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392 DENTAL MEDICINE.

which may cause destruction of tissue as does methyl chloride.
Chloride of ethyl will produce general anaesthesia if inhaled, and
it is therefore necessary when applying it within the mouth to
have the patient breathe only through the nose, as there is no
evidence of its safety as a general anaesthetic. Properly applied,
and not too long continued, there is no danger of freezing the
part to the stage of devitalization with consequent sloughing.
On account of its great inflammability it must be used at a safe
distance from a flame — preferably under electric light when
applying it at night. As it is extremely volatile it should be kept
in a cool place ; and this extreme volatility is a proof that its
effect upon the human system is of correspondingly brief du-
ration, as it acts not by virtue of any inherent anaesthetic proper-
ties, but on account of the intense cold produced by its extra-
ordinary rapid volatilization. Its depressing effect upon the
circulation when administered is too pronounced for it to be
regarded as a safe general anaesthetic. As a local anaesthetic,
however, it has practically no effect upon the human system, and
any of the drug that is absorbed into the system is eliminated in
the course of a few minutes. It has given satisfactory anaesthesia
in operations for cellulitis of fingers, buboes, abscesses, sinuses,
boils, carbuncles, in-growing nails, etc., all forms of neuralgic
pain, rheumatic pain, hyperaesthenic and reflex conditions.
Dental Uses.—Chloride of ethyl is employed in dental practice
as a local anaesthetic for the extraction of teeth, and has proven
very satisfactory in such operations. The adjoining teeth should
be protected by a fold of napkin, the gum dried about the tooth
to be extracted, and then coated with glycerine, and the vapor
directed on the gum and not upon the tooth until the former
turns white, when the forceps are applied. It is also used for
obtunding the pulp prior to extirpating it, and also for obtunding
sensitive dentine, for which purposes the rubber dam should be
adjusted large enough to cover the nose, and the cavity dried, as
the drug has little or no affinity for water, and the vapor
thoroughly introduced to the sensitive surface of the dentine or
to the exposed surface of the pulp, when the excavation or
removal can be painlessly performed. Dr. L. E. Custer recom-