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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), A. (search)
though mention is made of its anaesthetic powers for producing a trance or a deepe terrible dreame, in operations for the stone, toward the close of the sixteenth century, it, or similar agents, appears to have gradually gone out of use. It seems a little singular that sulphuric ether should not have been employed for the purpose for some three centuries, unless, as has been suggested, it is the substance spoken of by John Baptista Porta of Naples, who published a book on Natural Magic in 1597; this quintessence was extracted from medicines by somniferous menstrua, and was kept in leaden vessels tightly closed to prevent its escape. The cover being removed, it was applied to the nostrils of the sleeper, who was thereupon thrown into the most profound sleep, etc., etc. In 1784, Dr. Moore of London tried the expedient of compressing the nerves of a limb preparatory to amputation; but this caused much pain. Narcotic poisons will induce anaesthetic conditions of the body, in whi