On chloroform and other anæsthetics: their action and administrationSnow, John
History
On chloroform and other anæsthetics: their action and administration
Snow, John
Anesthetics; Chloroform; Snow, John, 1813-1858
_Experiment 26._ Four and a half grains of chloroform were introduced
into a jar containing 600 cubic inches, being three-quarters of a grain
to each 100 cubic inches, and, the vapour having been equally diffused,
two frogs were put in. They tried to climb up the side of the jar, as if
wishing to make their escape, and one or the other occasionally ceased
to breathe for a minute or two, probably from disliking the vapour, but
commenced to breathe again. In about five minutes the efforts to escape
ceased, and they only moved to adjust their equilibrium when the jar was
disturbed. They were now breathing regularly, and continued to do so
till about ten minutes after their introduction, when all voluntary
power ceased, and the breathing began to be performed only at intervals.
They were allowed to remain till half an hour had elapsed, during the
last ten minutes of which time no respiratory movement was observed in
either of them. On taking them out, and laying them on their backs, the
pulsations of the heart were observed on each side of the sternum. These
pulsations were the more distinct, from the lungs being apparently
empty. I continued the experiment on these frogs, placing one of them
back again, in the course of two or three minutes, in the same jar, with
three grains of chloroform, and the other in a jar of 400 cubic inches
capacity, with five grains. They were laid on their backs, and the heart
of the former one, in air containing half a grain of chloroform to each
100 cubic inches, continued to beat distinctly and regularly, 45 times
in the minute, for four hours that it remained in the jar, and it was
not observed to breathe during the whole time, although it was watched
almost constantly. The respiration commenced again within half an hour
after its removal. In about an hour, it recovered its power of voluntary
motion, and it was not injured by the long narcotism.
The pulsations of the heart of the other frog, in air containing a grain
and a quarter of chloroform to each 100 cubic inches of air, became
slower and more feeble, and in a quarter of an hour could not be
observed. The frog was left in the jar a quarter of an hour longer, and
removed when it had been in half an hour. The under part of the thorax
was immediately opened sufficiently to expose the heart. It was
moderately full of blood, but not contracting at all, and it did not
evince the least irritability on being pricked, either at first or after
exposure to the air for some time. It is evident that the heart of this
last frog became paralysed by the absorption into the blood of more
vapour, in addition to the quantity that was sufficient to arrest the
respiration. The temperature of the room during this experiment was 65°
Fah.
The effect of chloroform on the heart of the frog is further shewn by
the next experiment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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