A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANAESTHETICS. 
233 
variations in this respect seem to depend to some extent on 
individual peculiarities of the animals.* 
Dr. Alexander Wilson, Anaesthetist to the Royal Infirmary, 
Manchester, makes several objections, that are most pertinent, 
to the conclusions of the Hyderabad Commission regarding 
the effect of chloroform on man. He says: 
First, there is the difference which may exist in the ac¬ 
tion of chloroform on the heart of man and animals. It has 
been shown that the suddenly fatal cases are rare in human 
subjects in which there is any impediment to free expansion 
of chest; e. g., Clover has pointed out that a phthisical patient 
is less likely to take a fatal dose of chloroform than one with 
healthy lungs, because his chloroform-absorbing capacity is 
diminished. Again, it has been noted that but few patients 
die from chloroform when it is inhaled lying on the side ; also 
that few, if any, sudden deaths are reported in case of ovarian 
tumors. The explanation of these cases is that the interference 
with full expansion of the lungs, by the position or presence 
of the tumor, prevents the lungs taking in the unnecessary 
fatal dose. On the other hand, the greater number of the sud¬ 
denly fatal cases occur in people with healthy chests and large 
vital capacity,'in which the patient being in the natural up¬ 
right position, can give the respiratory muscles full play and 
completely fill the chest. Thus it is worth considering if the 
holding of a struggling animal, such as a dog, might not so in¬ 
terfere with its breathing as to prevent the full dose being 
taken, especially as the animal would not be likely to be held 
in a natural position. There is an indication in the report 
that, in at least some cases, the holding of the animal did ac- 
* tually interfere with respiration. If it did so in one case, it 
probably did in many, especially as a dog’s thorax is so shaped 
that to hold the fore legs together in front of it would prevent 
the complete expansion of its chest, and so prevent it suddenly 
taking a fair dose of chloroform vapor. In animals too, we 
have an absence'of the desire to inhale freely. In at least one 
case reported in man, the wish to inhale chloroform freely 
contributed largely to the fatal result. 
With the human race the “ subject ” is generally young or 
middle aged, with an expansible chest, and the anaesthetic is 
willingly inhaled, quietly at first, until semi-unconsciousness is 
produced, when the fauces and glottis are insensitive. Then, 
* British Medical Journal , 1879, vol. 1, pp. 1 and 921. 
