52 CHLOROFORM A SUBSTITUTE FOR SULPHURIC ETHER. 
It is now well ascertained that three compound chemical 
bodies possess, when inhaled into the lungs, the power of 
superinducing a state of angesthesia, or insensibility to pain 
in surgical operations, &c., namely, nitrous oxide, sulphuric 
ether, and perchloride of formyle. The following tabular 
view shows that these agents are entirely different from 
each other in their chemical constitution, and hence that 
their elementary composition affords no apparent clue to 
the explanation of iheir anesthetic properties : — 
Propor. of 
Nitrogen. 
Propor. 01 
Oxygen 
Propor. of Propor. of 
Carbon. jHydrogen. 
Propor. of 
Chlorine. 
Nitrous ) 
Oxide. 1 
Sulphuric ) 
Ether, | 
Chloroform. 
1 Atom. 
1 Atom. 
1 Atom. 
4 Atoms. 
2 Atoms. 
5 Atoms. 
1 Atom. 
3 Atoms. 
It is, perhaps, not unworthy of remark, that when Sou- 
beiran, Liebig, and Dumas engaged, a few years back, in 
those inquiries and experiments by which the formation 
and composition of chloroform was first discovered, their 
sole and only object was the investigation of a point in 
philosophical chemistry. They laboured for the pure love 
and extension of knowledge. They had no idea that the 
substance to which they called the attention of their che- 
mical brethren could or would be turned to practical 
purpose, or that it possessed any physiological or therapeutic 
effects upon the animal economy. I mention this to show, 
that the cid bono argument against philosophical investiga- 
tions, on the ground that there may be at first no apparent 
practical benefit to be derived from them, has been amply 
refuted in this, as it has been in many other instances. For 
I feel assured, that the use of chloroform will soon entirely 
supersede the use of ether ; and, from the facility and 
rapidity of its exhibition, it will be employed as an anaesthe- 
tic agent in many cases, and under many circumstances, in 
