548 
DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
In the Journal of the American Medical Association , August 
31, 1901, appears an article entitled “Notes on Anaesthetics,” 
by D. H. Galloway, M. D., of Chicago, Ill. Most of the notes 
referred to in the article are as important to the veterinarian as 
to the human surgeon ; and we will quote the valuable ones to 
the veterinary surgeon with due credit to the author and The Jour . 
A. M. A. u A man cannot do two things at once so skillfullv 
as he can do either one of them by itself. A surgeon cannot do 
his most skilful operating while devoting half his attention to 
the anaesthetic. * * * A surgeon is frequently more concerned 
about the result of the anaesthetizer’s work than he is about the 
results of his own work. * * * Constant anxiety about the 
anaesthetic divides the attention of the surgeon between what he 
is doing and what some one else is doing and must hinder the 
progress of the operation. * * * In many cases more skill is 
required to administer the anaesthetic than is required to do the 
operation. * * * An operation may be devoid of danger; 
an anaesthetic is never administered without jeopardizing the life 
of the patient. * * * In more than half of the cases the patient 
is in greater danger from the anaesthetic than he is from the op¬ 
eration. * * A good anaesthetizer need not necessarily be a 
good operator ; neither are all surgeons good anaesthetizers. * * * 
Death from an anaesthetic may occur in the hands of the most 
skilful anaesthetizer, but in a great majority of cases in which 
death occurred the anaesthetic has been in the hands of the un¬ 
skilled. ' * * The skilled anaesthetizer seldom,if ever,touches 
the globe of the patient’s eye with his fingers ; it is unnecessary 
and may do much damage. * * •* The anaesthetizer should 
be considered a consultant to the surgeon, rather than his assist¬ 
ant ; it is as important that he be an expert in the giving of an¬ 
aesthetics as that the surgeon be an expert in operating. * * * 
The surgeon cannot do any operation of consequence and admin¬ 
ister the anaesthetic too ; therefore, the patient should be made to 
understand that at least two men are required and that they are 
equally entitled to pay for their services. * * * '1 he anaesthetizer 
must not forget that the anaesthetic is to be given on account of 
the necessity for surgical operation and that the reverse is never 
the case ; hence, the anaesthetizer’s position is of necessity sub¬ 
ordinate to that of the surgeon. As a rule the anaesthetizer must 
use the anaesthetic selected by the surgeon, though when anaes¬ 
thetics are administered only by skilled men it is probable that 
a selection of the anaesthetic will be left to the anaesthetizer. * * * 
No man can safely administer an anaesthetic and watch the op- 
