The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-12 00:00:00

don

Row to Restore to Life in Chloroform

Accidents.

The ,( sensation" novelists, It is to be regret ted, have
now got hold of tne fact, to adi to their an noury of
horrors.

The present moo is important, as the Oily one of a
like kind perhaps r: stored to life in the London Lokl,itale
under such condition, ; the patient was a poor man led
woman, otherwise in fah* health, admitted to hospital, w 4.10
was placed on the operatinj-table for a plastic operatiot '
(one of these, thanks to awes thetics, so successfully per-
formed of late), The operation; which need not be de.
scribed, was nearly completed ; theta was very considerable
bmatorrhage during its performance, but having watched
the pulse all through the operation, one was alarmed at
im stopping and then going on again. I soon found, though
I did not give the chloroform, that respiration had also
suddenly stopped, with a 1 the well-known signs of apnea,
or what others would term it asphyxia, stoppage of br,math•
iog, not at all embarrassed respiration, as stated in sucgi-
cal books. The woman was exactly in that state of sit,-
pended animation (all but dead), so difficult to describe in
words without saying she was entirely dead.

Death had obviously set in. She appeared suddenly to be
cold and white, her face like marble or that of a corpse. The
striking fact in the case was perhaps this—the woman lay
as it were thus dead for some minutes, just as animals do
when poisoned by chloroform.. No pulse, no respiration of
the remotest kind ; experiment and theory suggest, if we
can, in this emergency and alarm establish respiration, the
remora or "stand still" of the circulation (as Mr Paget
terms it) will yield, and pulse return. The Marshall Hall
and Silvester methods were persistently tried in the case,
still no pulse, no breathing, no animation. Everyone was
dreadfully alarmed; the magneto-electric battery was sent
for by me and arranged or used as jest directed. The al-
most instant effect, as if by magic, was what we wanted—a
deep sighing drawing in of the breath! a little confusion,
pardonable, but half comic, arose in the application of the
battery at first, as I found I myself had become unex-
pectedly a kind cf galvanometer, receiving all the shocks till
a German physiciaa standing by happily caught the metal-
lic handles with his coat tails (as non-conductors). Off
and on alternately the handles were now applied about a
dozen times a minute, so as to imitate the ordinary action
of the diaphragm. At each application there was a deep
moaning respiration.
Some quarter of in hour now had the patient thus re-
mained, pulse less cold, without breathing, the little tide of
life ebbing fast away; indeed she was pronounced irreco-
verably dead; it was one of those curious and instructive
scenes worth any of the impossible chloroform novel sen-
sation scenes that one now reads in magazines ; the last
farewell beam of feeling possibly past away—life quite ex-
tinguished—the last hour of nothingness already had lite-
rally set it.

The last danger of distress,
* * * *
With langour of the placid cheek,
And that sad shrouded eye,
Where cold obstruction's apathy—.

(the engorging right auricle, &o.), appalled one gazing
mourner at least, but still the electric poles were applied,
about 12 times each minute, so as remotely to imitate the
stimulus of ordinary nerve action in the diaphragm. I
thought at the moment of the popular idea amongst bril-
liant operating surgeons, that the administration of chlo-
roform is the merest trifle. I thought of the 200 cases of
deaths recorded, so like this one. To the delight of operator
and all around, a deep .sighing inspiration, and then to our
utmost relief another was noticed at each break of the circle;
no pulse, however, wasyet pereptible, cardiac action,watched
with intense eagerness ; minutes on minutes passed, which
felt as long as hours; the sighs lessened; there was a moan, at
the pain of the electricity or pin stuck into the diaphragm (the
writer's scarf pin, as no other at the moment was ay.itable),
this is mentioned to show the quickness with which these
cases must be saved, or left to die; there was soon a flicker
of pulse perceptible, but not till the patient was carried back
to bed was the pulse entirely re-established, and not till the
end of two hours was the electricity discontinued. The poor
woman had a faint recollection of a dreg m of a journey
to a far distant land, by rivers, gardens, and golden sunsets.
I have known such a patient, a class man from Oxford, to
feel he was 10 years in, paradise, sitting, and walking, and
conversing in an ecstasy, with Homer and Virgil, while my
unclassic friend, a dentist, near Hanover-square, was only
ten minutes sluicing him with cold water to bring him
round, but such is consciousness of which Coleridge spoke
and Shelley dreamed, and Bichat is all wonderful, and
Locke is so convincing. Such is an instance of all but
fatal apnea (and we have collected four other quite as re-
markable cases). Such is consciousness, which we can at
auy moment remove, but which I am quite certain we never
befoLe had such effectual means of restoring when to all ap-
pearance irretrievably lost, as now by our more correct
rationale Of the cause of death, whether in cases of drown-
ing, or chloroform.—Dr. Kidd on Chloroform.

