GENERAL ANESTHESIA. 57 



a portion of tissue becomes gangrenous. In one case mentioned b}- 

 Cadiot the vein was destroyed throughout ahnost the entire length of 

 the neck. Furthermore, chloral acts as a vaso-dilator, increasing 

 haemorrhage during operation. Finall}-, although it has been little 

 used, chloral is responsible for a considerable number of deaths. 

 Moller killed a number of horses b)- injecting twelve and a half 

 drachms in solution. As the horses were not weighed, it might be 

 said that this dose was too large, but Cadiot has had a death with 

 the prescribed dose, where the quantity administered did not exceed 

 one and a half drachms per hundred pounds of body- weight. Fifteen 

 to twenty minutes after administration, when the operation was almost 

 complete, respiration ceased, and a few seconds later death resulted, 

 despite efforts made to establish artificial respiration. 



Although when performed antiseptically and by skilled operators 

 intra-venous injection ma}' be innocent, it has given such bad results in 

 the hands of the majority that it has been renounced, among others, by 

 veterinar}' surgeons of the eminence of Peuch, Trasbot, Moller, and 

 Cadiot. 



Administered b}- the mouth in doses of ten to twenty drachms 

 diluted solutions of chloral produce drowsiness, loss of co-ordination 

 of movement, but not complete anaesthesia. The method, however, 

 is of value in practice. 



Chloral and Morphine. — To avoid the accidents resulting from 

 intra-venous injection of chloral Cadeac and Malet associated chloral 

 with morphine. They claim to produce complete anaesthesia by sub- 

 cutaneously injecting a solution of fifteen grains of hydrochloride of 

 morphine, and at the end of ten minutes giving an enema containing 

 twenty to twenty-five drachms of chloral. 



Anaesthesia is not always produced. It appears slowly, and some- 

 times only after prolonged excitement. Esser recommends this method 

 where chloroform is contra-indicated. 



Morphine, in the form of subcutaneous injection, has been recom- 

 mended to quiet small animals, and in the horse to produce slight 

 anaesthesia for trifling operations in the standing position. According 

 to the animal's size the dose varies from three to seven grains. In 

 certain horses morphine produces somnolence and more or less pro- 

 nounced relaxation of muscular tissue. Irritable or even dangerous 

 animals become quiet and easy to handle. Others, however, even 

 after large doses, show excitement lasting several hours. The patients 

 act violently, exhibit disordered movements, kick, and thrust their 

 heads against the wall, as in indigestion complicated with brain 

 mischief. Morphine must, therefore, be considered uncertain as an 



