Safe Ancesthesia. [February, 
objects, which may be held in the forceps, or, if suitably 
mounted with black spot, examined on the ordinary 3x1 
slide, for holding which a spring clip is provided. A little 
practice with the mirror will enable great variety in illu- 
mination to be obtained. The definition is remarkably good, 
showing the markings of some of the coarser diatoms, such 
as Arachnoidiscus and Isthmia, and will prove useful as a 
demonstration microscope, as it can easily be passed from 
hand to hand with little chance of the adjustments becoming 
deranged. It will be also very useful to those who, from 
unsteadiness of hand, are unable to use a lens of tolerably 
high power, as no amount of tremor can interfere with its 
definition, and when packed in its case it can easily be 
carried in the waistcoat-pocket. 
Mr. Zentmayer has contrived a stage for his new micro- 
scope which has virtually no thickness whatever. By placing 
the slide below the stage instead of above, as usual, every 
impediment to employment of illuminating pencils of ex- 
treme obliquity is done away with. The objeCt is secured 
beneath the stage by a pair of spring clips. The whole of 
this very simple contrivance can be removed at pleasure, 
and the usual stage substituted when required. 
VIII. SAFE ANAESTHESIA. 
HE dangers attending the administration of chloroform 
as an anaesthetic agent have always been a source of 
great anxiety to surgical operators ; but while many 
other so-called safe anaesthetic agents have from time to 
time been proposed, it has hitherto been impossible to omit 
chloroform from its position as the only practical anaesthetic 
in surgical operations of a protracted nature. It will, however, 
be a source of great gratification to the whole of the members 
of the medical profession to know that the subject is under 
investigation, and that a competent committee are endea- 
vouring not only to discover wherein the special dangers of 
chloroform consist, but also to discover if some anaesthetic 
agent can be found which will avoid these dangers. The 
Committee of the British Medical Association, consisting of 
Dr. Coats, Pathologist to the Western Infirmary, Glasgow ; 
Dr. Ramsay, Assistant to the Professor of Chemistry ; and 
