, 7<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1015'>1015</span>MR. WILLIAM HAYCOCK, M.R.C.V.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A TREATISE ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF
-VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 8vo. boards, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. HEADLAND.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE ACTION OF MEDICINES IN THE SYSTEM.
-Being the Prize Essay to which the Medical Society of London awarded the Fothergillian
-Gold Medal for 1852. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HIGGINBOTTOM, F.R.S., F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>AN ESSAY ON THE USE OF THE NITRATE OF SILVER
-IN THE CURE OF INFLAMMATION, WOUNDS, AND ULCERS. Second
-Edition. Price 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE NITRATE OF SILVER;
-with full Directions for its Use as a Therapeutic Agent. 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JOHN HILTON, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN OF CERTAIN PORTIONS
-OF THE CRANIUM. Illustrated with Plates in Lithography. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. HINDS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE HARMONIES OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN RELATION
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-<p class='c027'>THE PROSTATE GLAND, AND ITS ENLARGEMENT IN
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- <div>MR. JABEZ HOGG.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>THE OPHTHALMOSCOPE: an Essay on its value in the Exploration
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- <div>MR. LUTHER HOLDEN, F.R.C.S.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>HUMAN OSTEOLOGY: with Plates, showing the Attachments of the
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- <div>DR. G. CALVERT HOLLAND.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ANIMAL CREATION, expressed
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- <div>MR. C. HOLTHOUSE.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>ON SQUINTING, PARALYTIC AFFECTIONS OF THE EYE,
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LECTURES ON STRABISMUS, delivered at the Westminster Hospital.
-8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1016'>1016</span>DR. W. CHARLES HOOD.</div>
- </div>
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-<p class='c027'>SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE PROVISION OF CRIMINAL
-LUNATICS. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>MR. P. HOOD.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OE SCARLET FEVER;
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. HOOPER.</div>
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-
-<p class='c027'>THE MEDICAL DICTIONARY; containing an Explanation of the
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JOHN HORSLEY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
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-<p class='c027'>A CATECHISM OF CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY; being a Familiar
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. HUFELAND.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. A New Edition. Edited
-by <span class='sc'>Erasmus Wilson</span>, F.R.S. Foolscap 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>MR. W. CURTIS HUGMAN, F.R.C.S.</div>
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-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON HIP-JOINT DISEASE; with reference especially to Treatment
-by Mechanical Means for the Relief of Contraction and Deformity of the Affected Limb.
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. HENRY HUNT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON HEARTBURN AND INDIGESTION. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. T. HUNT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>DISEASES OF THE SKIN: a Guide for their Treatment and Prevention.
-Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. INMAN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PHENOMENA OF SPINAL IRRITATION AND OTHER
-FUNCTIONAL DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM EXPLAINED,
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. ARTHUR JACOB, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A TREATISE ON THE INFLAMMATIONS OF THE EYE-BALL.
-Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. JAMES JAGO, A.B., CANTAB.; M.B., OXON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OCULAR SPECTRES AND STRUCTURES AS MUTUAL EXPONENTS.
