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rience will better allow us to determine." In regard to this, however, and in connexion with the third general statement, it is to be remembered, that the Baron does not seem to have maintained the ether's influence in his experiments; finally withdrawing the tube after the full effect had been once produced. One important matter he well insists on; namely, the tendency to convulsions which exists in puerperal women, the risk there is of convulsions being produced by ether in any patient, and consequently the great necessity for caution in ether's obstetric use.

Our own impression is, that etherization will ultimately be found more available in the obstetric, than in any other department of the healing art.

In medicine, the inhalation of ether has been applied with success to relieve the painful paroxysms of asthma, and to assuage the intense suffering attendant on neuralgia. And to other diseases, attended with much pain, we have no doubt that in due time the application will be extended. "Pneumatic

Medicine" is revived.

In tetanus, we do not look sanguinely for success; for, as already stated, etherization is not likely to control involuntary spasm, and it acts but slightly, if at all, on the true spinal system -unless pushed very far. When, however, in tetanus, amputation is deemed expedient, etherization will then prove unspeakably valuable in averting an aggravation of suffering, during the operation, which might otherwise prove almost beyond the limit of human endurance.

In public practice, etherization has been found very useful in detecting feigned diseases. The patient having been, nolens volens, thrown into helpless unconsciousness, stiff joints have become supple, crooked backs have grown straight, and various other decrepitudes have thawed into normal shape and formunmasking the impostor.

One field of inquiry, vast and important, seems just opening up to the profession; namely, the inhalation of other remedial agents, in the form of vapour, with or without ether-as practised by Dr. Pearson and others, in the end of last century. And who knows, but, by the resuscitation of " Pneumatic Medicine," many diseases may be brought more thoroughly under control; the remedies, in small quantity, being directly mixed with the circulating blood-borne along thereby, rapidly pervading the whole system, and both speedily and effectually

*To show that during parturition etherization may be maintained for a prolonged period, it may be mentioned that in one case, under the charge of Professor Simpson, the patient was kept, by the ether's use, in a complete state of unconsciousness as to pain, for four consecutive hours; delivery being at length accomplished

Extension of Ether's Use.

205

exercising their remedial agency.* Professor Simpson has already used the ergot in this way, as formerly stated; and we doubt not this is but the commencement, by him and others, of further investigation in this important, interesting, and hopeful direction.

And not merely to the human being is the ether's use to be limited. The lower animals partake also of its benefits. Already, horses and dogs have been relieved from troublesome and dangerous affections, by operations rendered painless.† Vicious horses have been shod, too, with safety and comfort to themselves and others. In the department of Van Amburgh, there is no saying what may be achieved.

And as if Medicine did not afford a wide enough field for ether, that of Law has been slightly broached upon. A proposal has been made to extend etherization to the Justiciary Courts; and a convict, lately, we see, has begged to be executed while under the Letheon's influence. Hanging-made-easy, however, is scarcely to be expected. The innovation would hardly be consistent with justice, however it might be regarded in law.

But we must hasten to apologize for indulgence in aught jocular, in a matter so grave and important as etherization; which in this and other countries has already removed all pain, and no little danger, from thousands of operations of every grade and kind in surgery; which has already made some progress in the successful treatment of disease; and which has already brought no slight help to the most interesting portion of mankind, in those hours of heavy trial which they have hitherto borne, with the greatest fortitude, indeed, but also with the intensest agony of pain;-from which, in short, within a few brief months, a vast amount of good has already come, and from which we still, not unreasonably, hope for good, to an extent that is almost incalculable.

Do not let us be carried away, however, by enthusiasm, na

painlessly, without her knowledge, and with perfect safety to both mother and child. And it is further worthy of note, that the former was a person of very delicate frame. In a more recent case, the patient was kept etherized for six consecutive hours, was delivered unconsciously by use of forceps, felt no pain, and did well.

* According to Wagner, vaporizable substances thus applied to the bronchial cells "seem to make their way into the blood through the unbroken vascular membrane, with the same certainty and ease as when they are injected directly into the veins."

