CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 319 



of about 260 (leg. Fall. On re-distilling the product thus obtained, the 

 ebullition which commences at 140 deg. Fall., rises during the process to 

 about 570 dcg. Fah. The most volatile parts of this distillation are to be 

 separated, and agitated with concentrated sulphuric acid, when the amylene 

 in a pure state will rise to the surface. It is colorless, very mobile, and has 

 a low specific gravity (stated by Dr. Snow to be 0-659 at 56 deg. Fah.). 

 Its boiling point is 102 deg. Fah., and the density of its vapor is 2 - 45. It 

 has a peculiar and disagreeable smell. 



Amylcnc was first applied as anaesthetic by Mr. John Snow, and for a 

 time was recommended as preferable to ether and chloroform in producing 

 stupefaction or anaesthesia, on the special ground that its employment was 

 unattended with danger to the patient, or nearly so. MM. Foucher and 

 Bonnet have, however, in a recent communication, addressed to the French 

 Academy, recorded facts leading to quite a contrary result. In twelve ex- 

 periments performed on rabbits they have ascertained that the anaesthetic 

 effect of amylene is produced within from three to six minutes after its ap- 

 plication. Before stupefaction is produced the animal utters piercing cries 

 and throws its head backwards; its breathing is accelerated, the globe of the 

 eye is strongly injected, and moves convulsively; a tracheal hoarseness 

 always accompanying the above symptoms. The period of insensibility 

 does not last long if the application of amylene be not continued ; in the 

 contrary case, however, a complete collapse takes place ; the animal, 

 stretched out without motion, obeys every impulse of the hand, and resem- 

 bles a flabby mass in which breathing is hardly perceptible. This state may 

 last twenty minutes without causing death. The blood drawn from the ar- 

 teries during this period still preserves its usual color. Animals subjected to 

 the action of amylene for a certain length of time, continue after the opera- 

 tion in a state of stupor and imbecility, which sometimes lasts seven or eight 

 hours ; but in none of the cases observed by the authors of the communica- 

 tion has death followed the application of amylene. The conclusions re-* 

 suiting from their experiments are as follows : 1. Sulphuric ether, chloro- 

 form, and amylene are, of all volatile substances experimented on, the only 

 ones that produce anaesthesia. 2. Amylene does not produce stupefaction 

 unless the quantity of air with which it is diluted be very small; but then it 

 acts upon the animal economy, and especially upon the respiratory organs 

 in a manner which may produce dangerous effects. 3. Chloroform has all 

 the advantages of amylene, without the evils which accompany the use of 

 the latter. 4. None of the substances above mentioned produce anaesthesia, 

 whether local or general, when applied to any particular part of the body by 

 injection under the skin. 



From these and other results it may be considered as certain, that amy- 

 lene is no better than aldehyde artificial oil of naphtha, Dutch liquid, and 

 other bodies of the class of ethers, or hydrocarbons, which have been 

 proved to be inferior to chloroform. 



AncEsthesis by the Oxide of Carbon. This gas is used only externally, and 

 on the diseased part. From the experiment by the unfortunate Chenot on 

 himself, we know that internally it is a poison. According to the trials of M. 



