The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-30

Rather uncanny, isn't it, to think that
man can bring idiocy upon his chill
dren merely by moving into another
parish?''
BY this time the next case had been
brought in. 1t was a case where local
anaesthesia was necessary. The as
sistants rapidly prepared the parts for
the cocaine and applied it, while the
patient gazed fearfully at the eager
faces of the medical students seated
in rows above him, as though he
thought they would jump down at him
en- maSSe.
Artificial Somnambulism.
Have you had any peculiar expert
ences with anaestheticised patients?"
the surgeon was asked.
No, I cannot say L have. Some of
them talk a great deal, though, and
say funny things, but we have little
time to give TO their twaddle. l suppose
they dream. By the way, that reminds
me that some men in the physiology
department are working to see if SOM
nambulism cannot be made to take the
place of chlOroform and ether in some
cases. You know, or don't you, that
somnambulism can be produced arti
ficially? Well, it can be, and most pro-
found somnambulism at that. 1t is
supposed that in the natural state it is
produced by the formation of pecul-
lar substance which is derived from the
Starchy parts of the body, and which
has the effect of the chemical sub
stance known as amylene. Commercial
amylene is a colorless liquid, with pc
culiar odor; and is obtained by distill-
ing oil of potatoes or grain with an
hydrous phosphoric acid. Administered
in proper way it induces Somnambu-
nf
show what it will do, let me say that it
is on record that the late DR.. Snow of
England administered some of the drug
to boy whose ankle was to be ampu-
tated. During the operation, which was
performed by Sir William Ferguson,
the boy lay back on the table, appar-
emily unconcerned and painless, for he
tossed a ball I'D to the ceiling and
caught it accurately as it came down
again and again. Ali here is that
lockjaw case which 1 wanted to exam
ine.'
Curing Lockjaw.
A man was brought in. He had lock-
jaw. He lay rigid. He had the "sar-
donio grin" which is caused in most
cases of tetanus by the peculiar setting
of the jaws. The surgeon explained his
case to the students. He had fallen and
cut his knee on a muddy curbstone.
Nine days afterward the symptoms of
lockjaw were developed. The case was
interesting, since it would afford an OPP
portunity for trying the anti-toXine
treatment. Popularity speaking, this
amounted to giving the patient more
brain. That is macerated animal brain
properly prepared would be injected
through his skull hyperdermically. So
button of bone was trepanned out of
his skull and the serum which had
been made ready was injected Of
course the man had been placed under
an anaesthetic, which was interesting
because, under the influence of the drug
some of the muscles relaxed their rigid
ity. The students particularly watched
this phenomenon intently. When the
operation was over the surgeon made a
speech to the students, as is usual, in
which he explained the physiology and
pathology of lockjaw. Professors RouX
and Borrel of the Pasteur institute
were the instigatOrs of the new method
of treatment, he said. Taking the brain
substance of guinea pig, they crush
ed it with some tetanic toXine and cen
trifugaliZed the mixture This had the
effect of separating the substance into
two LAYERS. The upper layer was an
opalescent fluid the lower was really
the nervous substance The upper layer
contained very little toXine; the ner-
Nous substance held the tetanic poison
This was done mechanically, but the
same process takes place in the human
organism; that is, the lockjaw poison
Is absorbed by the nerve cells and af-
fects the spinal cord. Experiments on
guinea pigs with the lockjaw antidote
or anti-toXine, show that it must be
quickly injected into some central sta
ton in the human body, so that its ef-