Dr. Charles T. Jackson's statement of the history of his discovery of the means of preventing all sensations of pain in surgical operations by administration of vapor of pure sulphuric ether mixed with air, by pulmonary inhalation.

  • Jackson, Charles T. (Charles Thomas), 1805-1880.
Date:
[1851?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Charles T. Jackson's statement of the history of his discovery of the means of preventing all sensations of pain in surgical operations by administration of vapor of pure sulphuric ether mixed with air, by pulmonary inhalation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    VM ivsolf, as with ray pupils, by the breakage ol vessels this gas, and had Inhaled it into ibeftmgB. Vapor ol alcohol was a that time the remedy we used for relief, and not finding it to answei me by ning, that6! administered it to him in L84Q, in the month of March. [Vide Dr. Martin Gay's statement—testimony, p. &.] This,-was alter I had discovered its powerof paralysing the nerves qf sensation, as a so appears in his deposition, and in those of John II. Blake, Esq-and Dr. George T. Dexter and 1). J. Brown's letters, the deposition ol Henry V. Fow.e and Dr. S. A. Bemis. In the winter of IS 11-2, I made the dis- covery of anesthesia by ether vapor, as is proved by the depositions above referred to. The history of (his discovery is deemed interesting to the scientific world, and [shall therefore give the facta and my induction in detail. The nrigiu ©Tlhe discovery, you will perceive, was from an accident, but the induction, by which the discovery itself was made, was truly sci- entific and legitimate in all respects. The circumstances were as fol- lows ;_]„ foe winter of lSll-!>, I was employed to give a few lectures the Mechanics Charitable Association, in Boston,'and in my last leeture, which 1 think was in the month of Febuary, I had occasion to show a number of experiment in illustrations of the theory of volcanic eruptions, and from my experiments I prepared a large quantity of chlorine gas, collecting it in gallon glass jars over boiling water. Just as one of these large jars was tilled with the pure chlorine, it overturned and broke, and in my endeavors to save the vessel 1 accidentally got my lungs full of chlorine gas which nearly suffocated me, so that my life was in imminent danger. I immediately had ether and ammonia brought to me, and alternately inhaled them with great relief. The next morning my throat was severely inllamed, and very painful, and I perceived a distinct ilavor of chlorine in my breath, and my lungs were still much oppressed. I determined, therefore, to make a thorough trial of the ether vapor, and for that purpose went into my laboratory, which adjoins my house in Somerset street, and made the experiment from which the discovery of anaesthesia was induced. I had a large supply of perfectly pure washed sulphuric ether, which was prepared in tHe~%K>oratory of my friend, Mr. John H. Blake, of Boston. I took a boltle of that ether, and a folded towel, and seating myself in a rocking chair, and placing my feet in another chair, so as to secure a fixed position, as I reclined backward in the one in which 1 was seated. Soaking the towel in the ether, I placed it over my nose and mouth, so as to inhale the ether mixed with, the air, and began to in- hale the vapor deeply into my lungs. At first the ether made me cough, but soon that irritability ceased, and I noticed a sense of coolness, fol- lowed by warmth, fulness of the head and chest, with giddiness and ex-