168 [Assembly 



ourselves of this means of renderiug them insensible to pain 

 whenever we are obliged to perform upon tliera any severe surgi- 

 cal operation. 



The means is easy, safe and efficient, and any intelligent person 

 can administer the ether as I shall describe the method. 



We may make use of pure washed sulphuric ether, or of a 

 mixture of it with chloroform, the mixture being preferable on 

 account of its greater power and concentration, while pure chlo- 

 roform is dangerous and ought not to be employed alone, its 

 vapor being so dense as to be with difficulty removed from the 

 lungs in case an over dose is administered, while sulphuric ether 

 vapor is light and is easily removed. The mixed vapors also act 

 more kindly on account of the slightly stimulating property of the 

 ether overcoming the deadly sedative effect of pure chloroform. 

 In actual practice, I have never known of a single fatal accident 

 from the administration of the vapor, or of this mixture, provided 

 air was also admitted into the lungs mingled with the vapor so 

 as to sustain the functions of life as required for respiration. No 

 unpleasant accident has ever happened under my hands from 

 the administration of either of these aneesthetic agents though 

 my experience has been most extensive, and my observations 

 have been made on persons of all ages and temperaments. I 

 have found that a mixture of four or five measure? of pure sul- 

 phuric ether, and of one measure of pure chloroform (ter-chloride 

 of fermyle,) produced the best effects upon man and upon ani- 

 mals. 



In administering this mixture to man I make use of a folded 

 square towel with the edges pinned together so as to form a hol- 

 low cone leaving the apex of the cone open so as to admit freely 

 the air and to allow the addition of more of the fluid as it eva" 

 porates from the cloth by inhalation. 



The base of the cone is extended over the nose and mouth, so 

 as to enclose thenrf, and the patient is made to breath freely and 

 deeply and as much as possible by the mouth so as to admit in- 

 to the lungs as directly as possible the vapor mixed with the in- 

 haled air. In a few minutes the patient's eyes roll up, the pupils 



