The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-15
SURGERY WITHOUT ANEsTgrT----
ihe Horror of the Knife Up to II.
Discovery of Anesthesia
Years Ago. my
From the Philadelphia Racora

at the recent celebration in, Re-. 't
the nftieth anniversary of the first .5r,,s
istration of ether in a surgical or.-.4
was that by DR.. John Ashhurst Of th;-
city on Surgery Before the nar. nus
Anaesthetics." 1t vividly recalls 49,
rors of those days when tba
knife was an object of far greato. 80 ~
than now. and inflicted unto1d Eur e.ior
upon the conscious patient
a STUDY OF the condition of s,,u
iore the days of anaesthesia- - 81 pe-
Ashnurst, reveals on the one band "
ture OF heroic boldness and nastarI,' = ~. pic-
~ I'll the part of the surgeon 80
on the other CHASTITY panorar ne ana
times of storic fortitude and arS,. some
sometimes OF AFFECT terror and b,,, riiee'
uoh-Dut always Of agoniziner u,re e-tiliit-
ness ana paln-on the part of tba 80, t tN'teu-
victim VINO required the surgeon,s Ppy
Inc pltllessness' which Ceicus ~ -
az dA essential trait in the operati,,e So seu
geon was, before the days Of ana .ivG sur
a feature in the surgeons oa,.oo- thesia,
impressed very strongly the n,,bI,o "IIch
erdlIy as We'll as those immediataiN, sen
nected with the operation. II is 49, VII
ing TO recall that Sir James Simr se,s 9t-
Edinburgh, shortly after beoinrinsn OF
Proiesslonal studies, was so affectea ms us
,o5 lne terrible agony of poor HisG
ldnd woman under amputa +ion Isl
breast that he resolved to a. " the
nleolcal career and seek otbar M d
ION happily his intention was reoo,sIpp,
cred, and he returned to his SINAI, eooiisid-
ing himself can anything be done rs -e osA-
operations less painfull?' ana &c nike
one knows, in less than twenty vears iE
90. a .lsh priest of anaesthesia ana
the lhtroducer into surgical and obs,.o aIlu
cal practice of ether's great rival D oI''l
form. t4Fal' chloro-
NO drawer or more gallant eentlaro,-
ever hVed than Admiral Vfsconnt H1eI
SON. ana after his right elbow had boa
shattered by French bullet in tb. oeH
r naun. at tenerlne ne manifested the M
most courage, refusing to be taken ~ II. Ut
nearest ship lest the sight Of bis t. tne
should alarm the wife of a. fellow naedy
whose own fate was uncertain ana 80
MS own ship was reached he olin 0Le9
up ats side without assistance soI-,os''
Zen the surgeon to make haste ami ns:
LIS -, iiis truhents. know 1 must lose nv
right arm so the sooner it is off tba by
ter He underwent the annuta+ior yet
Iearn from private letter of one of bio
mldshlpmen, with the same f1rnnnass o- i
courage that have always marked M
character And yet so painfully was bs
aHected by the GOODNESS of the operator,.
KliIIe that when next going into action AZ
q
standing orders to his surgeons tbat bot
water should always be kept in readiness
during an engagement, so that if ano+bss
operation should be required he migbt
at least nave the poor comfort of heinz
cut with warm Instruments
ON the side of the surgeon uo er,,
throughout the ages a constant effort ~
diminish the terrors of operationS oa5
continuous reproba ton of the distresssuI
not to say cruel, modes of practice odonI'
ed by preceding generations. And vef r.
time is not very far distant from onrs
When they Topped off limb by striking II
YIolehtiy Wlth heavy knife; that Tins
When they knew neither how to sion nor
now 10 prevent hemorrhage but bv burn
ing the part whence the blood ietted with
po4InS oil or the red-hot iron: that lima
When surgeons armed themselves ar everv
moment with pincers, with burning can.
lerles and with instruments. the renra-
senIdtlons even of which cause terror.
me belief that operations might he
rendered painless appears to have been
present in the minds of surgeons from
the earliest periods. Witness the ac-
counts of the Memphis stone. described
py Dloscorides and Pliny, which by steep-
ing IN vinegar was made to give forth the
Iunes OF carbonic acid; and one of the
nandragora, employed, according to The
odorlc, when mixed with other narcotics.
by inhalation, and causing a sleep from
which the patient could only be aroused
by the fumes of vinegar. So profound
was the stupor induced by this drug that
Bodin assures us that under its influence
d man submitted without consciousness
to painful operation and continued to
sleep for several days thereafter.
Nigo speaks of the whole body being
brought asleep by the smelling of a
sponge wherein opium is, but warns his
readers that the practice is dangerous,
because the use of opium is sometimes
followed by gangrene In his work on
Natural Magic, Baptista Porta speaks of
a volatile drug kept in leaden vessels,
winch produced sleep when applied to the
nostrils, and Perrin suggests that this
may actually have been ether or some
other of our modern anaesthetic agents
Mental preoccupation was sometimes
sought as a means of preventing pain.
Richard Wiseman found that soldiers
dreaded the loss of a limb much less if
IL were removed Immediately, while they
were in the heat of the fight, than if the
operation was postponed until next day;
wherefore, he says, cut it off quickly,
while the soldier is heated and In mettle;
and Renauldin recalls the case of the
amlable Dolomieu, who, exposed to the
pangs OF starvation in a Neopolitan dun
geon, measureably alleviated his own
distress by engaging in the composition
VI d treauSe on mlneralogy, While MS un-
fortunate servant and fellow prisoner
who had not the same intellectual resour-
ces, was hungry enough for both.
But the presence of pain was not the
only evil dreaded by our predecessors in
attempting important operations; the great
risk of fatal accident from some invoun-
tary movement of the patient was con-
stantly present to the mind of the con-
scientious surgeon. How often says DR..
valentine Mott, when operating in some
deep, dark wound. along the course OF
some great vein, with thin walls alternate
ly distended and faced with the vital
current-how often have l dreaded that
some unfortunate struggle of the patient
would deviate the knife a little from It's
proper course, and that l, who fain would
be the deliverer, should Involuntary be-
come the executioner seeing my patient
perish in my hands by the most appalling
form Of DEATH Had he been insenslDie
l should have felt no alarm.
Coming down to the days more imme-
diately preceding the date of the great
discovery We find that opium and alcohol
were the only agents which continued 10
be regarded as a practical value IN al
miniShinQ the main of OperatiOuS, though