428 ONE OF THE CAUSES OF DEATH UNDER CHLOROFORM. 



consideration of them may lead ti3 to another conchision. 

 Before attempting to analyse these cases, liowever, I wish to 

 recall to the memory of some here an anecdote regarding the 

 introduction of chloroform into the Edinburgh Infirmary, which 

 Mr. Syme was accustomed to relate in his clinical course. One 

 •of the surgeons of the infirmary, I believe tlie late Professor 

 Miller, had agreed to Sir James Simpson's request to perform, 

 ior the first time, an operation under chloroform. Everything 

 had been prepared, and the tray containing the instruments and 

 "bottle of chloroform was being conveyed into the operating 

 theatre, when the bearer stumbled and fell, and the whole con- 

 tents of the bottle w^ere irretrievably lost. There was no time 

 to get more chloroform, and the operation was performed with- 

 'Out it. The patient died on the table. Had chloroform been 

 administered, the death would have been put down to the 

 .anaesthetic, and not to the operation ; and, in all probability, not 

 .another drop wotdd ever have been used. 



This case shows us — and it is only one of many — tliat deaths 

 aised to occur from shock during operations before the introduc- 

 tion of cldoroform, but they were then put down to their true 

 •cause; wdiereas, since its introduction, one hears little or 

 nothing of death from shock, and much of death from chloro- 

 I'orm. Another circumstance which is well worthy of notice, 

 iand which ouglit to be borne in mind, is the frequency with 

 which the remark occurs in the descriptions of these so-called 

 deaths from chloroform, that a fatal result was all the more 

 •extraordinary and unexpected because the quantity of chloro- 

 form administered had been exceedingly small. Mr. Syme 

 ■would have said that, instead of being extraordinary, it was the 

 very thing to expect ; and if, like liim, the operators had given 

 plenty of chloroform, their patients would not have died. 



And now let us look at the first tv.o cases of death under 

 .chloroform — I will not say from cldoroform — in these two 

 London hospitals, where such a dislike to the anaBsthetic was felt. 



John Shorter, aged 48, a porter, known to Mr. Solly for some 

 time as a very active messenger, of intemperate habits, but 

 .-apparently in perfect health, was admitted into George's 

 Ward, under Mr. Solly, on the 9th October, 1849, suffering from 



