_Case 30_ took place on March 19th, 1853, in University College Hospital, London. The subject of it was an unmarried woman, named Caroline Baker, aged twenty-eight. The chloroform was administered with the intention of applying nitric acid to a sloughing ulceration of the labia and vagina. “The chloroform, supposed in the first instance to be about a drachm, was poured on lint about five inches square, and folded four or five times over. After a short time the patient became restless, talked loudly, and threw about her arms. Soon afterwards a partial relaxation of the limbs took place, and she became insensible and pulseless.”[99] Further symptoms are not given, but it is stated that she sank and died. The breathing is not mentioned, but Mr. Erichsen, who, although not present at the accident to his patient, would be made aware of all that occurred, stated at the inquest, that death was produced by a paralysis of the heart from the influence of the chloroform. Dr. Quain examined the structure of the heart with the microscope, and he “found that organ, particularly on the right side, in a state of fatty degeneration.” _Case 31_ was communicated to the Society of Surgery of Paris by M. De Vallet, Surgeon-in-chief to the Hôtel-Dieu, d’Orléans. “A soldier of the line, aged twenty-five, apparently in good health, and of strong frame, consulted M. Vallet for a small tumour situated behind the right labial commissure. Before operating, he proceeded to direct the inhalation of chloroform. The patient, fasting, being placed in the horizontal posture, the chloroform (about one gramme) was poured upon a hollow sponge, and applied to the nose, the mouth being left free. At the expiration of a minute, no effect having been produced, four grammes were poured on the sponge, and at the expiration of four minutes, the patient, without having experienced any irritation of the larynx, without having manifested any resistance, without redness of the countenance, and after only a slight period of agitation, fell into a state of insensibility fit for the operation. Scarcely had the incision been made, necessary to expose the cyst, when the patient became pale, respiration was suspended, and he sank into a state of complete collapse. All the usual remedies were tried, and without avail. M. Vallet opened the trachea, and performed artificial respiration with an elastic tube; then an electric current was sent by needles through the region of the heart. The patient died without any sign of reaction. “Examination of the body.—The vessels of the brain were empty; the lungs were congested with blood, which in some situations was extravasated; the heart was excessively flaccid; there were some soft clots in the right cavities; the left were empty. The stomach was full of gas; the liver, spleen, and kidneys were gorged with black blood.”[100]