Cylinder for ethyl chloride anaesthetic spray, 1860-1940

This cylinder would have been used for the anaesthetic gas ethyl chloride. It is made of brass and was made in Paris, France. The cooling effect of the volatile liquid was used to produce local anaesthesia. The contents of the cylinder would be sprayed on the site that needing anaesthetising and the area would be cooled by the evaporation of the liquid. For example this type of spray was used in dentistry to numb gums. The first apparatus of this type was Richardson�s spray of 1866, invented by Benjamin Ward Richardson (1828-1896).