THE INVENTION OF ANESTHESIA

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BEFORE

• Doctors tried several substances and methods.
• Cocaine, high-proof alcohol, psychedelics.
• Made patients drowsy, but not numb at all.
• Still felt the unbearable pain.

Pain was extremely excruciating, much worse than the actual conditions the patients had. Most refused aid, preferring to die than to suffer through the surgery.

BACKGROUND

• William T.G. (Thomas Green) Morton
• Born August 9, 1819, in Charlton, MA
• A well-respected town dentist

After experimenting with the gas, Ether, Morton decided to conduct a demonstration using it. On October 17, 1846, he publicly used Ether as an anesthetic for a tooth removal.

News of the first effective anesthetic spread quickly and within months doctors across the world were using ether in their procedures.

EFFECTS

• Allowed for the inventions of other breakthroughs
• Enabled the development of modern surgery
• Began profession of Anesthesiology.
• Advanced the study of medicine and science