General Surgery 15 



be lost in administering them. Prudence suggests that the best 

 course to pursue is to quickly supply as much as possible of Na- 

 ture's stimulant — pure air, by promptly resorting to artificial respi- 

 ration in the open air, and to place little if any dependence on medi- 

 cinal antidotes. Wood reported before the Berlin Congress in 1890 

 that he had repeatedly taken dogs in which both respiratory and 

 cardiac movements had been absolutely arrested by chloroform or 

 ether and had restored them to life by pumping air in and out of the 

 lungs. Artificial respiration should be persisted in for some min- 

 utes after all signs of vitality have disappeared. When recovery 

 follows the animal needs to be closely watched until the practitioner 

 is thoroughly satisfied that danger no longer threatens. If strych- 

 nine is used it should be injected hypodermically in minute doses. 

 Hobday recommends placing hydrocyanic acid on the back of the 

 tongue. He uses one-eighth of a minim of the four per cent strength 

 to each pound body-weight of the animal. 



For the proper dilution of chloroform with air the employment 

 of some special apparatus is desirable, and it is also advantageous 

 in economizing the drug. In Britain two or three patterns are in 

 use, devised respectively by Hoare, Junker and Hobday, all being 

 worked by manual or pedal compression. But when an animal is pre- 

 viously atropinized a simple inhalation mask suffices. No such care is 

 necessary with ether and the mixtures, which are preferably admin- 

 istered by the simple inhalation mask. When the latter is not avail- 

 able a tumbler or flower-pot may be substituted. 



Chloroform should not be administered in the presence of 

 gas or candle flame, as it is decomposed thereby and sometimes 

 causes a persistent and harassing cough in the operator. 



On account of the depressant action of chloroform and the 

 excitant action of ether, it was believed that the narcosis could be in- 

 creased and the effect on the circulation better controlled if the two 

 drugs were mixed. The first mixture was tried by Weiger, a Vien- 

 nese dentist, in the year 1850. It was composed of nine parts of 

 ether to one of chloroform, and received the name of the Vienna 

 Mixture. 



In, Germany the Billroth Mixture, consisting of ten parts of 

 chloroform, three of ether and three of alcohol, has found much 

 favor. It is undoubtedly the best of the mixtures. It produces pro- 

 found insensibility after a very short period of excitement (one to 



