320 



through a cylinder full of it. In this final purification of genuine, 

 although not quite pure chloroform, no distillation is necessary. 



13. It may be considered as certain, that the use of chloroform, 

 thus purified, will very rarely, if ever, cause the disagreeable effects 

 above noticed.* As to more serious bad results from the use of 

 chloroform, so often spoken of elsewhere, it is enough to state, that 

 a large proportion of the cases must be attributed to the use of a 

 liquid so impure, as hardly to deserve the name of chloroform at all. 

 Such a product, I I'ejoice to say, our Edinburgh manufacturers have 

 never sold ; and, I may add, that, no doubt chiefly in consequence of 

 this, our practitioners have not yet seen a fatal result from the use 

 of chloroform. But in London, and elsewhere, chloroform has been 

 extensively sold, so bad, that I have examined specimens which did 

 not contain half of their bulk of chloroform ; others with not one third 

 or one fourth ; and I have seen one which hardly contained any at 

 all. But, to make up for this, they were rich in poisonous oils, and 



* Dr Simpson informs me, that the purest chloroform he has used not unfre- 

 quently causes vomiting. On further inquiry I find that this occurs when it is 

 administered after a full meal. This can easily be avoided, and must not be 

 confounded with the headaches, nausea, and vomiting alluded to in §§ 4 and 5 ; 

 which symptoms are persistent, and occurred, in my experiments, always with 

 an empty stomach, the experiments being made an hour or two before dinner. 

 Dr Carmichael, assistant to Dr Simpson, has mentioned to me some facts which 

 confirm the view I have taken. At one period, for more than a week, Dr 

 Simpson and Dr Carmichael were kept in a state of continual anxiety by the 

 occurrence, in all the puerperal cases in which chloroform was used, of very 

 unpleasant symptoms, particularly of frequent pulse and other febrile symp- 

 toms, lasting for some days. At last, after much annoyance from this 

 cause, it occurred to Dr Simpson that he was using one particular speci- 

 men of chloroform, supposed to be of good quality. As soon as this idea 

 occurred, he threw away all that remained, and returned to that which he had 

 generally used. The unpleasant symptoms no longer appeared. (I regret 

 much that I had not an opportunity of examining that specimen; but I may 

 add that the maker, not an Edinburgh one, now produces chloroform of much 

 better quality, though not yet absolutely pure.) But the striking fact is this, 

 that Dr Simpson and Dr Carmichael state, that during the period above alluded 

 to, when that one kind of chloroform alone was used by them, their handkerchiefs 

 became quite offensive from the smell left on them, which even adhered to them after 

 washing. There can, I think, be no doubt that here the oily impurities alluded 

 to in §§ 4 and 5 were present in notable quantity. I suspect that a majority of 

 the specimens mentioned in the Table would have a similar efi'ect, more or less 

 marked. (I have since ascertained that this chloroform, which was much above 

 the average in quality, had not been subjected to the action of oil of vitriol in its 

 preparation, which strongly confirms the view I have taken. W. G.) 



