ELECTRIC SLEEP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11248, 11 April 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

ELECTRIC SLEEP.

If ' experiments carried out by Di Leduc m his laboratory at Nantes can bo regarded as a guide, the civilised world may look forXvard 'to the timt when the administration of anaesthetics will be a . mechanical process, when animals required for food will .be slaughtered entirely without pain, and when the electric battery will /be a commonplace adjunct to the administration of drugs. Dr Leduc's experiments have been tried for the most part ori dogs, rabbits and other animals. He administered an anaesthetic to, a rabbit .'by a weak, electric current, killed a clog absolutely painlessly by the same means, and used the current for the administra. tion of a drug. The rabbit was placed ori a. table, and a very feeble current was applied to it.' At first it gave a slight tremor, la look of surprise and a slight twitching of .the ears. The strength of the current was increased until it approached the -six-hundredth part of that used for -an ordinary electric light. The animal then fell over on its side. It \\ as passive ■ and powerless, incapable of feeling pain, and ; m a condition similar to that of* patients who are prepared for. operations m hospitals., Alnibst a§ 'soon as the current was switched off the rabbit stood up. When the apparatus was removed. . the animal commenced to i walk about the laboratory floor. It was, apparently, m no way inconvenienced or distressed, by the experience, it had gone through. A large number of operations 1 ~ were i actually performed on'animals while they were under electric anaesthesia. It was shown that the 'functions of the brain ceAse successfully. The power of. 1 speech goes first, then the power of movement,' of will, and of sensation, and it is only after ail those funcltions have been suppressed that the heart and lungs, become affected. Dr Leduc electrocuted; a large dog- m the presence of a correspondent of the London Standard. The doctor stated that he did.: it scientifically, and not; m the amateurish f ashibri that has , caused agonies of * torture. >The dog was .standing on the :, floor with : the wires held to. it's head and- its spine when the current' was tul'iied on. : With6ut;d sound or', the slightest' sign of distress it stiffened; lurched forward, and" fell on its side, rigid ami unconscious. Loss of sensation was instantaneous, ' and death followed. ■ "..-.. , :