The advantages and accidents of artificial anaesthesia : a manual of anaesthetic agents, and their employment in the treatment of disease / by Laurence Turnbull.

  • Turnbull, Laurence, 1821-1900
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The advantages and accidents of artificial anaesthesia : a manual of anaesthetic agents, and their employment in the treatment of disease / by Laurence Turnbull. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    such as the datura, a solauaeoous plant, probably identical with the atropia nuindragora ; also aconite, hyoscyanius, etc. Some of these druj?s form constituents of the formula said to he emi)loyed by kidnai)pers of children, and robbers, and are therefore naturally forl)idden in China, at the pres- ent, to he sold or enii)loyed. The Indian hem}), under the name 6//«??,f/,was extensively used by the Mohammedans and others in Central Asia. The most wonderful i)roperties are ascribed to it. “ Taken in excess, the spirits and demons may be seen ; it confers prophetic powers; it is sometimes taken by persons wishing to indulge in spiritualism, and it is used as an antidote to forgetfulness.” I Dudgeon.) Theodoric, about the year 1298, gives elaborate directions how to prepare a ” spongia sonmifera” by boiling it dry in numerous strong narcotics, and afterwards moistening it for inhalation before operations. Opium was also employed in later years (prior to surgical operations), and was found one of the best of narcotics for the relief of i)ain and for producing insensil)ility, but was not free from danger. On September 3d, 1828, (M. Girardin read, to the Academy of Medicine of Paris, a letter adtlressed to His Majesty Charles X, describing surgical amesthesia by means of “ inhaled gases.” Kicherand suggested drunkenness in reducing disloca- tions; and patients, while dead drunk, have been operated upon painlessly. Larry, after the battle of Eylau, found in the wounded, who rec^uired amputations, a remarkable insensibility, owing to the intense cold, this being the first use of cold as an amesthetic. A strong ini])ulse was given to the study and ap})lication of the “ diflerent kinds of airs and gases” by the discovery of oxygen by Priestley and Scheele, in the middle of the last century, and numerous experiments were made by jdiysi- cians with it. Another still more practical result was ob- tained by Sir Hum])hrey Davy, and })ublished in 1800, ” That nitrous oxide appears cai)able of destroying 2)hysical pain, and may be used with advantage during surgical o]>- erations.” This vahial)le and i)ractical suggestion remained without fruit for a long time, and the surgeons, physicians,