86 
ACTION OF ALCOHOL UPON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. 
According to the usually-received opinion, alcohol intro¬ 
duced into the circulation by absorption from the alimentary 
canal, becomes rapidly destroyed by the combustion with the 
oxygen of respiration. Carbonic acid and water may be the 
immediate results ; or, as is more generally admitted, the 
alchohol passes though a series of transformations, present¬ 
ing derivatives more and more oxygenated, as aldehyde, 
acetic acid, oxalic acid, and finally, carbonic acid. The re¬ 
sults of a series of experiments instituted by MM. Durov, 
Lallemand, and Perrin, point to different conclusions. 
According to these, alcohol is not destroyed in the blood, 
since it may be found in all liquids found there; and, 
moreover, it is eliminated by certain channels, as the lungs, 
the skin, and especially the kidneys. They conclude—1. 
That alcohol is not an alimentary substance, it acting only 
as a modifier of the nervous system; 2. It is neither 
destroyed nor transformed in the economy ; 3. It becomes 
especially concentrated in the liver and in the brain. 4. 
These facts explain the production of certain organic and 
functional changes in the liver, brain, and kidneys.— Gaz. 
Mid. No. 46. 
SULPHURIC ETHER SUBSTITUTED FOR CHLOROFORM AT 
LYONS. 
At Lyons, the second city in France, sulphuric ether has 
almost universally superseded chloroform, both in hospital 
and private practice ; and, as the result of a recent discussion 
at the Medical Society of that town, the following resolutions 
were passed unanimously : e( l. Sulphuric ether employed as 
an anaesthetic is less dangerous than chloroform ; no accident, 
indeed, having followed its exclusive and abundant employ¬ 
ment at Lyons during eight years. 2. Anaesthesia may be 
as constantly and as completely induced by it as by chloro¬ 
form. 3. If ether gives rise to inconveniences which are 
not produced to the same extent by chloroform, these are of 
little consequence as compared with the dangers inherent to 
the use of the latter. 4. Ether should, therefore, be pre¬ 
ferred to chloroform.” It was proposed that the fact of 
using chloroform should be stigmatised as imprudent; but 
the Society declined taking this step, contenting itself with 