+ We observe that a recent experimenter on horse-flesh has been making an ingenuous exposée of his adventures with ether. His first trials, instituted apparently for no earthly purpose, except just to see what would happen, did not satisfy him; and the want of success he attributed to " the too free entrance of atmospheric air" in inhalation. Accordingly, in his next experiment, he determined to prevent, if possible, the ingress of one particle of that fluid, so dangerous and unsuitable for lungs; and he succeeded marvellously; choking his victim as thoroughly as if he had hanged him by a halter. Perhaps he thinks that the ether had something to do with the casualty!

tural in the circumstances. All new discoveries run as much risk of damage from the unwise zeal of their partizans, as from the hostility of their opponents. Let our advance in this hopeful path be cautious and sure. Let wisdom, honesty, and candour attend on every observation. And let every man, old and young, casting aside all prejudice, and anxious only to know the truth, do what in him lies to ascertain how much of actual good there is, or may be, in the ether's use; how much of possible evil may attend on it; how the latter is to be averted or subdued, and how the former may be best secured and still further extended.

Will it be seriously urged, in deprecation of ether's anodyne use, that it is a "flying in the face of Providence;" that it cannot be the will of Heaven that such immunity from suffering should be, else so great a gift had long since been conferred upon mankind? If cavillers there be, who would thus obstruct the path of inquiry, they must be blind to the ordinary doings of Providence, and sad dullards in the reading of His will and way. Take but one illustration; itself amply sufficient to silence all such opponents. How came it that vaccination was withheld till the time of Jenner? Why were so many thousands of human beings permitted to perish under the devastating scourge of smallpox, until, in the eighteenth century, He was pleased at length to say, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther?" Simply because such was His will-" to mortal eye inscrutable."

And in conclusion-should our fond hopes be realized, and etherization perform all that it offers-let us not forget from whom the favour has really come, and to whom our thanksgiving is really due. What lay hid for ages, eluding the anxious search of the wisest, has been unexpectedly revealed, under humble and unlooked-for agency. And in such an event there is surely a manifest declaration of the sovereign power of Him who doeth all things wisely and well,-" The author of every good and of every perfect gift." Let us humble ourselves at the thought of man's weakness, and shortness of sight; powerless even when strengthened by experience, or when enlightened by philosophy. Let us cease not to extol Him who is all bountiful, as he is omniscient and almighty; who has been graciously pleased, in these latter days, to mitigate in part the temporal punishment which sin had brought into the world; who, while He hateth sin, yet loveth the sinner; who is " of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil;" who "retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy."

* Since writing the preceding pages we have seen the new Number of the British and Foreign Medical Review; and are delighted to find the accomplished Editor of that influential Journal upholding the same general views in regard to etherization, as we, more feebly, have ventured to advocate.

Researches respecting the New Planet Neptune.

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ART. VIII-1. Recherches sur les mouvements d'Uranus. Par M. U. J. LE VERRIER.* Comptes Rendus, &c., Juin 1, 1846. Tom. xxii. p. 907.

2. Sur la Planète qui produit les anomalies observées dans le mouvement d'Uranus.-Détermination de sa masse, de son orbite, et de sa position actuelle. Par M. U. J. LE Verrier. Id. Id., 31 Août, 1846. Tom. xxiii. p. 428.

3. Sur la Planète qui produit les anomalies observées dans le mouvement d'Uranus. Cinquième et dernière partie, relative à la détermination de la position du plan de l'orbite. Par M.U.J. LE VERRIER. Id. Id., 5 Octobre, 1846. Tom. xxiii. p. 657. 4. Recherches sur les mouvements de la Planète Herschel (dite Uranus). Par U. J. LE VERRIER. Dated 5 Octobre, 1846; and published in the Connaissance des Temps, pour l'an 1849. Additions, &c. p. 1-254.

5. Planète de M. Verrier. Par M. ARAGO. This Notice contains an account of the discovery of the planet at Berlin by M. Galle, on the 23d September, with observations by M. Arago. Comptes Rendus, &c., Tom. xxiii. p. 659-663.

