I have omitted from the list of deaths by chloroform two cases which are usually attributed to that agent, namely, the case of Mr. Robinson’s patient, and the one at St. George’s Hospital, and have attributed them to fear; and I also rejected the case of the infant on which Dr. Aschendorf operated, for the reasons I stated; and it is quite possible that amongst the fifty cases I have retained, there may be one or two in which the death was not caused by chloroform, especially as the details of some of the cases are very meagre; but when all the circumstances of the cases are examined, and especially when the mode of death is compared to that which chloroform can be made to produce in animals, it cannot be supposed that the fatal event was a more coincidence in the whole fifty cases, or in any great number of them. There are numerous instances recorded of sudden death during surgical operations, or just before intended ones, without any evident cause, except fear or pain, before the use of narcotic vapours was known; and some even since, in cases in which it was not thought worth while to use them. After the passage quoted above, Dr. Simpson continues:—“I know of another case in Edinburgh, where death instantaneously followed the use of an abscess-lancet without chloroform,—the practitioner, in fact, deeming the case too slight to require any anæsthetic.” Such events have, no doubt, often happened without being recorded; and it is extremely likely that the deaths of this kind which chloroform has prevented are quite as numerous as those it has occasioned by its own effects, but the medical profession will very properly not be satisfied with a result of this kind, if more can be done; and the endeavour of the practitioner of course is, whilst saving life as well as preventing pain by the use of this agent, to avoid as far as possible having any accident from its use. _Falling back of the Tongue._ It has been alleged that the falling back of the tongue into the throat, under the deep influence of chloroform, might be the cause of death by suffocation; but this appears to be an error; for the muscles of the larynx and neighbouring parts preserve their action as long as the diaphragm, and contract consentaneously with it. When the breathing has ceased, the tongue is indeed liable to fall backwards, if the person in a state of suspended animation is lying on the back, and this circumstance requires to be attended to in performing artificial respiration. STATE OF THE CHIEF ORGANS AFTER DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.