146 EFFECTS OF THE INHALATION OF AiTHER ON ANIMALS. 
account of which the patient has been setherealized, to the dismay 
and alarm of the medical attendants. In other cases again ; com- 
paratively rare in their occurrence, the eether has had an exhilarat- 
ing or stimulating effect, something similar to what the nitrous 
oxyde or “ laughing” gas is known to produce. Thus, mostly the 
narcotic, sometimes the stimulant virtues of aether have prevailed ; 
while in other cases there has been evidently present a sort of 
mixture or alternation of these two properties of the aether. The 
writer of this remembers, many years ago, a patient being in St. 
Thomas’ Hospital, in the Borough, who was subject to cataleptic 
fits to that degree that on one occasion she continued four days, 
lying upon her bed in the ward, in a trance. This girl — whose 
name was Durand — quitted the hospital uncured of her catalepsy, 
and was, some months afterwards, by accident, met by the writer 
in the street. And no sooner was the (natural) inquiry made of 
her, as to her “ fits,” than she quickly and cheerfully answered, 
“ Oh ! I am not at all hindered by them now ; for no sooner do I 
happen to fall into one — which is rarely the case — than the people 
I live with pour sether upon my breast, and this immediately re- 
vives me.” So that, notwithstanding sether has the power of 
throwing a person into a lethargy or trance, it clearly, in this in- 
stance, had the power, also, of rousing a person out of one. 
So far as experiments have yet gone, there is good reason to 
look forward to aetherization being both available and useful to 
veterinary surgeons in their practice. The trials made by Mr. 
Mayhew — related in our number for last month — on dogs and cats, 
certainly did not afford the most encouraging results; but some 
experiments of a later date, made on horses and asses, hold out a 
promise to us which we should be sorry to see invalidated or 
weakened by any future experiments of the kind. 
Mr. Barrow, the well-known and respected veterinary sur- 
geon at Newmarket, has kindly sent us the following as the result 
of his experiments : — 
The first Experiment was on a small terrier dog. “ After in- 
haling the setheric vapour for two minutes, it became perfectly un- 
conscious, powerless, and devoid of all sensibility ; and this state of 
insensibility lasted for four minutes. Seeing it, I amputated the 
tail, reflecting the skin covering the dock for half an. inch, and 
cutting through the joint ; all which was done without the dog 
evincing the least sensation, lying as he was upon a table, unre- 
strained. The recovery was gradual, but perfect in the course 
of ten minutes.” 
Experiment II, was on an ass. “ The effect of setherization 
was produced in four minutes, causing him to fall head foremost, 
and to be for the space of three minutes motionless and powerless ; 
