Abstract
In his paper on Thomas James Walker, the author equates Walker’s publication on the use of pental as an anaesthetic in 1896 with sodium thiopental. 1 However, sodium thiopental was not introduced as an anaesthetic until 1934. 2 Pental, which had been introduced in Germany in 1892, was the trade name of β-isoamylene which was alleged to be a purer form of amylene which John Snow had stopped using as an anaesthetic in 1857 because he considered it more dangerous than chloroform. 3 Pental proved just as hazardous as the amylene used by Snow and others.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Flu hunter. Unlocking the secrets of a virus (ISBN 9781988531311; Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2018) by Robert G Webster is an account of the author's career studying influenza viruses over the past 50 years, in Australia, North America, and South East Asia, bookended by accounts of the Spanish flu, appropriate to the 100th anniversary of the 1918 pandemic, and the subsequent discovery of the genetic makeup of the responsible H1N1 virus. There is quite a lot about birds, since some aquatic and pelagic species as well as chickens act as hosts for influenza viruses which may then be transmitted to humans. The possibility of further pandemics remains all too evident. This is an engaging read, the science is covered but is not overwhelming, and there is room for anecdote and prognostication.