"Dr. Snow on the effects of ether vapour"

London Medical Gazette
(12 November 1847): 859

Sir,--I shall be obliged if you will correct an error in a quotation from my work "On the Inhalation of Ether," in the review of it which you have done me the honour of making in your last number. At page 813, in the first column, quoting from page 39 of the book, you have omitted the word "always." Instead of "It is not possible to avoid having the breathing somewhat stertorous," it should be, "It is not always possible," [etc.]

That the omission is an important one, is evident from the circumstance that it has caused you in the sentence immediately following the quotation to give an account of the efficacy of ether directly opposed to the facts I endeavoured to explain. For, whilst in the cases in which ether is well administered the patients show no signs whatever of sensation, much less of "perception of pain," yet in these cases simple snoring is quite an exception, and a state of breathing that can be called stertorous is still more rare.

In the first quotation, taken from page 2, there is an omission of nearly two lines; but this mistake is of less consequence.

Your obedient servant,

John Snow.

Frith Street, 8th November.