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.

    16/52 (page 14)
    however, still were in favour of Chloroform. M. Diday proposed the Eidoption of conclusions by the Society so strong as that Chloroform is dangerous, and that the surgeons Avho use it are culpable ; which, in fact, would be a foregone condemnation of any surgeon who used it, should a death occur while under its influence. A Commission of Enquiry was formed by the Medical Society, and a report by M. Valette of the conclusions arrived at was read. Subsequently, the Society hesitated to take upon itself the responsibility of adopting the sweeping proposal of M. Diday, and limited itself to pro- nouncing in favour of Etherization, and admitting that the comparative study of the two antesthetics was far from being complete. The Society voted the permanent sitting of the com- mission on the subject for further investigations. The report of the London Commission of 1864 states That the sequence of the phenomena during the experi- ments on animals is similar to that observed in man, and if the same percentage of the agent be administered, the results produced are nearly uniform. Much valu- able information may, therefore, be obtained by com- parative testings on animals, they are of so simple and reassuring a nature that a performance of them will go far to show the superiority of Ether as an ancesthetic agent, leaving the triple argument of disagreable odour, greater liability to cause excitement, and its greater tediousness, to be further discussed and observed uxjou ; objections, which seem tome so insignifi- cant, even if we admit them as compared with danger to life, that I cannot believe they could for a moment be of weight.