499 
1907-8.] On the Rate of Elimination of Chloroform. 
shows, the anaesthesia is determined by the amount fixed in the brain rather 
than by the amount in the blood. 
Since these observations had been made on dogs and cats, and since 
rabbits were the most convenient animals for the study of the question 
when the chloroform was given by the stomach and hypodermically, it was 
considered desirable to reinvestigate the subject on these animals. 
The rabbits were chloroformed by placing a towel saturated with 
chloroform on the face till full anaesthesia was produced. They were then 
either killed immediately or allowed to live for a varying period. Death 
was produced by a blow behind the head, and the blood, about 20 c.c., was 
collected by cutting the carotid and receiving the blood in a measured 
volume 100 c.c.’s of the alcohol and tartaric acid, used by Nicloux. The 
following results were obtained : — 
Kept 
under for 
No. 
Weight. 
Time after 
Adminis- 
tration. 
Amt. of 
CHC1 3 
in Blood. 
Remarks. 
10 mins. 
XXII. 
1660 grms. 
0 
77’3 and 78 
Respiration stopped. 
5 
>) 
XXIII. 
1500 „ 
0 
61 
Respiration and heart stopped, 
cyanosis. 
3 
?) 
LXII. 
LXIII. 
800 „ 
0 
0 
30-8 
46-4 
Full anaesthesia. 
>5 55 
5 
55 
LXIY. 
XXIX. 
800 " „ 
1820 „ 
0 
25 minutes 
58* 
25*9 
55 # 55 
Conjunct reflexes restored, 
others not. Drowsy, diffi- 
cult to rouse. 
15 
55 
XXVIII. 
1600 „ 
1 hour 
16*6 
10 
55 
XLII. 
1150 „ 
1 „ 
15-4 
Drowsy and staggery. 
55 
55 
XLHI. 
1200 „ 
1 55 
13-2 
Normal. 
55 
55 
XXXIV. 
1050 „ 
1 „ 
3 3 
Wild rabbit, complete re- 
covery. 
55 
55 
LIX. 
2 hours 
18* 
Kept in cage. 
55 
55 
LXVII. 
1400 *’ „ 
2 „ 
19-4 
Kept in cage ; still sluggish. 
Left free ; lively. 
55 
55 
LX. 
2510 „ 
2 „ 
4-5 
15 
55 
LV 1 I. 
500 „ 
2 „ 
4.7 
10 
55 
LXV. 
2 1 5, 
21-4 
Kept in cage. 
5) 
55 
LV. 
2250*” „ 
3 „ 
7.4 
55 
55 
LIV. 
1700 „ 
3J ,5 
io- 
Breathing stopped during 
anaesthesia. 
15 
55 
LVIII. 
450 „ 
4 ,5 
o- 
When our results were tabulated, the very varying amounts of chloro- 
form found in the blood at the end of two and three hours puzzled us 
considerably, but upon investigation we found that in the more recent 
experiments, in which the proportion of chloroform was so high, the 
rabbit had been placed in a very small cage in the research-room without 
any possibility of moving about. To test if this might explain the results 
obtained, two rabbits were chloroformed alongside one another by the 
