The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-03-13
EHFUL DB.UG.

go Ansesthetic.
ClevelanGrS eHaye you ever
seen an operati performed on the eye
by the aid of the sai anesthetic
cocoaine?" asked i SUDDEN Of Western
Reserve medical university of a report
CT the other day.
NO." was the reply.
"Iaen come with me. It is to- be
given another experiment at the college
to-day The student led the way and
conducted his companion to the little
room where the patient and Il group Of
doctors were gathered. The former
was suffering intensely. The eyes were
extended far beyond their natural
size by the, swelling of the iris. The
eyeballs We're pressed against the lid,
ard the least touch caused the most in.
tense agony. The disease is known as
glancoma, and former operations to re.
leve it had eceasicned the patient Sc.
we're suffering The interest manifested
by the gentlemen present was profound.
Several We're practical eculists, and all
we're liable to meet silg1e-handed a like
case m their wv practice. The pa
tlent, a f~ine-looking gentleman of about
30 years, was assured that the opera.
ton woNld be absolutely painless, but
he suffering he had endured for the
past month or TIVE, had weakened his
nerves, and it was sometime, before he
could summon sufficient courage to per-
nit the operation to go on. Finally hx
dropped on his back on the couch, shui
his teeth tightly together end said, s.Ge
on, gentlemen" The physician, whe
was to perform the operation drew
IRON his case a miniature vial tightly
sealed and labelled ''Hydrochlorate Of
Cocoaine." The seal was broken, and
the patient directed to open his ewes as
widely as possible. The doctor also
drew his watch, and laid it upon his
knee. -Four drops Of the anaesthetia
were then let fall into the right eye.
The little second hand moved
five points and four drops more
were let fall. Five seconds more were
waited for, and the same amount was
again dropped into the eye. In ten sec.
onds more the doctor touched the. eve
lightly with his handkerchief. "Doyou
feel any pain?" he asked the patient.
Not the slightest" answered the lat.
ter. The eye was then pressed against,
The lid was crowded against it, and the
patient was directed to touch it with
his finger. 1t was as .%callous a%s,stone.
Ihe eye was then slit with a little knife,
and the IRIS was split in two. A pair OF
delicate forceps We're then inserted and
q piece OF the iris extracted. The opera.
ton may have lasted two minutes, and
during that time the eye did not. even
witch, and the patient assured those
about him thathe felt nothing whatever.
As has been said before, the operation
is not q new one, hut it, has hitherto
been performed under very adverse cir.
eumstances owing to the inability OF
She usual chloroform or ether to keen
the patient insensible for a sufficient
length of time. The operation witness
ed by the reporter was the second in
which the anpsthetic has ever been
used outside Of New York.
Cocoains was produced from the leaf
by Neiman, a German chemist, in 1880,
but it was left for DIR. Carl K1oller, OF
the Vienna general hospital, in 1884. to
tnd that this new alkaloid rendered
that extremely sensitive organ, the eve.
so completely insensible that its surface
might be gouged, scratched and cut
without exciting any sense of pain o,
even causing motion. Since then 1T has
leaped by a bound into professionalism
and an agent previously regarded rather
as OF mere chemical interest has been
demonstrated to be of such value in eve
surgery rs to advance in price to the
almost fabulous sum of over 5000 per
Onnpal L IT 10 ya1y1a1,1a NOT =, Low, 90,
a~nnsthetic, marvellous as is such a boon
to a sufferer. Willie destroying sensi-
blltty it enables the patient to obtain
entire control of that organ, SO that
operations can be performed with great
er certainty of success than is possible
with chloroform or ether.