Wichita eagle., 1890-03-02

doctor inquiringly remarked, "Well, cap
tain, 1t didn't hurt as much as you ex-
pectedE' True enough" was the reply. s'the
hurt was in the anticipation, but | would
rather be shot in quic1step to the tune of
Yankee Doodle than be knitted to the slow
music of Old Hundred ."
Prior TO 1876 pain was partially relieved by
the use of opium, Indian hemp, copious
draughts of whisky and brandy that made
the patient drunk and a few other articles
known to chemistry and the materia medica,
but during that year the scientific world was
startled by the announcement that an Amer
lean had discovered i'll pure sulphuric ether
an anRsthetic that was destined 10 become a
blessing to mankind At first the informa-
ton was received with doubt
When, however, The first surgical operation
with the use of ether demonstrated the new
truth, the exultation of professional men
knew no bounds, and everywhere, on both
sides of the Atlantic, in private practice and
in the hospitals, the experiments that follow
ed added fresh triurnph5 10 the discovery
DR. Oliver Wendell Holmes, one of the most
eminent of Harvard professors, wrote: The
knife is searching for disease; the pulleys are
dragging back dislocated limbs; nature her
self is working out the primal curse that
doomed the tenderest of her creatures to the
sharpest of her trials; but the fierce extrem-
ity of her suffering has been stepped in the
waters of forgetfulnesS, and the deepest fur
row in the knotted brow of agony has boon
smoothed forever"
The circumstances attending the first oper-
ation-it took place in the Massachusetts Gen
eral hospital, in Boston-are worth recalling
''The scene, " says DR.. Hayward, the operating
surgeon, was one of surprising interest
The operating room was crowded; many were
obliged to stand. Besides the class of stu
dents in attendance on the lectures, number
ing more than one hundred, and many of the
principal physicians and surgeons of the
neighborhoOd, there were present clergymen,
LAWYERS and other individuals from the vari-
Dus callings of life When | entered the the
atre before the patient was brought in, |
found it, to my surprise, filled in every part
except the floor on which the table stood with
persons on whose countenance was depicted
the almost painful anxiety with which they
awaited the result of he experiment they
were about to witness. | simply told them
that ] had decided, with the advice of my
colleagues. to allow the patient on whom |
was to operate to inhale an article which was
said TO have the power of annuling pain. The
patient was then brought ina delicate lock-
ing girl of about 20 years Of age, who had suf-
fered for a long time from scrofulous disease
Of the knee joint. / told her | should let her
breathe something which / hoped would pre-
vent her from suffering much from the oper-
alton, and that she need not be afraid of
breathing it freely"
- Dr. Hayward then grasped the patients
limb with his left hand and held the ampu-
tating knife behind him in his right, carefully
concealed from view. The mouthpiece of
the inhaling instrument being put in her
mouth, she was directed to take long inspra
tons. After breathing in this way short
time, the noStrilS were compressed so that al!
the air that went into the lungs must first
pass through the machine and be mixed with
the vapor of the ether. She breathed with
perfect ease and without struggling, and in
about three minutes from the time the inStru-
ment was put in her mouth DR.. Morton (the
discovererl said: ''She Is ready A death
like silence reigned in the room; no one
moved or hardly breathed. The doctor
passed the knife directly through the limb.
and brought il out rapidly as he could, and
ms ada the INNER fan