Letter from Allen O. Whipple to Virginia Apgar

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During Apgar's first several years as director of the Anesthesia Division, the hospital grappled with the problem of explosions caused by accidental ignition of anesthesia gases. In this letter, Whipple, director of the Department of Surgery, informed Apgar that he and several other surgical directors agreed to discontinue the use of cyclopropane and ethylene anesthesia until the risk of explosion could be eliminated. He noted that though the incidence had not been high so far, any more explosions would reflect very badly on the hospital in the public press.