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1017'>1017</span>DR. HANDFIELD JONES, F.R.S. &amp; DR. EDWARD H. SIEVEKING.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY. Illustrated with
-numerous Engravings on Wood. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. WHARTON JONES, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF
-OPHTHALMIC MEDICINE AND SURGERY; illustrated with Engravings, plain
-and coloured. Second Edition. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE WISDOM AND BENEFICENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY,
-AS DISPLAYED IN THE SENSE OF VISION; being the Actonian Prize Essay
-for 1851. With Illustrations on Steel and Wood. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>DEFECTS OF SIGHT: their Nature, Causes, Prevention, and General
-Management. Fcap. 8vo. 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A CATECHISM OF THE MEDICINE AND SURGERY OF
-THE EYE AND EAR. For the Clinical Use of Hospital Students. Fcap. 8vo. 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>V.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A CATECHISM OF THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY
-OF BODY, SENSE, AND MIND. For Use in Schools and Colleges. Fcap. 8vo.,
-2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. BENCE JONES, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>MULDER ON WINE. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON ANIMAL CHEMISTRY, in its relation to STOMACH and RENAL
-DISEASES. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JUDD.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON URETHRITIS AND SYPHILIS:
-including Observations on the Power of the Menstruous Fluid, and of the Discharge
-from Leucorrhœa and Sores to produce Urethritis: with a variety of Examples,
-Experiments, Remedies, and Cures. 8vo. cloth, £1. 5<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. KNAGGS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>UNSOUNDNESS OF MIND CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO
-THE QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY IN CRIMINAL CASES. 8vo. cloth,
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. LAENNEC.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF AUSCULTATION AND PERCUSSION. Translated
-and Edited by J. B. Sharpe, M.R.C.S. 3<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. HUNTER LANE, F.L.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A COMPENDIUM OF MATERIA MEDICA AND PHARMACY;
-adapted to the London Pharmacopœia, 1851, embodying all the new French, American,
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-Edition. 24mo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1018'>1018</span>DR. LANE, M.A.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HYDROPATHY; OR, THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF MEDICAL
-TREATMENT. An Explanatory Essay. Post 8vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. LAURENCE, M.B., F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE DIAGNOSIS OF SURGICAL CANCER. The Liston Prize
-Essay for 1854. Second Edition. Plates, 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. LAWRENCE, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A TREATISE ON RUPTURES. The Fifth Edition, considerably
-enlarged. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. EDWIN LEE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON TUBERCULOUS DISEASE,
-with Notices of the chief Foreign Places of Winter Resort. Small 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE WATERING PLACES OF ENGLAND, CONSIDERED
-with Reference to their Medical Topography. Third Edition. Foolscap 8vo. cloth,
-5<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE BATHS OF GERMANY, FRANCE, &amp; SWITZERLAND.
-Third Edition. Post 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE BATHS OF RHENISH GERMANY. Post 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HENRY LEE, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PATHOLOGICAL AND SURGICAL OBSERVATIONS; including
-an Essay on the Surgical Treatment of Hemorrhoidal Tumors. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. ROBERT LEE, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A TREATISE ON THE SPECULUM; with Three Hundred Cases.
-8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CLINICAL REPORTS OF OVARIAN AND UTERINE DISEASES,
-with Commentaries. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CLINICAL MIDWIFERY: comprising the Histories of 545 Cases of
-Difficult, Preternatural, and Complicated Labour, with Commentaries. Second Edition.
-Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON DISEASES OF THE
-UTERUS. With coloured Plates. Two Parts. Imperial 4to., 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> each Part.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. LISTON, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL SURGERY. Fourth Edition. 8vo. cloth, 2<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1019'>1019</span>MR. H. W. LOBB, L.S.A., M.R.C.S.E.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SOME OF THE MORE OBSCURE FORMS OF NERVOUS
-AFFECTIONS, THEIR PATHOLOGY AND TREATMENT. With an
-Introduction on the Physiology of Digestion and Assimilation, and the Generation and
-Distribution of Nerve Force. Based upon Original Microscopical Observations. With
-Engravings. 8vo. cloth, 0<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>LONDON MEDICAL SOCIETY OF OBSERVATION.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>WHAT TO OBSERVE AT THE BED-SIDE, AND AFTER
-DEATH. Published by Authority. Second Edition. Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>M. LUGOL.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SCROFULOUS DISEASES. Translated from the French, with
-Additions by <span class='sc'>W. H. Ranking</span>, M.D., Physician to the Suffolk General Hospital.
