ON THE VAPOUR OP /ETHER. 
139 
its fastenings. My power to do this afterwards astonished me. I 
could not, under ordinary circumstances, have put forth sufficient 
strength to have torn asunder two iron brackets, each three quar- 
ters of an inch wide, and three eighths of an inch thick : these, 
however, I had fairly wrenched apart. I would have persisted, 
and have again inhaled the vapour ; but Mr. Normalised was con- 
vinced of the inutility of further trials, and in that opinion Mr. 
Rivers coincided. My recovery was less uneasy than it had 
been on the prior occasion. The shivering did not appear, and a 
little wine and water seemed to do me good. At the expiration 
of an hour I was able to walk home ; but I had, at four o’clock, no 
appetite for dinner, and during the evening I was low and dull. 
So far I have endeavoured to record my sensations as connected 
with the inhalation of the sethereal vapour. To me that agent, 
at first a narcotic, appears on the slightest excitement to prove a 
violent stimulant, a touch in the latter instance being sufficient to 
alter its action. The stomach on both occasions rejected its con- 
tents, and the pulse, after vomition had occurred, sank in a marked 
degree. The system appeared to suffer, and it required many 
hours to regain its tone. The effects resemble intoxication by 
alcohol, but the two are certainly not the same. The action is 
more speedy, and, when aether is employed, I imagine the brain is 
not directly acted upon. The dreaming which takes place shews 
the cerebrum does not lose its activity, whereas, during the stupor 
induced by alcohol, the drunkard does not dream. The strength 
of the vision which occurs during the quiescence induced, would 
indicate that the brain was rather excited than oppressed. 
During the inhalation, and previous to the loss of power, 
the senses did not appear to me affected. I was rational till con- 
sciousness left me : my ideas were not distorted, nor my im- 
pressions falsified. I knew and saw, even during the swimming 
sensation which immediately precedes insensibility. The heart is 
not influenced, for the pulse, during and after the inhalation, may 
remain unaltered with regard to number : it fell after vomition 
had taken place, but the sympathy consequent on an effect is not 
to be mistaken for the effect itself. The force of the heart is, 
however, reduced, and, if the vapour be largely administered, the 
organ will cease to beat. Motion is not necessarily destroyed, for 
many have had it excited, and have kept their hands in constant 
play during the state of unconsciousness. Motion, moreover, is 
the last lost and the first regained, though some time elapses before 
it is perfectly restored to the control of volition. Then, how 
does the vapour act 1 May I suggest that its operation is confined 
to the ganglionic system, and that the most obvious effects are 
consequent upon sympathy 1 Dogs void the urine and feces prior 
