Review of the "Lancet's" article on the history of anaesthetic discovery / by the original discoverer, Robert H. Collyer, M.D.
- Collyer, Robert H.
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Review of the "Lancet's" article on the history of anaesthetic discovery / by the original discoverer, Robert H. Collyer, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![10 O at Bangnr. Wlicn tliej' aiTivcd at the house, tlie motlier liad tho cliild iii ]ier arms; its condition was dreadful, there was a scrofulous tumour or ulcer the size of a large hen's egg covering one of its eyes, and a surgical oi)era- tion was necessary. Dr. Collyer took the cliild and mesmerised it so as to deprive it of all sensibility. Dr. Eich then performed the operation of cutting out the entire eye, wliich lasted tliirty-five minutes, diu-mg which time the cliild did not exhibit any feehng of pain. In tlie next year Dr. Collyer publishes that the inhalation of narcotic Yopouvsproduces an identical state of the brain. After this, where is the merit of those who, in 1844 or 1840, merely followed his teachings, years in advance ? The great principle having been propounded and published to the world, all who follow are mere imitators. No one will pretend there is much originalitj^ in the substitution of one an£esthetic agent for aaiother. Dr. Collyer having used alcoholic vapoiu'S to produce anfesthesia, there certainly was not much expenditure of thought demanded, for another to use ether, a third cliloroform, a fourth amylene, a fifth carbonic acid, a sixth nitrous oxide—in fine, the list might be extended to some twenty substances, all of which produce anfesthesia when inhaled. No one disputes that there is not merit in searching after a better and more safe anfesthetic than the cai'bon and chlorine compounds, but that it involves a gi'eat discover}'- is out of the question. It is impossible to over-estunate the talent and research of sixch men as Sir James Sunpson, Dr. Snow, Dr. Nunnelly, and Dr. B. W. Richardson in England; Drs. Broca, Flourens, Serres, Ozanam, Soubeii-an, Lallemand, Louget, Dui'oy, and Dumoulin, in France, who have investigated the phy- siological efi'ects of various anassthetic agents on the animal economy. Theii- works are replete with the most valuable information. Instead of ignoring the ang&sthetic state induced by mesmerism, as some would fain do, from want of moral coiu-age to investigate it, the profession should remember, that had it not been established that sm-gical operations could be painlessly performed during that state, in all probability the discovery of producing auossthesia by inhalation would have been defen-ed indefinitely for another century—the one condition led directly to the other. Tlio discovery was not made suddenl.y, but was the gradual process of untiring investigation, sometimes jeopardismg the life of the individual on whom the experiments were made. All lands of narcotic and stimulating vapours were successively tried. Tlie principle once established it only remained to be adopted by others.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21479458_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
