METHYL-ETHTLIC  ETHER. 
1 
333 
duo  ferentes,  altero  semper  (ut  videtur)  abortive.  Pedicelli  incras- 
sati,  basi  bracteis  2  minutis.  Sepala  ovata,  obtusa,  exteriora  paul- 
lulum  breviora.  Corolla  infuodibuliformis,  l|-2  poll,  longa,  glabra, 
rosea,  pallide  striata.  Stigma  bilobum.  Capsula  calycera  superans, 
conica,  2-locularis,  valvis  4  coriaceis.  Semina  glabra. 
— Extracted  from  tJieLinnean  Society  s  Journal. — Botany^  vol.  xi. 
METHYL-ETHYLIC  ETHER.— A  NEW  COMPOUND  FOR  THE 
PRODUCTION  OF  RAPID  GENERAL  ANESTHESIA  FOR 
SHORT  OPERATIONS.^ 
By  Benjamin  Ward  Richardson,  M.A.,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 
In  introducing  the  subject  before  the  Medical  Society  of  Lon- 
don on  the  14th  instant,  the  author  explained  that  within  the 
past  two  or  three  years  a  practice  had  been  followed  of  produc- 
ing quick  insensibility,  which  should  be  followed  by  equally 
quick  recovery.  Two  agents  had  been  employed  for  this  pur- 
pose (6)  nitrous  oxide  gas  and  bichloride  of  methylene.  Accept- 
ing that  the  principle  of  producing  quick  insensibility  had  a 
practical  intention  and  usefulness,  Dr.  Richardson  said  he  had 
objection  to  the  methods  which,  up  to  the  present  time,  were 
adopted  for  carrying  the  principle  into  practice.  His  objections 
to  nitrous  oxide  gas  were  as  firm  as  ever.  He  held  still,  that 
the  employment  of  an  agent  which  excluded  all  atmospheric  air 
during  inhalation,  which  produced  the  most  perfect  asphyxia, 
which  required  for  its  administration  costly  and  troublesome  ap- 
paratus, and  which,  if  administered  beyond  a  given  period,  even 
for  a  few  seconds,  must  of  a  necessity  kill,  was  a  bad  agent  for 
anaesthetic  administration,  was,  in  fact,  a  rude  and  vulgar  pro- 
cess, retrogressive  in  science. 
Respecting  bichloride  of  methylene,  though  it  was  hard  to 
speak  against  any  application  of  a  remedy  which  he,  the  author, 
had  introduced,  he  must  be  candid  and  say  that  he  was  not 
favorably  impressed  with  the  application  of  bichloride  for  quick 
general  anaesthesia.  That  it  was  marvellously  rapid  in  its  action 
was  true,  that  it  answered  the  end  it  had  in  view. was  true,  and 
that  it  had  now  been  used  for  rapid  inhalation  an  immense  num- 
ber of  times  was  also  true.    But  these  facts  could  not  conceal 
^Abstract  of  Papers  read  at  the  Medical  Society  of  London  on  March 
14  and  21, 
