21L
stupefaction ensues. In one case this state continued with occasionalperiods of intermission for more than 30 hours : for many days the pulsewas so much lowered that considerable fears were entertained for thesafety of the patient {op. cit .) In another case, an apoplectic condition,which continued for some hours, was produced.
Modus Operandi.- —When ether is swallowed it is rapidly absorbed,and subsequently thrown out of the system by the pulmonary surface.Magendie ( Elern. Compend. Physiol, by Milligan) says, that ether intro-duced into the cavity of the peritoneum is discoverable in the expiredair by its odour. Thrown into the cavity of the pleura, it producesspeedy death, and its odour is very obvious when we approach the mouthof the animal.—( Lectures on the Tissues , Lancet, Nov. 22, 1834).
Uses. —1. Medicinal, (a.) Internal. —Ether is principally valuable asa speedy and powerful agent in spasmodic and painful affections, notdependent on local vascular excitement, and which are accompanied by apale, cold skin, and a small, feeble pulse. If administered during aparoxysm of spasmodic asthma, it generally gives relief, but has no ten-dency to prevent the recurrence of the attacks. In cramp of the stomach,singultus, and flatulent colic, its happy effects are well established. It issometimes highly advantageous in a paroxysm of angina pectoris. Dur-ing the passage of urinary or biliary calculi it may be used as a substitutefor, or in combination with, opium, to overcome the spasm of the ducts ortubes through which the calculus is passing.
In the latter stages of continued fever, ether is sometimes admissible.It is employed to relieve the subsultus tendinum and hiccup. Desboisde Rochefort {Mat. Med.) administered it in intermittent fevers. lie gaveit about half an hour before the expected paroxysm , it acted as a milddiaphoretic, and prevented the recurrence of the attack.
Headache of the kind popularly called nervous, that is, unconnectedwith vascular excitement, is sometimes speedily relieved by ether. Ihave found it beneficial principally in females of delicate habits. In suchit occasionally gives immediate relief, even when the throbbing of thetemporal vessels and suffusion of the eyes (symptoms which usually contra-indicate the employment of ether), would seem to shew the existenceof excitement of the cerebral vessels.
In flatulence of stomach it may be taken in combination with somearomatic water. Against sea-sickness it should be swallowed in a glassof white wine. Durande {Observ. sur VEfficacite du Melange d'Ethersulphuriq. et d'Huile volatile de Tereb , dans Coliques hepatiq.produites pardes Pierres Biliaires, 1790), recommends a mixture of three parts etherand two oil of turpentine as a solvent for biliary calculi Bourdier {Mem.de la Societe de Med.) employed ether to expel tape-worm. He adminis-tered it by the stomach and rectum in an infusion of male fem, giving adose of castor-oil an hour after. In faintness and lowness of spirits it isa popular remedy. In poisoning by hemlock and mushrooms it has beenemployed (J. Frank, Toxicologie , s. 70,108). In asphyxia it has beenused with benefit.
The vapour of ether is inhaled in spasmodic asthma, chronic catarrh,and dyspnoea, hooping cough, and to relieve the effects caused by theaccidental inhalation of chlorine gas. It may be used by dropping someether in hot water, and inspiring the vapour mixed with steam, or it maybe dropped on sugar which is to be held in the mouth. The inhalation of