The Discovery and Controversy over the First Use of Surgical Anesthesi

The Discovery and Controversy over the First Use of Surgical Anesthesi

Dennis Brindell Fradin wrote in ”We Have Conquered Pain”: The Discovery of

Anesthesia, “We take it for granted that we can sleep through operations without feeling any pain. But until about 150 years ago, the operating room was a virtual torture chamber because surgeons had no way to prevent the pain caused by their healing knives.”

Fradin is right. Since several analyses of archaic human bones have proven that people have suffered from disease and pain since the beginning of their existence, one can only assume the tremendous pain humans had to endure before the discovery of anesthesia. The four brilliant men who ended mankind’s suffering also had to endure immense anguish after the discovery; their involvement erupted into a maelstrom of controversy, which contributed to early deaths and insanity, even though the discovery of surgical anesthesia has had such a positive effect on humanity.1

Prior to the discovery, surgeons would tie, strap, or hold down their patients to keep them from running off during surgery. Many times, the surgeon would give alcohol or narcotics to patients in order for the patient to better face the indescribable pain.

However, those that actually survived the surgery (chances are, they didn’t) swore they would have preferred death instead of the excruciating pain they had to endure.2 Even Dr. John Collins Warren, a senior surgeon before the discovery of anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, agreed that patients would rather die than have surgery. After Dr. Warren finished an amputation in 1844, before the discovery of anesthetics, he told himself, “The knife that heals must first give pain.”3

To have fully conscious, screaming patients during an operation even made surgeons not want to perform surgery. However, the discovery of surgical anesthesia changed the way most, including surgeons, perceived surgery. Although surgical anesthesia was not discovered until the middle of the nineteenth century, there were significant contributions by talented thinkers made more than one hundred years before the discovery.4 The list of those contributors includes Joseph Priestley, who discovered hydrogen in 1766, nitrogen in 1772, and oxygen and nitrous oxide in 1774 and also introduced inhalation as a way to administer medicine5, Humphrey ...

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...etween Dr. William Morton and Dr. Charles Jackson because it went into more detail than the other sources. It was extremely useful.

Nuland, Sherwin B, M.D., F.A.C.S. The Origins of Anesthesia. Birmingham, Alabama: The Classics of Medicine Library, 1983.

This book has a detailed account of the discovery and controversy over anesthesia. I used this book mostly for its primary documents. It was extremely useful.

Prescott, Frederick. Control of Pain. Great Britain: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1964.

This book covers different types of anesthetics. I used it for information before the discovery and the history of the discovery. It was useful.

Robinson, Victor, M.D. Victory Over Pain: A History of Anesthesia. New York: Henry Schuman, Inc., 1946.

This book is an account of the discovery of anesthesia. I used this book mostly for information on the controversy between the four contestants. It was also extremely useful.

Shapiro, Irwin. The Gift of Magic Sleep: Early Experiments in Anesthesia. New York: Coward, McCann, & Geoghegan, Inc., 1979.

This book covers the discovery of anesthesia. I used it mostly for contributions that led to the discovery. It was useful.