566 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



HYDRAMYLE. 



The new anaesthetic, hydramyle, to which we have already 

 referred, continues to grow in promise of value, having now 

 been administered quite frequently by Dr. Richardson with 

 much success. It seems especially adapted for short opera- 

 tions, such as the extraction of teeth, and is so rapid in its 

 action that in one instance the patient was rendered insensi- 

 ble, a molar tooth extracted, and recovery completed in the 

 space of fifty seconds. For the extraction of a tooth Dr. 

 Richardson allows the patient to inhale for twenty to twen- 

 ty-five seconds, and then, although still conscious, the vapor 

 is withdrawn, and afterward a deep but brief period of un- 

 consciousness comes on, during which the operation is per- 

 formed. The delay in the production of anaesthesia is due to 

 the insolubility of the hydramyle, time being required for the 

 blood to take up the narcotic and carry it to the nervous cen- 

 tres after the lungs have been charged with the vapor. 20^4, 

 July 1,14. 



CHLORIDE OF ^ETHYLIDE, A NEW ANAESTHETIC. 



We are informed that Dr. Liebreich, to whom we owe chlo- 

 ral, has discovered a new anaesthetic, to which he has given 

 the name of Chloride of iEthylide. This substance is said to 

 be more rapid and equable in its effects than chloroform, and 

 has the farther merit that it does not interfere with the free 

 and natural breathing of the patient. As the effect of the 

 application is stated to be very transient, the dose must be 

 repeated in a lengthened operation. 10 C, March 1, 59. 



CHL0R0METHYL AS AN ANAESTHETIC. 



According to a report by Dr. Rossi, experiments instituted 

 at the University of Padua upon the use of bichloride of 

 methylene as an anaesthetic showed that, out of 108 opera- 

 tions, in only eight was there any vomiting, and that in every 

 respect this chloromethyl should have the preference over 

 chloroform for surgical purposes, having for the last three 

 years replaced both chloroform and ether in that city. The 

 London Medical Times and Gazette gives the experience of 

 Mr. Spencer Wells in two hundred and fifty operations with 

 this substance, showing a close coincidence in the general re- 



