The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-03-09
Use and Abuse OF Chloreform.
To JAMES q. BENrETr. Efq.
Editor offhe Ne,s Yark H.~rIS /.


siR; The death of Patrick Murphy has been an
nouneed In the Herald asd most Of the other papers
from the effects produced by the standardization of
choroform, deem II my duty eye Witness to the
puS1o ann medical profession As well Is to Dr. Beers
ally occurred 40 that all judge for themselves what
was The real Of Patrick Murphys death and whe-
her the administration of choroform had any thing to
do with 1t.
DR. Beers, on his way to New York, called upon me,
by previous arrangement, to accompany him and per-
,orn operation not for fstula ano because that
had been successfully performed three weeks month
before and that part Of the cure advancing we'll and
rapidly but for the laying open sinus either side
Of the mates They commenoed ct the anus and OK
tended upwards on the outside Of the suteai muscles
alone had to be on side to the extent of three
inches, on the other an inch and half On arriving
the house OF Patrick Murphy we found him at break
be persuaded to 6nah his rspsst Dr. Beers
proceeded to wash out the with sosp and
suade the patient have the operation performed az it
was so trinng without the administrston Of choro-
form In which Dr. Beers earnestly Joined mel and
attempted the operation whilst his body bent over
the chair but his eye too wstohf0 for Tbs bed
upon which tho operation was wsS then at
chair and place himself upon it, which he did
trembling and being very paid at the time; but
particular notice taken Of IT, Dr. Beers directly
took the spongs and placed from twenty to twenty
it would be insufficient produce tho desired effect
The sponge was then put upon handkerchief and held
ct little distance between the and the mouth;
tbs moment this was done, sat down and inserted d.
rector into the sinus the right side when the
put his hand over to prevent moved his hand upon
his side and took the history, but replaced
his hand upon the sore again removed it. when It was
not returned The first sinus opened ntariy,
and the mouth OF the other being large and not deep
The whole operation did exceed forty seconds At
tbs moment of cutting through the last tinus noticed
his legs out extremely. looked up and perceived that
DR. Beers had not the sponge then applied to Patrick
ay round tho bed put ansers
with great force into =: patient. scs; thi. produced
opening Of the eysds when nothing but the white Of
the eye could be seen. As he did not recommends
fetal inspiration whilst DR. Beers got brandy to give in
terpay and assistants to rub the body with hot sppI
cations. By this time the sysba had resumed its na.
tural position but the pupil was exceedingly diasd in
OF which, opened the temporal artery but
no blood flowed Dr. Beers proceeded for the assistance
Of Dr. Robson; his arrival, the was ced
by all parties dead Artificial respiration was kept up
for forty minutes, and other advisable means for one
hour
The chief points eioited by the coroners examine
ton were the following -
previous That his general health was to HAYS
been gradually improving That the original operation
was proceeding well. That he always wss obliged to
have timulans administered after tn dressing of his
wound, from the extreme weakness II produced That
he hsd been lately married. and bad du
ties to perform for which he Ill fitted That hs had
been babtus drnker Of ardent spirits and had very
lately bsen induced to give them up. That he had
before taken chloroform to much larger extent and
1t was stated, without any i'll effects
The points proved. by the post norton examination
that bear on the osse sreThst the lungs found
studded with tuberces and ia both lungs abcesses ex
listed That the lining membrane of the lungs adhered
to the chest throughout and that the heart en-
larged pas and sof also that the membrane that cor.
tanned the heart held about three ounces of serum
DR. Jas X. Wood who conducted the post mortem cx-
animation stated as his opinion that there sufficient
daesss Of the un;g to desth but could not saw
that the administration Of chloroform lad hastened
desth; that be had known sudden death often from
OF the lungs alone when upon examination the
lungs we're found not 80 much diseased the
case: Numerous instances can be adduced of sudden
death from disease Of the lungs, where much sshter
e1ertion than that OF getting into high BIZ has
of an operation The quantity of chloroorm admins
tered BY Dr. Beers not great that previously
given, and ! think insufficient to cause death under
any circumstances, ss l found by examining the
sponge directly after the operation that the great
er part vas sti upon It, its odour was very
strong The chloroform was prepared by Chiffon
To close this already long article say for nv friend
DR. Beers that the was secundum artem
and that the doctor told before the operation 1t
not his Injection to put the fully under its inu-
that he had taken Patrick Murphy from DR. Par.
kers cnque, and uently did not deem it neces
sary to institute another examination after 20 short
period, and the man apparently improving ia health
As for myself simply state that the operator in
the case, did not consider il my business to examine
the patient as surgeon expects nothing or less
than to proceed with operation soon az COZ We
nsnt but had DR. Beers requested to administer the
cbloroiorm should have done with this difference
i should have applied more to the ,nge All Of the
above respectfully submit to the public and medical
profession OTTO ROTTON M D., Brooklyn.