60 Richardson's Etlier-Spray. [Jan., 



The first time the process was applied at all was in the case of 

 tooth extraction on the 11th of December, 1865. The instrument 

 used was one in which the ether was exposed to freezing mixture 

 before being distributed in the atomized form, and Dr. Kichardson 

 has thus described the case : — 



" The patient was a lady, who required to have five front teeth 

 extracted. I had previously administered chloroform to this lady 

 for a tooth extraction, but the inhalation had produced so much 

 irregularity in the action of the heart and other disagreeable 

 symptoms, that I considered it inadvisable to repeat chloroform, 

 and she herself was only too ready to give the local measure a trial. 

 The extraction was performed by my friend, Mr. Peter Matthews. 

 On directing the ether spray first at a distance, and then closely 

 upon the gum over the first central incisor on the left side, we 

 observed, at the end of fifty seconds, that the gum had become as 

 white as the tooth itself, and quite insensible. I then directed the 

 vapour upon the tooth for twenty or thirty seconds more, and on 

 the patient intimating that she did not feel, I suggested to Mr. 

 Matthews to proceed. He extracted a very firm tooth without the 

 slightest expression of pain. The process being continued in 

 the same manner, he extracted three other teeth with the forceps. 

 The fourth gave way, and had to be removed by the lever ; but in 

 all cases the result was equally good. Not a drop of blood was 

 lost ; there was no painful reaction ; and the healing process pro- 

 ceeded perfectly." 



The writer of this article has also had an opportunity of wit- 

 nessing the wonderful effects of the spray in an operation performed 

 on a near relative, and a brief account of it may not be unin- 

 teresting. She had long been suffering from a small tumour which 

 had grown under the nail of the great toe, and the nail had been 

 removed and various chemical substances applied, but after nearly 

 two years' treatment it remained as painful as ever, and nothing was 

 left but the excision of the affected part. At the house of a friend 

 Dr. Eichardson applied the spray, whilst one of our ablest metro- 

 politan surgeons removed the tumour. The spray was administered 

 with an instrument to be described presently, and in a few seconds 

 the whole of the end of the toe assumed a white appearance, as 

 though it had been poulticed for many days, but it was perfectly 

 hard, and the circulation was effectively arrested. In a few seconds 

 more the skilful hand of the surgeon had, with the scalpel and other 

 suitable instruments, painlessly removed the tumour and with it a 

 little of the bone, for it proved to have arisen from an abnormal 

 growth of the bone, known as exostosis. After it was removed, 

 the surgeon discovered that a little more bone would have to be 

 clipped off: the ether-spray was again applied, without pain, to the 

 open wound, and the operation successfully accomplished. A little 



