46 ANAESTHESIA. 



Eight horses were given a mixture of equal parts chloroform and 

 ether. The average quantity used was 54 fluid drachms, and the 

 time interval 30 minutes. 



Needless to say the sample of chloroform used must be pure, 

 and should contain no free chlorine, which produces excessive 

 irritation. To prevent chloroform undergoing change by keeping, 

 a little ether is added to it and the liquid placed in yellow 

 bottles with ground stoppers and stored in a cool dark place. 

 Another method consists in adding 1 part in 1000 of sulphur 

 which has previously been washed with ammonia, and afterwards 

 with water. 



Apparatus. Chloroform can be administered from a towel, sponge, 

 tampon of tow, or a linen compress, but in England Cox's or Carlisle's 

 muzzle is usually employed. Although the rapid method is con- 

 sidered dangerous by some, it is that most commonly used. 



Abroad great precautions are taken. The chloroform is given 

 from a compress, and by one nostril only, being added drop by drop 

 at the rate of two or three drops per second. To avoid irritation, 

 produced by the liquid coming in contact with the skin or mucous 

 membrane, the nose may be smeared with vaseline. 



Being very volatile, chloroform can be given by a modification 

 of Junker's apparatus. In its simplest form this consists of a tall 

 glass cylinder, containing the ansesthetic, closed by a bung or large 

 rubber cork pierced with two holes, giving passage to wide glass 

 tubes. One tube passes to the bottom of the glass ; to this is affixed 

 the bellows ; the other, which only just passes through the cork, 

 is provided with a rubber tube which can be slipped into the animal's 

 nostril. By working the bellows, air is forced through the liquid, 

 becomes charged with the ansesthetic, and, passing into the nostrils, 

 is inhaled. A large form of this apparatus, made in copper and 

 worked by a foot bellows, was very successfully used by Dr. Clarke 

 (who invented it) and myself during 1887-9 in operations for roaring. 

 The glass bottle was replaced by a copper cylinder about fifteen 

 inches in height and four in diameter, the glass tubes by large metal 

 tubes about three quarters of an inch diameter. The long tube passed 

 to the bottom of the copper cylinder and through a circular plate 

 of perforated metal. The blast of air was thus broken up into 

 innumerable small bubbles, which became thoroughly saturated with 

 the ansesthetic vapour. As after prolonged use the apparatus grows 

 extremely cold, and is apt to become clogged from the freezing of 

 water vapour derived from the blast of air, it was found advan- 

 tageous to place it in a bucket containing warm water. Later forms 



