5 68 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



the stimulus is removed. It would seem that one effect of 

 both these drugs is to produce a condition very closely to 

 sleep, from which the patient can be aroused by appropriate 

 excitation. 



The Exceptions 



While the study of the exceptional cases raises many 

 interesting and still unsolved problems, it can hardly be said 

 that the present series of observations does more than call 

 attention to what remains to be done. If one simply takes 

 the cases as they come, it is plain that one must by the law 

 of averages deal with a very large number before the excep- 

 tional occurrences come sufficiently often to permit exact 

 conclusions to be drawn ; so that the remarks in this section 

 are only put forward as imperfect notes of what seems pro- 

 bable at the present time, and it is quite possible that further 

 work may materially alter some of the conclusions now arrived 

 at. However, bearing this caution in mind, it is legitimate to 

 consider certain of these exceptional cases, of which the ex- 

 planation is not entirely without reasonable basis. 



It was found that, on the whole, children required less 

 chloroform than adults, both for the induction and for the 

 maintenance of anaesthesia (fig. 3) ; but whether this is due to 



© 2 ,1 e 6 10 «2 14 16 13 20 23 2ft 26 2a BO 32 3» 

 Mrantot 



Fig. 3. — The Chloroform Curve in a Boy aged n. 



their age or merely to their lesser weight could not be 

 accurately determined. In the case of animals, this point can 

 be ascertained with much greater accuracy ; and Embley (I.e.) 

 found that old dogs took much longer to become anaesthetised 

 with the same percentage than young dogs of the same 

 weight. 



Thin people also took a smaller percentage than the average, 

 even when of adult age (fig. 4) ; but occasionally a puzzling case 

 is met with, as occurred in one of Dr. Levy's patients, where, 

 for no reason that could be detected, a thin woman required 



