The discovery of anaesthesia / by J. Marion Sims.

  • Sims, J. Marion (James Marion), 1813-1883.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The discovery of anaesthesia / by J. Marion Sims. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    lecture on the dangers ofsuch frolics, and cautioned them against a repetition of their heedless act. This of course broke up the ether frolics in this neighborhood. Dr. Wilhite thinks it was more than an hour from the time the messenger started for Dr. Reese, till he returned with him to Mr. Ware’s. The distance to Athens and back was ten miles, and all this time the negro boy was profoundly narcotized. This is unquestionably the first case in which sulphuric ether was ever given to the extent of producing complete anajsthesia. Dr. Crawford W. Long, now of Athens, Georgia, was born in Danielsville, Madison county, Georgia, on the 1st November, 1815. He graduated at the University of Georgia (then the Franklin College) in 1835. He studied medicine and graduated at the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1839. He then went to Jefferson, Jackson county, Georgia, where he practised medicine for many years. In 1842, he had four students in his office, viz: P. A. Wilhite, John S. Groves, D. I. Long and H. R. P. Long. The two last were relatives of Dr. Long, and they are both dead. Wilhite and Groves are still living (1877). Dr. Long was 27 years old. His pupils were all from 19 to 21; they were on the best of terms with each other, the Doctor entering into all the sports of his pupils with a hearty good will, while he never neglected his duties as their teacher. On one occasion, they were talking about the in- halation of nitrous oxide gas, when one of his pupils asked him to make some for them. He said he did not have suitable appa- ratus for it, but that the inhalation of sulphuric ether would produce precisely the same exhilarating effect. One of the young men present said he had inhaled ether while at school, and was willing to do it again. They were all anxious to wit- ness its effects. Dr. Long got some ether immediately and gave it to the young man who had previously inhaled it. He then inhaled it himself, and afterwards gave it to all present. After this, the young Doctor and his pupils indulged occasionally in ether frolics. On several occasions. Dr. Long became fu- riously excited and could not be controlled. On recovering from the ether intoxication, he frequently noticed that his arms and hands were badly bruised, and yet he was not conscious of having felt any pain at the time he was under the influence of