Anesthetics are riskier than most people realize. One of the dangers is from cerebral anoxiadamage to the brain because of lack of oxygen in the blood, which may kill, paralyze or even turn the patient into a mental defective. Thus far, surgeons have had to rely on such none-too-certain tactics as watching the patient's color, respiration and pulse, or using slow chemical tests.
About ten years ago, Drs. Roy D. McClure and Frank W. Hartman of Detroit's Ford Hospital began experimenting with a photoelectric cell technique first developed in Germany. Later they were joined by Physiologist Vivian Gould Behrmann. Together the experimenters...