About two years ago I conceived the idea of utilizing ether vapor as a means of diagnosing intestinal perforation, and made some experiments therewith, the results of which were published in the Journal, vol. xxxi, p. 191. I now desire to report a practical application in the case of a gunshot wound of the abdomen.
Mrs. S., on the morning of Sept. 1, 1899, was shot in the abdomen with a 32-caliber revolver, from a distance of about ten feet. The external wound was two inches below and one inch to the right of the umbilicus, taking an upward, inward course through the very thick walls. She suffered from shock, but not severely; after removal in the ambulance, to St. Francis Hospital, and placing her on the operating table, nausea developed. The bowels were then inflated with the vapor of ether and the infiltration continued until the patient belched ether