Discovery Of Ethers Research Articles

Correspondence Dated April 17, 1848, from Charles T. Jackson, MD, to John Snow, MD

A previously unpublished four-page letter from Charles T. Jackson, MD, to John Snow, MD, was acquired in December 2016 by the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Schaumburg, IL. The letter may be a draft or a copy of the letter which may have been sent to Snow in 1848. Jackson's letter to Snow does not reveal any significant new insight into the controversy over the discovery of etherization. A hitherto unknown meeting of Jackson's former chemistry student, Joseph Peabody, and John Snow, MD, was revealed in the letter.

Production of Biomass-Based Automotive Lubricants by Reductive Etherification.

Growing concern with the effects of CO2 emissions due to the combustion of petroleum-based transportation fuels has motivated the search for means to increase engine efficiency. The discovery of ethers with low viscosity presents an important opportunity to improve engine efficiency and fuel economy. We show here a strategy for the catalytic synthesis of such ethers by reductive etherification/O-alkylation of alcohols using building blocks that can be sourced from biomass. We find that long-chain branched ethers have several properties that make them superior lubricants to the mineral oil and synthetic base oils used today. These ethers provide a class of potentially renewable alternatives to conventional lubricants produced from petroleum and may contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases associated with vehicle emissions.

Under the Mask: A Guide to Feeling Secure and Comfortable during Anesthesia and Surgery.

Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wisconsin. siasocos@mfldclin.eduUnder the Mask: A Guide to Feeling Secure and Comfortable during Anesthesia and Surgery. By James E. Cottrell (with Stephanie Golden). New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 2001. Pages: 256. Price: $39.00.An increasing number of patients are arriving in our prep and holding areas as well-informed “medical care consumers.” Much of this is attributable to the plethora of data available in the mass media and on the Internet. Recently, a couple of our colleagues supplemented this phenomenon with the publication of guidebooks aimed at the lay person about to undergo surgery.The easier-to-read, more digestible, and more compact paperback is by A. J. Hill, a Virginia anesthesiologist. In his book entitled The Patient's Guide to Anesthesia: Making the Right Choices , Hill approaches the subject from a subjective and empathetic viewpoint, as a patient himself who has undergone neck surgery. The writing style is lively and direct, laced with witty anecdotes from his own practice. The book is organized into sections, beginning with an overview of the surgical experience, followed by several chapters on the types of anesthetics, and concluding with select topics as pain control, obstetrics, and pediatric anesthesia. He cleverly intersperses a few illustrations throughout the text to maintain the reader's attention; the pen-and-ink sketch of “Who's Who” in the operating room was particularly entertaining. He also has timely sidetracks every few pages into historical (e.g. , the discovery of ether as an anesthetic) or technical (i.e. , our machinery, the drugs we use) “interludes” (his term). The chapter headings alone are good examples of his friendly, nonintimidating prose (“Feel No Evil,”“The Gentle Touch,”“Mother Nature”).For a more comprehensive and detailed introduction to our specialty, though, there is Under the Mask: A Guide to Feeling Secure and Comfortable during Anesthesia and Surgery by James E. Cottrell and Stephanie Golden. Dr. Cottrell's treatise is so wide-ranging and all-inclusive that I would recommend it as an introduction to anesthesia not just for our prospective clients, but also for junior medical students and other paramedical personnel. With the able assistance of Ms. Golden, a professional medical writer, Dr. Cottrell shares with his readers the wisdom of his 30 yr as a practicing anesthesiologist at the SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn.The book is similarly divided into two parts, the first containing basic information about the development and current scope of anesthesiology, and the second going into the nuts and bolts of the procedures we all perform. Pertinent to this era of managed care, he devotes many paragraphs to patient rights, a whole how-to section on working within the system to protect the consumer's well-being. His insistence on a thorough preoperative consultation is a good case in point. Here, he admonishes the reader to prepare for the meeting by being upfront about previous medical problems, and to not be shy about asking the physician questions, such as about their continuous operating room presence (a opportune topic in the light of the adverse media spotlight our specialty has been recently subjected to). He also very matter-of-factly narrates some vignettes from his own and his contemporaries’ experiences, not all of which have had satisfying results. He reminds the reviewer that the physician is human and that anesthesiology is still as much an art as a science.A nice touch at the end of every chapter is his recap of important questions and points to remember, considering some of the information can get a bit overwhelming (for instance, thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, chronic pain management). The graphics are somewhat crisper, vis-à-vis Dr. Hill's, and are reflective of the skills of Tay McClellan, a professional medical illustrator. The book concludes withan encouraging chapter on the future of our field and some caveats to the reader: Do not place implicit trust in your physician; take an active role in your treatment; be a committed member of the medical team.Both books would make refreshing additions to our patient education libraries, particularly in this age of more knowledgeable and well-informed patients. I would recommend Dr. Hill's book to the casual reader and Dr. Cottrell's to the more erudite patron desiring a more in-depth experience.

