ABSTRACT
The substances which are denoted by the word “anaesthetics” differ from the drugs which the older surgeons sometimes administered before an operation, in order to lull the patient’s sense of pain. They differ in their nature and in the mode of their administration; by the certainty and completeness of their action; by entirely transient effects they produce, which pass off without leaving a trace. Chloroform appears to have been independently discovered in 1831, by Soubeiran, and by American chemist, Guthrie. It is usually procured by distilling mixture of bleaching powder, spirits of wine, and water. In January, 1848, its administration, however, proved fatal to a patient; and since then a certain number of casualties of this kind have occurred with chloroform, ether, and other anaesthetics. The comparatively few fatalities which have attended the use of anaesthetics may, therefore, be due either to an immediate action on nerve-centres of heart, or possibly to a mediate action through medulla and pneumo-gastric nerve.
