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The Glasgow Committee ask us to believe that, when air saturated with ether was
pumped into a rabbit's lungs, " twenty minutes were occupied in producing anæsthesia", and that
it "may be given for an indefinite period without interfering with the heart". At the end
of an hour's pumping "the heart was beating as vigorously as at first". It is contrary to all
experience that twenty minutes should be occupied in
an anæsthetising a rabbit by means of air
saturated with ether pumped into the lungs. The Hyderabad Commission made many experi--
ments with ether, from among which I have selected two as examples of its effect. In the first
manometer No. 106, a pariah dog weighing 25 lb., the tracing of which will be published as
soon as possible, the administration of ether on a saturated sponge in a fairly close-fitting cap
was commenced at 9h. 46m. 10s. on Nov. 21st, 1889. The blood-pressure rose immediately.
It began to fall again at 9h. 46m. 30s., and continued to do so till death. At 9h. 47m. the
cornea was insensitive. At 9h. 48m. 40s. there was rattling in the trachea. At 9h. 50m.
30s. the respiration was slow and shallow, and it stopped at 9h. 51m. At 9h. 52m. 30s. the
pulse became imperceptible; artificial respiration was kept up, and the dog's body was invert--
ed until 9h. 57m. The thorax was then opened, and the dog was found to be dead. The
artery was cut and the pressure fell to zero. The whole experiment lasted ten minutes and
fifty seconds, and any ono who chooses to examine the tracing can verify this description of
what occurred. The second experiment took place on Nov. 26th, 1989, on two monkeys weigh--
ing 4 lbs. each, Nos. 129 and 130. In the first monkey, a measured quantity of chloroform was
pumped into the lungs through an opening in the trachea by artificial respiration, much in
the manner described by the Glasgow Committee. The inhalation was begun at 4h. 2m. 37s.
10cc. of chloroform were used in divided doses, and the heart stopped at 4h. 10m. 55s.
The other monkey had ether in the same way. The inhalation was commenced at 4h. 2m.
24s. 15cc. of ether in divided doses were employed, and the heart stopped at 4h. 12m. 20s.
In the chloroform experiment 10cc. of chloroform freely diluted with air killed a monkey in
eight minutes and eighteen seconds. In the ether experiment 15cc. of ether freely diluted
with air killed a similar monkey in nine minutes and fifty-six seconds. The difference corre-
-sponds with the recognised difference in the strength of the two anæsthetics in the ordinary
practice of surgery. With reference to the Committee's statement that the heart was beating
as vigorously at the end of an hour as at fist, we are not told whether there was any natural
respiration when the ether administration was stopped, or even whether the animal was alive;
and in the absence of reliable information on theses points we cannot consider this experiment
trustworthy. Either the ether which the Committee employed had lost its strength, or else
the Committee fell into the error of supposing that because the heart was still beating the
ether had not interfered with its action.
The same vigorous action of the heart after prolonged anæsthesia, brought forward by
the Committee in favour of ether, recently came under my notice with chloroform. On May
28th, 1890, air saturated with chloroform was administered to a rabbit in my presence, in
precisely the same way as that described by the Glasgow Committee. The administration
was begun at 12h. 59m. 40s. At lh. 0m. 20s. the inhalation was stopped. There was no
return of natural breathing, and the blood-pressure had fallen nearly to zero. Artificial
respiration was commenced at 1h. 0m. 30s., and continued till lh. 5m. 5s., when the artery