RHIGOLENE  AS  A  LOCAL  ANAESTHETIC. 
349 
injuriously  as  an  indigestible  substance.  I  have  reported  the 
case,  with  its  principal  features,  as  a  sort  of  medical  anomaly, 
rather  than  with  the  belief  that  it  possesses  any  practical  im- 
portance. 
Rochester,  N.  F.,  Feb.,  1868. 
— Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Journ.,  March,  1868. 
RHIGOLENE  AS  A  LOCAL  ANAESTHETIC. 
By  John  D.  Jackson,  M.D.,  of  Danville,  Ky. 
A  brief  record  of  a  few  observations  I  have  made  upon  rhigo- 
lene,  may  perhaps  not  be  deemed  amiss  as  supplemental  to  the 
paper  on  Local  Anaesthesia,  by  Dr.  Weist,  which  appeared  in 
the  January  number  of  the  Western  Journal, 
The  statement  that  direct  sunlight  has  produced  an  explosion 
of  rhigolene,  has,  I  know,  deterred  a  large  number  of  the  pro- 
fession from  using  what  from  the  statement  would  be  supposed 
to  be  a  dangerous  article — especially  while  ether,  which  is  not 
deemed  to  have  such  a  property,  can  be  found  to  fill  its  place. 
To  test  this,  in  September  last  I  exposed  on  a  metallic  roof, 
to  the  full  rays  of  the  sun,  the  thermometer  at  120  F.,  a  phial 
containing  an  ounce  of  rhigolene,  of  the  brand  of  Theo.  Met- 
calfe &  Co.,  Boston.  Within  a  minute,  the  cork  was  blown  four 
or  five  feet  into  the  air,  and  rhigolene  underwent  violent  ebulli- 
tion, which,  however,  subsided  within  a  few  seconds.  The  cork 
was  replaced,  and  pressed  in  more  tightly,  when  some  minutes 
elapsed  before  it  was  again  expelled,  and  with  more  violence 
than  before.  This  was  repeated  many  times,  the  exposure  to 
the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  being  continued  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour. 
To  further  test  its  explosive  properties,  I  filled  two  drachm 
phials,  such  as  are  found  in  ordinary  medicine  pocket  cases — one 
with  rhigolene  of  the  brand  above  mentioned,  and  the  other  with 
Squibbs'  iEther  Fortior,  and  applied  a  lighted  match  to  each.  The 
ether  burned,  yielding  the  customary  bluish  flame,  and  went  out 
at  the  end  of  82  minutes,  a  little  more  than  a  fourth  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  phial  having  been  consumed.  The  rhigolene  burned 
with  a  more  brilliant  light,  yielding  a  yellowish  blue  flame, 
