Chloroform: A Study After 100 Years.

Abstract

The investigation of the pharmacologic and toxicologic properties of chloroform represented in this treatise is of the high order of excellence that accompanied the introduction of cyclopropane into clinical use at the University of Wisconsin. It is characteristic of Dr. Waters' long and distinguished career at Wisconsin that this presentation should be based on a thorough and detailed search for the truth. The effects of chloroform have been studied both in the laboratory and under carefully controlled conditions in the operating room. As is stated in the preface, the methods of investigation involve refinements of technique and observation that were not extant at the height of the controversy over this agent. The results are grouped largely according to the effects on three important organic systems: hepatic, renal, and cardiovascular. Histologic studies of animals and serial tests of hepatic function performed on patients undergoing operation indicate that the effects of a