New Aid to Surgeons

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 266, 8 November 1941, Page 2

New Aid to Surgeons

JOOLPROOF ANAESTHETIC A revolutionary invention in the field vi anaesthetics, perfected by the “Back-room Boys” of the Nuffield Institute of Medical Research at Oxford, is to bo adopted by the Government for use in the Services. The invention —an automatic machine which shows an anaesthetist the exact percentage of anaesthetic vapour his patient is getting —is to bo known as tho Oxford Vappriser. It is practically fool-proof, and usable in the roughest conditions of warfare, in improvised field hospitals, in shattered ships or in air raids.

Lord Nuffield's interest in tlio administration of anaesthetics originated with liis experience on nine occasions as a difficult subject to anaesthetise. To mark the perfection of the device, he offered to provide 1000 machines for the Services. They will be distributed under the supervision of Professor R. R. Macintosh, Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetics at Oxford.

The machines cost about £25 each, and are already being made in largo numbers. One Service department, not specially famous for its quick adoption of new ideas, has asked for 200 immediately. The Oxford Vaporiser does away with tho bulky cylinders used hitherto to compress anaesthetics, and uses th e vapor of liquids instead. In it ft pint of liquid ether is transformed into ether vapor and mixed automaticlily with air to form approximately 5000 times that volume of gaseous ether ready for administration.

No one man claims the credit for the invention, which ends a centurylong medical search. It was perfected by co-operation between clinical and scientific workers, and even the chief engineer and workers of Morris Motors bad a hand in its design.