Discoveries
Anesthesia
Also Known As Discovery of Surgical Anesthesia
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Anesthesia is the induced loss of sensation, usually to permit surgery without pain. Ether and nitrous oxide had been used recreationally for years before their surgical potential was demonstrated in a cluster of American demonstrations in the 1840s, after which general anesthesia rapidly transformed surgery from an ordeal of speed into a controlled procedure. This atlas records what the historical record supports and is not medical advice.
Facts
Disputed
Discovery Year1846 marks William Mortons public Massachusetts General Hospital ether demonstration, the most widely credited moment, but Crawford Long had used ether surgically in 1842 without publishing, and Horace Wells had demonstrated nitrous oxide in 1845 to a skeptical audience. DiscovererWilliam Morton is most commonly credited for his 1846 public demonstration, but the priority claim is genuinely contested: Crawford Long used ether surgically in 1842 without publishing, and Horace Wells had already attempted a public nitrous oxide demonstration in 1845. 2 Priority among Morton, Long and Wells was disputed in their own lifetimes and remains a genuinely debated question among historians of medicine, not a settled attribution. Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Discoverer
Crawford Long's supporters, and the U.S. observance of Doctors' Day each March 30, the anniversary of Long's 1842 operation, hold that Long deserves priority as the first physician to use ether surgically, arguing that Morton's fame rests on being first to demonstrate ether publicly and to seek a patent on it as Letheon, not on being first to use it. Horace Wells's family and later historians of dentistry have separately argued for Wells's priority, noting his own successful private use of nitrous oxide before his failed 1845 public demonstration, and holding that Morton's demonstration succeeded only because Wells's attempt, and its failure, had already shown what needed correcting.
A dissenting reading, from Crawford Long's supporters and the U.S. Doctors' Day observanceEncyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.