{"id":18364,"date":"2022-09-29T12:44:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T10:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=215298"},"modified":"2022-09-29T13:05:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T11:05:09","slug":"why-we-should-remember-the-pioneering-use-of-ether","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/why-we-should-remember-the-pioneering-use-of-ether\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we should remember the pioneering use of ether"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Freya Parr\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 29 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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When was anaesthetic invented and first used?<\/h2>\n

On 30 September 1846, 175 years ago, a dentist called WTG Morton made a huge leap forward in the quest for pain-free operations, claiming to have used ether as an anaesthetic for the very first time. Just over two weeks later, in the Massachusetts General Hospital, Morton successfully anaesthetised a young man while surgeon John Collins Warren removed a facial tumour. This was the first effective public demonstration of using ether.<\/p>\n

What were operations like before the invention of anaesthetic?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Until Morton\u2019s pioneering work, the pain of surgical operations was so agonising that physicians and patients avoided resorting to the knife unless the patient\u2019s life was threatened. Of course, alternative forms of pain relief had long been available. These included administering salicylate (willow bark), alcohol, opium and \u2013 from 1805 \u2013 morphine. Physicians also blunted pain by freezing limbs, compressing nerves, inducing significant blood loss (exsanguination) and hypnotising patients.<\/p>\n

Using ether in operations was scandalous: pain was supposed to aid healing and the sufferers\u2019 souls <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The properties of ether were also well-known before Morton\u2019s operations. In 1800, the distinguished chemist Humphry Davy could be heard speculating that nitrous oxide \u201cappears capable of destroying physical pain\u201d, so it \u201cmay probably be used with advantage during surgical operations\u201d. However, proposals that ether could be used in surgical operations were scandalous: pain was believed to be beneficial for healing, not to mention the sufferers\u2019 souls.<\/p>\n

But this all changed in 1846. This was to be a before and after moment in the history of human and non-human animal suffering. Morton insisted on taking all the credit, rejecting the claims of other discoverers of the drug, including Charles Jackson and Horace Wells. Within six months of Morton\u2019s public demonstration, ether was being used worldwide to blunt the pain of surgery, tooth extraction and childbirth.<\/p>\n