-8vo. cloth, 0<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. GEORGE H. B. MACLEOD, F.R.C.S. (EDIN.)</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>NOTES ON THE SURGERY OF THE CRIMEAN WAR; with
-REMARKS on GUN-SHOT WOUNDS. 8vo. cloth, 0<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JOSEPH MACLISE, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>SURGICAL ANATOMY. A Series of Dissections, illustrating the Principal
-Regions of the Human Body.</p>
-
-<p class='c027'>The Second Edition, complete in XIII. Fasciculi. Imperial folio, 5<em>s.</em> each; bound in
-cloth, £3. 2<em>s.</em>; or bound in morocco, £4. 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISLOCATIONS AND FRACTURES. This Work will be Uniform
-with the Author’s “Surgical Anatomy;” each Fasciculus will contain Four beautifully
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-imperial folio, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. MAYNE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>AN EXPOSITORY LEXICON OF THE TERMS, ANCIENT
-AND MODERN, IN MEDICAL AND GENERAL SCIENCE, including a complete
-MEDICAL AND MEDICO-LEGAL VOCABULARY, and presenting the
-correct Pronunciation, Derivation, Definition, and Explanation of the Names, Analogues,
-Synonymes, and Phrases (in English, Latin, Greek, French, and German,) employed in
-Science and connected with Medicine. Parts I. to VII., price 5<em>s.</em> each.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WM. H. MADDEN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THOUGHTS ON PULMONARY CONSUMPTION; with an Appendix
-on the Climate of Torquay. Post 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. MARCET.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE COMPOSITION OF FOOD, AND HOW IT IS
-ADULTERATED; with Practical Directions for its Analysis. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. MARTIN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE UNDERCLIFF, ISLE OF WIGHT: its Climate, History,
-and Natural Productions. Post 8vo. cloth, 0<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1020'>1020</span>DR. MARKHAM.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>DISEASES OF THE HEART: THEIR PATHOLOGY, DIAGNOSIS,
-AND TREATMENT. Post. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>SKODA ON AUSCULTATION AND PERCUSSION. Post 8vo.
-cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. J. RANALD MARTIN, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE INFLUENCE OF TROPICAL CLIMATES ON EUROPEAN
-CONSTITUTIONS. Originally by the late <span class='sc'>James Johnson</span>, M.D., and now
-entirely rewritten; including Practical Observations on the Diseases of European Invalids
-on their Return from Tropical Climates. Seventh Edition. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. MASSY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE EXAMINATION OF RECRUITS; intended for the Use of
-Young Medical Officers on Entering the Army. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. MILLINGEN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE TREATMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF THE INSANE;
-with Considerations on Public and Private Lunatic Asylums. 18mo. cloth,
-4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JOHN L. MILTON, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON A NEW WAY OF
-TREATING GONORRHŒA. With some Remarks on the Cure of Inveterate Cases.
-8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. MONRO.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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-8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em>; or 24mo. 5<em>s.</em></p>
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-<p class='c027'><span class='sc'><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Imprimatur.</span></span><br />
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-Datum ex Ædibus Collegii in comitiis censoriis, Novembris Mensis 14<sup>to</sup> 1850.</span></p>
-
-<div class='c031'><span class='sc'>Johannes Ayrton Paris.</span> <cite>Præses.</cite></div>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>PROFESSORS PLATTNER &amp; MUSPRATT.</div>
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-<p class='c032'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1023'>1023</span>THE PRESCRIBER’S PHARMACOPŒIA; containing all the Medicines
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- <div>DR. JOHN ROWLISON PRETTY.</div>
- </div>
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- <div>MR. LAKE PRICE.</div>
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-8 vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>SIR WM. PYM, K.C.H.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OBSERVATIONS UPON YELLOW FEVER, with a Review of
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-Dr. <span class='sc'>Bryson</span>,” proving its highly Contagious Powers. Post 8vo. 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. RADCLIFFE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
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-<p class='c027'>EPILEPSY, AND OTHER CONVULSIVE AFFECTIONS; their
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. F. H. RAMSBOTHAM.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
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-<p class='c027'>THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF OBSTETRIC MEDICINE
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON MIDWIFERY, with a Selection
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-<p class='c027'>THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASES OF THE BRAIN, SPINAL
-CORD, AND THEIR APPENDAGES. 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. B. W. RICHARDSON.</div>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>ON THE CAUSE OF THE COAGULATION OF THE BLOOD.
