Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
November,  1919.  > 
Purified  Ether. 
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"  anesthetic  ether  "  and  the  definition  of  the  "  purified  ether  "  of  the 
Pharmacopoeia.  The  results  of  the  examination  of  nine  samples  of 
"  Ether  Purificatus  "  prepared  by  different  manufacturers  is  set  out 
below  for  illustration.  The  Pharmacopoeia  does  not  demand  that 
ether  shall  be  made  according  to  any  particular  recipe,  but  it  defines 
the  character  of  the  ether,  by  prescribing  a  definite  specific  gravity 
and  a  limited  boiling  point  range,  and  then  makes  special  require- 
ments as  to  impurities,  leaving  little  doubt  as  to  the  intention  of  pro- 
viding a  fairly  pure  ethyl  oxide. 
The  Character  of  the  Ether. 
A  glance  at  the  table  will  show  seven  samples  from  industrial 
methylated  spirit,  and  two  from  rectified.  The  latter,  as  one  would 
expect,  are  B.P.  in  character,  but  of  the  seven  methylated  ethers 
only  two  answer  this  description,  and  the  deviations  afford  interest- 
ing comparison.  Now  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that,  with  differences 
of  this  sort,  identical  results  are  to  be  obtained  from  the  administra- 
tion of  the  different  ethers,  and  since  employment  as  an  anesthetic 
is  the  use,  perhaps,  to  which  importance  attaches  most  of  all,  this 
question  of  uniformity  of  product  and  effect  is  one  deserving  some 
consideration. 
One  is  sometimes  met  by  the  statements  from  different  surgeons 
that  it  is  only  particular  brands  of  ether  that  give  them  satisfactory 
results,  and  others  again  will  only  use  ether  prepared  from  rectified 
spirit ;  while  a  case  occurred  only  a  short  time  ago  where  an  officer 
connected  with  an  American  military  hospital,  expressed  himself  as 
being  so  dissatisfied  with  English  ether  that  he  gave  up  using  it,  and 
imported  all  his  further  supplies  for  that  hospital  from  America. 
One  is  apt  to  attribute  this  sort  of  thing  simply  to  prejudice,  but  it 
by  no  means  follows  that  that  is  the  proper  view  to  take,  and  I  be- 
lieve it  is  not  very  far  from  the  truth  to  say  that  during  the  war  a 
special  demand  was  made  for  B.P.  ether,  and  that  special  facilities 
were  given  by  the  authorities  for  its  conditional  production.  In  this 
connection  there  is  a  particularly  interesting  report  by  Dr.  Cotton  of 
the  McGill  University,  Montreal,  on  his  observations  concerning  the 
physiological  effects  of  ether  and  their  causes.  His  opinions  are 
rather  startling,  but  as  they  appear  to  have  been  demonstrated  and 
to  have  received  certain  acceptances  they  may  be  briefly  stated. 
Shortly  put,  he  considers  that  absolutely  pure  ethylic  ether  is  not 
