CONTEST FOR HIGH-SCHOOL AND FRESHMAN STmlENTS On this page is reproduced the fourth of a series of drawings prepared 'or us by Prof. John J. Condon of William Nottingham High School, Syracuse, New York. Write a brief statement, telling what is wrong with the picture. Use complete sentences; do not merely list mistakes. I'ype your manuscript, if possible; if not, be sure that you write legibly. I'ype or write on one side of the paper only. Make a correct drawing, showing the picture as you think it should be. Use black India ink and white drawing paper. (If you believe that-you ?an draw better on coordinate paper, white paper with blue rulings must se used.) Drawings should be approximately 4" X 6" or 8" X 12". Place your name a t the top of each page of your manuscript and a t the top of your drawing.
On a separate sheet accompanying your manuscript write your own name, the name and address of the institution a t which you are a student, the name of your chemistry instructor, and the name of the chemistry club a t your institution (if there is one). Address your paper to: The Associate Editor, JOURNAL on CKEMICAL EDUCATION, The Johns Hopkins University, Homewood, Baltimore, Md. Your contribution to this month's contest must be postmarked not later than January 15th. Awards The best contribution received will be awarded a prize of five dollars and will be published in the February JOURNAL. The five next best papers 107
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
JANUARY,
1930
will receive awards of one dollar each and the names of the winners will be printed in the February number. Contributions will be judged on the basis of: 1. Correctness from a chemical standpoint 2. Neatness and correctness of drawing 3. English 4. Neatness and legibility of manuscript. Papers which do not comply with all of the rules of the contest will not be considered. Iso-Amy1 Ethyl Barhituric Acid, a Iiew Anesthetic, Removes Rear. A new anesthetic which puts patients to sleep so pleasantly and easily that they ask for more, has been reported by Dr. J. S. ~ n n d yo f t h e Mayo Clinic a t Rochester, and Dr. R. M. Isenherger, professor of pharmacology of the University of Kansas. Fewer unpleasant after-effects and far less danger than accompanies many of the local anesthetics are claimed for this new aid to surgery, which has the impressive name of iso-amyl ethyl barbituric acid. The work grew out of the old problem of how to offset the had effectsof some local anesthetics. Many investigators have sought means of avoiding the occasional cases of poisoning by cocaine. Accordingly, procaine, a synthetic product, was developed a s a substitute for mcaine. However, bad reactions very occasionally follow even the use of procaine. Drs. Isenberger and Lundy, following along the line of some previaus workers, found that certain substitution products of barbituric acid gave protection against convulsions from procaine. They,reported their work with iw-amyl ethyl barbituric acid about a year ago. In the course of a year's further work, Dr.~Lundyhas used isa-amyl ethyl barbituric acid, experimentally, and for the benefit of patients, over a thousand times. He has given i t by mouth before administering local anesthesia and the apprehension from which same patients sutfer before an operation has been lessened in this way. Moreover, convulsions, that occasioonllg mmc on from the u r of procaine, have not appeared in any rases in which iso-nmylethyl barbituric acid har heen used. Also, following the work of Zerfas. Lundy has used this product, by injection into a vein, to produce all or part of the general anesthesia in 273 major operations. Surgeons who have employed i t in this way have found that patients wish to have i t again if, for any reason, they need to have another operation. It quiets patients before operation and adds to their comfort after operation by producing a semi-conscious state for some hours after they have returned to bed. Nausea and vomiting are greatly lessened or entirely eliminated. More work must be done an this subject before the product will, or should, he used as commonly as morphine, ether, and nitrous oxide now are used in general anesthesia. For some time, as with any new procedure in medicine, cases in which the substance is to be used must continue to be csrefdly selected to eliminate risk. However, with the interest that has heen aroused by this work, by the use of carbon dioxide a t the end of inhalation anesthesia as advocated by Dr. Yandell Henderson, of Yale, and by the report an the use of cyclo-propane that was given recently by Dr. G. H. W. Lucas, of Philadelphia, and Dr. V. E. Henderson of Toronto, a t the Thiieeuth International Physiological Congress, patients who must undergo operations may, in the near future, be freed from the dread that some of them have of being put to sleep.-Scknce S-ce