-Being the <span class='sc'>Astley Cooper Prize Essay</span> for 1856. With a Practical Appendix.
-8vo. cloth, 16<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
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-<p class='c027'>THE HYGIENIC TREATMENT OF PULMONARY CONSUMPTION.
-8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1024'>1024</span>DR. W. H. ROBERTSON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
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-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c029'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
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-<p class='c027'>THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF GOUT.
-8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
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- <div>II.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>A TREATISE ON DIET AND REGIMEN.
-Fourth Edition. 2 vols. post 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>MR. ROBERTON.</div>
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-</div>
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-<p class='c027'>ON THE PHYSIOLOGY AND DISEASES OF WOMEN, AND
-ON PRACTICAL MIDWIFERY. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. WILLIAM ROBERTS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>AN ESSAY ON WASTING PALSY; being a Systematic Treatise on
-the Disease hitherto described as ATROPHIE MUSCULAIRE PROGRESSIVE.
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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-<p class='c027'>ON MOVEMENTS. An Exposition of their Principles and Practice, for
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-on Wood. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. ROWE, F.S.A.</div>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>ON SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT DISEASES OF
-WOMEN and CHILDREN. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>II.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>NERVOUS DISEASES, LIVER AND STOMACH COMPLAINTS,
-LOW SPIRITS, INDIGESTION, GOUT, ASTHMA, AND DISORDERS
-PRODUCED BY TROPICAL CLIMATES. With Cases. Fifteenth
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. ROYLE, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
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-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS.
-With numerous Engravings on Wood. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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- <div>MR. RUMSEY, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
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-<p class='c027'>ESSAYS ON STATE MEDICINE. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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- <div>MR. SAVORY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A COMPENDIUM OF DOMESTIC MEDICINE, AND COMPANION
-TO THE MEDICINE CHEST; comprising Plain Directions for the Employment
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-Assistance. Fifth Edition. 12mo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1025'>1025</span>DR. SCHACHT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MICROSCOPE, AND ITS APPLICATION TO VEGETABLE
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-8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
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- <div>DR. SEMPLE.</div>
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-<p class='c027'>ON COUGH: its Causes, Varieties, and Treatment. With some practical
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- <div>MR. SHAW, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MEDICAL REMEMBRANCER; OR, BOOK OF EMERGENCIES:
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-Fourth Edition. Edited, with Additions, by <span class='sc'>Jonathan Hutchinson</span>, M.R.C.S. 32mo.
-cloth, 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. SIBSON, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>MEDICAL ANATOMY. With coloured Plates. Imperial folio. Fasciculi
-I. to V. 5<em>s.</em> each.</p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. E. H. SIEVEKING.</div>
- </div>
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-
-<p class='c027'>ON EPILEPSY AND EPILEPTIFORM SEIZURES: their
-Causes, Pathology, and Treatment. Post 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. SKEY, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OPERATIVE SURGERY: with Illustrations engraved on Wood. 8vo.
-cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. SMELLIE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OBSTETRIC PLATES: being a Selection from the more Important and
-Practical Illustrations contained in the Original Work. With Anatomical and Practical
-Directions. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
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-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HENRY SMITH, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON STRICTURE OF THE URETHRA. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. W. TYLER SMITH.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF OBSTETRICS, THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
-Illustrated with 186 Engravings. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PATHOLOGY AND TREATMENT OF LEUCORRHŒA.
