195 



liquid; to this twenty-five drops more were added, when the patient 

 began inhaling. Breathing at first slow ; inhaled 12 or 15 times, 

 occupying from a minute to seventy-five seconds. "One of the 

 dentists thinks she remained about 10 minutes in the operating 

 chair, and that life was not extinct until the end of that time ; the 

 other estimates the time at 5 minutes." 



One says he does not know whether she breathed after being laid 

 on the sofa or not, the other thinks she did not. The chloroform 

 used was the same as previously employed in numerous cases, with- 

 out unpleasant results. 



Medical aid was not obtained until after the patient was laid upon 

 the sofa. Dr. A. H. Baker, who was the first physician there, did 

 not reach the house until probably 30 minutes after respiration had 

 ceased. Even at this period, vigorous measures were instituted for 

 resuscitation — under the direction of Drs. Locke, Mussey and Law- 

 son, but without effect. A post-mortem examination was made 26 

 hours after death, by Dr. Lawson, in the presence of Drs. Mussey, 

 Baker and Mulford. A minute account of which is detailed, with 

 the history of the case, in the Western Lancet for March, 1848. 

 We need only state here some of the more prominent post-mortem 

 appearances. The lungs were considerably but not intensely in- 

 jected, crepitated freely at all points, no extravasation. Lining 

 membrane of the bronchite slightly congested, apparently the result 

 of recent catarrh. Pleura at all points highly injected; six drachms 

 of bloody serum in the right, and two ounces in the left chest. 



Pericardium contained six drachms of bloody serum, heart flaccid, 

 and all its cavities entirely empty; inner surface of both ventricles 

 and auricles deeply stained. Aorta and pulmonary artery empty; 

 no blood in the cava within the chest, and a very small quantity in 

 the part which lies within the abdomen. 



Nothing remarkable in the brain, or cavity of the abdomen. The 

 blood was as fluid as water in every part of the body; not a coagulum 

 was seen in any vessel. Examined with a microscope, the globules 

 appeared altered somewhat in form, some were irregular in shape, 

 and they seemed generally distended and more globular than is 

 normal; they were also somewhat fragmentary, a part apparently 

 having been ruptured; their number seemed somewhat diminished. 

 The colour in every part of the system was that of dark venous 

 blood. Some judicious remarks on the above case will be found in 

 the paper of Dr. Mussey, in the Boston Medical and Surgical 



