chlorine are adjoined, consisting of a peculiar
union of two of carbon with one of hydrogen.
Formyle is called, technically, a compound radical;
that is, a substance resembling an element,
but chemically divisible. Further remark on
the radical principle of chloroform must be
left to the professed chemist—- and punster.

It is, however, worthy of observation that,
as Dr. Simpson has pointed out, the discovery
by Soubeiran, Liebig, and Dumas, of the
formation and composition of chloroform,
resulted from inquiries and experiments
instituted by them, with the sole object of
investigating a point in philosophical
chemistry. They had no notion, no surmise, of
the wonderful agency of chloroform on the
animal system. Had they been asked to what
practical purpose they expected their
researches would tend, they could only have
answered, generally, that every addition to
the stock of human knowledge is of some use
or other, although we may be unable to
conjecture or foresee its precise utility. Such a
reply would have seemed great foolishness to
those rather numerous sages of every-day life
who are continually asking what is the good
of this or that scientific investigation, and
who would have triumphed gloriously in. the
fancied superiority of their " common sense,"
if no definite and categorical answer could
have been given to this sagacious demand of
theirs, in reference, as they, perhaps, would
facetiously have said, to Chlori-and-ter-formo-what-dye-call-it.

There are several methods of obtaining
chloroform; the best is that of distilling a
mixture of rectified spirit of wine, water, and
chloride of calcium. Four pounds of the last-
named substance, are mingled, in a large
retort or still, with twelve pounds of water,
and twelve ounces of spirit, and distilled as
long as a dense liquid, which sinks in the
water that it comes over with, is produced.
This is chloroform—- in the rough. It is rectified
by re-distillation at the temperature of
boiling water, freed from moisture by digestion
with chloride of calcium, and finally
distilled with sulphuric acid. Its purity is
indicated by perfect transparency and want of
colour. The admixture of water would give it
a milky appearance; the presence of chlorine,
a yellowish tint. As chlorine is a substance
most acrid and irritating to the air-tubes, and
one of which the inhalation, even in a small
quantity, would be fatal, it is, of course, in the
highest degree essential that chloroform should
contain no vestige of it, in a free or uncombined
state; that is, over and above the three
proportionals in union with, and neutralised
by, the one proportional of formyle.

The production of chloroform by the
process just described, is the result of a
somewhat complex decomposition. Suffice it here
to state that the carbon, hydrogen, and
chlorine, which constitute that substance, exist
in the spirit, water, and chloride of calcium,
and that the action of heat, in the distillation
of the mixture, causes those elements to
re-arrange themselves, in the shape of the
terchloride of formyle.

And now, the chemist having placed chloroform
in the surgeon's hands, in what manner
does the latter proceed to employ the gift?
Chloroform is most conveniently administered
on a sponge, placed in a small silver or plated
vessel, with flexible edges, made to fit
accurately over the nose and mouth, which have
been first anointed with a little cold cream.
A small quantity—- say one or two tea-spoonfuls
—- of the liquid is dropped upon the sponge,
and the instrument is adapted to the face of
the patient, who is directed to breathe gently
and quietly into and out of it. If no inhaler
is at hand, a hollow sponge, or a handkerchief
rolled into a cup-like form, will suffice.
In a short time the eyes become suffused,
occasionally a slight struggling, not from
pain, but from a species of intoxication,
ensues; then the muscles become relaxed, the
breathing sonorous, and total insensibility
and unconsciousness supervene. Loss of
consciousness, however, does not invariably
accompany cessation of bodily feeling;
insensibility to pain being sometimes caused, the
patient, nevertheless, remaining aware of what
is going on. There are a few cases in which
mere excitement is produced, and which must
be considered failures. In the majority of
instances, both consciousness, sensibility, and
the power of voluntary motion are alike
suspended; and in this happy state of oblivion,
the subject of an operation may be carved
without caring about it more than if he were
a leg of mutton; may have a limb removed
with no greater inconvenience than he would
suffer from having his hair cut. Some
persons, under the influence of chloroform, even
during the most terrible stages of a capital
operation, fall into a state of sleep-waking or
somnambulism, imagine themselves on a visit,
or a journey, and actually spend in an agreeable
dream the time which the surgeon is
occupying in their dismemberment. The
delight of a sufferer who, after weeks and
months of torture, is cast into a quiet slumber,
and after having enjoyed a particularly pleasant
nap, finds that he has left his misery
behind him on the operating table, may be
imagined.

Not the least remarkable peculiarity of
chloroform is its peculiarity of being applied
in obstetric practice; for, most singularly,
whilst, when so employed, it fully produces its
anaesthetic effect on the system; it does not at
all interfere with that peculiar muscular
action which is requisite for the performance
of the process adverted to. The question of
the propriety or impropriety, in a medical
sense, of its general administration in obstetric
cases, is a professional one, which cannot be
discussed here; it may, however, be remarked,
that the fact that it has been successfully
employed in any cases of the kind, must
narrow that question to the consideration of