Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1860-02-10
lailp S)irainian.
Fvm the Paris Correspondence Of the Boston Traveller
The Alleged New Method of Anesthesia--
Singular Experiments
RrE DE LA CmArssFE p'ASTIN,
PARIS, Dec, 20. 1850.

PARIS. Dec, 20, 1850.
The new method of ancsthesin, which | men
toned in recent letter to you. continues TO
attract n good deal Of attention from medical men.
The general surprise fclt at tho singular phcnom-
cnon continues unabated, and some explanation Of
il would be glady received. have not heard
even mn attempt nude To exhibit the causes which
produce or thn laws which govern II. Indeed. it
is too soon to reckon upon discovering either; for
the phcnumonon itself has scarcely been well OBJ
served.
Gll into nm error when stated that Dir. Broca
was the discoverer Of this phenomenon. He is not.
The hnnor ot rerieiag it belongs to DR. Azam, of
Bordeaux, FIR not the least strange part of the
whole matter is, that DR.. Braid discovered it and
announced i, | years uSo, but the communication
fell upon listless ears which give little attention
to it, and soon forgot ull about it.
As am ir flm regarding myself competent
indigo in tais jurisdiction, you must be good
enough to allow mo translate from the accepted
authority which is the Gazette des llopitnux-
in t'is science account OF the must cul iuus rX-
pcrin'rtts made here with this new ngcnt. The
first and u'st striking Of these experiments was
laid b,tre the Spceie de Chirnrgia, hy Dir. Broca.
The u her experiments were mudc by Dir. Fullin.
in hi wad Al Necko,'s Hospital Tie Inst rxpcr-
imenis. hcreinaller mentioned, were made in Dr.
rrpu,.,au'a = wtnal at Hotel nieu.
Tho fist su' ert wns n woman four-nnd twenty
years pll. She MAS afflicted with largo burn on
her lack and "n her hight limbs. together with II
vClnminuus aud excessive painful nb>eess. The
woniun was hy nature, ,imid. and pain had exhnus
ted her frmncss. 81 that shc greatly dreaded the
If the kuiie. She was informed that ! q wn>
to lr rat asleep. \ copper cylinder liUncft" de
Brusr3 w. laced NJ fifteen centmcfteS from the
root TT upr nasc. She was obiigei 10 squint IN
wards glcat d'al in order to fix her eyes upon
tie copper cylinder. Thcpupils instantly Became
greatly contracted. The pu.c was rapid trilrc
a. Iii,
pillN ut Iir>t; and then, almost Immediately 1t
hatamo srcat dead weaker and great deal slow
cr. In two Minutes the pupils be, III odllatc the
Left arm which was raised almos, vertically above
the bel, remained mntonless in this attitude
About the fourth minute tho replies she made 10
questions pm - her slow aud almost painful,
although perfectly reasonable, her respiration was
very Slightly abrupt Ia Gve minutes D.. Folliu
pnnclurcl the skin of tho left arm, which coniin-
ncl IT, remain in n vertical position. br Follin
again puncturei the patient, ani time he drew n
small drop IL blood She was nsenslb'e to both
,hcsc luncturcs Her right arm was now placed
in the ,ainc position ns the left. The nbccss was
cXhihilcd. The patient allowed Dr. folin to do
Il, he pleased. simply saying with great tran
guilty. that she was sure he going 10 give her
pain, Seven minutes after the experiment com.
nrncrG, pr Follin made n large opening in the
ahscc,s, \ s ,ht scream which lasled less than
II second. was the only sign Of reaction the patient
piNf lltle WIS Hbl tic I'HSt tNllcHHp VI lHc
muscles oi tho face eor limbs; both arms retained
the attitude gwen them without moving the least.
Two minutes afterwards the posture If the
patient remained exactly rs it was her eyes were
stretched vi le open, and were slightly injected
with bIu1I; her face was moionles her pulse
precisely as it before the experiment COM
mcurrd; her breathing was perfectly free and she
continued inseushc her left foot was raised
above the bed anl it remained suspended in the
air, the ratjeptic STATE Of the upper limbs &c.
manned unehangcd. Dr. Bruca reme,ed the 1op.
per cylinder, vhich bad hitherto remained before
the ratcul's eyes: le slightly rubbed the wo-
mau's ,'yoiids. and blew cold mir uron them
She ~ Scl lIftle She was asked If anything
had been d,nr to her she rcpIiel She did not
know, Her nfms and left foot ranainrl in the
position ia which they had been plaeco new
rdu''urc was made in her loft ann ,hc WAS in.
sensible To- II. Eighteen minutes uflcr tie COM
mourcmrnluf the experiment, aud twelve minutes
ni"T U.l "tefatlnn, her cyelldS were nghin rub
led nod Az aaa,n blown on her evhd~. Sho
aNuko aim It suddenly; all the membrrs III II
state OF rata,cp~y fell together; the pntient rub
bed her rye~ aud recovered consciousness. She
reDchhc. cl npihing, and was astonisaed thrt
She bad been operated on. Her condition was in
some rcs comparable t. that Of persons as tkcn-
ing from ordinary aucstlecAl sleep: bot her
uwHkcnin. wts prpmpicr, and without either agita-
ton or Ioqnactv. The nncsthesiu lastcl between
twelve aud fifteen minutes. At the least
ihis sane " ,nan was placed in this sntca
second time, She was soon insenslblc; IA two
minute, her uine" limbs were placed IT, the cnth.
lcptir stu'r aud She did not feel pnheulcS made
with 'cdIcs ia her right arm. Her spontaneous
awakening Was prompt. No new phenomenon
appeared.
Another patient, Anna r.. aged 10, has
been operated upon for II lacrymal tuulor. and is
now almost cured. She has been four times in n
stat" IF aursllesin. She is the first woman on
whom Dr.. Blaca and Dir. Foin studied this
rious phenomenon. The four experiments were
accompanied by the same phenomena The doc
tors placed slice (Spdtuie) fifteen centimetres
ia front Of and over her eyes; she fixed her eyes
upon, it and in one or two minutes al. her limbs
were in n catacptc state. She was soundly
asleep she snu,ed. She was completed inscnsiblc
to Iuncturc, aud pnches; feather introduced into
her no>r excited no sensibil'ty. She was awaken
ed Us Slight friction applied to her eye-iiIs and
by cold air blown on her eyeids. DR.. Foin, in
this Inst experiment as soon as sleep comm need,
gently closed the girls eyes and took away the
"see" ON which they were fixed. The phenom-
cnu of cataepsy and aneshcsih continued to per-
sist for some minutes longer During this sleep
the girl had only very confused idea Of what
took place around her. She thought she had felt
that somebody had touched her but she expert
enced no pain
Two attempts to produce anesthesia were made
bv Dr. Azam and Dr. Foln on young girl
eighteen years old, who had entered Saint Marv's
Ward fol slight sore foot. The results Of this
experiment not rs satisfactory as those above
mentioned, lst in both instances when the at
tempt was made TO produce bvpnoisn, the girl
experienced q marked diminution OF her pulse, a
slight cataleptic state, and little anesthesiH.
When the second experiment made. the nncs-
the,ia and catalepsy were more strongly marked
than in the first xperment; but in that we'll us
in this experiment the patient nwoke abruptly,
and experienced only very slight loss of con
sciuusuess
T.r,n,lnr nrnnrin,nnts Which nrndncnd Very