The alleged employment of chloroform by thieves ... / [John Snow].

  • Snow, John, 1813-1858
Date:
[1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The alleged employment of chloroform by thieves ... / [John Snow]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE ALLEGED EMPLOYMENT OF CHLOROFORM BY THIEVES. BY JOHN SNOW, M.D. From the London Medical Gazette, February 22, 1850. In two recent cases of robbery it has been assei-ted that chloroform was used to render the victims insensible; and although no real evidence has appeared of such having been the fact, yet the statement has gained great publicity toough the newspapers, and the sen¬ tences on the prisoners have apparently been rendered more severe by the alle¬ gation. It can readily be shown that if thieves and prostitutes were to resort to the use of chloroform in the public streets, in the manner alleged, the attempt would only lead to their instant detec¬ tion on the spot. The sensation of pungency in the nostrils and throat that is caused by tliis agent, when its vapoiu' is in sufficient quantity to pro¬ duce any effect on the sensorium, is so strong and peculiar that no person can take a single inspiration without being aware that he is inhaling something very rmusual. Chloroform, in fact, can never be administered without the consent of the party taking it, unless by main force, which has to be used in the case of children who are not old enough to be reasoned into taking it. If a child be asleep when the process of inhalation is commenced, it nearly always awakes before being made in¬ sensible, however gently the vapour may be insinuated. As breathing is perfectly under the control of the will, a person would, on finding such a strange attempt being made on biTn in the public street, instantly hold his breath. and use aU his powers of resistance to repel the assault. And supposing the handkerchief, which is the alleged wea¬ pon, were held forcibly over his mouth and nosbils, in spite of liis efforts, yet he would be able to straggle as long, whilst holding liis own breath, as if another person were trying to prevent his breathing by the method called Bru’king. When it is recollected that a race of 150 yards can be run in one breath, these straggles, it will be per¬ ceived, would last long enough to attract a crowd. It is not difficult to understand how the report of the above use of chloro¬ form first gained currency. The first accounts of the use of this agent in surgery and midwifeiy which appeared in aU the newspapers contained a de¬ scription of its fraity odom- and its ad¬ ministration on a handkerchief, but nothing was said of its pungency. Hence many persons, as 1 had expe¬ rience, entertained the opinion that it might be used for effecting robberies. By and by, as it was reported, a person who had fallen down in the street thought, on coming to himself, that he recollected something of a handkerchief being applied to his face, and the in¬ sensibility from which he had just re¬ covered was attributed to chlorofoi-m. It is most likely, if this was anything more than the ingenious invention of the reporter, that the individual in question had taken a fit. The para- gB'aph, however, was a very suitable