36 
A NEW ANTISEPTIC. 
M. Falconey has recently introduced to the notice of 
the medical profession a new antiseptic agent. It contains 
a large proportion of dried sulphate of zinc, mixed with 
sawdust of the common pine. The rationale of its action 
is supposed to be — cs the sawdust keeps the oxygen of 
the atmosphere from access to the body, and the emana¬ 
tions from the body are oxidized in the saw T dust by the 
atmospheric oxygen. Hence there is no escape of the fetid 
gases. Their internal decomposition is prevented by the 
sulphate of zinc absorbing the water of the body, deliques¬ 
cing and recrystallizing as hydrate, probably with seven 
equivalents of w T ater of crystallization.” 
ACTION OF ANAESTHETICS, AND HOW CHLOROFORM KILLS. 
Dr. J. Chapman in a letter addressed to the Editor of 
the Medical Times and Gazette , states, that having given con¬ 
siderable attention to this subject, he has arrived at the fol¬ 
lowing conclusions: 
s( 1. That as oxidation of nervous tissue is a condition of 
nervous action, the adoption of any process which will pre¬ 
vent such oxidation will produce anaesthesia. 
“ 2. Chloroform, ether, amylene, and other hydrocarbons, if 
inhaled, induce anaesthesia by cutting off more or less com¬ 
pletely the supply of oxygen to the blood as it passes through 
the lungs, and—being combustibles, instead of supporters of 
combustion—by combining with such oxygen as may still be 
associated w ith the blood-corpuscles, they at once prevent the 
oxidation of nervous tissue and suffuse the system with car¬ 
bonic acid. Hence the anaesthesia of extreme drunkenness 
and of the last stage of croup. 
“3. That nitrous oxide, which is a powerful stimulus in the 
first stage of inhalation, induces anaesthesia by causing an 
abnormally rapid combustion throughout the system, and 
thus generates so great an amount of carbonic acid in the 
capillaries as to prevent the access of further oxygen. When 
this stage is reached, oxidation of the nervous tissue is no 
longer possible, and anaesthesia is the result. 
“ 4. That the safety of anaesthetic agents is in inverse pro¬ 
portion to their power. 
“5. That when anaesthetic vapours destroy life, they do so 
