The action of anæsthetics on living tissues. Part I.— The action on isolated nerve

Abstract

The action of anaesthetics on isolated nerve has already been studied by Waller* as regards the effect on the negative variation in the sciatic of the frog, and by myself in mammalian nerves.f In the course of these researches it became evident that the anaesthetics used (chloroform, ether, carbon dioxide) affected not only the negative variation, but also the injury current, and as this action has not been studied before, as far as I am aware, it seemed desirable to investigate the matter not only in nerve, but also in other tissues. The inquiry falls naturally under two heads: first, in how far the phenomena throw light on the processes of nerve action ; and, secondly, as regards the chemical and physical action of anaesthetics on the animal protoplasm generally. These are obviously only parts of the same story, but for convenience I have considered the subject mainly under the first heading in this part, leaving the more general question to a future occasion.