Ether : a brief account of its manufacture, chemical composition, congealing properties, etc. etc. / by Martin Henry Payne.

  • Payne, Martin Henry.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ether : a brief account of its manufacture, chemical composition, congealing properties, etc. etc. / by Martin Henry Payne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Mr. Squire devised the first apparatus for inhaling ether, which lie has presented to the Museum of London Univer- sity College. He relates that this instrument was first used by Mr. Liston in an operation for amputation, the patient not suffering the least pain; '^Nor, indeed,^-’ he eontinues to say, “ could he be persuaded that liis leg was off, even after the return of consciousness, until he felt for it.’^ In a recent number of the ^ Medical Times and Gazette,^ Dr. Richardson has published a series of tests for ascertain- ing the purity of ether. He says, All the ordinary ethers of the shops contain alcohol, the presence of which substance materially interferes with the suceess of the process. It pre- vents perfect anaesthesia, and eauses a tingling and burning sensation at the beginning of the process, and during the brief period of reaction.’'’ He gives the following simple tests for ether:— (a) Take the specific gravity. The specifie gravity should not exceed 0‘723. (b) Try the boiling point. Warm the hands by gently blowing into them the warm breath. When the hands feel as warm as the breath, make the palm of one hand into a cup and pour in one or two drachms of ether. The ether ought immediately to boil briskly, without giving any pain. (c) Test the effeet on mucous membrane. Put one or two draehms of the ether in the palm of the hand, and quickly take up the ether into the mouth with the tongue. The ether should at once pass off, leaving neither smarting nor burning, nor any sensation except a slight eoldness. (d) Pour a little of the ether on a pieee of clean white blotting-paper, and lay the blotting-paper on the warm hand. The paper should dry within a minute, leaving no moisture and no smell whatever. If the paper, while drying, yield an odour like eau de Cologne, there is some aleohol present. If it give a smell slightly pungent, and which hangs about for a time, there is some methylated compound present. Pei’fectly pure ether, in a word, leaves no persistent odour. (e) Try the degree of cold producible by the ether. Charge the bottle connected with the spray produeer, and direct the spray on the bulb of a thermometer. The mercury ought to fall rapidly to six degrees below zero Pahr., and the falling of the mercury should continue until there is a deposit of snow on the bulb of the thermometer from condensation of water in the air. (e) Test the effect on the skin. Direct the spray, at a distance varying from half an inch to an inch and a half from the jet, on the back of the hand. In a s}>ace of time, extending from thirty seconds to two minutes, a slight hoar