Salt Lake Telegram | 1940-02-08 | Page 6 | Advice on Your Health

Advice on Your Health By Morris Fishbein, Editor, Journal American Medical Association (This Is the fourth in a series ' of It articles by Dr. Morris Fishbein Fish-bein on Magkt Medical Bulleta.) One of the greatest blessings of mankind placed by many observers ob-servers as No. 1 in all the accomplishments ac-complishments of scientific medicine med-icine is the development of anesthesia an-esthesia for the relief of pain. The ancient Greeks knew that there were mixtures of herbs or drugs which could be taken by mouth and produce unconsciousness. unconscious-ness. The famous father of surgery, sur-gery, Ambroise Pare, knew of the possibility of deadening pain. Surgeons of the early nineteenth century used to Intoxicate patients pa-tients with alcohol or opium. Not until March, 1842, did a physician actually use ether on a patient, however. That physician was Dr. Crawford W. Long of Danlelsvllle, Ga. In 1844, a dentist of Hartford, Conn., named Horace Wells, began be-gan to use Inhalations of nitrous oxide gas (or laughing gas) on patients from whom he planned to pull teeth. One of his patients died, however, and it had auch an effect on the dentist that he withdrew from practice. Wells told about his work to another dentist, William l'homas ' Green Morton, a man who was his friend and former partner. Morton learned about the effects of ether and Morton used some while pulling a tooth for a patient pa-tient In July, 1844. Encouraged by his results, Morton visited Dr. John Collins Warren of the Massachusetts General hospital and persuaded him to try ether In surgery. On October 16, 1846, Dr. Warren dissected dis-sected a tumor from the left side of the neck of a patient with the patient unconscious as a result of inhaling ether. When he finished fin-ished the operation In five minutes. min-utes. Dr. Warren said, "Gentlemen, "Gentle-men, this is no humbug." On the next day he did another operation, removing a tumor of the shoulder. The results were published in November, 1846, and since that time the uses of anesthesia anes-thesia have been steadily developed devel-oped so that today people no longer need fear pain associated with surgery. The words "anesthesia" "anes-thesia" and "anesthetic" were proposed by Oliver Wendell Holmes. In 1847, for the first time, ether was used to control pain In childbirth, child-birth, and a little later chloroform chloro-form was used for the same purpose. pur-pose. It Is Impossible for those who are unfamiliar with the conditions condi-tions that existed before 1840 to realize what these great discoveries discov-eries have meant for the health and happiness of human beings. NEXT: Diphtheria's antitoxin.