The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-04-28
Some Account Of cblorofor,n.

VI Tue numerous Ills Cn8C neen Is netr 20,
one, by no means the least grievous, is the
contingency of having to part with an I'M
sound limb, or otherwise to undergo the
process Of being dissected alive, commonly
called surgical operation. 1t has long
1een an axiom in chirurgical science that
the operator should endeavor, to the extent
OF his ability, to perform his vivisection-
safely, speedily and pleasantly. Modern
advancement in anatomy and physiology,
and refinement in dexterity, had enabled
surgeons to comply, in q great measure,
with the two former requisitions; the lat
ter still remained certainly unfulflled. The
horrors Of ancient surgery had been miti-
gated; but all that skill and knowledge
could do OF suggest failed, signally. to
make things pleasant, in any considerable
degree, to the individual under the scalpel.
so far agreeable, however, as the prospect
of comfortable doze, with the expectation
Of awakening relieved Of torment or q
has, at last, been rendered. Every body is
aware that during the extraordinary slum-
Der induced by the Inhalation of chloro-
form, operations of the first magnitude and
the greatest difficulty may be painlessly
undergone. Consciousness is suspended,
sensation placed in allegiance. Muscles,
tendons, bones, even nerves, are cut and
sawn through with little or no inconve-
nience to their proprietor. A man is lop-
ped and pruned like q tree he is carved,
and hewn, and squared, as If he were a log;
and 10, indeed, the mere apathetic subject of
medical carpentry.
While the bodily edifice is under surgical
repair, for the advantage of being enabled
to avoid the annoyances attending the cog
niSances OF that process, by taking, with
ease and convenience, an excursion into
the land Of sleep, every lifeholder of the
Simpson, of Edinburgh. The peculiar
power of chloroform to produce insensi
bility was determined by his researches.
For some time previously, sulphuric ether,
the discovery of DR.. jackson and Mr.. Nor
ton, of Boston, had been in use for the
same purpose. There were, however, OBJ
jections to its employment. A larger guam
tlty of it than was consistent with safety
required occasionally to be administered to
produce the desired effect. Its odor was
d'sagreeabiy strong aud permanent; and,
what was worse, it not unfrequently ex-
cited irritation in the chest In search,
therefore, of a more safe and commodious
an1sthetic agent, DR.. Simpson tried q series
of experiments, principally on his own per-
son, with q variety of volatile substances !;
and the result was his announcement, in
lsA7, of the desideratum as being supplied
by chloroform.
The existence of this substance, chloro-
1881, in which year it was discovered by
Soubeiran. Very little later, in 1882,
an independent discovery of it was made
by Liebig. Dumas, in 1885, was the first
to ascertain it's exact chemical composition.
When, in our nursery days, we used to
read of some wonderful balsam, by means
whereof well-disposed magicians and bene-
VIOLENT FAIRIES were won't to charm away the
pain Of injuries inflicted by dragons and
ogres on the persons of good knights and
serviceable giant killers, very natural
desire arose in our minds of information
| concerning the nature and composition of
the marvellous remedy. Those who are not
conversant with chemical details, and who
may, in spite of hope to the contrary, one
day have q tooth to be extracted or a nail
to be plucked out-not to suggest more
formidable interference of a manual or ana
tomical description with the living mechan-
ism-will probably feel similar or at least
an equal curiosity with regard to the rather
more practically interesting subject of chic
reform.
Chloroform is bright, colorless liquid,
In appearance resembling spirits Of wine,
which it further resembles in being ex-
tremely volatile, but differs from it re-
considerably heavier than water, in which
it Silks. Unlike spirits of wine, too, it is
not infa unable. 1t has an agreeable, fra
rant, ethereal, fruit like smell, very similar
to that of ripe apple, and sweet taste.
Chloroform boils at one hundred and forty
Wv NS6tecos auo ieS SapOT exceeds In Qen-
sity that of the atmospher in somewhat
above the proportion Of four to one. The
ready volatility, of q fluid apparently SO
ponderous as chloroform may appear sim
gular.
1t is worthy of observation that, as DR.. |
Simpson has pointed ont, the discovery by |
Soabeiran, Leibig and Dumas Of the form |
alton aud COMPOSITION of chforoform result t
ed from Inquiries and experiments insti-
tuted by them with the sole object of in
!XestlgatIng point in philosophical chem
istry. They had no notion, no surmlse of
the wonderful agency of chloroform on the
animal system. Had they been asked to
what practical purpose they expected their
researches would tend, they could only
have answered, generally, that every addi,
ton to the stock of human knowledge is of |
some use or other, although we may be I'M |
abie to conjecture or foresee its precise |
utility: Such reply would have seemed
great foolishness to those rather numerous
sages of every day life who are continually
asking what is the good of this or that
scientific investigation and who wonld