238 PEtNCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



and the ox and ether for the dog and the cat, will give re- 

 sults that leave but little room for improvement. The mix- 

 ture of anaesthetics is absolutely unsatisfactory, in that the 

 efifects are uncertain, irregular and often treacherous. The 

 administration of hypodermic narcotics previous to the in- 

 halation anaesthetic is unnecessary and often harmful in the 

 horse and the dog, but the use of morphia alone in the dog 

 is quite eflfectual. Ethyl chloride, ethyl bromide, and the 

 alcohol-ether-chloroform mixture cannot reclaim their 

 places among the anaesthetics for animals. Chloral hydrate 

 administered internally in doses of one to one and a half 

 ounces dissolved in a quart of hot water, given on an empty 

 stomach, is an effectual anaesthetic. It produces a partial 

 anaesthesia suitable for certain minor operations. For clip- 

 ping nervous horses, for shoeing the unbroken horse, for 

 the tenesmus of difficult parturition in the mare and the 

 cow, or for any manipulation that requires considerable 

 time and that is aggravating but not very painful, this ex- 

 pedient is quite satisfactory. The anaesthesia begins about 

 thirty minutes after the drench is administered if the stom- 

 ach is not full of food. When full, two to three hours may 

 elapse before the efifect is observed. 



Chloretone produces the most perfect anaesthesia for 

 experimental purposes. From a single dose it causes a last- 

 ing and profound cataleptic state continuing without ces- 

 sation for three days to one week, at the end of which time 

 death supervenes. Given internally the dose is one grain 

 for every two pounds of weight. In the horse, one grain 

 for every three to four pounds of weight, injected intraven- 

 ously in the form of an alcoholic solution, produces an im- 

 mediate effect which will terminate fatally after about two 

 to three days of profound anaesthesia. Chlore^iope is cer- 

 tain in its effects. It can always be depended upon to cause 

 profound anaesthesia if the proper amount be given and 



