AN INHALER FOR GIVING MIXTURES OF ETHER AND CHLOROFORM

F.Victor Milward
1902 The Lancet  
with three figures in the text. The apparatus consists of a small glass vessel attached I by tubing to a pressure gauge of narrow bore. The oxygen in the blood can be liberated by potassium ferricyanide and the resulting increase of pressure measured by means of the gauge and from this the volume of oxygen can be calculated. By similar manipulation, with the use of tartaric acid in the place of the potassium ferricyanide, the carbonic acid is subsequently determined. 6. Intestinal Absorption of
more » ... Solutions, by E. Waymouth Reid, M. B. Cantab., professor of Physiology in University College, Dundee, St. Andrews University. The experiments of Professor Reid show that a physical explanation of absorption is not admissible. 7. The Proceedings of the Physiological Society. ERRATUM.—The price was wrongly stated in our review of Gaylord and Aschoff's "Pathological Histology." Our reviewer gave the price as 5s. 6d., whereas it should have been 31s. 6d. net. New Inventions. PORTABLE SPRAYING APPARATUS FOR DISINFECTION. A CORRESPONDENT in whose judgment we have confidence has written to us in reference to the letter of "M.O.H." whose inquiry as to the best form of portable spraying disinfecting apparatus appeared in THE LANCET of May 31st. p. 1562. Our correspondent says that he has tried every variety of such apparatus that has come to his knowledge, but that he has found most of them to be mere toys. He makes an exception in favour of a spray recommended by Dr. W. Leslie Mackenzie of Edinburgh, a medical inspector of the Local Government Board for Scotland. This spray, he says, answers admirably but is rather heavy and clumsy to use. It is made by Messrs. Benton and Stone, brassfounders, Bracebridge-street, Birmingham. We have quite recently learned, however, that the Thresh Disinfector Company has succeeded in diminishing the weight of Dr. Mackenzie's apparatus by nearly 50 per cent. and has so modified it that it can be carried on a bicycle. The apparatus consists of a short force pump with air chamber attached to a foot-piece. A rubber section tube dips into a collapsible canvas bucket holding enough solution to spray an ordinary-sized room. The spraying nozzle is attached to a suitable handle and connected to the pump by about six feet of especially strong rubber tubing. Upon working the pump a very effective spray is produced with which the ceiling, walls, floors, and furniture of a room can be speedily covered with disinfecting solution. Additional lengths of brass rod are provided and a cross piece carrying two nozzles, so that large and lofty apartments or tents can be easily disinfected. When not in use the whole apparatus folds up and packs in the flexible bucket, occupying a space of '18 inches by six inches. The pressure obtained by the pump is from 40 to 60 pounds to the square inch and the spray produced is so fine that in the sunshine beautiful rainbows are visible in it. The apparatus therefore is not a toy like many of the portable sprays and can be thoroughly relied upon. Its cost is two guineas. For many purposes of disinfection where spraying is not available Dr. Thresh's portable I emergency" disinfector is very useful and satisfactory. It consists of an oblong chamber five and a half feet high and two and a quarter feet square, which is found to be sufficiently large to take an ordinary-sized bed when properly folded. The apparatus is heated by an oil furnace specially devised for the purpose, weighs under two hundredweight, and can be moved on a hand-cart. Both the spraying apparatus and the disinfector are made by the Thresh Disinfector Company, Limited, 16, Great George-street, Westminster. AN INHALER FOR GIVING MIXTURES OF ETHER AND CHLOROFORM. THE apparatus here described has been devised by me to meet a want which I have personally felt in the administration of anæsthetics and which I believe may have been shared by others who believe in the advantages of mixtures. The object I have had in view has been to give ether or chloroform, singly or together, in any proportion, during an administration and to be able to vary that proportion at _ will at an instant's notice. With these considerations I have had constructed an inhaler on the --Clover type. Two Clover inhalers are in fact superimposed. with an air-way right through and an indicator at each end. There are two* chambers in the main cylinder. The upper is the larger and will hold two fluid ounces (of ether). The lower smaller chamber will hold one and a half fluid ounces (of chloroform). The larger ether chamber is placed above on account of the denser vapour of this substance. Separate hollow glass-ended plugs are fitted to each chamber. A particular point in the apparatus is the central air-way which is double the calibre of that of the ordinary Clover inhaler and allows ample passage for the strongest respiratory blasts, even when both indicators are turned well on and the current of air is consequently much deviated. The indicators are attached to two tubes revolving in the central air-way and they act on identically the ame principle with regard to the opening and shutting of the apertures to the chambers as do the same in a Clover's inhaler. The bag has a revolving metal collar in order that it may remain in a dependent position whatever be the position of the upper (ether) indicator. The mask is of celluloid with a detachable indiarubber cushion. The whole apparatus is necessarily rather larger and heavier than a Clover's inhaler, but when used without the bag, as it should always be when chloroform is given, I have found it handy and compact. There are well-marked divisions on the cylinder opposite the pointers and the words "choloform " and "ether " are plainly marked on their respective chambers so that there may be no mistake as to which anaesthetic is being given. The instrument has now been used a considerable number of times and personally I have found it particularly useful in abdominal cases and in those cases in which mixtures of ether and chloroform are especially suitable. The method of administration that I employ in most cases is as follows. First the bag is entirely removed and chloroform given for the initial respirations by slowly turning on the lower indicator until Mark 1 is reached and the patient is beginning to lose consciousness. I then continue with ether until Mark 2 is reached by the upper indicator. In this way a quiet anxsthesia is induced without the unpleasant sensations produced by ether. The administration can then be
doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(01)89956-6 fatcat:xuczpne2ifhlpftqcf4va2syie