Volume 3

Notes on the inhalation of sulphuric ether in the practice of midwifery / by J.Y. Simpson.

  • Simpson, James Young, 1811-1870.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the inhalation of sulphuric ether in the practice of midwifery / by J.Y. Simpson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/22 (page 4)
    I saw her with Mr Figg at five o’clock in the afternoon, and again at seven. ‘he os uteri was pretty well dilated, the liquor amnii not evacuated, the presenting head very high, mobile, and difficult to touch; and a pulsating loop of the umbilical cord was felt floating below it in the unruptured bag of membranes. From five to nine o'clock the pains seemed only to push the circle of the os uteri further downwards, without Ancréasing its dilatation, or making the head in any degree enter into the pelvic brim. Assisted by Dr Zeigler, Dr Keith, and Mr Figg, I shortly after nine o’clock made the patient inhale the ether vapour. As she afterwards informed. usy she, almost immediately came under the anodyne in- fluence of the ether., But in consequence of doubts upon this point, its use was continued for nearly twenty minutes before I proceeded. to turh theinfant (as Lhad previously. predetermined t todo). A knee wasieasily seized, and. the. child’s, extremities, and trunk ‘readily draiwn, down 3. but extreme, exertion was required 1 in order to extract the-head» At length it passed the contracted brim with the ante- rior part: of its. right parietal. bone deeply indented by pressuré against, the projecting promontory of the sacrum, and the whole cranium flattened, and compressed laterally. The infant gasped several times, but full respiration could not be established. “The transverse or biparietal measurement of its head, at the site of the indentation, was, in‘its compressed state, not more than 22 inches. Hence wé judged the conjugate diameter of the pelvic ui not to exceed this... The infant was large, and rather above. the usual Belz, 4 Lt weighed 8 Ibs. .On afterwards examining the head and removing the scalp, no, fracture. could be found at the seat of the indiahtatin: ~The thin parietal bone had merely. bent inwards. On questioning the patient after her delivery, she declared that she was quite unconscious of pain une the whole, period, of the or two after she first, commenced to breathe the ether. The inhal- ation. was discontinued towards. the latter part, of the operation, and het: first recollections,.on awaking were, “hearing,” but not “ feel- ing,” the head of;the infant...“ jerk”. from her. (to use her own ex- pressions), and subsequently she became more roused by the. noise caused:-by the’ preparation) of ,a bath for the child. She quickly regained. full. consciousness, and.talked, with gratitude and wonder- ment of her delivery, and her insensibility to the. pains of it. Next day [found her very well in.all respects. ; L looked in upon. her on the 24th (the fifth day after. delivery), and was astonished to find her up:and dressed, and she informed me. that on the previous, day she had walked out’ of her room to visit her mother., Mr Figg informs me that her further convalescence has been uninterruptedly good and rapid... [have previously alluded to two.cases of delivery. by the forceps, in which ithe patients were under the action of ether at the time of the operation. The woman in the first of these « cases was brought