The induction of sleep and insensibility to pain by the safe self-administration of anaesthetics / by John M. Crombie.

  • Crombie, John Mann, 1844-1883.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The induction of sleep and insensibility to pain by the safe self-administration of anaesthetics / by John M. Crombie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The object and use of the apparatus is further illustrated by the fol- lowing extracts from reviews :— “ Dr. Crombie’s Chloroform Apparatus.—This instrument is a very in- genious and useful invention. The object of the inventor has been to make it possible for persons suffering from intense pain or insomnia to avail themselves of the benefits of those smaller doses (‘ stimulant ’ doses, we should call them) of chloroform, which will produce sleep without producing coma. It is notorious that an immense number of sick persons are in the habit of using chloroform with this intention, but that they usually take it by means of a simple handkerchief or lint, which, at any rate for self-administration, is a most dangerous method, and is already known to have caused several deaths, and suspected to have caused many others. In Dr. Crombie’s instrument there is no danger of any untoward accident. The patient, lying comfortably on a sofa, or in bed, places the vessel containing the chloroform (the cap well screwed on) beside him, and puts the conical facepiece over the nose and mouth. He then proceeds to work the hand-ball with regular rythm : this directs a small quantity of chloroform vapour at each compression into the inhaler. Very soon a feeling of drowsiness comes over the patient, which renders it impossible for him to keep up the pumping movement, and he quickly drops off to sleep without the possibility of giving himself an overdose. We understand that this inhaler has been largely used for cancer patients, and other sufferers from painful incurable diseases, with great benefit. It certainly affords the only means we know of by which chloroform can safely be adminis- tered to themselves by patients.”—From The Practitioner, April, 1873. “ It cannot be denied that we possess in chloroform an agent capable of wide and safe clinical application for the purpose of inducing sleep and no more, and for the relief of pain, as in cancer, neuralgia, and other painful affections. “ It is with the view of placing in the hands of patients a safe means of in- ducing sleep by the seK-administration of anaesthetics, that Dr. Crombie comes forward with the mechanical means of obtaining this object. The apparatu.s is composed of an india-rubber air-ball, a bottle for the anaesthetic, and an inhaler. The supply of anaesthetic vapour is dependent on the patient, who compresses the air-ball, and thereby causes the expulsion, by means of tubes, of a small amount of chloroform vapour into the inhaler. When sleep super- venes, the supply of chloroform, being dependent on the movement of the hand, is arrested. “ Dr. Crombie’s apparatus appears to be a good one, and to offer increased facilities for the safe application of slight anaesthesia for the relief of pain. We have employed it in suitable cases and it has acted British Medical Journal, June 14, 1873. “ Chloroform has indeed, but more clumsily and less safely, been adopted by practitioners since its introduction for this purpose ; but it has always most properly been placed in patients’ hands with dread and misgiving, and the results have been in several cases disastrous; and no doubt the full therapeutic value of many anaesthetics for the relief of pain has not been taken advantage of lor this reason. Dr. Crombie’s clever mechanical contrivance recommends itself for fair trial under the surveillance of the medical practitioner.” The London Medical Record, May 26, 1873.