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The simplest contrivance is the best, and Simpson's folded hand- 

 kerchief rolled into a cone answers well for a brief inhalation. 

 Channing's pasteboard cone, so cheap that each patient may have a 

 new one, lasts through an average midwifery case ; a lamp-chimney, 

 stethoscope, or other tube containing a sponge answers equally the 

 purpose, while for the rapid and complete insensibility required for 

 surgical purposes, and for hospital use, some more durable form of 

 apparatus is requisite. It should comprise a mouth-piece, a recep- 

 tacle for the sponge, and a diaphragm to prevent the flow of the 

 fluid towards the mouth. 



It is optional whether the vapour enter the system simultaneously 

 through the mouth and nasal orifices, or by the mouth alone, the 

 nostrils being closed. It has been said, that the effect is more im- 

 mediate when the nasal cavities are filled with vapour; but the dif- 

 ference in the time of inhalation, if any, is inconsiderable. 



It is a striking fact, that in many of the first experiments both in 

 this country and abroad, vapour was inhaled from a shut cavity or 

 sac in which the contained oxygen must have been rapidly exhausted. 

 If there is one condition vital to the safety of inhalation, it is that 

 an adequate supply of oxygen should be insured to the patient. 



Inhalation should be of atmospheric air impregnated with vapour, 

 and not of vapour alone. Air should be conducted through the 

 medium containing the inebriating agent, and not merely to and 

 from a closed cavity. 



The production of the brief insensibility which suffices for the ex- 

 traction of a tooth, is rarely accompanied with danger or with em- 

 barrassing circumstances ; but the administration of ether for a length 

 of time in a surgical operation, demands much attention. Now it is 

 difficult for the surgeon to attend at once to a dissection, perhaps 

 remote from the head, and at the same time to satisfy himself of the 

 adequacy and safety of the anaesthetic state ; and it is therefore not 

 improbable that the part of etherizing, especially for a length of 

 time and to a considerable extent, will be soon recognized as involv- 

 ing an entirely distinct responsibility, from that of the surgeon who 

 performs the operation. 



Let a patient be now subjected to any of the ordinary modes of 

 inhalation, with the view of inducing for examination, some of the 

 ordinary phenomena of etherization. It is unnecessary either to 

 extenuate or to dissemble the symptoms which occasionally occur 

 during the approach or continuance of the anaesthetic state. Though 

 alarming in connection with the causes which previous experience 



