I have recently noticed some contributions upon the use of bromide of ethyl in labor,—and while I have not lately used the drug, I have done so in the past, and can give something of an experience relative to its effects upon the patient in confinement.
Some time during the month of January, 1880, I received a pamphlet from Dr. R. J. Lewis, of Philadelphia, who had used the drug in surgical practice, wherein were set forth its uses and advantages as an anæsthetic in surgical operations. Being always a decided advocate of the use of anæsthetics in obstetrical practice, the idea occurred to me that if the new anæsthetic was what was claimed for it, it would certainly also answer a good purpose in obstetrical cases, and might possibly possess advantages over chloroform; and in a paper read before the Iowa State Medical Society, which convened at Des Moines,