-With Engravings on Wood. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PERIODOSCOPE, a new Instrument for determining the Date of
-Labour, and other Obstetric Calculations, with an Explanation of its Uses, and an Essay
-on the Periodic Phenomena attending Pregnancy and Parturition. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1026'>1026</span>DR. SNOW.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE MODE OF COMMUNICATION OF CHOLERA.
-Second Edition, much Enlarged, and Illustrated with Maps. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. STANHOPE TEMPLEMAN SPEER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PATHOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, IN ITS APPLICATION TO
-THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. Translated from the French of MM. <span class='sc'>Becquerel</span>
-and <span class='sc'>Rodier</span>. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. SPURGIN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LECTURES ON MATERIA MEDICA, AND ITS RELATIONS
-TO THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. Delivered before the Royal College of Physicians.
-8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. SQUIRE, F.L.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE PHARMACOPŒIA, (LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND
-DUBLIN,) arranged in a convenient <span class='sc'>Tabular Form</span>, both to suit the Prescriber for
-comparison, and the Dispenser for compounding the formulæ; with Notes, Tests, and
-Tables. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. SWAYNE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OBSTETRIC APHORISMS FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS
-COMMENCING MIDWIFERY PRACTICE. With Engravings on Wood. Fcap.
-8 vo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. STEGGALL.</div>
- <div class='c003'>STUDENTS’ BOOKS FOR EXAMINATION.</div>
- <div class='c003'>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MEDICAL MANUAL FOR APOTHECARIES’ HALL AND OTHER MEDICAL
-BOARDS. Eleventh Edition. 12mo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL FOR THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; intended for the Use
-of Candidates for Examination and Practitioners. Second Edition. 12mo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>GREGORY’S CONSPECTUS MEDICINÆ THEORETICÆ. The First Part, containing
-the Original Text, with an Ordo Verborum, and Literal Translation. 12mo.
-cloth, 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS OF CELSUS; containing the Text, Ordo Verborum,
-and Translation. Second Edition. 12mo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>V.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A TEXT-BOOK OF MATERIA-MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS. 12mo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>VI.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>FIRST LINES FOR CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS PREPARING FOR EXAMINATION
-AT THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. Second Edition.
-18mo. cloth, 3<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1027'>1027</span>MR. STOWE, M.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A TOXICOLOGICAL CHART, exhibiting at one view the Symptoms,
-Treatment, and Mode of Detecting the various Poisons, Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal.
-To which are added, concise Directions for the Treatment of Suspended Animation.
-Eleventh Edition. On Sheet, 2<em>s.</em>; mounted on Roller, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. TAMPLIN, F.R.C.S.E.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LATERAL CURVATURE OF THE SPINE: its Causes, Nature, and
-Treatment. 8vo. cloth, 4<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. ALFRED S. TAYLOR, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A MANUAL OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. Sixth Edition.
-Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON POISONS, in relation to MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE AND
-MEDICINE. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. THEOPHILUS THOMPSON, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CLINICAL LECTURES ON PULMONARY CONSUMPTION.
-With Plates. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LETTSOMIAN LECTURES ON PULMONARY CONSUMPTION;
-with Remarks on Microscopical Indications, and on Cocoa-nut Oil. Post 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. THOMAS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE MODERN PRACTICE OF PHYSIC; exhibiting the Symptoms,
-Causes, Morbid Appearances, and Treatment of the Diseases of all Climates.
-Eleventh Edition. Revised by <span class='sc'>Algernon Frampton</span>, M.D. 2 vols. 8vo. cloth, 28<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>HENRY THOMPSON, M.B. LOND., F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>STRICTURE OF THE URETHRA; its Pathology and Treatment.
-The last Jacksonian Treatise of the Royal College of Surgeons. With Plates. 8vo.
-cloth, 10<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. TILT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISEASES OF WOMEN AND OVARIAN INFLAMMATION
-IN RELATION TO MORBID MENSTRUATION, STERILITY,
-PELVIC TUMOURS, AND AFFECTIONS OF THE WOMB. Second Edition.
