188 



was brought to the notice of the profession in this city, bnt for rea- 

 sons above stated (the increased risk of the chloroform, &c), I am 

 disposed to return to the ether, and since resuming duty on the 1st 

 of the present month I have laid the chloroform aside. My col- 

 league, Dr. Buck, is also disposed to coincide with me in this. ^ 8 

 have as yet become aware of no decidedly fatal case from ether 

 as we have from chloroform, or any. in which its ill effects have 

 been so Berious as to lead to its total condemnation, but would not, 

 however, use it for trifling operations." 



Dr. Geo. Eayward, of Boston, in a letter dated April 10th, after 

 stating that he had used ether in hospital and private practice -ince 

 its first introduction, "without any bad effects in a single case, 

 remarks: kt [ have also used chloroform to - mn extent, and it has 

 answered the purpose in every ease without causing any alarming or 

 troublesome symptoms. At the same time, I confess I am some- 

 what timid about it, from the unfavourable reports in relation to it 

 from various quarters." Dr. Hay ward further states, in this com- 

 munication, that within the last few weeks the Surgeons of the 

 Mass. General Hospital have been using pure chloric ether, and 

 thus far it has succeeded perfectly well. It has the advantage over 

 the sulphuric that it is entirely free from unpleasant odour. 



Dr. Horner, of Philadelphia, remarks on this subject, in a letter 

 dated April 9th, 1848: — "The use of ether and chloroform inhala- 

 tion has become so extensive that anything said now can scarcely 

 affect public opinion. The first I have used very freely Bince May 

 last, and especially during the Last six months, and am happy to 



Bay that no accident has occurred with it that would impair mate- 

 rially its lame. I believe it to be one of the admirable discoveries 

 of modern science in its application to medicine. 



"Chloroform strikes me as being more uncertain in its action, and 

 subjecting the patient to high cerebral excitement, and accumulation 

 of blood in the brain. From some few limited observations 1 have 

 come to the conclusion, that however innocuous these articles may 

 be after puberty, both care and judgment should be scrupulously 

 exercised in the anterior periods of life." 



!>-,•. Mutter, of Philadelphia, remarks in a note accompanying 

 the tables, from the Jefferson .Medical College — "I have witnee 



in my own practice, and thai of Others, al least tWO hundred expe- 

 riment-, iii severe operations with ether and chloroform, and up to 

 the present moment do accident or serious mishap has occurred. 

 Indeed, with the ether, I have witnessed nothing approaching to 



