Surgical medical procedures have always come hand in hand with pain.  Historically, until the mid 1800’s, for minor procedures, alcohol, opium, or cannabis were used to relax the patient so that pain wasn’t felt.  However, this had little effect on more lengthy and painful surgeries such as amputations.  The first true anesthetic, nitrous oxide was created in 1776 but wasn’t put to use until 1844.  By inhaling this “laughing gas”, people felt a gentle pressure sensation on all of their muscles.  Although the patient was conscious, he/she felt no pain during surgeries.  Another important early anesthetic was ether, which was a fluid that could be inhaled.  This was first used in 1846 by Dr. John Collins Warren on Gilbert Abbott.  Ether was able to knock the patient unconscious and while in the sleeplike state, the patient would feel no pain.  In the next half century, anesthetic use became common in the medical world.  Morphine was the most common anesthetic used in the civil war, and was even sent home with ailing soldiers. However, its addictive qualities were soon found, but that didn’t stop people from seeing the positive attributes and effectiveness of anesthetics.  Today, much safer anesthetic drugs exist, and every hospital has an anesthesiologist who specifies in this type of painkiller.

*Picture from Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia