602 THE DANGERS OF ANESTHETICS. 



The fictitious properties of these magnetic appliances are not without the 

 support of maay testimonials some of which are from clergymen. If these 

 published recommendations arc authentic we can only wonder at the extra- 

 ordinary power of faith as a healing agent. 



In one of the pamphlets attention is drawn to the "Magnetic Pavement," 

 for the prevention and cure of disease in horses (we presume the magnetic 

 power of this wonderful invention acting on the iron shoes of the horses 

 would not be sufficient to fix them immovably in their stalls), oxen, sheep, 

 &c. Surely the height of absurdity is here reached. 



The examples we have given will show that it is no phantom we are 

 attacking, but a wide-spread and flourishing system. While the fortune- 

 teller, the public spiritualist, and the card sharper are dragged to justice, 

 the plausible brood, who in this way delude the simple and the poor, are 

 left at liberty and even protected in their evil practices by Her Majesty's 

 patent laws. Their day, however, is happily drawing to a close. A true 

 education will remove the ignorance necessary to their subsistence. The 

 next generation, we trust, will kill the snake outright, and bury it in that 

 Limbo, to which sooner or later, all Quackery must come. — London Telegraphic 

 Journal. 



THE DANGERS OF ANAESTHETICS. 

 BY A. H. TREGO, D. D. S., KANSAS CITY, MO. 



A recent fatal result from use of JN itrous Oxide Gas has caused consid- 

 erable excitement and exaggerated comments. To say the least of it, it is 

 preposterous for any one to assert that there is "no danger " in depriving 

 the human organism of all sensibility by use of anaesthetics. It is claimed 

 that fewer deaths have resulted from " gas " than from chloroform or ether. 

 This is explained by the fact that fewer persons (in proportion) have been 

 made insensible by its use It is almost impossible to get a nervous patient, 

 or one with weak lungs, to breathe sufficiently rapid to become entirely 

 imsesthetized by nitrous oxide. Professor Zeigler says the effect of nitrous 

 oxide gas is " the point beyond superlative exhilaration.". For instance, a 

 horse is trained to trot at the rate of 2:18, you urge him to that point and 

 by further urging he breaks, becomes demoralized and insensible to out- 

 ward influences. Horses have died on the track from superlative exhilara- 

 tion. 



The fatal cases from nitrous oxide seem to have been patients who were 

 susceptible to sudden death from any unusual excitement — as fright, over- 

 exertion or the anxiety natural to having a dreaded operation performed. 

 The anaesthetic simpl}^ drove the circulation to a point beyond its normal 

 capacity. This condition of exhilaration applies more especially to gas, 

 as with chloroform and ether the effect is mere narcosis. More bad effects 

 result' from gtis than fi-um other agents, in proportion, on account, undoubt- 



