Evening star., 1941-01-04
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

By Thomas r. Henry.
BY linking molecules of two common
anaesthetics, ethyl ether and cyclopro-
pane, chemists of the University of Mary
land school of medicine are producing
new forms of ether from so to 100 per
cent more potent than that ordinarily
used in surgical operations.
The first of these is cyprome ether,
which is described by DR.. John c. Krantz,
professor of pharmacOlogy, as about half
again as active as ethyl ether, no more
poisonous to the system and with some
marked advantages. Experiments with
| monkeys show that it brings about un-
consciousness with complete muscular re-
taxation in a shorter time and that re-
covery from it is more rapid with less
likelihood of nausea
Tests thus far made with animals show
that none of the gas is retained in the
blood and that it is not held in the fats
OF the central nervous system more firm
ly than IS ordinary ether. 1t is because
OF its affinity for the central nervous sys-
tenn tissues that ether has its anaesthetic
effect.
The University of Maryland chemists
have tested the new anaesthetic on them
selves and found that it produces nausea
IN only one-third of the cases whereas
two-thirds of patients become i'll from
the effects of ordinary ether. In one case
where it was used in an arm amputation
which lasted an hour and a half the
patient recovered consciousness COM
pletely in three minutes and was not i'll
afterWard.
The second new compound is cypreth
ether which, preliminary tests show. is
about twice as strong as ethyl ether and
Slightly less poisonous than even Cyprome
ether. 1t is about as potent producer of
INCONSISTENCIES, DR.. Krantz says, as
chloroform, most powerful of. all
| anaeStheticS but about 30-fold more dam
gerouS than ordinary ether.
Because of its extreme toxicity the use
Of chloroform generally has been aban-
doned by surgeons. Cypreth ether has
not actually been used in surgery and is
still in highly experimental stage
Dr. Krantz and his assistants are work
ing with several other promising cyclo-
propane-ether combinations which are
not yet in a sufficiently advanced state
for animal experimentation Each re-
quires, he says. that every possible factor
which might effect the vital indeX'-the
ratio OF the amount producing a salts
factory Inconsistencies and muscular
| relaxation to that which is likely TO cause
death or permanent injury-be tested
over a long period
Both cyprome and cypreth ether, Dr.
Krantz believes, will soon have an estab-
| lished place in surgery although the ex-
perimenters still are far from their goal
of the perfect anaesthetic. In connec-
ton with their experiments Dr.. Krantz
and his associates have deIved into the
history of anaesthetics and dug out some
curious facts
One of the first ways of producing un-
! consciousness, he says, was that used by
the great French medieval surgeon, Am
hrose Pare. who made his patients dead
drunk on win rouge If they showed signs
| of recovering consciousness an assistant
was at hand to knock them over the
| head.
The anaesthetic, Dr.. Krantz says, ap-
parently often was more dangerous than
the operation and few survived Pare's
internal surgery
With the successive introduction of
/ laughing gas and ether in the United
States, English surgeons looked for some
thing even more effective and finally Sir
James Simpson, an obstetrician, found
| one in drug sent him by a German
pharmacologist. This was chloroform, but
when he proposed to use it in cases of
childbirth he was denounced from half
the pulpits in England as a defer of the
Bible.
In this turmoil Queen Victoria became
one of the heroines of medicine by al
lowing Simpson to administer chloroform
to her at the birth of one of her children.
This required real courage, not only be-
cause she was flying in the face of the
clergy, but because most physicians
warned that the anaesthetic would be
fatal.
One of the most colorful of North
American birds, the only parrot regard
ed as permanently inhabiting the con-
tinental United States, now probably is
extinct.
For the past Is years no Carolina para
keet has been reported, says DR.. Arthur
Cleveland Bent in bulletin on North
American birds just issued by the Smith
sonian Institution. There is bare pos
sibility that few individuals may lin
ger on in Florida forests.
1t belonged to a tropical family of birds
yet was so acclimated that it occasionally
ventured as far north as the Great Lakes.
Early in the 10th century, as described
by ornithologists of the day, great hocks
through the air in close formation. their
long tails streaming out in straight flight,
and their brilliant colors-red. yellow,
bright green and soft blue-gleaming in
the sunlight
when they alighted on the ground"
Mr.. Bent quotes one ornithologist, 'it ap-
peared at distance as if covered with
carpet of richest green, orange and
yellow. They afterward settled in one
body on neighboring tree, covering al
most every twig of it."
The parakeetS ranged over most of the
country east of the Mississippi, although
their appearance north of the Hudson
probably was not common. In 1895
of tIopo oopoo Of tho