THE INNER CIRCLE SYSTEM OF RAILWAYS.—
The inner circle s; stem of railways will have sta-
tions at the following important centres of traffic, viz.:
—l. Edgware-road-2. .taker-street, New road-3. Port-
land-road-1. Gower-street (near Euston-square station
of the North Western Railway)-5. King's-cross and
Great Northern Railway-6. Farringdon-road, and con-
nection with Londos, Chatham, and Dorer Railway-
7. Smithfield New Market and .Aldersgate-street-8
Finsbury-pavement and Moorgate-street-9. Bishopegate-
street, and Liverpoel.street station of tho North London
Railway-10. Aldgate and Whitechapel-11. Fenchurch•
street station and Trinity-square, Tower-hill-12. New
Cannon-street station of the Charing-eross railway-
bridge 13. Blaokfriars-bridge 14. Norfolk-street,
Thames Embankment-15. Near Charing-cross Railway-
-16. Westminster-bridge and Houses of Parliament-
-17. Victoria Railway station, Pimlico-18 ISloane•square-
-19. Kensington Museum-20. Gardens f the Horticul-
tural Society-21. High-atreet, Kensington-22. High-
street, Notting-bill-23. Queen's-road, Bayswater-24.
opposite the hotel of the Great Western Railway, the
rail continuing thence to the station in the Edgware-road,
embracing in the whole 24 stations, each commanding
the most populous and convenient centre of its particular
locality. The advantage intended to be gained by the
adoption of a continuous circuit of locomotive transit in
both directions will be round to be very great particularly
as no interruptions can occur ; for there will be no junctions
made for the admission of trains belonging to any other
system of railway traffic. The two trains which form this
" The Metropolitan Inner Circle System " will commence
early in the morning, traversing their course in opposite
directions until late at night, each station throughout
the circle being called at en route at a three minutes' inter-
val throughout the very long day from about 5 o'clock in
the morning until 12 at night. Those of our readers who
are acquainted with the sites appointed for the s:ai ions,
will be enabled thoroughly to comprehend the great value
of such a complete, well considered, and well defined system
as that which has received the approval of the various com-
mittees, and is now stamped with the royal assent, its maul
feat „xcellence supporting it through all the very influen-
tial and highly expensive opposition which was brought
to bear aga:nst it, and notwithstanding all its numerous
opponents havie urged against it, it will, no doubt, be
found to be, with certain modification, the best and
-1 have been adopted Or the daily
safest plan that con:,
and hourly conveyance ~"4 the pleasure- seeking, business-
following masses, who are eo incessantly changing their
locality of operation with the banks, the exchange, the
markets, the P. st Office, the puNie offices, the houses et
legislature, the galleries of art, in fact all places of public
resort.—City Press.
PERILOUS BALLOON ADVENTURE.--On Sunday,
the balloon Washington ascended from Plaza Victoria.
The wind changed, and Mr Wells determined to take, it
possible, a west current, which would bring him to this
side of the Plate. The balloon gradually descended till the
anchors touched the water, being then some 15 miles from
the Belgrano shore. As the balloon began to drag along the
water, Mr Wells threw out ballast, and again rose, attain-
ing a height of 4,000 yards in the direction of the Carape-
chay islands. About 4 p.m., the hour being near stone; the
balloon became more condensed, and descended more raridly
than at first, until the anchors again touched, the wa;er,
but the aronaut's efforts to get a permanent hold were et:
fruitless as before. Accordingly he egain threw out ballast 1
and rose about 3,000 yards, in the direction of San Fer-
nando. Coming down a fourth time, still over the centre
of the River Plate, he cut away his anchors, and struggled
between the lower air current towards San Fernando, and
the upper one towards the islands. The sun had now set,
and, coming down a fifth time, he was obliged to cut away
the car, in order further to lighten the balloon, and in
another flight reach terra firma. Then taking his seat on
the hoop attache' to the ropes, and tutting on two life-
belts, besides attaching the gas bag by a line of 100 feet, so
as to serve for a buoy in case of need, he ascended a
sixth time, and higher than before, passing through the
clouds, and reaching about 6,000 yards, Here the sun
seemed to him again to rise, and after a short interval set
in the most extraordinary splendour. The cold was so
excessive that his feet became quite numb, and the ends
of the revs, which had dragged in the water, glittered
with an icy covering. The heavy dew, and great con-
densation of gas from excessive cold, caused the balloon to
descend rapidly. On touching the water he contrived
to shift his position from the hoop to the gas bag.
and the
balloon dragging for some time, Mr Wells was up to his
waist in water, whilst he rapidly proceeded towards our
coast. Soon, however, the warm atmosphere caused the
balloon again to rise, this time about 100 yards. Mr Wells
was now in a most critical position, holding on, seated on
the gas bag, which hung on a slender cord from the
balloon. The gas bag began to revolve rapidly, but luckily
his head did not grow dizzy, and the cord did not break,
though twisting in an alarming manner. The balloon gra-
dually lost its power, and again descended, Mr W. being
overjoyed to see, by the moolight, its shadow increasing
on the water. lie was then dragged as before along the
surface of the water at the rate of eight or ten wiles
an hour; and after an exciting ride (which he compares to
sleigh-driving on the snow) of about 91 minutes, reached
the shore. At last ho was deposited in a swamp, and forced
to abandon the balloon, which, being free of its weight, rose
to a great height, passing over San Fernando in a westerly
dirsetion.—.Bqms lyres 6lanclard, Jgne 15.