628 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



From two volumes published last year by a well-known 

 anaesthetist ^ on the chloroform problem, a few remarks may 

 be abstracted, in order to show how the phenomena witnessed 

 in chloroform anaesthesia may lead a skilled clinical observer to 

 views for which at present there is no sufficient experimental 

 evidence, though it is impossible for any one to den}'^ that the 

 deprivation of oxygen may play a very important part in 

 throwing the cells of the neuro-muscular apparatus out of 

 action. The author considers that " chloroform and ether are 

 typical examples of a group of agents which possess the 

 power of abstracting oxygen (from the blood) without other- 

 wise injuring the blood." ^ Again, "all narcotic agents are 

 oxidisable, and cause all their results (direct and indirect) 

 by abstracting oxygen from the blood." ^ "They do not act 

 directly upon the cerebral centres, but indirectly through the 

 intermediation of the -oxy factor, which it would appear is 

 the only known cause of the suspension of their functions."^ 

 Further, he states that " it is impossible for chloroform to remain 

 in the blood without becoming oxidised ; but if there be an 

 excess in the circulation, i.e. such an amount as will require more 

 for its oxidation than can be supplied by blood, what influence 

 does the rest exert ?"^ The purpose of this article is not to 

 criticise the views held by any one ; but the ideas put forward 

 in this way, supported as they are by no sufficient evidence, 

 are in absolute contradiction to a knowledge which has been 

 most slowly built up by experimental methods. All the 

 evidence acquired by experiments to determine this particular 

 fact, whether any oxidation processes whatever are possible 

 within the blood-stream, has uniformly shown that no measur- 

 able consumption of oxygen under any circumstances, even 

 by a substance so easily oxidisable as p3T0gallic acid, can be 

 detected with certainty while the blood is within the vessels. 

 It is a cardinal fact, and one accepted by every physiologist, 

 that the consumption occurs within the tissue cells of the bod}^, 

 and that this is dependent entirely, not upon the supply of 

 oxygen, but upon the requirements of the entire organism. The 

 evidence for this is to be found in any physiological text-book. 

 For example, Schmiedeberg found that such easily oxidisable 



* The CHCI^-problofi, by Richard Gill. 2 vols. 1906. 

 ^ Vol. ii. p. 275. ■• Vol. ii. p. 279. 



^ Vol. ii. p. 278. * Vol. ii. p. 267. 



