Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1896-12-26
ADvANCENSUR
HOW 1T DIFFERS NOW FROM WHAT IT
WAS FIFTY YEARS AGO.

The Horror Of the Knife Up 20 the Dis
covsry OF Ansssthesia-Danxer a. Wen 4
~ Pain In the operatlon-Frirst Use OF |
Ether by DIR. william t. G. Morton.
One Of the most interesting papers
read at the celebration in Boston Of the /
fftieth anniversary Of the first admins
tration Of ether in a surgical operation,
says the Philadelphia Record. was that
by DR.. John Ashhurst Of this city on
Surgery Before the Days of Anesthet-
los 1t vividly recalls the horrors Of |
those days when the surgeon s knife was
an object OF far greater terror than now
and inflicted untold fortunes upon the
conscious patient
"A study Of the condition of surgery
before the days of an@sthesia. - said DR..
Ashhurst. reveals on the one hand a
picture of heroic boldness and mastery
self control ON the part of the surgeon,
and on the other a CHASTITY panorama,
sometimes of stole fortitude and endur-
ance, sometimes of abject terror and hu-
miliation-but always of agonizing
Indebtedness and pain--on the part of
the unhappy victim who required the
surgeons aid.
1.-The 'pitilessness' which Ceicus urged
as an essential trait in the operative sur
geon was, before the days OF an@sthesia,
a feature in the surgeons career which
impressed very strongly the public gem
orally as we'll as those Immediately con-
neoted with the operation. 1t is inter
esting to recall that Sir James Simpson
Of Edinburgh, shortly after beginning
his professional studies, was so affected
by seeing the terrible agony of a poor
Highland woman under amputation Of
the breast that be resolved to abandon
q medical career and seek other occupa-
ton. Happily his intention was recon-
sidered, ano he returned TO his studies,
asking himself, Can anything be done
TO make operations less painful?' and,
as every one knows, in less than 30
years he became high priest of anRs-
thesia and the introducer into surgical
and obstetrical practice Of ether's great
rival, chloroform.
mo Drawer or more gallant gentle
man ever lived than Admiral Viscount
Nelson, and after his right elbow had
been shattered by French bullet in the
assault at Tenerife he manifested the
utmost courage. refusing to be taken to
the nearest ship lest the sight OF his in
jury should alarm the wife of fellow
officer whose own fate was uncertain,
and when his own ship was reached he
climbed up it's side without assistance.
saying: Tell the surgeon to make haste
and get his Instruments / know / must
lose my right arm, SO the sooner it is off
the better. He underwent the amputa-
ton, we learn from private letter of
one of his midshipmen, with the same
firmness and courage that have always
marked his character. And yet so pain
fully was he affected by the GOODNESS OF
the operators knife that when next go
ing into action at the famous battle OF
the Nile he gave standing orders 70 bis
surgeons that hot water should always
be kept in readiness during an engage
ment. so that if another operation should
be required ne might at least have tn,
poor comfort Of being cut with warm
. instruments.
, ION the side of the surgeon we fint
! throughout the ages a constant effort {,
diminish the terrors of operations and
? continuous Reproduction of the distress
full, not to say cruel, modes of prac
! tice adopted by preceding generations
! And yet the time is not very far distan
from ours when they Topped of linn
! by striking it violently with a heav,
: knife; that time when they knew nei
ther how to stop nor how TO proven
hemorrhage but by burning the par
whence the blood jetted with boiling OF
= or the redhot iron; that time when SUI
= geons armed themselves at every me
ment with pinchers. with burning car
q teries and with instruments the repre-
sensations even Of which cause terror.
but the presence of pain was not ttl
only evil dreaded by our predecessors j
attempting important operations. Tn
great risk Of fatal accident from some il
voluntary movement Of the patient Wa
constantly present to the mind of tn
conscientious surgeon. How often. say
3. DR.. Valentine Mott. when operating
some deep. dark wound, along the courl
a. of some great vein, with thin walls a
le tefnately distended and fiaccid with IL
T. vital ourrent-how often have dreade
III that some unfortunate struggle of Il
IN patient would deviate the knife lit
n from its proper course and that i, WI
is fain would be the deliverer, should il
BY voluntarily become the execut ioner, Sc
~ ing my patient perish in my hands
OF the most appalling form of death! HI
g, he been insensible should have felt
to alarm.
ed Coming down to the days more il
re mediateiy preceding the date of q
tie great discovery, we find that opium al
en- alcohol were the only agents which co
i 70 bn daI - -
en- value in diminishing the pain of ope1
Dr. tions, though the attendant disadva
Is tages of their employment were of couI
on recognized. Meanwhile facts were acc
IRE mulating the significance of which
he now plainly recognize, but which c
cited no attention.
ids ''Sir Humphry Davy, in the ear
he days Of the nineteenth century, sngge
ZEN ed the use of nitrous oxide gas as
nd anRsthetic- in minor operations, and
sn- was the custom at some of our medic
or schools-at the University of Penns,
ais vania, Cor one-for students TO breat
'dy laughing gas. as it was then Gale
Sc for diversion. But yet--and vets,
on geons went on. in every country, cutti
m and burning, and patients went
ex- wrlthing and screaming, until ON I
an 10th day of October, in the year rs.
ers in the Massachusetts General hospit
md DR.. John G. Warren painlessiy remoy
an a tumor from man who had previous
lis been etherized by DIR. William T.
on. Morton, and surgical an@sthesia
pa came the priceless heritagssof the CT
sty lized world. =
OF ----------- 49,
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