8 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



the system ; but with a view of testing the accuracy of the statement quoted 

 which, as you will observe, was made in the most decided and emphatic man- 

 ner, without the slightest limitation or reservation to repeat a series of ex- 

 periments on some animals in your presence to whom I administered nitrous 

 oxide before the members of the Odontographic Society, three weeks since. 

 The gas was then given as follows : 



1st experiment — A white rabbit, in good condition, was placed upon the 

 table, held by assistants, and Barker's flexible india-rubber hood adjusted over 

 the face of the animal, so that it could inhale the gas directly from the gum- 

 bag. A valve in the inhaler admitted of the ingress of nitrous oxide gas to 

 the lungs, and of the egress of the carbonic acid from them. After some 

 little resistance, the rabbit became sensibly affected by the gas, in a minute 

 and a quarter fell over on its side perfectly motionless, so completely narco- 

 tized that, on being held up by the ears, feet, or tail, it made no resistance, 

 and would have been taken for dead but for slight respiration and the evident 

 movements of the heart on applying the hand to the chest. In two minutes 

 and ten seconds it revived, and sprang from the table to the floor, apparently 

 unaffected by the experience it had just passed through. 



2d experiment. — Another white rabbit was treated in the same manner as 

 the first, with the exception that the gas was applied for a longer period, (Im. 

 20 sec), and the animal was much slower in recovering from the effects. 

 Several of the gentlemen, indeed, thought that life had become extinct, but 

 five minutes after the induction of narcosis, it was running about on the floor 

 with its companion. 



3d experiment. — A kitten, about four months old — which had been suffering 

 from the distemper, refusing solid food during the preceding five weeks, and 

 on. drinking milk almost invariably vomited it — was then treated as the other 

 animals had been. The resistance to the inhalation of the gas was much 

 greater on her part, and the urinary organs were so much affected that quite 

 a profuse discharge of urine occurred. In I ra. 30 sec. the animal was com- 

 pletely narcotized, and remained in an inanimate condition for 1 ni. 10 sec, 

 when it gradually revived, and appeared none the worse for the free supply of 

 the gas. 



4th experiment. — The gas was then introduced into a bell-glass receiver over 

 a water bath, aud a frog placed under the glass ; but apparently owing to the 

 rapidity with which water absorbs nitrous oxide, the animal remained there 

 for more than half an hour unaffected by it. 



5th experiment. — Another frog was placed in a wet bladder, the opening of 

 which was tied tightly around the nozzle of the inhaler, and the gas passed 

 into the bladder; in 3 m. 33 sec. the frog was lying on his back perfectly 

 motionless, the translucence of the bladder affording a view of his position 

 and condition. On untying the string and taking the animal out of the blad- 

 der, the access of fresh air revived it at once, and it jumped from the table 

 with its usual vigor. 



These experiment occupied about one hour, and some idea may be gained 

 of the freeriom with which the agent was administered to the animals by the 

 fact that about forty gallons of gas were used up. At the close of the even- 

 ing, when the meeting adjourned, the animals were perfectly comfortable.* 



Mr. Chas. Bullock remarked that the impression so commonly- 

 held as to the effect of the continued inhalation of oxygen has been 

 recently shown to be erroneous, and suggested the possibility that 

 the varying effects might be due to allotropic states, in one of which, 



* All of these animals have been under my daily supervision during the jsast three 

 months, since the performance of the experiment, and none of them have n^anitested any 

 discomfort, but, on the contrary, are in a perfectly healthy condition, the kitten in par- 

 ticular having improved so much under the remedy that, in a day or so after inhaling the 

 gas, it partook freely of its food, and has been quite active and playful ever since. 



