Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 114, Vol. III, March 6, 1886

No. 114.—Vol. III.
Price 1½ d.
SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1886.
A new discovery in medicine, which has established its claim to general utility, is as much a matter for congratulation on the part of the general public as on the part of the members of that profession whose duty it is to use it. The stir in the world which Simpson’s grand discovery of chloroform excited is still well remembered, and upon reflection, persons even now could not fail to be impressed with the incalculable amount of relief from suffering of which the drug is the source, if they were to pay a visit to one of our large hospitals and judge for themselves. It is true that chloroform has some drawbacks; it is even true that indirectly, if not directly fatal results have followed its use; but what good thing is free from all blemish, and how, ‘in this best of all possible worlds,’ can we expect everything to be as we should wish?
The discovery of ether, it should be remembered, afforded surgeons the opportunity in after-years of making a choice between the two drugs. Fortunately, in this connection the effects of each are different in certain particulars, so that, in a given number of cases, the use of ether is advisable, and chloroform is to be avoided. The explanation of this can be readily understood. The effect of chloroform is to depress the action of the heart. In cases of an overdose of this drug, the heart is paralysed; and when death occurs during its administration, there need not necessarily have been more than a very small dose given; but owing to some undiscovered weakness of the heart, which the drug unfortunately becomes the means of rendering manifest, sudden stoppage of the organ takes place, with, of course, death as a consequence. On the other hand, ether has exactly the opposite effect. The heart’s action is stimulated during its administration, and the contractions of the organ are rendered more vigorous. Thus, whenever there is any suspected weakness of the heart in patients to whom an anæsthetic is about to be administered, there is no hesitation on the part of the surgeon in using ether, which under these circumstances is certainly the safest drug to employ.