Some historical notes on anaesthesia with particular reference to its military use

• Published in: Current anaesthesia & critical care Vol. 13; no. 5; pp. 249 - 255
• Main Author: Houghton, I.T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2002
• Subjects: history, anaesthesia, mandragora, ether, ethyl, chloroform, military medicine; history, anaesthesia, mandragora, ether, ethyl, chloroform, military medicine
• ISSN: 0953-7112; 1532-2033
• DOI: 10.1054/cacc.2002.0419

It is generally accepted that anaesthesia for painless surgery with ether was discovered in 1846 and with chloroform in 1847. However, there are many references in earlier writings of the use of sleep-inducing and pain-relieving potions. The ancients Egyptians and Chinese are believed to have used Indian hemp and poppy juice. The Greeks may have used myrrh as a sorrow-easing potion and the stone of Memphis is attributed with numbing the body. The ancient Greeks and Romans also used decoctions of mandragora. Evidence of the use of opium, hyoscyamus and conium in the Middle Ages has also been found, although the use of mandragora seems to have died out in the XVI century. Larrey used ice at Preuss Eylan in 1807, but at that time, British soldiers were usually given just a bullet on which to bite and sailors a tot of rum. The first use of ether anaesthesia in combat was at Vera Cruz in 1847 but only a few months later Pirogoff gave anaesthesia on active service in the Caucasus. Spencer Wells in Malta was an early exponent of ether anaesthesia in the services. However, chloroform soon took over as the most popular anaesthetic agent on active service and much is written of its use by the medical services of the United Kingdom, France and Russia during the Crimean War. However, the American Civil War was the first conflict in which detailed medical statistics concerning anaesthesia were collected and published. Apart from the use of local anaesthetic agents and spinal anaesthesia, major advances in anaesthesia had to wait until the Great War