344 



ACT 39 AND 40 VIC. C. 77 



given, or "just enough to keep the animal quiet." 

 Lately, in an account of some experiments, it was 

 stated that in two or three cases the anaesthesia 

 was incomplete. Such use of chloroform or ether 

 may be made, for good reasons, in certain surgical 

 procedures, or for the alleviation of the pains of 

 childbirth : but alike in surgery and in experiments 

 on animals it is altogether exceptional, or some- 

 thing more than exceptional. 



Morphia is seldom used alone ; but in some 

 cases it is used after chloroform or ether. It is 

 certain that an animal, so far under the influence of 

 morphia that it lies still, cannot be suffering ; for 

 the drug does not act directly on the muscles, but 

 on the higher nervous centres. And, for the 

 purposes of the experiment — to put the matter on 

 the lowest ground — the animal must be kept at 

 rest. 



It has been said that "morphia acts upon dogs 

 as a violent stimulant rather than as a narcotic, 

 large doses causing excitement and convulsions." 

 The reference is to an account, in the British 

 Medical Journal, 14th January 1899, of a paper by 

 Professor Lugaro, of Florence, on certain micro- 

 scopic varicosities on the terminal filaments 

 (dendrites) of the nerve-cells of the surface of the 

 brain. These infinitely minute varicosities are 

 said to contract when the brain is active or 

 fatigued, and expand when it is at rest ; and 

 Lugaro's study of this vanishing-point of structure 

 is the last word, at present, on the physical changes 

 in sleep and unconsciousness. He used various 



