TABLE OF ANESTHETIC GASES AND VAPORS.
| NAME OF SUBSTANCE. |
Elementary composition. |
Material condition. |
Gas or vapor density H = 1°. |
Fluid density, water = 1°. |
Boiling- point. |
PHYSICAL QUALITIES. | |
| Cent. | Fahr. | ||||||
| Deg. | Deg. | ||||||
| Nitrous oxide | NO | Gas | 22 | . . . . | . . | . . | Supports common combustion; sweet, and not irritating to breathe. |
| Carbonic oxide | CO | Gas | 14 | . . . . | . . | . . | Burns in oxygen; not irritating to breathe. |
| Carbonic acid | CO2 | Gas | 22 | . . . . | . . | . . | Extinguishes flame; irritating to breathe. |
| Bisulphide of carbon | CS2 | Fluid | 38 | 1∙270 | 43 | 107 | Vapor burns; odor disagreeable unless well purified. |
| Hydride of methyl (marsh gas) | CH3H | Gas | 8 | . . . . | . . | . . | Burns in air; inodorous, not irritating. |
| Methylic ether | C2H6O | Gas | 23 | . . . . | . . | . . | Burns in air; almost inodorous when pure. |
| Methylic ethyl ether | C2H6O | Fluid | 30 | . . . . | 11 | 52 | Burns in air; ethereal odor; rather pungent. |
| Chloride of methyl | CH3Cl | Gas | 25∙25 | . . . . | . . | . . | Burns in air; rather pungent. |
| Bichloride of methylene | CH2Cl2 | Fluid | 42∙5 | 1∙320 | 40 | 104 | Vapor burns; pungent odor. |
| Chloroform | CHCl3 | Fluid | 59∙75 | 1∙480 | 61 | 142 | Vapor extinguishes flame; pungent odor. |
| Tetrachloride of carbon | CCl4 | Fluid | 77 | 1∙560 | 78 | 172 | Vapor extinguishes flame; odor fragrant, not pungent. |
| Hydride of ethyl | C2H6H | Gas | 15 | . . . . | . . | . . | Burns in air; inodorous. |
| Ethylic ether (absolute ether) | C4H10O | Fluid | 37 | ∙720 | 34 | 93 | Burns in air; pungent to breathe. |
| Chloride of ethyl | C2H5Cl | Fluid | 32∙25 | ∙921 | 11 | 52 | Burns in air; ethereal odor; rather pungent. |
| Ethylene (Olefiant gas) | C2H4 | Gas | 14 | . . . . | . . | . . | Burns in air; pleasant to breathe. |
| Bichloride of ethylene (Dutch liquid) | C2H4Cl2 | Fluid | 49∙5 | 1∙247 | 80 | 176 | Vapor burns; ethereal odor; rather pungent; smoky. |
| Chlor-ethylidene | C2H4Cl2 | Fluid | 49∙5 | 1∙174 | 64 | 147 | Vapor burns; ethereal sweet odor; pungent. |
| Bromide of ethyl (hydro-homic ether) | C2H5B2 | Fluid | 54 | 1∙400 | 40 | 104 | Vapor rather pungent, but pleasant. |
| Hydride of amyl | C5H11H | Fluid | 86 | ∙625 | 30 | 86 | Vapor burns in air; inodorous when pure. |
| Amylene | C2H10 | Fluid | 35 | . . . . | 89 | 102 | Vapor burns in air; pungent; smoky. |
| Hydrocyanic acid | HCN | Fluid | . . | ∙705 | 26 | 72 | Vapor painful to breathe; special; suffocating odor. |
| Coal-gas | . . . . | . . . . | . . | . . . . | . . | . . | Gas at first slightly irritating, but quickly narcotic. |
evolved from the fumes of the Lycoperdon giganteum, or common puff-ball. The fumes as thus evolved have been employed for centuries past by the common people for narcotizing bees before taking the honey from the hive. A portion of the substance being burned under the hive, the bees, inhaling the fumes, fall into a deep sleep, during which time they are unconsciously deprived of their industrious earnings. I was so struck with the perfect action of these fumes after being shown one of these experiments, that, in 1854, I introduced the fumes for anaesthetic purposes. Purified by being passed through water, they produced the most rapid narcotism, under which many operations were performed painlessly on the inferior animals. The question was the character and chemical nature of the agent in the fumes which produced the anæsthesia. The late Dr. John Snow, so well known for his immense labors on anæsthetics, and the late Mr. Thornton Herepath, one of our most promising chemists, were each separately engaged in discovering the concealed gas or vapor. Snow and Herepath simultaneously, but by quite different methods of research, arrived at the fact that the narcotic present was carbonic oxide,
