70 MEANS or RESTRAINT. 



GENEEAL ANESTHESIA. 



The three principal agents which recommend themselves by 

 the efficiency and certainty of their action in producing general 

 anesthesia, are ether, chloroform and chloral hydrate. Theu' 

 adaptation varies, however, with the animals subjected to theu' 

 administration. Chloroform and chloral are chiefly used for the 

 larger animals, principally horses, while chloral and ether are re- 

 served for the smaller kinds, with which chloroform is so 

 generally dangerous, and even so often fatal, that its use with 

 them is almost entu"ely discarded. 



Insensibility by Anesthetic Vapors. — The modes adopted for 

 the inhalation of the vapors of chloroform are numerous, but 

 among them all the merit of simplicity should probably be award- 

 ed to that which is recommended by Bouley. This consists in 

 the introduction into each nostril of a small sponge, or a ball of 

 oakum, saturated with the ether or chloroform, and held in 

 place by the hands of assistants. The inhalation of the vapors, 

 which are thus mixed with air, proceeds rapidly, the sponges 

 being recharged as soon as they become exhausted, and returned 

 to the nostrU, until the object in view is accomplished. But 

 while this mode is a very convenient one, we conceive it to be 

 liable to certain objections. 



Fu'st, unless the pouring of the liquid is very carefully per- 

 formed and in such quantity that the sponge is not over-saturated, 

 there is danger that a large portion of it may be wasted, by run- 

 ning off, either on the bed, or possibly, into the nostrils, causing, 

 in the latter case, great irritation of the mucous membrane. 

 And if the anesthesia is to be continued for a considerable length 

 of time, the eifect produced ujDon the delicate membrane of the 

 nose may be sufficiently serious to end in the sloughing of the 

 parts. It must certainly have been with the view of avoiding 

 this complication that Defays invented the inhaler shown in 

 figure 66 with its wide range of aj^pHcation, from the dog to 

 the horse. 



Many veterinarians have adopted an arrangement consisting 

 of a strong leather muzzle with large openings at its bottom and 

 sides for the free admission of the atmospheric air, the sponge 

 or oakum chai'ged with the chloroform or ether being placed in the 

 bottom of the muzzle, which is fixed upon the animal's head in the 



