ADMINISTRATION OF AN.RSTHETICS 
761 
cadaver. Such is often the case when one is trusted with the 
life of an animal. 
Before an operation is begun the animal should be prepared 
for the anaesthetic by withdrawing the food and water for eight 
hours, keeping the patient quiet, and, if the circulation is weak, 
giving an hypodermic injection of strychninae sulphatis, gr. 
and, if necessary, repeating this during the operation, should 
the pulse indicate it. The lungs and heart should be examined. 
l\Iany an operation that would look serious if operated without 
an anaesthetic, often becomes very simple when sensibility is 
destroyed. Owing to veterinary patients not knowing or realiz¬ 
ing exactly the condition of affairs when confronted with the 
knife, resists everything only to spoil and disgust an ideal 
operation. A great many operations could be carried out more 
successfully and more skill applied, with better results, if 
anaesthetics were used more generally. 
I shall not attempt to dwell on the different modes of anaes¬ 
thetizing, as I am fully aware that each operator has his own 
favorite appliance, even down to a small gunny sack. Chloro¬ 
form being the general anaesthetic used on veterinary patients, 
especially among solipeds and bovines, I will dwell more on it, 
though-, generally speaking, the principles are just about the 
same as for ether. When chloroform is first inhaled there will 
be noticed an acceleration of the pulse, increased flow of saliva, 
the latter decreasing as anaesthesia is increased. The phenomena 
of anaesthesia consists first in a disturbance of function, chiefly 
in the form of exaltation, secondly in paralysis of function. In 
the stage of excitation the pupils will be seen to oscillate be¬ 
tween contraction and dilatation, and when fully anaesthetized 
will remain contracted during safe anaesthesia. Should the 
pupils dilate for any length of time, the drug should be with¬ 
held, as it is a good indication that it is being pushed too far. 
It is claimed by some that ether is safer than chloroform 
among canines and felines, but it has been my experience that 
chloroform is as safe as ether if properly administered, and not 
crowded as some do in the first stage. The more the animal 
