The Russellville Democrat., 1892-06-02
HOW PAIN WAS MASTERED.
The Introduction to Practical Use of
 Anmsthefics.

thlS latter haif Of the nineteenth century that to turn back to the time when our familiar things did not exist almost dislocates our mem ories--it is like going back to older centuries. One of the most com mon occurrences of to-day is the use of Laughing gas,'' or some other anRsthetic; yet surgeons now living and practicing can remem- Der the time when operations were performed on persons absolutely and entirely conscious of each stroke of the lancet; for it is not yet fifty years since Horace Wells, of Hart ford, experimented upon himself with laughing gas, and made the first breach which has enabled the surgeons and chemists of to-day to complete the mastery of pain.
 Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson, of London, who was present at the introduction to Great Britain of practical anasthetics, has contribu- ted to Longman's Magazine his rec oiiections of the wonderful event, indicated for centuries, yet stunning in its effect when finally it occurred, and momentus in its power to change the destiny of human life. Before the introduction of an@s- thetics operations were simple, com paratively few plastic operations could be performed, but the intro duction of ether, chloroform, nitrous oxide and cocaine has broadened the powers of the surgeon as much as the subjugation of electricity has ex- tended the power of the business man.
 In the oldest days of medicine, says Dr. Richardson, mandragora was used as potion to reduce or remove the pain of surgical opera tions, and Pliny gave a prescription for a wine of mandragora-a pre- scription which Dr. Richardson himself followed with success. Ice applied to the skin had been found to produce local an@sthesia, and congresses applied before an opera ton had been tried ky Ambroise Pare and others to lessen pain. In 1799 Humphrey Davy discovered that nitrous oxide gas rendered him who inhaled 1t obvious of the com mon sensibilities. But after Davy came delay of over forty years, until Wells, of Hartford, experi- mented with that same gas and, treading on one another's heels, came after him Morton, Jackson and Bigelow, of Boston, with their discovery of the properties of sul- phuric ether.
 The first operation in England in which ether was given occurred on December 19, 1846, when Dr. Booth and Mir. Robinson extracted tooth from the jaw of Miss Lonsdale. On December q or p the great surgeon Liston administered ether for the first time in the theatre of the University College Hospital. "Among those present on that oc- casion,o writes Dr. Richardson, twas my old friend, Dr. (afterward Sir John) Forbes. He described to me that he never felt so near to fall ing on the floor in all his life as he did when he witnessed the great sur geon Liston amputating a thigh while the patient was in deep sleep. In those days, in order to save pain, the surgeon cultivated rapidity of action, and such an adept was Liston that he completed the removal of the limb within the minute. This, combined with the momentous result of the annihila- ton of pain, was the cause of the sensation experienced by Forbes. It was not fear, it was not faintness; it was an emotion painful, as he ex- pressed it, from its overwhelming surprise and pleasure. Everybody seemed pale and silent except Liston, who was flushed, and so breathless that when he broke the silence with the word 'Gentlemen,' he almost choked."
 We who take everything for granted simply because we are ac- customed to it do not understand readily what the introduction of an@sthetics meant both to operator and patient. Dr. Richardson in dicates to some extent the changes produced on the minds as we'll as the actions of men and history of surgical operations, could. one be made, would show the effect more clearly. Says the doctor:
 'I remember, still even with pain, what operating day meant as each week came round. When I asked my first practical teacher how he thought I should get through the ordeal of seeing and taking a part in the operation, he replied that, as in learning to smoke, time brought tol- erance, but man must keep his hand in if he meant to retain his 6rmness and presence of mind. recall that when I had to witness the first capital operation sought the companionship of a student much older than myself, but it turned out that he was more nervous than I was, and prudently left the operat- ing theater as the patient entered it. l made up my mind to face the ordeal bravely, and for a time I was quite taken out of myself by