Subarachnoid Injections of Procaine Hydrochloride

The literature contains very little accurate information about the physiologic events that occur in spinal anesthesia. Many statements are made concerning the action of spinal anesthesia on the various components of the central and peripheral nervous systems, but there is surprisingly little substantial work as a basis. In recent years, great progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases, because of a finer appreciation of the two major types of vascular disease; namely, vascular occlusion and vasospasm. In an effort to distinguish them, methods have been devised to overcome all vasoconstriction, thereby allowing quantitative estimates of the amounts of vasospasm and of vascular occlusion involved. Fever produced by intravenous injection of typhoid vaccine has been successfully used by Adson and by Brown1for several years. More recently Morton and Scott2have advocated spinal anesthesia for the same purpose when the lower extremities are under