who discovered anaesthesia?

Answers:
Anesthesia for surgery was introduced in America only in the 1840s. Before this time, surgical patients were simply expected to withstand the pain of the procedure. Alternatively, they were intoxicated with alcohol or opiates (e.g., laudanum). Humphry Davy (1778-829), a famous English chemist, discovered through self-experimentation that nitrous oxide relieved headache and dental pain, but his report went unnoticed in the medial community; it did, however, led to the use of "laughing gas", and later ether, for entertainment at parties! The first demonstration of surgical anesthesia was by Horace Wells (1815-1848), an American dentist who had observed the effects of nitrous oxide at a traveling medicine show. Wells had some of his own teeth extracted painlessly under nitrous oxide, but during his first pubic demonstration, in Boston in 1845. Despite the fact that the patient reported no awareness or memory of pain, the demonstration was judged a failure, and Wells mocked, because the patient screamed and struggled throughout the procedure. However, Wells's failure was observed by another dentist, William Morton, who began experimenting with ether. In 1846, Morton demonstrated the surgical removal of a tumor in a patient who showed no signs or reports of pain.
By 1847, ether and chloroform were firmly established as general anesthetics on both sides of the Atlantic. Except for childbirth: physicians worried about the effects of chemical analgesics on the fetus, and also worried that the absence of pain would impair the bonds between mother and child. Today, the term anesthesia in it's most general form has 5 components 1. Analgesia - blocking the conscious perception of pain 2. Hypnosis - producing unconsciousness 3. Amnesia - preventing memory formation 4. Relaxation - preventing unwanted movement or muscle tone 5. Homeostasis - preserving normal body functioning (e.g., maintaining blood pressure within normal physiologic range)Although there are some mythological stories of anaesthesia being used in classical age. Dioscorides, for example, reports potions being prepared from opium and mandragora as surgical anesthetics. The biblical Book of Genesis (2:20) describes God causing Adam to fall into a deep sleep, during which one of his ribs was removed and fashioned into Eve.In the East, in the 10th century work Shahnama, the author describes a Caesarean section performed on Rudaba when giving birth, in which a special wine agent was prepared by a Zoroastrian priest, and used to produce unconsciousness for the operation. Although largely mythical in content, the passage does at least illustrate knowledge of Anesthesia in ancient Persia.

---

Oh, gee, I forget

---

It's Horace Wells. He first used nitrous oxide in December 1844.

---

Anesthesia or anaesthesia (see spelling differences), has traditionally meant the process of blocking the perception of pain and other sensations. This allows patients to undergo surgery and other procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience. It comes from the Greek roots an-, "not, without" and aesth膿tos, "perceptible, able to feel". The word was coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. in 1846.Anesthesia was used as early back as the classical age. Dioscorides, for example, reports potions being prepared from opium and mandragora as surgical anesthetics. The biblical Book of Genesis (2:20) describes God causing Adam to fall into a deep sleep, during which one of his ribs was removed and fashioned into Eve.In the East, in the 10th century work Shahnama, the author describes a Caesarean section performed on Rudaba when giving birth, in which a special wine agent was prepared by a Zoroastrian priest, and used to produce unconsciousness for the operation. Although largely mythical in content, the passage does at least illustrate knowledge of Anesthesia in ancient Persia.

---

(m)Anesthesia for surgery was introduced in America only in the 1840s. Before this time, surgical patients were simply expected to withstand the pain of the procedure. Alternatively, they were intoxicated with alcohol or opiates (e.g., laudanum). Humphry Davy (1778-829), a famous English chemist, discovered through self-experimentation that nitrous oxide relieved headache and dental pain, but his report went unnoticed in the medial community; it did, however, led to the use of "laughing gas", and later ether, for entertainment at parties! The first demonstration of surgical anesthesia was by Horace Wells (1815-1848), an American dentist who had observed the effects of nitrous oxide at a traveling medicine show. Wells had some of his own teeth extracted painlessly under nitrous oxide, but during his first pubic demonstration, in Boston in 1845. Despite the fact that the patient reported no awareness or memory of pain, the demonstration was judged a failure, and Wells mocked, because the patient screamed and struggled throughout the procedure. However, Wells's failure was observed by another dentist, William Morton, who began experimenting with ether. In 1846, Morton demonstrated the surgical removal of a tumor in a patient who showed no signs or reports of pain. (Click on the picture above left to see an enlarged painting of this event.) By 1847, ether and chloroform were firmly established as general anesthetics on both sides of the Atlantic. Except for childbirth: physicians worried about the effects of chemical analgesics on the fetus, and also worried that the absence of pain would impair the bonds between mother and child. Later, it was discovered that morphine lessened the amount of chloroform needed to produce complete anesthesia. In the early 20th century ether and chloroform werereplaced by halogenated hydrocarbons such as halothane (sometimes, a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, or intravenous narcotics such as fentanyl, are used instead of a volatile agent). In 1942, Griffith and Johnson administered curare to reduce reflexive responses to surgical incisions (and artificial respiration to maintain breathing). This yielded the "balanced anesthesia" procedure still in use today: a "cocktail" of drugs to induce loss of consciousness, eliminate pain, and calm the operative area. Originally, general anesthesia was considered to be a purely "empirical" treatment, whose effectiveness had been demonstrated but whose mechanism of action was unknown. For this reason, anesthesia was initially ignored by established medical practitioners, who for professional reasons did not want to employ any technique whose scientific basis was not understood

---

William T. G. Morton
One of Boston's great moments in the history of medicine happened on October 16, 1846, as one of the most famous surgical operations in history-the first public demonstration of the use of ether as an anesthetic-was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital.

---

Anesthesia or anaesthesia (see spelling differences), has traditionally meant the process of blocking the perception of pain and other sensations. This allows patients to undergo surgery and other procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience. It comes from the Greek roots an-, "not, without" and aesth膿tos, "perceptible, able to feel". The word was coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. in 1846.Today, the term anesthesia in it's most general form has 5 components 1. Analgesia - blocking the conscious perception of pain 2. Hypnosis - producing unconsciousness 3. Amnesia - preventing memory formation 4. Relaxation - preventing unwanted movement or muscle tone 5. Homeostasis - preserving normal body functioning (e.g., maintaining blood pressure within normal physiologic range)
Anesthesia was used as early back as the classical age. Dioscorides, for example, reports potions being prepared from opium and mandragora as surgical anesthetics. The biblical Book of Genesis (2:20) describes God causing Adam to fall into a deep sleep, during which one of his ribs was removed and fashioned into Eve.In the East, in the 10th century work Shahnama, the author describes a Caesarean section performed on Rudaba when giving birth, in which a special wine agent was prepared by a Zoroastrian priest, and used to produce unconsciousness for the operation. Although largely mythical in content, the passage does at least illustrate knowledge of Anesthesia in ancient Persia.

---

my father. he used to rub my head and i'd just go kapoof! off to dreamland.

---