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"Snow demonstrates the effect of inhaling ether on a green linnet."

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(27 February 1847)

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"Westminster Medical Society," London Medical Gazette 39 (12 March 1847): 473.

At the 27 February meeting of the Society, "Dr. Snow put a green linnet under the influence of ether, by placing it in a glass jar with a few drops of that liquid. In almost a minute it fell down insensible, and although kept in the jar almost a minute longer, and until it had almost ceased to breathe, it gradually recovered its sensibility on being withdrawn, and in about ten minutes was as active as before."

[Discussion followed] . . . . .

"Dr. Snow, in his reply, spoke of the necessity of being able to regulate the proportion of vapour and of air. With an apparatus consisting of glass and sponges, the quantity of vapour could not even be ascertained, for the air was very much cooled in passing through such an inhaler by the evaporation of the ether. The use of hot or even warm water was very improper without an inhaler, as by it a risk was incurred that the patient might get all vapour and no air" [473].


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