234
that they will also aid us in our work by obtaining answers from as many trustworthy persons
as they Can.
By combining the experimental and clinical data we trust that we shall be able to set
finally at rest the vexed question of how death occurs during anæsthesia, and thus "to save
people's lives", as the object of the Commission was expressed by the enlightened ruler to
whose generosity, backed by the public spirit of his ministers, we owe the establishment of
the Hyderabad Commission.
The tracings which we have reproduced were taken by connecting the carotid artery
of the animal with a mercurial manometer, the float of which ascended and descended with
every rise or fall in the arterial pressure, and traced upon the slowly-revolving cylinder
blackened with soot the variations of the pressure upon the arterial system. As the revo-
lutions of the cylinder were too slow to allow of the individual pulse beats being seen, a second
cylinder was employed which revolved at a speed nearly ten times as great as the first; by
using a wide tube, either limb of which could be shut off or opened at leisure, both mano-
meters could either be put into communication at once with the artery, or a single one could
be connected at a time. Usually only one was thus connected; the general variations of the
arterial pressure are shown in the tracing taken by the Ludwig's or mercurial kymograph,
termed shortly "Ludwig" in the tracings, and the pulse beats were taken by a Fick's kymo-
graph on the quickly revolving cylinder. These tracings are indicated by the word "Fick"
in the corner. In the tracings taken by Ludwig's manometer a straight line will be found
here and there in place of the usual curve. These lines indicate the points where the Fick's
kymograph was connected with the artery in place of Ludwig's. Each is numbered, and
by reference to the corresponding tracings by Fick's kymograph the character and rate of the
pulse at any of these periods can be readily ascertained.
ARTICLE BY SURGEON-MAJOR LAWRIE.
[From "The Lancet," June 21 st , 1890.]
WHATEVER may be the result of the labours of the Second Hyderabad Chloroform
Commission, the gratitude of our profession is due to His Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad
for the opportunity of scientific progress which his unbounded liberality has afforded. At the
time the Commission was appointed, the Pioneer, the leading journal of India, wrote: "No-
- t h i n g c o u l d s h o w b e t t e r t h e b e n e f i c e n t n a t u r e o f t h e s o l i d a n d f r i e n d l y t i e w h i c h b i n d s
together the British and the Nizam's Governments than the remarkable and cosmopolitan
interest which His Highness the Nizam and his officials, one and all, have taken in bringing
the question of the safety of chloroform to the proof. It redounds to the honour of the
Government of India no less than to that of the administration of Sir Asman Jah, that the
leading Indian State should take a principal share in the settlement of a question which
concerns the welfare and happiness of the whole of mankind." Since we are in a position to
show that the researches of the Commission have finally proved the safety of chloroform, it is