G. ARCHTE STOCK WELL. 
226 
persistent and resistent along- certain lines than our physiolog¬ 
ical studies would lead us to believe, and that morbid condi¬ 
tions that threaten life, perhaps, in one direction, are really 
saving factors in another. 
Chloroform: Formyl Ter-Chloride. 
For physiological experimentation, and in the domain of 
surgery, general or special, chloroform is undoubtedly the 
favorite anaesthetic. I will go even farther and assert that 
for the majority of animal life, man perhaps excepted, it is the 
preferable agent. It is one of the least obnoxious as to odor 
and vapor, is rapid and permanent in effect, convenient as re¬ 
gards bulk and portability, and recovery from its influence 
speedy. These are desirable and important considerations, 
but as regards man, are over-borne by certain specific disad¬ 
vantages. 
Chloroform has first a stimulating, followed by a sedative 
action upon the brain, and derives its anaesthetic power from 
the paralyzing influence it exerts upon the ganglionic centres 
of the sensory nerves, the reflex functions of the cord at the 
same time being held in abeyance. So far, its action is prac¬ 
tically identical in man and lower animals; but when pushed 
to profound narcosis quite different phenomena may super¬ 
vene. And just here it seems necessary to refer to the late 
Hyderabad Chloroform Commission. 
This Commission was the second of its kind and title, and 
like the first, owed its inception to Surgeon-Major Edward 
Lawrie who, confessedly, was animated with the desire of 
vindicating his former teacher, Prof. Syme; the latter, as a 
follower of Thomas Wakely, was accustomed to teach that 
the fatal effects of chloroform arose from paralysis of respira¬ 
tion solely. The first Hyderabad Chloroform Commission 
attracted little attention, since it was composed of gentlemen 
devoid of professional reputation outside of their own social 
circles; and the second would have been equally obscure but 
for the association therewith of Dr. T. Lander Brunton as a 
representative of the Lancet of London, though why a physi- 
