American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1824-02-13
SINGULAR EXPERIMENT.

The following ex pertinent which was made BY
Sir Ashley Cooper at Guys Hospital on Friday 4
2lst: November last is important, the instrument
employed in it may furnish the means of immed-
atey evacuating the contents Of The stomach in cases
of poison
"FriGdy, yNor 2f.--At half past one o'clock the
operating theatre was crowded to excess, in conse-
quence OF its having been stated on the preceding
Tuesday that some experiments were to be tried on
a dog this day. for the purpose Of ascertaining
whether liquids could be put into the stomach, and
removed from it by means Of an instrument, which
had been lately Invented by Mr. Reed. of Hosmon-
ger-lane, Kent.
"At two O'Clock precisely, dog was placed on
the table. Its legs and body being secured by two
or three of the pupils, an iron peste was put into
its mouth. 10 keep the Jaws separated and then
drachm OF opium, dissolved In four ounces Of water,
was poured into the stomach. After this, the pese
was removed, and the dog left free on the table.
" In the space Of 20 minutes the dog manifested
disposition 10 vomit, which was Immediately check
led by pressing the finger against the esophagus.
The OPIUM however, had no very sensible effect
the dog till the expiration of 30 minutes, when the
dog was unable to stand upright.
"When the opium was administered the dogs
pulse was 100. In minutes after it became ITO,
land gradually sunk to 90, which was the lowest
Ipoint.
the opium was given the stomach was evacuated of
It's contents by means Of the instrument, and appear
led to be little worse for the experiment Mr. Reed
was in the theatre during the whole of the time
land superintendent the use of the instrument. On
lquitling he received the unanimous applause of
those present.
" Sir Ashley Cooper, Just after the experiment
had been tried, looking at what had been removed
from the stomach, smiled, and said the instrument
do al r.
The instrument consists of brass syringe ca
pable OF holding three ounces, with tube proceeding
from an inch above the mouth at nearly right angles
to II by this contrvance the syringe has two dis
tinct outlets for the attachment of two tubes. The
manner OF using it is as follows: When any liquid
rs to be thrown INTO the stomach the mouth of the
syringe Is put into the vessel containing it, and a
long tube composed of elastic gum or leather with
"a joint in the middle, previously put into the stom-
ach, is attached 10 the lateral opening, and. when
the piston is raised, the fluid is received into the cyl
nder from the vessel, which is prevented passing
back by means of spherical valve in the mouth !;
when the piston is pressed down, the fluid passes, by
means of this tube attached to the lateral opening
into the stomach and thus the quantity of fluid may
be injected into it. On the contrary when it is wan.
ted to empty the stomach OF any liquid, all that is
necessary 10 do Is 10 change the position OF the
mouth OF the Syringe; the tube in the stomach is
very long, and, as stated above, has joint in the
middle; the tube must be disjonted, and that part
OF the tube In the stomach is to be attached to the
treme mouth,and the other part to the lateral mouth,
thus when the piston is raised, the fluid is taken
from the stomach into the cylinder in the same
manner as was before taken from the BASIN; and
when the piston is forced down, the valve in the
mouth prevents the fluid from again entering the
stomach, and it escapes by The lateral tube In this
tube there is also valve, but its action is different
TO The in the mouth; this valve closes when the
piston is raised, and opens when the piston is forced
down The other, Oh the contrary opens when the
piston is raised, and closes when is forced down
Near the top of the cylinder is small tube for the
admission of air which enables it to be worked more
easily" London Paper.