Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-07-30
THE MASTERY or PAIN.
Chiorofcrm and Its Introduction Into the
Practice of Medicine.

ChIorofcrm And Its Introduction Into the
Practice of Medicine.
No event of the century has effect
cd humanity so widely and so init
mately as that crowning triumph OF
medical science which Sir Benjamin
Richardson calls the mastery OF
pain. :" The boon of anesthesia OK
tends far beyond the domain of steam
engine or telegraph and touches the
individual more closely than any
thing in the world when his hour OF
suffering comes, as it may come to
any of as at any moment. And III the
popular Wow an@Sthesia means
chloroform, whatever experts may
think of the superior merits Of other
substances. People know that den
fists use gas, and some may have
heard Of other or even of bichlorido
of methylcno, but the household
word is chloroform Fifty years OF
usage have given it an unassailable
position, and If a new anGsthetic
were to displaco it tomorrow the old
name would probably remain. Yet
chloroform was not the first anas-
thetio discovered, nor is it so much
used in the present day as its less
famous predecessors. The early his
tory of this great discovery, as of
many others, is dobatable ground,
but certain facts have been clearly
established.
The first chemical agent found
to possess the property of pro
ducing insensibility by inhalation
and used for that purpose was
nitrous oxide, more faniliarly
known as laughing gas" or simply
gas. ," 1t is still considered the
safest and is administered every day
to thousands Of patients, not only
for dental purposes, but in conjunc-
ton with ether for general surgery.
To Priostley belongs tho honor of
identifying it chemically, to Sir
Humphry Davy that of expounding
its anmsthotic properties. He found
them out by experimenting on him
self, and suggested their practical
application in these words:
AS nitrous oxide, in its extensive
operation, appears capable of de
stroying physical pain, it may prob
ably DO used with advantage during
surgical operations in which no
great cffusicn Of blood takes place
If any one deserves to be called the
father of annsthesia, it is Sir Hum
phry Dayy But tho surgeons Of
this day, whether from blindness,
timidity or prejudice, appear to have
missed the significance of his an
nouncemcnt altogether, for, though
the words just quoted were publish
cd IN tho year 1900, no practical use
of tho gas WAS attempted until 1914
and then the initiative came from
America.
In that year a Connecticut dentist
named Horace Wells submitted him
self to the ordeal and had y tooth
extracted under the influence of nj
trous oxide. Tho next step was the
introduction of ether, and the credit
of this also belongs to America. 1t
lies bctwoon two Boston gentlomen
named Morton and jackson, but some
attempt was made to keep tho dis
covery secret for commercial rca-
sons, the only result of which was
to bury the facts in obsourity and
to deprive tho real discovcrer of the
honor that more straightforward
conduct would have secured to him.
The secret was Immediately detected
by DR.. Bigolow and sent over to
England, where the leading surgeons
of tho day-Liston, Lawrence and
Forgusson-tools it up at onco in
thor hospital practice. Sir Bonja-
min Richardson has described in the
most graphic mannor how the good
news oamo to Glasgow, where he
was studying ut the time. and how
great was tho oxcitement in the pro
fossion Ether, tho second anas-
thotio in priority, is still tho second
also in point of safety and in tho ia
vor of tho annsthotists ut the pres
ent timo. Boston Herald
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