A treatise on etherization in childbirth : Illustrated by five hundred and eighty one cases / By Walter Channing.

  • Channing, Walter, 1786-1876.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on etherization in childbirth : Illustrated by five hundred and eighty one cases / By Walter Channing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    I have transferred the following portion of Dr. Perry's Letter from the Correspondence to the Appendix, because it relates mainly to occur- rences in the puerperal state, and not to those of childbirth, or to im- mediate and obvious effects of etherization : — In two of the cases, it produced some hysterical symptoms, but not sufficient to induce me to suspend the use of it. I have seen no unpleasant moral or intellectual effects produced by it. One case was followed, on the fifth day, by fatal peritonitis ; and one, a fortnight after, by phlebitis, which gave way to local depletion. Two cases were followed by profuse sweating, which passed off in a few hours. These were the only unpleasant physical effects which I have seen follow the use of ether; and how far these were influenced by it, I am unable to judge. In the case of hand presentation, I put the woman under the influence of it, and turned the child without any difficulty ; and both mother and child did well. I have seen no immediate danger resulting from its use, in the cautious way in which I have used it. The children of all that have taken ether have done well, with one exception. This child, which was apparently healthy when born, was taken in convulsions a fortnight after, and died. No disease was found in the brain, or any other part of the body, upon examination after death. These are all the important facts, in relation to the cases in which I have tried it; and, if I were to compare these with the cases which I have had, and in which I have not tried it, during the same period, I should draw an unfavorable opinion of its use in obstetric practice. You will be able, from the large number of cases which you 'will coDect, to come to some more correct results. I have not used chloroform in any case of labor, and therefore can say nothing of its comparative merits,'' I insert the following Letter with great pleasure. Its author is a physician and chemist, — a worker in his laboratory. The views offered by him are curious, and not without practical application. They recog- nize mental action in relation to a most interesting and obscure function, and propose, out of the remedy of pain, to find an agency which shall diminish the amount of pain itself, by producing a perfectly healthy organization : — Boston, Feb. 8, 1848. Dear Sir, — As you are writing on etherization, I wish to suggest two or three things which have occurred to me as deserving consideration. Will there not be an important effect produced upon the constitution and development of the future child, by relieving the mother of the anxiety and terror which now beset pregnancy ? Will there not be an improvement in the progeny from this cause, acting during the whole of pregnancy ? Do not the fears of the mother now occasion a portion of the distressing symptoms of pregnancy, which weaken and permanently injure the child ? I have not seen this subject discussed; but I should not wonder if the experience of a few years should rank it among the greatest benefits derived from etherization. A second subject, which is of interest, is the chemical action of sulphuric ether and chloroform in the system. I have no doubt that chloroform is decom- posed in the circulation, from the fact that it does not continue to be expired by the lungs, and also that its effects cease so soon and so entirely. This would also