334 
METHYL-ETHYLIC  ETHER. 
the  further  and  all-important  fact,  that  the  bichloride  of  methy- 
lene belonged  to  a  dangerous  family  of  chemical  substances,  and 
could  not,  therefore,  be  played  with  without  risk.  It  had  been 
extolled  as  being  safer  than  chloroform,  and  that  was  allowed  ; 
for  as  it  contained  an  equivalent  of  chlorine  less  than  chloro- 
form, it  was  materially  safer,  but  the  safety  was  relative  not 
absolute.  Under  these  impressions,  the  author  was  led  recently 
to  review  experimentally  the  action  of  the  whole  of  the  more 
promising  anaesthetic  fluids  and  vapors,  including  chloride  of 
methyl,  bichloride  of  methylene,  chloroform  amylene,  hydride  of 
methyl-ethylic  ether,  methylic  ether,  and  some  others,  which 
were  given  on  a  table  placed  before  the  society.  The  result  was 
that  he  had  decided  in  favor  of  methylic  ether  for  rapid  anaes- 
thesia. The  anaesthetic  properties  of  methylic  ether  were  first 
discovered  by  Dr.  Richardson,  in  1867,  and  the  substance  has 
been  reported  upon  by  him  in  two  reports  to  the  British  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  On  the  20th  of  May, 
1868,  he  inhaled  it  for  the  first  time  himself.  Dr.  Sedgwick  and 
Mr.  Peter  Marshall  administering  it  to  him  to  complete  insensi- 
bility. He  was  narcotized  completely  in  one  minute,  was  un- 
conscious in  seventy  seconds,  and  recovered  almost  instanta- 
neously without  nausea,  headache  or  other  unpleasant  symptom. 
From  that  time  the  author  has  been  in  the  habit  of  narcotising 
occasionally  with  methylic  ether,  and  recently  with  marked 
success. 
The  ether  is  made  by  digesting  one  part  of  pure  methylic 
alcohol  with  two  of  strong  sulphuric  acid.  The  mixture  is 
heated,  and  the  methylic  ether,  which  passes  over  as  a  gas,  is 
subjected  to  frequent  Avashings  in  strong  potassa  solution.  The 
ether  remains  as  a  gas  even  below  zero  ;  it  has  an  ethereal  odor  ; 
it  is  chemically  an  oxide  of  the  radical  methyl ;  its  vapor  den- 
sity is  23,  taking  hydrogen  as  unity.  The  strongest  objection 
to  methylic  ether  is  that  it  is  a  gas,  but,  happily,  the  difficulty 
is  to  a  large  extent  overcome,  the  gas  being  very  soluble  in 
various  substances  ;  water  takes  up  thirty-seven  volumes  of  the 
gas,  yielding  an  ethereal  fluid  of  very  pleasant  taste ;  pure  ethy- 
lic  ether  and  alcohol  take  up  over  100  volumes,  and  chloroform 
and  bichloride  of  methylene  nearly  as  much.  For  practical  pur- 
poses the  author  prefers  absolute  ethylic  ether  of  sp.  gr.  -720, 
