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CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
CONTENTS
COCAINE.
IN ALL SHADES.
SHOT-FIRING IN COAL-MINES: AN IMPROVED METHOD.
THE HAUNTED JUNGLE.
AN EVERY-DAY OCCURRENCE.
A NIGHT IN A WELL.
PERSEPHONÉ.
No. 114.—Vol. III.
Price 1½d.
SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1886.
COCAINE.
A new discovery in medicine, which has establishedits claim to general utility, is as mucha matter for congratulation on the part of thegeneral public as on the part of the membersof that profession whose duty it is to use it.The stir in the world which Simpson’s granddiscovery of chloroform excited is still wellremembered, and upon reflection, persons evennow could not fail to be impressed with theincalculable amount of relief from suffering ofwhich the drug is the source, if they were topay a visit to one of our large hospitals andjudge for themselves. It is true that chloroformhas some drawbacks; it is even true thatindirectly, if not directly fatal results havefollowed its use; but what good thing is freefrom all blemish, and how, ‘in this best of allpossible worlds,’ can we expect everything to beas we should wish?
The discovery of ether, it should be remembered,afforded surgeons the opportunity in after-yearsof making a choice between the two drugs.Fortunately, in this connection the effects of eachare different in certain particulars, so that, in agiven number of cases, the use of ether is advisable,and chloroform is to be avoided. The explanationof this can be readily understood. The effect ofchloroform is to depress the action of the heart.In cases of an overdose of this drug, the heartis paralysed; and when death occurs during itsadministration, there need not necessarily havebeen more than a very small dose given; butowing to some undiscovered weakness of theheart, which the drug unfortunately becomes themeans of rendering manifest, sudden stoppageof the organ takes place, with, of course, deathas a consequence. On the other hand, ether hasexactly the opposite effect. The heart’s actionis stimulated during its administration, and thecontractions of the organ are rendered morevigorous. Thus, whenever there is any suspectedweakness of the heart in patients to whom ananæsthetic is about to be administered, there isno hesitation on the part of the surgeon inusing ether, which under these circumstances iscertainly the safest drug to employ.
But apart from these considerations, all drugswhich possess the property of producing what i