The goal for surgical preparation, true since time immemorial, has been to diminish or destroy the state of consciousness during surgical operations. 1 Morton s act was simply pioneering at the time, requiring a fair amount of entrepreneurial spirit that engendered an equal amount of courage. Yet such acts were requisite for all breakthroughs in anesthesia, surgery and medicine in the ensuing century and a half.
Anesthesia has since become second nature to surgery, just as breathing is second nature to living.
The term chosen to identify this blessing to humanity has never been a curiosity in people s mind. Indeed, the word anesthesia did not even occur in the literature during the first month of its introduction. The origin of the term describing pain control, and its subsequent development to become a special branch of medical science, should be of interest. The ancient Greeks were always concerned about physical pain, regardless of the origins of infliction. Not known for their expertise in alleviating physical pain, they tried philosophically and psychologically to solve this form of human suffering.