Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-09-30

The future readers of history,
reaching the chapters devoted to the
great war. may find one under
heavily-leaded caption: Gordon Ed
wards, the Man Who Conquered
Pain" and our chldren's childrens
children may smile and wonder what
II must have been like to have been
alive at the time nikalgin was dis
covered, word which may be as
familiar to them as chloroform is to
us And perhaps it may he impos-
sible for them TO realize that Gordon
Edwards and his discovery, far from
bursting upon a war racked world
like flame of hope, crept slowly and
laboriously forth from a stubborn
obscnrity, fighting vainly for recog-
milton.
Gordon Edwards is an American
electrical engineer, born in Milwau-
kee some thirty odd years ago One
aay dsist n sas s,Ssx a, hs hffra ihn
there was no perfect anesthetlc for
dentistry. The subject of anesthetics
began to inte-S>t Edwards and he
faniiiarized h. eelf with the devel-
opments of this science which may be
said to be still in it's infancy. From
something OF a hobby 1t gradually
young American. He wanted to find
h2podermic injection which would
oe substituted for cocaine and which
would bo free from the dangers as
sociated with the use of dope"
TO make long story short, by 1914
Edwards had developed a satisfactory
injection. Finding, however that 1t
would be a matter of several years
before he could hope for the adop-
nj Ia
professional prejudice In favor OF
complete anesthesa by ether and
chloroform, Mr.. Edwards dropped 1t
for the time being and devoted him
self specifically to his original prob
lem of dental anesthesia. Just then
war broke out and presently the tales
of suffering began to come across the
water. Mr.. Edwards realized that
to kill the pain of open wounds some
thing other than hypodermic injec-
tions was needed, something, as he
expressed IL to a medical friend. that
YOU can slosh on by the bucketful."
His theory was laughed at. In1ec-
tions are necessary, he was told be-
cause In no otner way can the nerves
lie reached.
Tried Out in Hospital.
One day in the fall Of 1914, when
Edwards was sitting in tho Red Cross
his problem came to him in a flash
and he knew how he could make MS
injection invention applicable to eX-
tcrnal wounds. He hurried home to
his laboratory and set to work. HIS
solution finally perfected, he sought
an opportunity to try II. This pre-,
sented itself in the person of an old
woman patient In vanderbilt hospital
suffering from leg ulcers. The ply
sicians in charge agreed to try Ed
wards invention. 1t proved an In
Simultaneous success. Edwards, ex-
claimed the medical man few days
later, leg ulcers are scandal 10
the profession. We have never been
able to do anything with them. But
have treated successfully 20 cases
with your solution. The patients DO
not suffer at all and they get well In
no time"
1t dii not take Edwards long to
visualize the application of his IN
"ention. which he christened "nikal-
gin" Greek for ''victcry over pain },
TO the shell-torn sufferers of Europe.
Ee went TO London. This was in
Move mber, 1914.
Whatever Gordon Edwards hopes
may have been in that truly epochal
tourney across the Atlantic, 1t must
be chronicled that for Is months
after his arrival his attempts to In
troduce his solution met with re-
peated failure. Neither war office
nor Individual surgeons would listen
10 the patent medicine faker." Nj
kalgin was never even accorded a
trial "The nickel gin fellow, that
mad American engineer" the IN
ventor was called.
Edgar Ansel Mowrer tells, in Col
lier's Weekly, the story of how the
lore American fought steadily and
bra,ely for recognition In England
and finally in France. Perhaps the
various military and medical authori,
ties. hurried with work and appalled,
M the extent of the red horror with
which they had to cope, should not
be too harshly Judged. CLAIMS to the
invention of nostrums, pain killers
curo-alls in Edrope since the wal
began must be legion.
A Sensation in Paris.
In December, 1914, an actual trial
of nikalgin at Hospital Button, Paris
was nothing short of a sensational
success Physicians and nurses were
amazcd. The thing stopped there
however. The inventor was given &c
understand that his solution. tho re.
imarkable, was too great a luxury
The physicians who had tried IL re.