New-York tribune., 1896-09-30
THE CONQUEST or PAIN.


Fifty wears ago today occurred one OF the
most impressive events in the history or Inc
healing art, If not, indeed, of all civilization
The scene was laid in the operating theatre OF
thc Massachusetts General Hospital In Bos-
ton The place was thronged with students'
PHYSICIANS and surgeons, curious, expcctant a
few hopeful. the great majority skepticai ana
doubling. 4 doctor, not of commanding emf
nence. had professed to be able, by the admin
istratlon of harmless drug, TO render pa
tient insensbe to the pain Of even the scverest
surgical operation. He was coming thither on
this occasion TO demonstrate, by practical OK
pertinent, the truthfuness Of his claim ana
the efficacy Of his invention. Permission for
him to do 80 had been granted with reluctance;
perhaps chiefly for the sake of getting rid.
through his own failure, of one who must be
either visionary o. a charlatan.
The time set for the experiment arrived, but
not the cxpcrimentcr. There was a moments
waiting. while the toorcady sneer began to
rise that he was. after all, afraid to come and
put his mucll-vaunted invention TO the test.
But only Il moment. and then he came, faced
the largely unbclieving if not actually hostile
audience. examined the patient, applied the
drug, and said to the operating surgeon, "Ail
ready: please proceed" 1t was a tremendous
moment, every spectator as silent and motion
less as the patient stretched upon the table
held in n suspense such as they never had
known before, and never might know again,
watching to see if the patient would not writhe,
straining the to hear If he would not groan
and shrek in agony when the knife began 10
bite the flesh and the saw to gnaw the bone.
There was no motion. There was no sound.
1t might have been corpse they were dissect-
Ing. instead Of a living man. Perhaps the
man was indeed dead The operation was
completed. in the stiffness of the tomb. Then
the patient came back to consciousness moved
and spoke, declared he had felt pain, had
known nothing Of the surgeons work Then
the lurking sncer paled out, hope blaZed into
high cxultation and the assembled skeptics
I.ook'd at each other with a wild surmse.
The trial was Il complete success. \ new era
had dawncd upon the world, and Or. Morton
was its author and its hero.
\ year or two before, Dr Cotton, who still
reioiccs in robust and honored age to tell the
tale had demonstrated the efficiency of nitrous
acid to cause anaesthesla for a time sufficient
for the extraction of teeth. and thus robbed
the dental chair OF its horrors for uncounted
millions. A year or two later DR. Simpson. of
just as effective as. and in some respects pref
cradle 10. the sulphuric ether which Dr. Nor
ton had employed. Many years later the an
aesthetic powers of cocaine locally applied.
wcrc made known, TO the great benefit Of man
kind. Indeed. similar knowledge had existed
centuries before HerOdOtus tells lis that the
Scythans secured anaesthesia by inhalinS the
vapor of hcmpsecJ. Plny the Elder writes
that IN infusion of mandrake causes sleep and
insCnSililiy 10 wounds. and that certain vol
canic stone. powdered and mixed with vinegar,
produces local anaesthesa. DioscOrdcs ard
Apulcius both declare that after drinking man
drake wine one falls into sleep so deep that
he may have limb Gu. off without feeling the
pain. In the thirteenth century. according TO
ThcodOrc. anaesthetic sleep was obtained by
breathing through sponge saturated with the
juices Of mandrake, poppes and hemlock.
Shakespeare, in "ltomeo and Juliet ard Gym
boline mentions the use of profound narcotics.
and in another old play. published in 1861, oc-
cur the lines,
I'll initiate the piies Of old surgeons
70 this lost limb. who, ere they show their art,
Cast one asleep, then cut the diseased part.
Nevertheless, despite these forcrunners Of il
and these later improvements upon it, DR.. Nor
tons discovery is justly entitled to be reckoned
the origin and the foundation Of modern an
aesthetic surgery.
Sir Joseph Lister did we'll in his presidential
address before the British Assoca ation-one of
the most luminous aud informing addresses
ever delivered on such an occasiOn-to remind
the world OF this inter, sting anniversary To-
day. as we have ntlmatcd. is the very day on
which II is to be celebrated. Here and there
some fitting commcmoration is to be made Ii
should b" a matter Of universal notice and lall-
dation. Without exaggeration ii may be said
that no more bencficent discovery has ever been
made in the healing art, and not more than Two
or three comparable with it. Excepting Pas
teurs establishment Of the germ theory and It's
great corollary, Listers antseptic system Of
surgery. and perhaps also Jenncrs invention Of
vaccination. what else is TO be named beside ii
For II not merely banishes pain 1t makes
possible and easy innumerable operations which
without 1t would be physically impossible
and would never have been attempted 1t Is
the practice Of anaesthesia that has opened the
way for all the marvellous triumphs OF sur
gical skill which have been seen in these last
fifty years. and which have done so much for
the health and longevity Of mankind Surely.
there Is little danger of expressing on this an
niversary more honor and gratitude than the
event Of fifty years ago deserves
|
The regular Democratic State tcket-it's Of no