A Study of the Maternal , Placental , and Fetal Tissues

The question of pregnancy and the use of anesthetics is a most important one and has called forth numerous contributions and a large amount of speculation and controversy. The opinion seems to be gaining ground that chloroform is an unsatisfactory anesthetic because of danger during the time of anesthesia, and, perhaps, more because of the possibility of the so-called effects of "late chloroform poisoning." It is claimed by obstetricians that during pregnancy the maternal organism is fortunately immune to the dangers of chloroform anesthesia and that the fetus is not injured by chloroform, as may be the case when ether is used as an anesthetic. We have made no attempt to study the resistance of pregnant animals to acute chloroform poisoning, but have studied them carefully with the idea of comparing the degree of late chloroform poisoning with that of non-pregnant animals. In dogs, the liver offers a good index of the extent of late chloroform poisoning, as the amount of central hyaline necrosis can be readily estimated. In previous publications, 1 we have reported our observations on chloroform poisoning in dogs in which a careful study of the necrosis and repair of the liver was made. Since we have studied in detail these effects in one hundred or more animals, we believe that it is possible to define the average condition that is produced. Chloroform anesthesia continued for two hours will invariably bring about central hyaline liver necrosis in normal dogs, that is best studied after an interval of forty-eight hours, when the necrotic