The dangers of chloroform and the safety and efficiency of ether, as an agent in securing the aviodance of pain in surgical operations : with a description of an ether inhaler and the mode of administration / by J. Morgan.

  • Morgan John, 1820-1891.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dangers of chloroform and the safety and efficiency of ether, as an agent in securing the aviodance of pain in surgical operations : with a description of an ether inhaler and the mode of administration / by J. Morgan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    9/52
    DANGERS OF CHLOROFOEM. THE SAFETY OF ETHER AS A PAIN-DESTROyEE. Since the all-important era of the introduction of aiiCBsthetics into surgical practice, and the invaluable boon of the avoidance of pain, whether in small or large operations ; claims have at times been set forth in favour of various means of attaining this desirable end—chloro- form, ether, a mixture of both, nitrous oxide gas, &c., have had their advocates ; and the great object of pro- ducing a temporary state of insensibility has been achieved by any one of these agents. Chloroform, undoubtedly, in these countiies, has as yet carried the palm, and has had the most ample iise. No one who has either witnessed or experienced its value in the extinction of pain, can possibly doubt its efficacy, or can question the lionours aLd laudations which have been bestowed upon the late Sir J. Simpson as the intro- ducer of this agent into practice; but in order to attain the state of suspended sensation, even in small opera- tions, and, in addition, to retain this condition for a length of time, as is necessary in some of the larger and more tedious proceedings of surgery ; the gauntlet of certain dangers, .unfortunately, has to be run, which every practical surgeon will candidly admit, cause him much