Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/660

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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,