A DEAL IN CHLOROFORM.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18129, 19 July 1924, Page 14

A DEAL IN CHLOROFORM.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PBESS." Sir,—ln "The Press" of 15th inst. there is a report of an attack that was made' by Mr' H. 0. Smart in the Auckland "Herald" on the Government of New Zealand for having sold an inferior brand of chloroform as the "best." The writer, although representing the famous firm of manufacting chemists, Messrs Duncan Flockhart and Co., of Edinburgh, has not put the matter correctly. It is a long way back to 1870, but in that year I attended the lectures of Dr. Thomas JR. Fraser (afterwards Sir Thomas R. Fraser) on "Materia Medica and Therapeutics." Dr. Fraser was then making a name for himself as au original investigator as to. the action of drugs. I well remember his description of chloroform as if it were only yesterday. He made a very important statement to this effect: —"Gentlemen, you need not be at the extra" expense of buying the chloroform made with rectified, spirit,.for that made with methylated spirit is in every respect equal to it, in anaesthetic effect- and in safety; in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary that made with methylated spirit is always used." If a more recent authority is needed it can be found in "The Encyclopaedia of Medical Treatment/' edited by Dr. W. Langdon Brown, F.8.C.P., and Mr J. Keogh Murphy, M.C., F.RXJ.S., the different article* in the worklbeing contributed by a number of the most eminent physicians and surgeons in Great Britain. It is one of the best and most reliable works on medical treatment of agents used in the treatment of the diseases and ailments to which mankind is subject. In the chapter on "The Action of Anaesthetics," page 615. the following statement occurs:—' 'Chloroform OH. CI. 3 may be prepared from ethylic alcohol, industrial methylated spirit or from acetone" ... (here follow particulars) and then continues "The British Pharmacopeeia 1914, has therefore rendered official, these three distinct products, viz., (1) That from ethylic alcohol, (2) that from methylated spirit, and (3) that from acetone. The first two appear to be identical, chemical analysis and clinical results showing no difference, but "acetone chloroform differs slightly, clinically and chemically, from that prepared from alcohol, the two former being:said to contain 0.25 per cent, of ethyl chloride, which is absent from the chloroform prepared from acetone; some dealers add the necessary amount of i ethyl chloride to acetone chloroform "before putting it on the market. The ■British Pharmacopoeia code states that the .three products cannot be distinguished during use." The above quotation from such an authority should carry conviction. My own experience fully endorses it, for I have acted,on the advice of Professor Fraser . and used the chloroform made with methylated spirit almost exclusively, and I continued to use chloroform as on. anaesthetic for several years after others came into use! I have never been present at a fatality from an anaesthetic, either chloroform or ethe'r. I think it

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is largely a matter of extremely careful administration. Mr Smart is quite correct in his statement as to the price but entirely wrong in the statement aa to the superiority of one brand brer another for anaesthetic purposes. Of course it would be dishonest to sell the less expensive preparation under an improper title, but I question if the Government authorities knew much about the subject. .The statements by Mr Smart may cause great uneasiness in the public mind, l have therefore 'thought it proper to make the above comment.—Yours, etc., FJ£tC.&.£&