Show armst f THE dangers DAGGERS OF AND now that public attention has bas been drawn to the subject the ahe record of deaths from anaesthetics aesthetics an is increasing from all parts of the country dc accounts counts of sudden deaths reach us and there is a natural anxiety on the part of the public which ignorance on the subject only increases at the present time three agents are in use for deadening th the e nervous sem sew sensibility sibl sivility lity chloroform ether other and nitrous oxide or laughing gas science has added several new now agents to this list but those mentioned ment loid are alone in n general use chloroform as it is the most powerful is also most fatal it is a popular error that when I 1 death is caused by this agent the victim Is always affected with disease of the heart this is fan far from irom being the case as chloroform kills without distinction and it is impossible po aible to tell beforehand what its effects will be from a record of cases incomplete it is true but sufficient for present purposes we have found that in three fatal cases out of seven postmortem post mortem examinations showed no appreciable cause of death the heart being specia specially ily lly noted for its freedom from disease A noted case happened some years ago at bellevue hospital new york A trivial operation was being performed on a aw woman man the restoration ot of a nose and 0 the patient had no sooner inhaled a small portion of the vapor than she passed away without a struggle chloroform in this case was administered by bya a skillful operator and all the appliances of science were used for restoration but unsuccessfully A most thorough examination could discover no causes for such an untoward result in this connection we may state a fact of some practical importance the majority of deaths from aives follow the most simple operations such as tooth and cases of minor surgery but ver few cases are ported reported le of fatal results when the operation has been of any magnitude of course this is not the place to discuss the reason of subh such peculiarity but we WID of fer it to our scientists as well weil worthy investigation another cause i of death from chloroform seems to bethe bothe bo tile manner mannor in which it is administered ministered od unless the vapors of masors i the fluid be largely mixed with air it A is a ft veritable poison in hospitals this tills fact is frequently forgotten A paper cone containing a saturated sponge is thrust over a struggling patients nostrils and mouth edli eddi effectually actually shutting curien curlen currents ts of outside air and rhe rho the tho only wonder is that fatal cases are not of more frequent occurrence another cause seems to be the impurity of chloroform itself A practical deduction from these statements is that in the present suit state e of knowledge chloroform should bu bej used as seldom as possible medical nied lel iel scientists fucien fists aid ald are rapidly aming to this thi conclusion and everl evera even when they are forced to us use it lt libey they gene ally ady dilute it with hait half it t quantity of ether other common sense would also suggest that such a powerful agent should never be used for trifling ii 0 O surgical or dental operations eiber ether seems to be the least harmful of anesthetics in this tilla country it has been used in jn hundreds and thousands of case cases and it is ILS very tery rare to read of it pro producing dupIng death A ad vantage connected with ether eter seems to be that it 41 aiva alva always gives buffi sufficient clent warning of a feyl feyt fatal fatai re result sult suit and allow atlow medus to bo be gin gln employed by which such sueh a tendency may be averted undoubtedly this is the only comparatively safe ahles de deserving s of confidence nitrous oxide gas as has ha been received with much confidence but out like many other othen public fa verifies verities vori veri ties it I 1 ia fal fai false faise seand and undeserving m it produces insensibility by poisoning the tho blood acts in fact in the same manner as strangulation and each individual who inhales it and land then signs his name attesting its ha approached as a near as possible to that river which is never crossed but once this gas is used by the most ignorant class of men and is much more inore fatal than a confiding public is led to believe from its use are aie far fram from being eing nor are its after effects so exhilarating as advertisements would have leave us lis believe elleve this subject is deserving of mo morn 1 rei rel than a passing notice and some public bubile action should be taken to prevent its Jn indiscriminate discriminate use finally it should be remembered that no an aesthetic is ts entity harmles or productive of nothing but good As ao in other r things the public has bas its welfare in its ita own hands if it did not insist upon being rendered insensible in every trifling opel opol operation jf if as in olden times tines it was content content to sunner suffer present momentary pain for future health deaths draths from agaes theties would sink toa to tow a minimum linimum while timid young adles adies insist U upon 1 1 swallowing chloroform fum fumes es 1110 when 1 ia a splint splinter ef is to be taken from their thein delicate fingers while bold young oung men demand to be pol poi poisoned by laughing aug h ing 11 gas gaa when a single toch is to be extracted we may expect to be horrified with itji a crepet repe of sudden death in a den tal chair to sneer at t science for what science is incapable of foreseeing is only an hn evidence of ignorance it ia 13 not science buethe but the bublic public that needs to be enlightened science is not perfect perfo ct but while it is hampered in its en endeavors deavors b by the ho Out outcries crIs eris of an Igno ignorant tant taht public its duties dutiel must be circumscribed and its enemies quacks of all kinds flourish at the e expense pense of ive Ife health alth morall morality aud and ilfe life i f e when the tho public inter interests t it itself s el in by hygiene giene glene when it condescends to learn tle the tie primary laws jaws of physiology even deaths from an aesthetics will become a tradition while awaiting however ever r borsuch a wished for e consummation it if is desirable that scientists themselves should refuse to adomilli administer ani an esthetics aesthetics so indiscriminately ly as lias has been done heretofore ex ea 1 |