The dose-response relationship for vecuronium during anesthesia with the azeotropic mixture of halothane and diethyl ether (HE) (66 ml of halothane mixed with 34 ml of ether in the same bottle)/oxygen was compared with halothane/nitrous oxide/oxygen anesthesia. The HE is not explosive and has preserved many of the advantageous properties of diethyl ether, making it an attractive anesthetic drug under difficult circumstances such as war or civil disaster. If muscular relaxation is needed in military anesthesia, it is essential to use a short- to medium-acting compound that can be stored without refrigeration. Vecuronium bromide fulfills these criteria. The study was conducted on 20 young (mean 24 years, range 18-31), ASA I patients. Using adductor pollicis mechanomyography and a cumulative dose technique, individual dose-response curves for vecuronium were constructed. Care was taken to keep peripheral and core temperatures normal and the times of exposure to inhalational gases equal. The results were analyzed by the log-probit method. During HE anesthesia, ED50 for vecuronium was 22 +/- 2 micrograms kg-1 (mean +/- SE) and ED90 was 49 +/- 8 micrograms kg-1. During halothane/nitrous oxide anesthesia, ED50 for vecuronium was 18 +/- 2 micrograms kg-1 (mean +/- SE) and ED90 was 39 +/- 7 micrograms kg-1. The dose-response relationships for vecuronium were similar during HE anesthesia and halothane/nitrous oxide anesthesia.