More ether : less chloroform / by Joseph E. Lumbard.

  • Lumbard, Joseph Edward, 1865-
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: More ether : less chloroform / by Joseph E. Lumbard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    used. This is, perhaps, natural, as our medical col- leges teach too little about it. Furthermore, it is not always easy to obtain, and the instrument for its proper administration is quite expensive. I highly recommend it for simple operations, or those of short duration, or for painful examinations and dressings. It is not contraindicated when heart or lung disease is present, but it should not be em- ployed in cases with arterial degeneration or with aneurysm. In young children under the age of five years ether is preferable. Its most important use in surgery at the present time is as a preliminary to ether. Given in this way, it greatly lessens the pa- tient's suffering and is a time saving measure. Ethyl chloride has been favorably known for many years as a local anesthetic, but for the past few years it has been used as a general anesthetic, and in many localities it is trying to displace nitrous oxide in general surgery, especially as a preliminary to ether. The inhalers for its administration are too numerous to mention. For short operations, needing more prolonged and deeper narcosis than is usually obtained by ni- trous oxide, ethyl chloride is of advantage. It is also better for children than nitrous oxide. It should not be used in cases where there is much thickening of the tissues of the neck, as in laryn- gitis. Its use is also contraindicated in neurotic and alcoholic patients. Although ethyl chloride is cheap and easy to carry around and administer, we should not lose sight of the most important fact that it is not as safe as nitrous oxide. Thos. D. Luke, Edin- burgh, in the Lancet, May, 1906, reports 22 deaths, and W. J. McCardie, British Medical Journal, March 17, 1906, reports 38 deaths from its use. For practical purposes we might say that ethyl chloride is to nitrous oxide as chloroform is to ether.