A WHIFF OF CHLOROFORM

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 116, 17 May 1924, Page 30

A WHIFF OF CHLOROFORM

(By W. W. DUNSTERVILLE.)

» PRE-ANAESTHETIC DAYS. HORRORS OF SURGERY

Throughout the ages humane men hare tried to find some drug that would confer the priceless blessing of unconsciousness to pain, with safety, during the course of surgical operations, but it was less than eighty years ago that anything like practical success attended their efforts. In the middle ages many secret nostrums were invented for the purpose. Naturally no one knows the composition of these preparations, but it is safe to say they were of very little use. Extract of mandrake root, haschish or Indian hemp, alcohol, opium, pressure of the carotoid arteries, hypnotism; all have been tried with more or less —generally less—success, and the great fact stands out that there was no way of producing a state of anaesthesia deep, permanent, and safe enough to permit of operations being performed while I the patient was under its influence, and j the dreadful conditions of the early ! operating theatre, where unfortunates in full consciousness were held down by force while the surgeon hacked through flesh and bone continued up to the middle of the nineteenth century. America and England can divide the honours of discovering the practical use of anaesthetics —a name, by the way, coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Priestly discovered nitrous oxide gas in 1770, and in 1800 Humphrey Davy suggested that it had distinct anaesthetic properties. Thirty years later Faraday found that ether, which had been known since the thirteenth century, also could produce anaesthesia, but the use of these preparations seems to have been regarded simply as a sort of scientific curiosity. In 1844, however, some really important and definite advance was made. An American dentist named Horace Wells, who had made some experiments with "laughing gas," rendered himself unconscious with it, and, while under its influence, had a tooth removed by Dr. Kigg, a friend of his. The affair was a distinct success. Wells didn't feel a thing, and as there was no bad after effects, he was justified in jubilantly exclaiming that a new era had dawned. Unfortunately, a public demonstration of nitrous oxide gas, given by Welle and a colleague named W. T. G. Morton was not a success, and the reputation of the drug suffered. The Use of Ether. In September, 1840, Morton made investigations int» the properties of chloric ether, with which he was not satisfied, and also with ordinary ether. He boldly anaesthetised himself, and just as he came to, a patient with an aching tooth opportunely arrived and asked Morton if he could extract the tooth "under mesmerism." "I've got something better than mesmerism," said Morton, aid he promptly gave his visitor ether, and pulled out the offending molar. It is recorded that Eben Frost, which was the patient's name, gave Morton rather a fright as. he did not recover from the ' ether very quickly, but luckily no fatality occurred. The following month Morton gave a demonstration at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and tho surgeon, Dr. J. C. Warren, successfully removed a tumour from one Gilbert Anderson, who was under ether. The good news spread rapidly and Dr. Long, of Georgia, and Dr. Jackson, of Boston, both put in claims that they had used ether as an anaesthetic in 1842, and had operated on patients under its influence. However, to Wells and Morton has generally been given the credit. In : Great Britain, Liston operated with ether in 1840, and Simpson used it successfully in his obstetrical practice in January, 1847. The Discoverer of Chloroform. Sir James Young Simpson—whose name will lire for ever as the discoverer of chloroform as an anaesthetic—was born on June 7th, 1311, at the village of Bathgate in Linlithgowshire. From his earliest days Simpson had expressed the keenest desire to devise something that would prevent the dreadful of the unfortunates who had to undergo surgical operations, and though he made use of ether, he recognised the shortcomings of this drug, and, together with his colleagues, Dr. G. Keith and Dr. Matthew Duncan, -he tried earnestly to find some better anaesthetic. These three investigators spent the best part of a year testing upon themselves everything they thought would fulfil their purpose, and on November 4th, 1847 —a memorable date indeed—on the suggestion of a Mr. Waldie, a Liverpool chemist, the three doctors gave chloroform a trial. The drug was not a new discovery, and a bottle of it had been lying in Simpson's room for some time, but the heavy liquid had not struck him as being very promising, and up to that date it had not been utilised in the experiments, The result of the trial amazed thepi all. Each man had a saucer full of chloroform on the table in front of him, and all of them started inhaling it. They agreed that their sensations were remarkably pleasant, and first one and then the others rolled off their chairs on to the floor as they became unconscious. They were confident that chloroform was the best tlu'ng they had tried so far, and a Miss Petrie, who was present at the trial, became very enthusiastic and insisted in chloroforming herself. She was the first woman to take what has proved such a boon to. those of her sex who go down into the valley of the .shadow when a new life is ushered into the world. Simpson very promptly made use of chloroform in his . practice, and by November loth, so large was his clien- : tele; he had used it without a single bad result in fifty cases. • He' naturally etrongly advocated ite use in surgery and obstetrics, and it aeeme almost incredible to Us nowadays to learn that he had to fight a formidable opposition based on medical, moral and' religious grounds." Simpson, luckily, was a powerful 'fighter and controversalist himself, and his able advocacy and the hard and undeniable facts that he arrayed before' his opponents gradually wore down.all adverse criticism. The place of chloroform as the most reliable anaesthetic ■was assured, and the action of Queen Victoria in having it administered to her at the birth of Prince Leopold in 1853 j set an example to her. subjects which did i a great deal towards removing many j absurd prejudices. j The use of the drug has not only dona > away with the agonies formerly suffered by women, but it has abolished all the horrors of the operating theatre. No longer is the terrified patient unwillingly dragged to the table, to be held down screaming while the surgeon did his work, against time. Now there is order, cleanliness and deliberation, and operations, before considered impossible, are mere commonplaces. The former high death rate, also, has been diminished in • most remarkable fashion, ' \