The development of inhalation anaesthesia : with special reference to the years 1846-1900... / [Barbara M. Duncum].
- Duncum, Barbara M.
- Date:
- 1947
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The development of inhalation anaesthesia : with special reference to the years 1846-1900... / [Barbara M. Duncum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
398/664 page 378
![the case was subsequently widely quoted as being the first known instance of anaesthesia produced by the association of an alkaloid with an inhalation anaesthetic. In 1855 Alexander Wood, lecturer on the Practice of Medicine, at Edinburgh, proposed a ' new method of treating neuralgia by the direct application of opiates to the painful points '. It had in the past been Wood's practice to treat neuralgia by applying ' a succession of small blisters over the points in the course of the nerve which are painful on pressure '. The next step in the treatment was to apply ' an ointment con- taining morphia to dress the blistered surface '. It was to this part of the treatment that Wood ascribed most of the benefit. ' It has frequently occurred to me, however ', wrote Wood, ' that a more direct application of the narcotic to the affected nerve, or to its immediate neighbourhood, would be attended with corresponding advantage. ... In pursuit of this object, I have made several attempts to introduce morphia directly by means of acupuncture needles and otherwise, but without success. ' Having occasion, however, about the end of 1853, to endeavour to remove a naevus by injection with the acid solution of perchloride of iron, I procured one of the elegant little syringes, constructed for this purpose by Mr. Ferguson of Giltspur Street, London [cf. footnote, p. 376]. While using this instrument for the naevus, it occurred to me that it might supply the means of bringing some narcotic to bear more directly . . . on the affected nerve in neuralgia.' Soon afterwards a case presented itself to Wood—that of an old lady suffering from cervico-brachial neuralgia. '. . . At 10 p.m. ... I inserted the syringe within the angle formed by the clavicle and acromion, and injected twenty drops of a solution of muriate of morphia [morphine hydrochloride]. . . . ' In about ten minutes after the withdrawal of the syringe the patient began to complain of giddiness and confusion of ideas ; in half an hour the pain had subsided, and I left her in the anticipation of a refreshing sleep. ' I visited her again about 11 a.m. . . . [and] was a little annoyed to find that she had never wakened ; the breathing also was somewhat deep, and she was roused with difficulty. Under the use of somewhat energetic stimuli, however, these symptoms disappeared, and from that time to this the neuralgia has not returned.' 1 1 1 Edinb. tried. J., 1855, 82, 265.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20457200_0402.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
