248 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Sep 



So that after wasting a vast amount of time, I came to 

 the conclusion that the Vorticellidae were an unprepara- 

 ble lot. Some months ago, however, eucaine hydrochlo- 

 ride was introduced as an anaesthetic locally for minor op- 

 erations in surgery, principally on the eye, nose and 

 throat. Reading in medical papers some very apprecia- 

 tive notices of its action compared with that of cocaine, I 

 procured some for experiment, and almost the first trials 

 were upon the VorticellidaB, the idiosyncrasies of which 

 under a narcotizing agent I knew so well. My delight 

 was extreme when I found that the majority of species 

 were infinitely better narcotized with eucaine. Passing on 

 to other genera of Protozoa I found that, generally speak- 

 ing eucaine would practically supersede cocaine for work 

 among the Protozoa, and not only cocaine, but camphor 

 mono-bromide, atropine, morphia hydrochlorate, etc. As 

 I was desirous of thoroughly appraising the value of eu- 

 caine as a general narcotizer, I proceeded to try it on 

 various families. Among the Rotatoria I selected several 

 species that had given me considerable trouble when us- 

 ing cocaine, Asplanchna priodonta being one of them ; 

 this I found could be rapidly prepared when using eu- 

 caine, and far more effectively also. But in order to con- 

 firm my own conclusions, I got Mr. C. F. Rousselet to in- 

 troduce eucaine into his practice, and he reports most fa- 

 vorably on its action iD preparing FloscularisB and other 

 somewhat difficult forms. Among the Vermes 1 selected 

 a specimen of Nais proboscidea in an advanced stage of 

 budding, as I had always found that cocaine and other 

 narcotizing agents, when applied to a Nais in this condi- 

 tion, irritated it to such an extent that severance always 

 took place at the budding segments. With eucaine, the 

 irritation was so much le§s that almost satisfactory mounts 

 could be obtained. 



With cocaine, a two per cent solution is most generally 

 used, but eucaine seems far more energetic in its action, 



