318 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



perhaps, in death. All this, M. Heurteloup observes, is owing to the impos- 

 sibility, under the present system, of regulating the application of the 

 anaesthetic, to remedy which inconvenience he proposes an apparatus of his 

 own invention, consisting of a glass tube, having each of its orifices closed 

 with cork, into which another tube of a smaller diameter is inserted. One 

 of the latter communicates by means of a flexible tube with a reservoir con- 

 taining chloroform, which is blown into the larger tube by a small pair of 

 bellows. The chloroform passes thence into the tube at the opposite ex- 

 tremity, which ends in a point, leaving the smallest possible aperture for 

 the escape of the vapor. It is through this aperture the patient inhales the 

 anaesthetic, which issues in a conical form, expanding as it rises, and mixing 

 with the air; so that as the apparatus is brought nearer to or removed from 

 the nostrils of the patient the power of the anaesthetic is increased or dimin- 

 ished at will, and the operator may stop or resume its emission by stopping 

 or renewing the action of the bellows. 



A correspondent of the London Medical Times writes as follows : Ever 

 since Dr. J. Y. Simpson made the qualities of this powerful agent known, I 

 have been in the habit of using it freely in an extensive general practice; 

 and, although I have used it at least one thousand times, I have never seen 

 the least bad consequences follow from it, and I consider that this success 

 depends greatly on the precaution I take before administering the chloroform ; 

 this simply consists in administering a glass of spirits or wine. I prefer the 

 former, even for ladies. The wine, or spirits, seems to exercise no effect on 

 the chloroform, while their stimulating quality keeps up the action of the 

 heart during the time the patient is under chloroform, and prevents sinking. 

 I had occasion, some years ago, to perform a slight surgical operation on a 

 lady who was fearfully afflicted with asthma, and excessively nervous. Her 

 husband being a medical man, objected to the use of the chloroform in such 

 a case, but I assured him that the wine would prevent any evil happening. 

 The operation was performed, the patient saved from the pain of it, and to 

 her great relief she had no return of asthma for a long time, and when it did 

 return she had recourse to the chloroform, which, again for a time, gave her 

 great relief. 



NEW ANESTHETIC AGENTS. 



Several new agents have recently been proposed for replacing ether and 

 chloroform in anaesthesis. The principal of these is Amylene. 



This substance is said to have been discovered some fifteen years ago by 

 M. Cahours, though first described in 1844, by M. Balard, professor of 

 chemistry to the Faculty of Sciences of Paris. It is composed of ten atoms 

 of carbon and ten of hydrogen, and bears the same relation to fusel oil or 

 amylic alcohol that olefiant gas or ethylene bear to common alcohol. 



It is made by distilling fusel oil, or amylic alcohol, with chloride of zinc. 

 On adding the fusel oil to a concentrated solution of chloride of zinc in the 

 cold, solution or admixture does not take place, but on applying heat they 

 mix and form a homogeneous liquid, which begins to distil at a temperature 



