2d. In September, 1836, I was called by a physician to see his wife. He said she was suffering terribly from facial neuralgia, and thought it was caused by a tooth. She was in her eighth month of pregnancy. He had applied the usual remedies, which gave no relief. I examined her teeth; found both the third-molars on upper jaw decayed, and on slightly tapping them with the handle of an instrument, the pain was greatly increased. He said he was afraid of the consequences, in her state, of having the teeth extracted. I told him nothing else would give relief. She said take them out, it cannot be worse than I am now suffering. I parted the gums from the teeth with a lance; I had barely completed this part of the operation when she fainted; her mouth was open; I took my forceps and extracted both teeth; brought her head forward to prevent the blood running down her throat; we soon brought her back to consciousness, and the first thing she said was: "I cannot have them out." Her husband said: "Darling, they are both out." She said, "Are they? I did not feel it; I am so glad; the pain is all gone." The Doctor said to me—"You are a bold man: I would have stopped you if I could, but you was too quick for me." I afterwards learned that no serious result followed the operation.
3d. In August, 1856, a young lady, aged about twenty, came to my office at eight o'clock A. M. Temperament nervous, lymphatic. Said she had not slept a wink all night. Her face was pale, hands cold, pulse feeble. Said she had a mortal dread of having a tooth extracted. I put my mouth-mirror into her mouth for examination, and saw the tooth caused the trouble. In an instant she fainted. I took my forceps and extracted the tooth, used restoratives and soon brought her to. The first thing she said was—"I cannot have it out." I showed her the tooth. She said: "Oh! I am so glad I did not feel it;" and left the office laughing about it.
4th. In the Fall of 1858 a lady called to have the two upper front incisors filled. She appeared to be middle-aged, and apparently in good health. On examination, the teeth were very close together—not badly decayed, but must be separated for sufficient room to enable me to do the work properly. Our only means, then, was either wedging or filing them. I filed about one quarter of what was necessary, and she fainted. I then filed as rapidly as possible while she was unconscious, and completed this part of the operation, and used restoratives, and soon brought her to. I gave her a glass of wine, and completed the operation without further trouble.
5th. In the Fall of 1874, a lady called to have a tooth extracted. She appeared to be in good health; said she was almost distracted with toothache; was afraid to take chloroform; was afraid as of death without it. I said the pain would be only momentary, and would not kill her. I extracted the tooth, and she fainted. My usual remedy in such cases was hartshorn and cold water. Through mistake, I took up a vial of the Essence of Gaultheria, poured a little on a handkerchief, held it to her nose, and was surprised to see how quickly she recovered consciousness. This prompted me to experiment with it. I concluded that if it was a good restorative, it might be a useful preventative.
I soon had a chance to test it. A lady called to have an ulcerated tooth extracted. She was in delicate health: face swollen, hands cold. She said she would like to take chloroform, but her physician said she must not take it; she knew she would faint without it. I told her I thought that could be prevented. I took a doily, folded it small, and poured about a teaspoonful of the essence on it. I told her to inhale through her nose, and exhale through her mouth. She continued this until her brain was pretty well stimulated, and the tooth extracted. She showed no signs of syncopy, and could hold a glass of water as still as I could. I have not had any one to faint away in my office since.
In the Spring of 1874, a lady, aged about sixty, came to consult me. She said that her teeth were so bad she could not eat any ordinary food; had disease of the lungs; was forbidden to take chloroform. After an examination, I told her she had eight teeth in the upper jaw that could not possibly be made useful, and she had better have them extracted. She said she had never had one extracted without fainting dead away. She could not think of having more than one out at a time. Her temperament, nervous sanguine, emaciated hands cold, pulse very feeble. I told her if she would follow my directions I would take them all out and she would not mind it more than one, and guaranteed she could not faint if she tried. I explained the effect of the wintergreen, and said it would do no more harm than a glass of good wine. I administered the article, as before described, until her face flushed, tears ran down her cheeks, then extracted the eighth teeth without her closing her mouth. She asked if they were all out, and I said yes. She said, "Is it possible?" I gave her a glass of water. It did not show the least tremor of the nerves. She left, giving me many thanks, saying that she felt much better than when she came into the office.
I could relate many more similar cases, but do not deem it necessary. My object is to show what may sometimes be done to advantage in cases of syncopy, and also the means of preventing it while performing a painful operation.
As before said, the brain is the seat of all sensation; and our patients, no matter how nervous they are, if the brain is properly stimulated, cannot faint—caused by the extraction of teeth. When my patients are known to be pregnant, I always use the stimulant above described before performing any painful operation; it always prevents any severe shock of the nervous system when in this condition. If any one wishes to know how to prepare the Essence, it is as follows: To one pint of alcohol add one ounce of the Oil of Gaultheria, commonly called Wintergreen. Shake it well and it is fit for use.
In passing from a conscious to an unconscious state, all the Clairvoyants I have questioned on the subject say it is affected by a change of polarity of the sensatory organs, and the principle is the same whether caused by animal magnetism, syncopy or anæsthetic agents, and if only the voluntary organs are affected thereby, there is no danger to life, but if polarity in the involuntary is reversed, the heart ceases to beat and death is instantly the result. I was the first in this city to administer ether for the purpose of extracting teeth without pain. In a few cases it developed paroxysms of hysteria; otherwise no harm was done. I have administered ether, chloroform and gas to over two thousand persons. With chloroform, I had three cases that barely escaped death in my chair; with gas, some after deleterious effects followed in two cases.
Admitting man's physical organization to be a magnetic machine, the deaths that have occurred are easily explained, when caused by these powerful drugs. The voluntary organs are under the control of the will, and during our waking hours there is a constant draft on our magnetic supply; it is best recuperated by sleep, when the will is at rest.