Countdown to Christmas
9 - Anesthesia
- Surgical procedures are almost always painful. Since ancient times, people have tried to ease this pain. Alcohol, opium and other substances were used with only partial success.
- Due to the progress of chemistry in the 19th century effective methods of anesthesia were discovered - both local and general anesthesia. Anyone who has ever undergone open heart surgery knows that many things that save lives today were not possible in earlier times. Our lives would be shorter and more painful.
Inventor
Thanks to the variety of types of anesthesia, there are also many well-known inventors over a long period of time. For example: 1799 British chemist Humphrey Davy invented “laughing gas”. In 1804, the Japanese doctor Hanaoka Seishū performed the first operation using general anesthesia. Boston dentist William T.G. Morton carried out the first public general anesthesia in 1846.
Without surgery with general anesthesia, many people would not have enjoyed the last Christmas season. However, anesthesiologists rarely receive thanks for it, because most patients cannot remember them at all. So write a Christmas card to your nearest anesthesiologist! He/she will definitely be happy.