6. Comparaison des observations de la nouvelle planète avec la Théorie déduite des perturbations d'Uranus. Par M. LE VERRIER. Id. Id., 19 Octobre, 1846. Tom. xxiii. p. 741.

7. Examen des remarques critiques et des questions de priorité que la découverte de M. LE VERRIER a soulevées. Par M. ARAGO. Id. Id. Id., p. 741-755. In this article Mr. Arago discusses the claims of Mr. Adams as advanced in the Athenaeum by Sir John Herschel, Mr. Airy, and Mr. Challis.

8. On the newly discovered Planet. By M. ENCKE. Translated in the Lond. & Edin. Phil. Mag. for March 1847, vol. xxx. p. 181,-from the Berichten der Akad. der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Oct. 22, 1846.

9. An explanation of the observed irregularities in the motion of Uranus, on the hypothesis of disturbances caused by a more distant planet, with a determination of the mass, orbit, and position

*On the 10th November, 1845, there appeared in the Comptes Rendus, &c. of that date, tom. xxi. p. 1050, an abstract of a Memoir by M. Le Verrier, entitled Première Mémoire sur la Théorie d'Uranus, but as it contains no reference whatever to the new Planet, we have not inserted it above.

In this Memoir, the planet is invariably called Uranus; but M. Le Verrier has added the following Note, in reference to his having adopted the name Herschel in the title of his Memoir :" In my ulterior researches," says he, "I shall consider it as a strict duty to make the name Uranus completely disappear, and to call the planet only by the name of HERSCHEL. I regret extremely that the advanced state of the printing of this Memoir has not permitted me to conform to a resolution which I shall religiously observe in future."-P. 1, Note.

of the disturbing body. By J. C. ADAMS, Esq., M.A., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. Dated Nov. 12, 1846, and published in the Nautical Almanac for 1851. (See also Proceedings of the Astronomical Society, Nov. 13, 1846.) 10. Account of some circumstances historically connected with the discovery of the planet exterior to Uranus. By the ASTRONOMER-ROYAL. From the Proceedings of the Royal Astronomical Society, Nov. 13, 1846. Vol. vii. p. 121-145.

11. Account of observations at the Cambridge Observatory, for detecting the planet exterior to Uranus. By PROFESSOR CHALLIS, Id. Id., p. 145-149.

12. Special Report (to the Syndicate of the University of Cambridge) of Proceedings in the Observatory relative to the New Planet. By PROFESSOR CHALLIS. Dec. 12, 1846.

13. Second Report of Proceedings in the Observatory relating to the New Planet (Neptune.) By PROFESSOR CHALLIS. March 22, 1847.

THE writings enumerated in the preceding list contain the history and details of a discovery certainly the most remarkable in the Annals of Science. If the discovery of an Island or a Continent, on the little world which we inhabit, gives immortality to the adventurer who stumbles upon its shores, how shall we estimate the merit of the astronomer who detects a new planet amid myriads of stars, and extends more than a thousand millions of miles the limits of the system to which he belongs! This feat was performed when Sir W. Herschel added Uranus to the planets. The process, however, by which that discovery was made involved no exercise of sagacity, and demanded no effort of genius. A sharp eye, a good telescope, and a patient observer, are alone necessary to rescue a planet from the starry maze which conceals it; and we have in our own day witnessed these influences, in the discovery of the five small bodies which circulate between Mars and Jupiter.

To such discoveries, brilliant though they be, the triumph of astronomy which we are about to contemplate has no resemblance but in name. To detect a planet by the eye, or to track it to its place by the mind, are acts as incommensurable as those of muscular and intellectual power. Recumbent on his easy chair, the observer has but to look through the cleft in his revolving cupola, and number the beats of his clock, in order to trace the pilgrim star amid its companions, or, by the application of magnifying power, to expand its tiny disc, and thus transfer it to the planetary domains. The mathematician, on the other hand, has no such auxiliaries. He calculates at noon, when the stars disappear under a meridian sun. He computes at midnight, when

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