Remarks on the superinduction of anæsthesia in natural and morbid parturition : with cases illustrative of the effects of chloroform in midwifery; and answers to alleged religious objections against the practice / by J.Y. Simpson, M.D.

  • Simpson, James Young, 1811-1870.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the superinduction of anæsthesia in natural and morbid parturition : with cases illustrative of the effects of chloroform in midwifery; and answers to alleged religious objections against the practice / by J.Y. Simpson, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    had begun the inhalation, and only thought she once or twice remembered or dreamed that she heard Dr Williamson, the house surgeon, speak near her. Dr Beilby, Dr Zeigler, &c., saw the case with me. The mother and child have con- tinued perfectly well. In this, as in other cases, I have watched and noted the effects of the chloroform upon the duration of the pains and of the intervals, the rate of the fcetal and maternal pulse, &c. Case XI.—Patient with a deformed spine and contracted pelvic outlet. At her first confinement two different medi- cal gentlemen had failed in effecting delivery by the forceps. At this her second confinement, she placed herself under the care of Dr Paterson of Leith. After being very long in labour, and the symptoms of the case becoming urgent, I saw her with Dr Paterson. The head was low down in the pelvis; but it was placed in the right occipito-posterior po- sition (the third of Naegele), and the forehead instead of the vertex was presenting, one orbit behig easily felt behind the symphysis pubis. It had been lodged in nearly the same po- sition for many hours. The foetal heart was still distinct, but weak. I applied the forceps—turned the head round with them a quarter of a circle, into an occipitoanterior position (the second of Naegele) ; and, after being so adjusted, it still required considerable force to extract it. Before ap- plying the forceps the patient was sent into a state of deep anaesthesia by the inhalation of chloroform; and subsequently, when she wakened out of it, she was in no small degree sur- prised to find that she had really been delivered while she was sleeping and resting so soundly. The placenta separat- ed, and the uterus contracted firmly. The child, which was large, lived for eight hours after delivery ; but, despite of all the measures tried, full and perfect respiration was never established in it, apparently in consequence of some effusion or injury about the base of the brain. Unfortunately a post- mortem examination was not obtained. The mother has made an excellent recovery. I quote the following instance of craniotomy under chlo-