A consideration of the introduction of surgical anaesthesia / by William H. Welch.

  • Welch, William Henry, 1850-1934.
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A consideration of the introduction of surgical anaesthesia / by William H. Welch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    staff have ever remained faithful to the high ideals then exemplified. Worthy of especial mention are the first announce- ment to the world in a scientific journal of the great discovery, by Henry J. Bigelow, in an important paper read before the American Academy of Arts and Sci- ences, on Nov. 3, 1846, and published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal on Nov. 18, and likewise Oliver Wendell Holmes' delightful part in coining the word anaesthesia, and, indeed, his whole atti- tude of lively, sympathetic and imaginative interest, as expressed in all that he said and wrote concerning the new discovery. A sentence often quoted -will suffice to illustrate Dr. Holmes' appreciation of the benefits of the discovery, as well as his powers of vivid description : ' The knife is searching for disease, the pulleys are dragging back dislocated limbs, nature herself is working out the primal curse which doomed the ten- derest of her creatures to the sharpest of her trials, but the fierce extremity of suffering has been steeped in the waters of forgetfulness, and the deepest furrow in the knotted brow of agony has been smoothed forever. The reception of the joyful discovery was every- where enthusiastic, although not without some of the mutterings which come from those petrified against all innovations, as appears from remarks made by Professor Miller to his class in London not long after- ward. The profession, he says, were surprised, excited, charmed in the mass, and more especially those on the junior side of the grand climacteric. The elderly gentlemen had their preconceived and hereto- fore settled notions sadly jostled and disturbed. Not