628 
Editorial. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  November.  1896. 
history  of  the  chlorine  industry,  which  necessarily  included  that  of  the  produc- 
tion of  alkali.  The  rise  and  development  of  each  one  of  the  various  processes, 
with  their  defects,  were  outlined,  including  the  latest  electrolytic  methods, 
which  he  summed  up  as  follows  : 
Only  two  electrolytic  works,  producing  chlorine  on  a  really  large  scale,  are  in  operation 
to-day.  Both  electrolyse  chloride  of  potassium,  producing  as  a  by-product  caustic  potash, 
which  is  of  very  much  higher  value  than  caustic  soda,  and  of  which  a  larger  quantity  is 
obtained  for  the  same  amount  of  current  expended.  These  works  are  situated  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Stassfurt,  the  important  centre  of  the  chloride  of  potassium  manufacture.  The 
details  of  the  plant  they  employ  are  kept  secret,  but  it  is  known  that  they  use  cells  with 
porous  diaphragms  of  special  construction,  for  which  great  durability  is  claimed.  There  are 
at  this  time  a  considerable  number  of  smaller  works  in  existence,  or  in  the  course  of  erection 
in  various  countries,  intended  to  carry  into  practice  the  production  of  chlorine  by  electrolysis 
by  numerous  methods,  differing  mainly  in  the  details  of  the  cells  to  be  used,  but  some  of  them 
also  involving  what  may  be  called  new  principles.  The  most  interesting  of  these  are  the  pro- 
cesses in  which  mercury  is  used  alternately  as  kathode  and  anode,  and  salt  as  electro^te. 
They  aim  at  obtaining  in  the  first  instance  chlorine  and  an  amalgam  of  sodium,  and  subse- 
quently converting  the  latter  into  caustic  soda  by  contact  with  water,  which  certainly  has  the 
advantage  of  producing  a  very  pure  solution  of  caustic  soda.  Mr.  Hamilton  Castner  has 
carried  out  this  idea  most  successfully  by  a  very  beautiful  decomposing  cellT  which  is  divided 
into  various  compartments,  and  so  arranged  that  by  slightly  rocking  the  cell  the  mercury  is 
charged  with  sodium  in  one  compartment,  passes  into  another,  where  it  gives  up  the  sodium 
to  water,  and  then  returns  to  the  first  compartment  to  be  recharged  with  sodium.  His 
process  has  been  at  work  for  some  time  at  Oldbury,  near  Birmingham,  and  works  for  carrying 
it  out  on  a  large  scale  are  now  being  erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Mersey,  and  also  in  Ger- 
many and  America. 
•JUBII^E  OF  ANESTHESIA. 
In  1846,  on  the  16th  of  October,  the  utility  of  ether  as  an  anaesthetic  in 
major  surgery  was  demonstrated  to  the  world  in  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  of  Boston,  by  Dr.  William  T.  G.  Morton,  of  that  city.  Not  only  has 
this  discovery  added  to  the  triumphs  of  modern  surgery,  but  if  all  the  sufferers 
who  have  been  benefited  by  its  application  could  express  their  gratitude,  who 
can  doubt  that  the  occasion  would  be  a  jubilee  indeed  ? 
On  the  16th  of  October  the  semi-centennial  of  the  event  was  celebrated  in 
Boston  in  the  institution  in  which  was  first  realized  the  far-reaching  possibilities 
of  anaesthesia.  That  the  ceremonies  were  in  every  way  fitting,  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  outline  : 
Address  of  welcome,  by  Charles  H.  Dalton,  Bsq.,  President  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital. 
"Reminiscences  of  1846,"  by  Dr.  R.  T.  Davis,  of  Fall  River,  and  Dr.  Wash- 
ington Ayer,  of  San  Francisco. 
"Surgery  before  Anaesthesia,"  by  John  Ashhurst,  Jr.,  M.D.,  of  Philadelphia. 
"What  Anaesthesia  Has  Done  for  Surgery,"  by  David  W.  Cheever,  M.D.,  of 
Boston. 
"Relation  of  Anaesthesia  and  Obstetrics,"  by  John  P.  Reynolds,  M.D.,  of 
Boston. 
"The  Influence  of  Anaesthesia  upon  Medical  Science,"  by  W.  H.Welch, 
M.D.,  of  Baltimore. 
"The  Surgery  of  the  Future,"  by  Charles  McBurney,  M.D.,  of  New  York. 
"The  Birth  and  Death  of  Pain,"  a  poem,  by  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  M.D.,  of 
Philadelphia. 
