172 REPORT—1868. 
This is 16° F. (8°-8 C.) higher than has been given to it by other observers, 
as well as by myself. Quite independently I had also detected this error, 
which has arisen, I doubt not, from the presence, in the earlier specimens of 
the fluid, of a little chloride of methyl. I think that even yet there is some 
slight cause of error, and that the boiling-point is actually 111° F. (48°8 C.). 
The difficulty of manufacturing bichloride of methylene in sufficient quan- 
tities at a reasonable cost is, I repeat, the only objection to its more general 
employment. In quantities of two or three ounces the manufacture is easy ; 
but the distillation at a low temperature, which is required, renders the pro- 
cess tedious on a large scale, and therefore expensive. The difficulties, I 
trust, will in time be overcome. 
Nirrire or Amyt. 
In my first Report on nitrite of amyl I suggested its employment by in- 
halation in cases of acute spasmodic disease, as in tetanus. I reported last 
year that the nitrite had, at the instance of Dr. Brunton, been used for the 
treatment of one of the most painful spasmodic complaints; I mean cardiac 
apncea, or, as it was formerly called, angina pectoris. The practice continues 
to be followed, and the effect has been remarkable for good: the paroxysm of 
angina is often relieved with almost instant action ; and from experience of 
the value of this ready means of giving breath to persons whose chests are for a 
moment immoyeably fixed it is becoming widely applied. I have seen myself 
the happiest results from this method, and I have therefore given attention to 
the details of the administration, so as to render it safe. In my last Report 
I mentioned ether as a solvent; but on testing the solubility of the nitrite 
and the solutions which give it up most steadily, I find nothing to answer so 
well as absolute alcohol. The best solution is one containing ten parts of the 
nitrite in 500 of alcohol. Practically, and for easy remembrance, 50 minims 
of the nitrite to 1 fluid ounce of the alcohol may be considered a proper mix- 
ture. I exhibited this compound; and it will be found even agreeable as a 
fluid for inhalation. In using it not more than two fluid drachms should be 
applied at once. The fluid should be poured upon a handkerchief arranged 
in the shape of a funnel, or into a funnel of paper, and the vapour should be 
inhaled gently. 
I dwell on the necessity of using this dilute alcoholic solution, because the 
nitrite of amyl, in its pure state, is one of the most potent of agents. In one 
instance, as I have before recorded, a friend of mine, by inhaling it incau- 
tiously, nearly destroyed himself. It is, in fact, as quick to kill, by the sudden 
paralysis of the blood-vessels which it induces, as it is to relieve muscles of 
spasm. 
r Nitrite of amyl has been used in the later stages of cholera by Dr. Hayden, 
of Dublin. I recorded this fact last year at Dundee. Happily we have had 
no occasion to test the virtue of the remedy further in this direction during 
the past twelve months. 
Tope or Meruyt. 
Todide of methyl, briefly noticed in my last Report, has come into very 
important use during the past year. I showed at Dundee that it was an agent 
which could be made, by careful inhalation, to produce anesthesia, but that 
it was very difficult to manage in the form of vapour. Its remarkable seda- 
tive effect led me to study its influence when administered by the mouth, and 
I commenced to learn the dose that could be borne by taking it myself, in 
solution with alcohol. I found that a grain could be taken with perfect 
