A treatise on etherization in childbirth : Illustrated by five hundred and eighty one cases / By Walter Channing.

  • Channing, Walter, 1786-1876.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on etherization in childbirth : Illustrated by five hundred and eighty one cases / By Walter Channing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    might be again given. (7.) In her delirium, she seemed busily occupied with her ordinary duties; giving directions about the house, &c. I saw no appearance of danger to the mother. She seemed, on the contrary, refreshed by each inspiration and the consequent sleep, and awoke with renewed strength on the accession of the next pain. Her subsequent recovery has been rapid, and unattended by any symptoms attributable to the chloroform. She was delivered eventually by the crotchet. During the extraction, the chloroform was administered with the greatest free- dom ; notwithstanding which, it was found impossible to keep her as quiet as we could wish, and she was by no means insensible to her sufferings. From a single case I have no right to form an opinion upon the value of etherization in labor. Any further particulars I shall be most happy to communicate, and am, with respect, your obedient servant, Dr. Channing. Wm. P. Dexter. [Some weeks after, Dr. Dexter called to inform me, that phlegmasia dolens had attacked one leg in the above case ; and the same thing hap- pened in one of the forceps cases which came under my notice.] From Erasmus D. Miller. Dr. Channing. Dorchester, May 30, 1848. Dear Sir, — In answer to the note I had the honor to receive from you a few days since in relation to the use of chloroform in obstetric practice, I would say that my experience is limited. I have made use of it in only twelve or fourteen cases, but in these with the happiest results ; not one unpleasant symptom having followed its use. In its administration, I seek merely to make the patient comfortable ; and, so far, I have had no difficulty in so doing, without affecting in one instance the patient's consciousness. After the patient has been once brought under its influence, I know of no better criterion, in its admini- stration, than to trust to the wishes of the woman. As far as I can judge from so limited a use of chloroform, those women recover more rapidly and permanently who use it than those who do not. Respectfully yours, Erasmus D. Miller. From C. H. Allen, M.D. Walter Channing, M.D. Cambridgeport, July 29, 1848. Dear Sir, — In reply to your inquiries, how extensively, and with what results, I had used ether or chloroform, I cheerfully state what occurs to me as worthy of recording.