74 MEANS or KESTKAINT. 



The symptoms of general anesthesia by chloroform, which we 

 have detailed, are those of ordinary cases. There are, however, 

 other symptoms which the vigilant operator will not fail to look 

 for, which are of great importance as indicative of the dangers, 

 and premonitory of some of the casualties incident to the situ- 

 ation. These we reserve for subsequent consideration. 



Anesthesia hy, the Administration of Chloral. — While this 

 drug and its compounds, as sometimes used, produces in some 

 cases a condition of insensibility quite as complete as that ob- 

 tained by chloroform or ether, yet there are cases in which only a 

 less complete degree of success can be secured, though still suffi- 

 cient to be of great assistance to the surgeon as well as of rehef 

 to the patient. That the intra- venous injection of chloral has been 

 shown to be the best of all modes of obtaining anesthesia, is an 

 admitted truth, but unfortunately it is a method of introducing it 

 into the system which will scarcely ever become sufficiently prac- 

 ticable to be available outside of the laboratory. Efforts to over- 

 come the difficulty referred to have not been wanting, however^ 

 and Messrs. Cadeac and Mallet have experimented with chloral by 

 combining its action with that of muriate of morphine. By first 

 injecting subcutaneously a certain quantity of a solution of mor- 

 phine, and following it after a few minutes by a rectal injection 

 of a solution of chloral, they have obtained complete anesthesia 

 in a very short time. For a horse they have used eighty centi- 

 grammes to one gramme of the morphine, and from eighty to one 

 himdred grammes of chloral; and, for a dog, ten centigrammes of 

 morphine and twenty grammes of chloral 



The administration of chloral in the form of balls, as commonly 

 practised by many veterinarians, in doses varying from one to one 

 and a half ounces, given on an empty stomach, and from one to two 

 hours before the operation, is undoubtedly good practice. We 

 have not personally had the opportunity of testing it in cases of 

 long and tedious dissections, but the benefit we have often de- 

 rived from it in short, though painful operations, justifies us in 

 recommending it, not only for this very object, but in any case, 

 where, from any possible cause, an animal is likely to receive severe 

 injuries during his struggles to liberate himself. 



