Tag: general anesthetic
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The “Ether Controversy”
JMS PearceHull, England, UK Anesthesia is one of the most humane and effective advances of all medical practices. The name commonly attached to the first general anesthetic, given on 16 October 1846, is that of the dental surgeon William TG Morton, who at the Massachusetts General Hospital successfully demonstrated ether anesthesia (vide infra). The well-known…
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Banishing that dread of being cut
Samuel SpencerReading, Berkshire, UK In 1863, Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was returning to camp after routing Federal armies at Chancellorsville, when he was mistaken for a Union cavalryman by his own sentries. In his long military career Jackson had been lucky enough to escape the bullets of Mexican grenadiers, Seminole guerrillas, and the cannonballs…