122 POISONING BY CHLOROFORM 



likely to prevent trouble, and the former would 

 appear to be the better. If possible, ether should be 

 given to patients who have been starved, to fat 

 children, and, especially, where the urine strikes a red 

 colour with ferric chloride. Diabetics require special 

 care. If prolonged vomiting follows recovery from 

 the anaesthetic, the poison should be diluted by a 

 large injection of saline into the rectum, which often 

 works wonders. If acetone can be smelt in the 

 breath, glucose or alkalies, or both, should be intro- 

 duced into the blood by transfusion, but success is 

 not very probable, as these remedies cannot restore 

 the fatty liver and other viscera to normal. 



Whether the acidosis is the cause of the vomiting, 

 or whether the starvation consequent on the vomiting 

 causes the acidosis, is not yet certain, but we may 

 safely attribute the drowsiness to the acids in the 

 blood, and they probably share in bringing about 

 the fatal termination. 



