No laughing matter : historical aspects of anaesthesia catalogue of an exhibition held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 8 June to 25 September 1987 / by Christopher Lawrence and Ghislaine Lawrence ; with the assistance of Huw Geddes and Lorraine Ward.

Date:
1987
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: No laughing matter : historical aspects of anaesthesia catalogue of an exhibition held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 8 June to 25 September 1987 / by Christopher Lawrence and Ghislaine Lawrence ; with the assistance of Huw Geddes and Lorraine Ward. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    One consequence of the emphasis on indi- vidual innovation in the history of anaes- thetics has been the neglect of the place of anaesthesia in culture generally. There are no studies, for example, of public per- ceptions of inhalational anaesthesia in the early years of its use, or of how the mean- ings of pain were changed in response to its employment (but see Pernick, 1985). Anaesthesia has also appeared in the pub- lic arena associated with things other than surgery. Almost from its first employment and up to the present day, anaesthesia, in fact and fiction, has been associated with crime, notably rape, theft and kidnapping. The question of who should use anaesthetic agents has been much debated, occasionally by Par- liament and the press. This issue has usually involved the familiar balancing of individual rights versus professional expertise. Anaesthetics and antivivisection were also contentious areas in the late nineteenth century. In Britain, the 1876 Cruelty to Animals Act included a section which regularized the use of anaesthetics in animal experiments. Item 54(b) THE PRESS 51. CARTOON depicting 'Wonderful effects of ether in a case of scolding wife', Punch, February 6, 1847, p. 60. The cartoon showed the persecuted husband enjoying an ether-induced beautiful dream oblivi- ous to his scolding wife. 52. PHOTOGRAPH of Punch, August 14, 1847, p. 60, 'Ether and humming bees', reporting the use of ether to render bees inactive in order to procure their honey. 53. PHOTOGRAPH of the words of a song to be sung to an air from 'The Beggar's Opera', from The Illustrated London News, Jan. 30, 1847. Reprinted in The Lancet, 1946, ii: 611. How happy could I be with ./Ether Were mesmeric charmers away, But while they perplex me together The Devil a word can I say. Sing Robinson, Thomson, and Cooper, Fol Lol de Rol, Lol de Rol, Lay There's nothing like TEther and Stupor For making a hospital gay. 54. PHOTOGRAPHS of 'A street accident and what follows'. A photostory from Picture Post, January 7, 1939, pp. 18-22. (a) The story, with short captions, followed the history of Tom who, after being knocked down on a London street, was admitted to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The anaesthetist figured prominently in one of the pictures. (b) Photograph of one of the episodes in the photostory described above, 'The anaesthetist watches for the slightest change'. (Copyright Hulton Picture Library) 55. PHOTOGRAPH of a part of a photostory in Pic- ture Post, July 22, 1944, p. 11, 'A hospital for war nerves', entitled 'One of the treatments which help doctor and patient get at the truth'. The picture shows the doctor injecting a narcotic. MUSEUMS 56. CATALOGUE Nancy Knight, Pain and its re- lief. An exhibition at the National Museum of Amer- ican History, Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institu- tion, 1983. The exhibition, made possible by a grant from the American Society of Anesthesiologists, dra- matically illustrates the progress that has been made in understanding and controlling pain (Exhibition handout). (WMSM) 57. PHOTOGRAPH of a reconstruction described as A state-of-the-art operating room for coronary bypass surgery [which] serves as a focal point in Pain and Its Relief (Handout for the exhibition de- scribed above). (WMSM) TWENTY-TWO