Narcylen

Narcylen (Narcylen), purified acetylene, dissolved under pressure of 15-20 atmospheres in acetone to avoid explosion danger, and contained in steel vessels. Proposed in 1923 for obtaining anesthesia by Gauss and Wieland, after Wieland had described the narcotic properties of acetylene the year before. Anesthesia is conducted using a mixture of N. (or acetylene) with O₂, with the composition of the mixture regulated by a special apparatus. The anesthesia caused by N. is characterized by rapidity of falling asleep and waking, absence of unpleasant side effects, and comparative safety. Narcotic concentrations of N. (60-66%) are relatively far from lethal concentrations (85-90%), which facilitates its dosage; however, the "width of anesthesia" (NarKosebreite), determined by the ratio of these concentrations (1.4-1.5), is approximately the same as that of chloroform and ether (data of Wieland and Lendle for warm-blooded animals). Being deeper than anesthesia caused by nitrous oxide (to which it is very similar in its action picture), it nevertheless does not lead to complete disappearance of reflexes. Therefore, in order to achieve the latter, recourse is had to mixed anesthesia, and in other cases narcylen anesthesia is combined with local anesthesia.