History of the discovery of anaesthesia / by J. Marion Sims.

  • Sims, J. Marion (James Marion), 1813-1883.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the discovery of anaesthesia / by J. Marion Sims. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    the honor of priority in making the discovery of the principle of ansesthesia when he inhaled ether to relieve the pain and difficulty of breathing after inhahng chlorine gas (as Sir Humphrey Davy had done before). Dr. Long says (February 8th, 1877): In our conversation I under- stood Dr. Jackson to yield the point of priority to me—and so did the Hon. C. W. Andrews. I did not admit to him that he was the first to make the discovery—leaving to me its practical application ; and when he proposed to me to unite our claims—he to claim the discovery and I its first practical use in surgical operations—I positively refused. I was sat- isfied that I was entitled to the credit of the discovery, as well as of the first practical use of ether in surgical operations. '' Instead of writing to Senator Dawson to unite our claims as Dr. Jackson requested, I wrote to Mr. Dawson to make no such compromise, but to place my claims solely on their merits ; and if you will consult the Congressional proceedings of that time you will see that Mr. Dawson pre- sented my claims separate and independent. Thus it will be seen that the honor and credit for the discovery and practical use of ether as an anajsthetic in surgery is demonstrated to be exclusively due to the late Dr. Crawford W. Long, of Athens, Georgia, an honor that justly places him in the front rank of the world's benefactors. Now let us see how the followers of Long worked out their part of the problem of anaesthesia. Horace Wells, a native of Hartford, Windsor county, Vermont, studied dentistry in Boston, and at the age of 3] (1836) he opened an office in Hartford, Connecticut, to practice his profession. His mind was early turned to the subject of preventing pain in the extraction of teeth. In August, 1840, Dr. L. P. Brockett, of Brooklyn, N. Y., then a medical student, went to Wells to have a molar tooth extracted ; the operation was difficult, and so painful that Wells said that there ought to be some method of mitigating such suffering, and that he thought a man might be made so drunk by the inhalation of nitrous oxide gas as to prevent the pain of dental and other operations. This shows how deeply impressed this subject was upon the mind of Wells at that early day. On December 10, 1844, Mr. G. Q. Colton delivered a lecture in Hartford, Conn., on laughing gas, and after the lecture he administered the gas to Wells and several other gentlemen. One of them (Mr. Cooley), while under its influence, fell over some benches, and was evidently badly injured ; when he returned to consciousness. Wells rushed up to him and inquired if he was hurt. He replied No. Wells then said, You must have been hurt, for you struck your legs against the benches. The young man then, at Wells' suggestion, pulled up his pantaloons ; the blood was run- ning down his legs and his knees were badly injured. When again ques- tioned by Wells, he said, I did not feel any pain at the time. Wells then turned to a friend (Mr. David Clarke), who was near by, and an eye witness to all this and remarked, I believe a man by taking that gas could have a tooth extracted or a limb ami^utated and not feel the pain. So thoroughly was Wells convinced of this fact that he told his wife on their way home that he intended to take the gas the next day and have a tooth extracted. On amving home, he left his wife and went to see his friend, Dr. Riggs, to announce his great discovery, and his intention to take the gas for the extraction of a tooth. Riggs tried to dissuade him from it, but his mind was made up, and he said, As the young man did not feel pain at the time he was hurt, why cannot the gas be used in the extraction of teeth ? Early next morning (December 11) Wells called on Colton and engaged him to go to his office at ten o'clock and give him the gas. He did so, and Dr. Riggs extracted a large molar tooth for Wells while under the influence of the gas. Wells did not seem to feel any pain.