The Weekly Tallahasseean., 1901-05-30

|
the Aid Of These Drugx--SOme Pop
uInr MfsinfOrmatiOn on the Subfec.
Corrected.
a curious case of robbery under
ehl0rOfOrm which was decided in Lon
uOh not long ago was followed with
great interest by writer's bon medical
Jurisprudence. Hitherto many such
writer's have expressed great doubt
about these cases, for the Itrocess is bv
no means so easy of us3 as people
| think.
Very eXtravagant id0hs prevail
among the public as to the power of
an3StheticS, owing perhaIss to the Ii
cehse employed by nOvelistS when they
describe fancy" cases in tEeir books.
One reads, for instancei of a man
IN railway carriage waving n hand
kerchief before the face af a fellow
traveller and producing instantaneous
uncOnsciOusness. This is absolutely
impossible. Another imaginative writ
er recently described a murder carried
out by pushing a towel saturated with
a powerful anHSthetic under the bed
room door of his sleeping victim. This
also is nonsense.
In another tale the more feasible plan
is carried out of entering 4he sleeping
mans chamber, pouring ting anRSthetic
on the bed, the murderer standing by
and watching his victim di6. But even
this is stretching the truth rather Sc
vercly.
The true facts about chIGroform and
its companion anHsthetic5 ether, are
as follows:
First, with regard to administering
the drug during sleep. doctors have
made very exhaustive experiments, for
it would be of great advantage to a pa
tient on whom an operation has to be
performed to chlOrOform #him while
asleep and save him the hprror which
so many people have of the inhalation,
and they sum up the results, showing
that very rarely can chloroIOrm be ad-
miniStered to a sleeping person without
awakening him Grown people are,
with the rarest exception, awakened by
the Irritating fumes. If a man were
tired and if his nose were naturally in
sensitive to unpleasant OdOrs, and es-
pecially if he were under the influence
of drink, it might be possible to make
him unconscious while asleep. But not
even every doctor could do it. The Op-
GRAFTON would require the highest skill,
and the most skillful administrator
would succeed only once in a hundred
times.
If we take the case of spilling the
chlOrOfOrm in q room and thus impreg-
mating all the air Of the room. the thing
is out Of the question. Yet not only do
nOvelists assert that this can be done,
but many people have been actually
charged in real life with doing it-for
the purpose of blackmailing them, for
injuring them or perhaps to throw off
suspicion from the pretended victim
who has committed the robbery him.
self. If the room measures, Say, 12 feet
square and is 8 feet high it would
probably take a gallon Of rhloroform
spilled on the floor to makefa man un-
conscious. All the chinks aId crannies
would have to be stopped up first,
moreover, and the operator himself
would have to be poison ptOOf or he
also would succumb.
As a matter Of fact, the OF ply way to
render a person uncOnseiousSby the use
Of chlorofOrm is in the wa5 practiced
by surgeons in the ODeratingfrOOm. And
this is by no means an easy TASK. There
are several ways Of doing iti The chic
rOfOrm may be dropped on handker-
chief, which is then held Ov Sr the face
at some little distance, or 1t may be
dropped on sponge. or it mky be used
in one Of the innumerable mSchines in
vented for the purpose. Bu9the vapor |
must be mixed with air bdfOre it is |
breathed. That is the reason the hand |
kerchief or the sponge is keld some |
inches from the face. AS Ia rule it |
takes from five to eight Itinutes to |
make the person uncOnSciOua and dur
ing this time he generallyt struggles |
very violently.
1t is probable that mary Of the
charges Of chlOrOfOrming which have
been made are false. Sometimes the
pretended victim asserts that he has
become unconscious Immediately. But
It has been shown in evidence that the
time necessary to bring about this re-
suit is at least four or fives minutes.
Sometimes he says he cOulS not cry
put, yet he describes all thk circum-
stances Of the administration minute
y. Now, the first effect of the chlOrO-
'Orm is to produce confusion of the
mind, while, on the other hand, the
patient can cry out almost up to the
asst. He becomes mentally confused
before he loses the power Of speech.
These few facts are sufficient perhaps
% demonstrate that sOmC charges Of
possible chlOrOforming are necessarily
Mail.