first given freely on a cap, held close over the animal's mouth and nose. Every time Dr.
Brunton gave the signal to give chloroform, the cap was immediately held over the face, and
the animal struggled, and held its breath, and gasped. The blood-pressure fell with extreme
rapidity and irregularity, on each of the four occasions, when chloroform was given in this way
between 2h. 50m. 0s. and 3h. 11m. 0s. After the fourth administration, at 3h. 11m. 0s., I
warned the chloroformist to hold the cap some distance from the face, and allow the animal
to breathe regularly. This was done at the next inhalation at 3h. 17m. 0s., and the contrast
with the previous administrations was so marked, that Dr. Brunton thought the chloroformist
was playing tricks, and said "You are not giving the chloroform." There was no struggling,
holding of the breath, or irregular breathing, and no irregularity either of the fall of blood-
pressure, or of the circulation. On the contrary, the tracing was perfectly regular, and the
observation at Fick 7 shows absolute regularity of the pulse. These observations were repeated
during the experiment with the same result.
From experiment 148, when the clue was obtained, until the end of the research, the
Hyderabad Commission gradually worked out to a satisfactory conclusion the problem of the
safe administration of chloroform. We discovered that it is possible to give chloroform in such
a way as to produce invariably uniform results. It was found that, in chloroform inhalation, if
the breathing be kept perfectly regular, the fall of the blood-pressure, the action of the heart,
and the circulation will be perfectly regular also; and under these circumstances it is impos
- s i b l e t o o v e r d o s e t h e a n i m a l , u n l e s s t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n i s c o n t i n u e d a f t e r f u l l a n æ s t h e s i a i s
produced. Any irregularity in any of these particulars in chloroform inhalation indicates a
corresponding irregularity of, or interference with, the respiration and the normal oxygenation
of the blood; and it is difficult to imagine a greater irregularity of respiration than is involved
in pumping chloroform into the lungs with bellows as was done in Professor Macwilliam's
experiments. We were able to demonstrate that it is in the very highest degree dangerous to
administer chloroform to an animal while the breathing is irregular, particularly if there
be struggling or holding of the breath. When either of these untoward events occurs, the
animal may be forced to gasp in chloroform at an abnormal rate, and irremediable overdosing
may take place, without warning, at any moment.
The results arrived at by the Hyderabad Commission correspond precisely with those
obtained clinically. I have now given chloroform for more than a year, on the lines indicated
by the Commission, with absolute uniformity. In the human subject, as in animals, so long as
the breathing is perfectly regular and the inhalation is stopped in good time, there is no danger
whatever in pushing chloroform until full anæsthesia is produced. But it is excessively danger
-ous to administer chloroform to a struggling patient, or if the patient's breathing is irregular,
or to give it in such a way as to make him hold his breath. Hence the rule—which is now
enforced here without exception—that, if the patient struggles or breathes irregularly, or holds
his breath, the chloroform cap must be entirely removed, and the patient must be made to take
a breath of fresh air before the administration is proceeded with.
The Hyderabad Commission do not pretend to have done more with regard to chloro--
form than test its suitability and safety as an anæsthetic. They have shown how it can be
administered with uniform safety, and that its administration is surrounded with natural safe-