The possibility of chloroforming a person in sleep, without waking
him, having been disputed in a recent murder trial, Dr. J. V. Quimby,
of Jersey City, was led to test the question experimentally. The
results were presented in a paper before the section of medical
jurisprudence at the meeting of the American Medical Association a few
days ago. Dr. Quimby made arrangements with a gentleman to enter his
room when he was asleep and apply chloroform to him. He did this with
entire success, transferring the person from natural to artificial
sleep without arousing him. He used about three drachms of Squibb's
chloroform, and occupied about seven minutes in the operation. The
second case was a boy of thirteen who had refused to take ether for a
minor operation. Dr. Quimby advised the mother to give the boy a light
supper and put him to bed. She did so, and Dr. Quimby, calling when
the boy was asleep, administered the chloroform and performed the
operation without awakening the boy. The third case was a boy of ten
years suffering from an abscess, and the same course was pursued with
equal success. Two important inferences may be drawn from these cases,
Dr. Quimby said. Minor surgical operations may be done with perfect
safety and much more pleasantly than in the ordinary way, and,
secondly, a person somewhat skilled in the use of chloroform may enter
a sleeping apartment and administer chloroform with evil intentions
while a person is asleep. Hence the use of this drug in the hands of
a criminal may become an effective instrument in the accomplishment of
his nefarious designs.
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