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
On June 7th, in the same year, he removed fourteen calculi from the
bladder of an elderly gentleman, who also recovered. In January 1857, he
removed forty-two calculi from the bladder of a gentleman, aged
sixty-six; twelve of them were nearly as large as chesnuts, and the rest
about as big as hazel-nuts. This patient died, I think, within a
fortnight. He had disease of the kidneys. A considerable number of the
elderly men on whom lithotomy has been performed have had well marked
symptoms of fatty degeneration of the heart; but the chloroform has
acted favourably on all of them. In January 1853, Mr. Fergusson
performed lithotomy in the country on a gentleman, aged sixty-four,
removing a rather large calculus. The patient weighed eighteen stone; he
had a pulse which was liable to intermit, some of his relations had died
suddenly, and his usual medical attendant was very much alarmed about
the chloroform; but its action was very satisfactory. The patient
recovered his consciousness without sickness, or any unpleasant symptom;
and he had a favourable recovery. On August 11th, 1855, I administered
chloroform in King’s College Hospital to a man, aged seventy-five,
whilst Mr. Fergusson performed lithotomy. The patient had suffered from
apoplexy a year before; he was still paralyzed on one side, he had the
arcus senilis well marked in both eyes, and the temporal arteries were
very thick and rigid. He went through the operation well; the pulse
being good all the time. He died on the fifth day, and the following
appears in the _Medical Times and Gazette_ respecting the appearances
found after death. “At the autopsy, the cellular tissue of the pelvis
was found infiltrated with pus. The kidneys were contracted, and
occupied by many cysts; the ureters were inflamed and contained pus. The
bladder was extensively sacculated, and its mucous membrane so much
congested as to appear on the point of sloughing. There was no
peritonitis. The heart was large and fatty, and its aortic valves
diseased to a small extent. The brain was congested, and its
bloodvessels extensively ossified.” On December 22nd, 1855, I
administered chloroform in King’s College Hospital to a very fat man,
aged sixty-one, with a soft weak pulse, and arcus senilis of the cornea.
Mr. Fergusson performed lithotomy. He went well through the operation,
and recovered promptly from the effects of the chloroform. He died on
the seventh day, with purulent effusion into the left knee, and around
the left shoulder. The heart was large and flabby, and the substance of
the left ventricle was very friable. The right ventricle was dilated and
thinned, and its walls were soft and friable, and encroached on
externally by fat; at one place there seemed scarcely any muscular
substance left.
I have memoranda of four cases of lithotomy in the female, in which the
urethra was divided as well as dilated to extract the stone; and I
recollect two other cases of the same kind of which I have no notes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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