18 
J. F. REID. 
affected with hypertrophy of the heart, valvular lesions, fatty 
heart or where there is limited action of the lungs from em¬ 
physema, old pleurisy, or irritation of the mucous membranes 
with excessive secretion. 
Taking into consideration the very few unfavorable results 
that have occurred from the administration of chloroform to 
horses, (not a single fatality having been recorded in Great 
Britain that I have seen among the great many that have 
been operated upon for roaring) together with the cheapness 
and ease with which anesthesia is produced, makes it the an¬ 
esthetic for the veterinary operator. Indeed I have found it 
quite a difficulty to destroy a horse with chloroform, and Dr. 
John Moore, of Manchester, England, mentions in the Veterin¬ 
ary Journal of March, 1889, an effort of his to destroy a mare 
suffering from diseased liver and ulcerated stomach. He 
writes “ that the mare had practically eaten nothing for a 
month or more, was very emaciated and weak, and being un¬ 
able to rise, was ordered to be destroyed. I administered an 
ounce and a half of chloroform every quarter of an hour for 
an hour and a half, and finding at that time that she possessed 
a fairly full pulse, and which was maintained throughout, I 
destroyed her by pithing, not however, before she began to 
show signs of returning consciousness.” Although I do not 
advise its indiscriminate and careless use, yet this and many 
similar observations prove that the untoward results that 
have been feared are to a great extent imaginary. 
The old theory of free dilution of the vapor with atmos¬ 
pheric air, has been completely revolutionized. Under the 
old method with a calculated dilution of twenty parts to one, 
it was an expensive and prolonged effort to obtain the desired 
result. Indeed many have given it up in despair and disgust, 
after nearly wearing themselves out, and being in more dan¬ 
ger of succumbing to the anesthetic than the patient. Now 
all is changed, for with the proper knowledge and appliances 
(which admit as little air as possible) and from one to four 
ounces of the drug in from two to eight minutes, we can have 
the animal satisfactorily unconscious and ready for the opera¬ 
tion. After this condition is produced, I usually remove the 
