The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-25 00:00:00

ETHER OPERATIONS.
(Abridged from a Paper by Mr. Startin, in the Medical
Times.)
The inhalation of ether for producing "insensibility
to the pain of surgical operations" is a new discovery
that will confer immortality on the name of Dr. Mort oh
of Bostor , United States, although it may be hereafter
determined that some one else ,bare with him the
merit of having suggested a letaedy he has so success-
fully applied and carried out. Yet ethc;ial vapour as a
remedial agent has been known and employed nearly as
long since as the date of the introduction of ether as an
article of materia medics. Ether in vapour has even
been publicly breathed after the manner of nitrous oxide
gas, to produce analogous effects to this agent, in cer-
tain chemical lecture rooms in London, for some years
past.* Yet it must be recollected that the pure vapour
of ether is not respirable for many seconds, so that in
all these experiments there must have been a greater or
less admixture of air; a circumstance never to be for-
gotten in the construction of any instrument employed
for inhalation of this vapour, as to such omission alone
the deaths, accidents alluded to, are to be ascribed in
every instance which has hitherto come under my notice.
To facilitate the consideration of the subject, I will
avranee it under the three following divisions:-
1. As to the qualities of the ether itself.
2. As to its effects on the healthy or sick, in its simple
or combined forms.
3. As to the qualities necessary to constitute a com-
plete, serviceable, and innocuous apparatus.
With regard to the first division, the sulphuric ether
used for inhalations should be perfectly pure, free from
acid or alcohol, of the specific gravity of •730; and a
quantity, not exceedinp, half a drachm, of ether of this
purity, should be converted into vapour and mingled
with three pints of air, for each single separate inspira-
tion. And the supply of ether and air should be so
regulated as to furnish this proportion at each succes-
sive inhalation, taking care that the whole quantity
consumed do not exceed two ounces at the most.
Admixtures of sulphovinic acid (ethereal oil as it was
formerly called) with the ether, or of free sulphuric or
sulphurous acid, or of alcohol, have the effect of modi-
fying the action of the remedy, either by causing irrita-
tion in the air pas:tyres, and thereby producing cough ;
or, in the case of alcohol, of substituting intoxicating
for narcotic qualities.
I have found no ether of equal efficacy with the sul-
phuric, nor can any be breathed which produces so slight
a degree of pulmonary irritation. The effects of the
vapour of ether on the system, forming the second
division of the subject, I need scarcely add, will mate-
rially differ according to the application and the purity
of the spirit.
With regard to the effects of inhaling ethereal vapour
' properly mixed with air: they vary according to the
state of the patient, the disposition his mind may be in
prier to his commencing the operation, and the mode in
which the vapour has been administered ; but in a large
majority of cases, with the ordinary class of instruments
and in my early experiments, I found a few inspirations
have been followed by much irritation of the bronchial
membrane, inducing feelings of constriction in the throat,
with sensations of suffocation almost as great as though
carbonic acid were inhaled. It is thus, after numerous
trials, I discovered that one part ethereal vapour and
two parts air constitute the highest admixture which
can generally be inhaled, without defeating much of the
effect of the remedy by irritating the lungs. If a pro-
portion of steam be added to the extent of 1-10 to 1-6,
the remedy is rendered so much milder that it scarcely
disturbs the natural freedom of inspiration, even in
irritable cases ; a further addition of steam would ap-
pear to render the action of the ether comparatively
impotent as an agent for producing insensibility to pain,
but very efficacious against many affections of the respi-
ratory organs, as catarrh, certain stages of bronchial
affection, and spasmodic asthma—the paroxysm of which
it seldom fails to suspend.
It has been stated, with much truth, that the effects
of ethereal inhalation are marked by three principal
stages, which gradually lapse or blend into each other.
The first has been regarded as the stage of excitation,
evidenced by redness or flushing of the face, slight in-
crease of pulse, and actions, looks, gestures, or speech
which betray excitement. The second stage is marked
by unconsciousness and sensibility, depressed pulse, long
inspirations, and general relaxation of the muscular
system, commonly so complete as to prevent speech and
motion. The third stage is manifested by faintness or
complete syncope, attended with stupor and unconscious-
ness, small or imperceptible pulse, collapse of all the
vital functions, coldness of the surface, palor of the face
and lips, clammy perspiration, loss of muscular power
and action, even in the muscles of respiration, and
finally by death itself.
It can scarcely be necessary to observe that this stage
of collapse results either from the administration of the
ethereal vapour in too concentrated a form, or in too
large a quantity, or too great a length of time, or,
lastly, from particular idiosyncrasy in the patient; and
that happily it is very rarely witnessed, if common pru-
dence be observed, and an apparatus employed in which
the exact quantity of ether used, and proportions of it
inhaled, can be measured both by the hand and eye ;
therefore, on the latter account, the apparatus should be
of glass.

7,006

The writer concludes by describing an apparatus,
which he recommends to be used for the inhalation of
the ether.

• Under tha eye and by the direction of A. T. Thompson
and others.

LAMENNAIS ON SOCIALISM.
The National says--" One of our friends having
earned that certain persons wanted to mix up the name
of M. Larcennais with some of the socialist agitations,
addressed a letter to the illustrious writer to learn his
opinions respecting these doctrines. He has received
the following reply :
" You wish me to tell you, sir, what I think of the
Socialist systems. As 'you cannot want me to enter into
a discussion which would far exceed the length of a
letter, as you merely want my personal views on the
matter, I can easily satisfy you. I can only see in the
doctrines which have been hitherto brought forward a
symptom of the profound want which society ex-
periences of a better application of justice to the re-
tribution of labour, in order to improve the con-
dition, now everywhere so deplorable, of the labouring
classes. On that side the attempts made to attain that
object can only be applauded. But that, in my opinion,
is far from being the case with the means proposed by
the different schools. Ido not know a single one which
more or less directly does not arrive at this conclusion,
that personal appropriation is the cause of the evil which
is sought to be remedied; that, in consequence, pro-
perty ought to cease to be individual—that it ought to
be concentrated exclusively in the hands of the state,
which, the only possessor of the instruments of labour,
should organise labour itself by attributing to each the
special function, and rigorously obligatory for him, to
which he has been judged fit, and should distribute ac-
cording to certain rules, on which, however, opinions
differ, the fruit of the common labour. It is evident to
me that the realisation of such a system would conduct
nations to a servitude such as the world never saw ;
would reduce man to be nothing but a mere machine,
and would eebase him below the negro, of which the
planter disposes according to his fancy ; below, in fact,
the animal kingdom. Ido not believe that ever ideas
more d'sastrously false, more extravagant, and more
degrading, entered into the human mind ; and even did
they not merit these qualifications, which, in my eyes,
at least, are only just, none could be more radically im-
practicable. Fourierism, and some sects originating
with the St. Simonian school, not less absurd, in my
opinion, in their practical principles, are besides charac-
terised by a negation more or less absolute of all mo-
rality. I have nothing to say about them, the public
feelingNhas already judged them. You asked me for my
opinion, and here you have it."