Observations on the movements of the heart of the copper-head snake (Hoplocephalus superbus, Günth.) in and out of the body / by D. McAlpine.

  • McAlpine, Daniel, 1848-1932.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the movements of the heart of the copper-head snake (Hoplocephalus superbus, Günth.) in and out of the body / by D. McAlpine. 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 now celebrated Hyderabad Chloroform Commission proved conclusively that, under chloroform, respiration ceased before the heart; for in the entire 571 animals experimented on, including dogs and monkej'S particularly, and a few hoises, goats, cats, and j'abbits, this was invariably the case. Chloroform was, as a rule, administered veiy freely, and the maximum time the heart continued to beat after respira- tion ceased was 11 minutes in the dog, and 12 in the monkey. No doubt in the human subject, chloroform is not adminis- tered to the healthj, and the highly sensitive heart cannot long survive the death of the body; but making due allowances, the comparative study of excised hearts, justify and support the conclusions of that Committee, that death is not due to failure of the heart's action. And the record of cases of resuscitation, when surgeons have pronounced the patient dead, such as the one mentioned by a Surgeon- major of the Bengal Medical Service in the Lancet where he says, I succeeded after about twenty minutes of the hardest work I ever had, enable us to indulge the hope that deaths fi-om chloroform administered for medical pm-poses, will become rarer and rarer, especially with the young. The practical conclusion of the whole matter is, that while there is pulsation of the heart, there is hope. D 2
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