-8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE CHANGE OF LIFE IN HEALTH AND DISEASE: a
-Practical Treatise on the Nervous and other Affections incidental to Women at the Decline
-of Life. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1028'>1028</span>DR. ROBERT B. TODD, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CLINICAL LECTURES ON PARALYSIS, DISEASES OF THE
-BRAIN, and other AFFECTIONS of the NERVOUS SYSTEM. Second Edition.
-Foolscap 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>CLINICAL LECTURES ON CERTAIN DISEASES OF THE
-URINARY ORGANS, AND ON DROPSIES. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. JOSEPH TOYNBEE, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF PREPARATIONS ILLUSTRATIVE
-OF THE DISEASES OF THE EAR, IN HIS MUSEUM. 8vo.
-cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. SAMUEL TUKE.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>.ni</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c030'>DR. JACOBI ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT
-OF HOSPITALS FOR THE INSANE. Translated from the German. With Introductory
-Observations by the Editor. With Plates. 8vo. cloth, 9<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. TURNBULL.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON DISORDERS OF THE STOMACH
-with FERMENTATION; and on the Causes and Treatment of Indigestion, &amp;c. 8vo.
-cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. UNDERWOOD.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>TREATISE ON THE DISEASES OF CHILDREN. Tenth Edition,
-with Additions and Corrections by <span class='sc'>Henry Davies</span>, M.D. 8vo. cloth, 15<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c027'>VESTIGES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATION.
-Tenth Edition. Illustrated with 100 Engravings on Wood. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>EXPLANATIONS: A SEQUEL TO “VESTIGES.”</p>
-
-<p class='c027'>Second Edition. Post 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. UNGER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>BOTANICAL LETTERS. Translated by Dr. <span class='sc'>B. Paul</span>. Numerous
-Woodcuts. Post 8vo., 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1029'>1029</span>DR. VAN OVEN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE DECLINE OF LIFE IN HEALTH AND DISEASE;
-being an Attempt to Investigate the Causes of LONGEVITY, and the Best Means of
-Attaining a Healthful Old Age. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. WADE, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>STRICTURE OF THE URETHRA; its Complications and Effects.
-With Practical Observations on its Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment; and on a Safe
-and Efficient Mode of Treating its more Intractable Forms. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WALLER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ELEMENTS OF PRACTICAL MIDWIFERY; or, Companion to
-the Lying-in Room. Fourth Edition, with Plates. Fcap. cloth, 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. HAYNES WALTON, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OPERATIVE OPHTHALMIC SURGERY. With Engravings on
-Wood. 8vo. cloth, 18<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. WARDROP.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON DISEASES OF THE HEART. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div>DR. EBEN. WATSON, A.M.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE TOPICAL MEDICATION OF THE LARYNX IN
-CERTAIN DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY AND VOCAL ORGANS.
-8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WEBER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A CLINICAL HAND-BOOK OF AUSCULTATION AND PERCUSSION.
-Translated by <span class='sc'>John Cockle</span>, M.D. 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WEGG.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO THE SCIENCE AND ART
-OF MEDICINE. 8vo. cloth, 8<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WEST.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LECTURES ON THE DISEASES OF WOMEN. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1030'>1030</span>MR. T. SPENCER WELLS, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON GOUT AND ITS COMPLICATIONS,
-and on the Treatment of Joints Stiffened by Gouty Deposits. Foolscap 8vo.
-cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. WHEELER.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HAND-BOOK OF ANATOMY FOR STUDENTS OF THE
-FINE ARTS. New Edition, with Engravings on Wood. Fcap. 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WHITEHEAD, F.R.C.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE TRANSMISSION FROM PARENT TO OFFSPRING
-OF SOME FORMS OF DISEASE, AND OF MORBID TAINTS AND
-TENDENCIES. Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE CAUSES AND TREATMENT OF ABORTION AND
-STERILITY: being the result of an extended Practical Inquiry into the Physiological
-and Morbid Conditions of the Uterus, with reference especially to Leucorrhœal Affections,
-and the Diseases of Menstruation. 8vo. cloth, 12<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. WILLIAMS, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRINCIPLES OF MEDICINE: An Elementary View of the Causes,
-Nature, Treatment, Diagnosis, and Prognosis, of Disease. With brief Remarks on
-Hygienics, or the Preservation of Health. The Third Edition. 8vo. cloth, 15<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. JOSEPH WILLIAMS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>INSANITY: its Causes, Prevention, and Cure; including Apoplexy,
-Epilepsy, and Congestion of the Brain. Second Edition. Post 8vo. cloth, 10<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. J. HUME WILLIAMS.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>UNSOUNDNESS OF MIND, IN ITS MEDICAL AND LEGAL
-CONSIDERATIONS. 8vo. cloth, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. HENRY Q. WRIGHT.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HEADACHES; their Causes and their Cure. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo.
-2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c028'>
- <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1031'>1031</span>MR. ERASMUS WILSON, F.R.S.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c029'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>THE ANATOMIST’S VADE-MECUM: A SYSTEM OF HUMAN
-ANATOMY. With numerous Illustrations on Wood. Seventh Edition. Foolscap 8vo.
-cloth, 12<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c029'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>DISEASES OF THE SKIN: A Practical and Theoretical Treatise on
-the DIAGNOSIS, PATHOLOGY, and TREATMENT OF CUTANEOUS DISEASES.
-Fourth Edition. 8vo. cloth, 16<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<p class='c027'><span class='sc'>The same Work</span>; illustrated with finely executed Engravings on Steel, accurately
-coloured. 8vo. cloth, 34<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>III.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>HEALTHY SKIN: A Treatise on the Management of the Skin and Hair
-in relation to Health. Fifth Edition. Foolscap 8vo. 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>IV.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PORTRAITS OF DISEASES OF THE SKIN. Folio. Fasciculi I.
-to XII., completing the Work. 20<em>s.</em> each.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>V.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON SYPHILIS, CONSTITUTIONAL AND HEREDITARY;
-AND ON SYPHILITIC ERUPTIONS. With Four Coloured Plates. 8vo. cloth,
-16<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>VI.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A THREE WEEKS’ SCAMPER THROUGH THE SPAS OF
-GERMANY AND BELGIUM, with an Appendix on the Nature and Uses of
-Mineral Waters. Post 8vo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. FORBES WINSLOW, D.C.L. OXON.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>LETTSOMIAN LECTURES ON INSANITY. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>A SYNOPSIS OF THE LAW OF LUNACY; as far as it relates
-to the Organization and Management of Private Asylums for the Care and Treatment of
-the Insane. In the form of a Chart, varnished, mounted on canvas and rollers, price 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>DR. G. C. WITTSTEIN.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>PRACTICAL PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTRY: An Explanation
-of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Processes, with the Methods of Testing the Purity of
-the Preparations, deduced from Original Experiments. Translated from the Second
-German Edition, by <span class='sc'>Stephen Darby</span>. 18mo. cloth, 6<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
-<div class='nf-center c002'>
- <div>MR. YEARSLEY.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>I.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>DEAFNESS PRACTICALLY ILLUSTRATED; being an Exposition
-of Original Views as to the Causes and Treatment of Diseases of the Ear. Fifth
-Edition. Foolscap 8vo., 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em></p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c0'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>II.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c027'>ON THE ENLARGED TONSIL AND ELONGATED UVULA,
-and other Morbid Conditions of the Throat. Sixth Edition. 8vo. cloth, 5<em>s.</em></p>
-
-<span class='pageno' id='Page_1032'>1032</span>
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-<div class='nf-center c026'>
- <div>CHURCHILL’S SERIES OF MANUALS.</div>
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