Notable Names in Anaesthesia

Abstract

Notable Names in Anaesthesia. J. R. Maltby (ed.). Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd.: London, UK, 2002, 254 pp; indexed, illustrated ISBN: 1-85315-512-8; Price £19.50 In his introduction, Roger Maltby recalls how he noted the lack of inclusion of any anaesthetists in Bailey and Bishop's Notable Names in Medicine and Surgery and how this (disgraceful) omission was the stimulus for producing this book. I suppose as anaesthetists we would not find this omission surprising. However, we should serendipitously be grateful, as it has led to the production of this enormously engaging book. In all there are 76 mini biographies of some of the most famous names associated with anaesthesia; the majority are by Roger Maltby himself whilst some are autobiographical (e.g. John Nunn, Leslie Rendell-Baker and Cecil Gray). Non-anaesthetists are obviously included (clearly we are not so parochial as our medical and surgical colleagues) such as Bier, Esmarch, Melzack, Wall and Koller as well as manufacturers such as Foregger and King. It should be said that the emphasis is on those who produced eponymous devices, books or manoeuvres rather than those prominent in the research field. Inevitably one will ponder on the missing names as well as those who are perhaps less worthy of inclusion. So, although benefactors such as Lord Nuffield are rightly included, Henry Isaiah Dorr, who preceded him by endowing the first Professorial Chair in Anaesthesia in the USA is not, UK anaesthetists have little contact with the Berman airway or the Miller laryngoscope blade although as an anaesthetist working in Canada, Roger Maltby obviously has to maintain a different perspective. However, I would certainly have wished to see a monograph on Lucien Morris and his Copper Kettle and on Hale Enderby, the pioneer of ‘hypotensive anaesthesia’. Nevertheless, this book is totally engrossing. The monograph on Ringer and Hartmann (mainly taken form Alfred Lee's 1981 paper in Anaesthesia) should be compulsory reading for all juniors who must be bemused by the fact that Lactated Ringer's USP and Hartmann's solution BP (both with virtually the same electrolyte content) are named after the Englishman in the USA and the American in the UK! There are also wonderful thumbnail sketches of major developments in anaesthesia and how they came about including the circumstances behind the foundation of the Nuffield Chair of Anaesthesia in Oxford. This is described in some detail in the monographs on Mackintosh and Lord Nuffield. Perhaps the most fascinating parts are those outlining the development of equipment, especially those used in every day practice to this day. The events surrounding the invention of the laryngeal mask, Mackintosh laryngoscope, Mapleson D and Bain circuits should remind anaesthetists to always keep a ‘prepared mind’ for the possibility of future inventions to benefit the practice of anaesthesia. Having said that, the restrictions we now encounter in clinical practice, the disappearance of the small manufacturing companies and well-equipped medical engineering departments in hospitals, as well as the enormous cost of patent protection, means that we are unlikely to find many names to add to those in this book in future years. That is a pity. D. W. Green a1London, UK