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respiration. His general conclusion was that, though experiments were valuable, they ought
not to be accepted as solving the question, and while practical anæsthetists valued these
experiments at their proper worth, they could not prevent the possibility of syncope occurring.
Mr. Carter referred to a case which occurred years ago when he was giving an
anæsthetic, and the patient died. He could not remenber the state of her respiration, but saw
nothing to arouse suspicion till he noticed the p a l l o r
o f t h e c o u n t e n a n c e . H i s o w n o p i n i o n
was strongly in favor of chloroform as opposed to ether for ophthalmic operations. Ether was
attended bv more struggling and consequent venous congestion, and the liability to hæmorrhage
from the choroid was therefore greater.
Dr. Routh advocated the use of methylene as an anæsthetic. He had seen apparent
death follow the administration of an anæsthetic in six cases ; in all the respiration seemed to
fail as much as the pulse, and they were all restored by turning them topsy-turvy. He had
likewise seen a fatal case from ether administration. He thought that all apparatus for the
registration of chest movements would be valuable.
Dr.Day had administered methylene 1300 times without an accident. He had given
it in cases of weak and dilated heart and in mitral stenosis without bad effect. He quoted
from Sir Spencer Wells's work to illustrate its value.
Dr.Hewitt had never known respiration to
while the pulse was good or fair at the
wrist, and he had seen two or three cases in which the pulse had given the first sign of danger.
Dr. Brunton, i n r e p l y , s a i d t h a t t h e n w e r e c e r t a i n d i f f e r e n c e s o f o p i n i o n a s t o t h e
relative advantages of chloroform and ether. He had found the respiration stop in animals
when the pulse was quite good at what corresponded to the wrist. Their experiments with
ether were done un der difficulties owing to the t e m p e r a t u r e i n H y
d e r a b a d t h e
y h a d
almost to cut off the air before the y got anæsthetic with ether. After poi s oning
f r o m m u c h
diluted chloroform there was a great difficulty i
n b r i n g i n g t h e a n i m a l r o u n d , b u t t h e r e w a s
not this difficulty with a stronger dose ; the reason wast h a t i n t h e
f o r m e r c a s e
i t
w a s
d i f f i c u l t
to say when the animal had stopped breathing. H e felt sure that the truth about the question
would come out later when the whole investigation was published, and when others would
have an equal opportunity with themselves of studying the work that had been done.
ANNOTATION FROM THE LANCET, FEBRUARY 15TH, 1890.
Dr. Lander VBrunton delivered a ver y interest ing address on his work at Hyderabad at
the Medical Societv on Mondaye v e n i n g .
D e s e r i b i n g
t h e
m e t h o d s h e
e m p l o y e d , n
o w p r e t t y
afmiliar to those who have pursued physiological research, he passed round a number of tracings
illustrative of t he fall of' blood -pressure under chloroform, &c. Dr. Brunton reiterated in the
main the conclusions which have alread y appeared in our columns, bu t supplemented them b y
details of work which could hardly find a p l a c e i n t h e f o r m a l r e p o r t . T h e d i s c u s s i o n t o w h i ch
Dr. Brunton's singularl y lucid descriptions gave rise tended to indicate conclusions not
altogether in harmonv with the Hyderabad Commission ' s re sults, While admitting the force
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