The Ancestors of Inhalational Anesthesia: The Soporific Sponges (XIth–XVIIth Centuries)

The Ancestors of Inhalational Anesthesia: The Soporific Sponges (XIth–XVIIth Centuries)

News of ether anesthesia in the local press in the 1847 in Bamburg] 449 -1 [How much blood flow is required by the myocardium?

The news of success in ether anesthesia on 16 October 1846 in Boston spread like wildfire through Europe. In the German-speaking countries, the national newspapers as conveyers of the development played a prominent role; this was especially the case for the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung whose correspondent, Aloys Martin [1], was a medical professional. The function of local newspapers has not yet been investigated. This was to be remedied by examining both of Bamberg's local papers. All issues from 01.01. to 31.04.1847 were surveyed with respect to relevant announcements. These were then catalogued according to date, extent and contents. Starting on 22.01.1847, the events outside of and in Bamberg were reported on in 26 notices and articles of just a few lines to half a page and in advertisements; Aloys Martin also appears on the scene. Thus, the local press in Bamberg also informed its readers early and regularly on the discovery of ether and the succeeding events.

Ideologies of the Anesthetic: Professionalism, Egalitarianism and The Ether Controversy

ON 16 OCTOBER I846, AT MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL IN Boston, William T. G. Morton, an unknown but enterprising dentist, successfully anesthetized a young man while the renowned surgeon John Collins Warren excised a facial tumor. During the procedure, the patient occasionally move[d], cr[ied] out, and utter[ed] extraordinary expressions, but later he reported that he had suffered no pain, only an awareness of a blunt instrument passed roughly across his neck.' The next day Morton anesthetized a female patient as another medical luminary, Dr. George Hayward, removed a fatty tumor from her shoulder. Aware of the significance of his success in front of Boston's most elite physicians, Morton immediately devoted himself to applying for a patent, to designing and manufacturing inhalers, to publishing promotional pamphlets, and to distributing a schedule of rates for the right to use his discovery. The discovery of etherization and Morton's entrepeneurial schemes generated a wide variety of texts within only a few years-biographies defending Morton, Congressional inquiries into priority claims, articles about patent rights, pamphlets on the nature of scientific discoveries, and medical treatises about pain. Like America's emerging medical profession, these texts are remarkably unstable: they make logical errors, connect unrelated issues, and speak to different audiences and to disparate concerns at the same time. They bear witness to the uncertain status of allopathic medicine in antebellum America and to the anxiety

HISTORY OF OCULAR ANESTHESIA

Proper anesthetic management is an integral part of any successful eye surgery. Before the discovery of ether, most operative procedures presented a serious challange. Couching of the crystalline lens to cure cataract was performed more than a thousand years ago, although surgeons at that time had only primitive anesthetic and analgesic agents to ease the patient's misery. Over the years, various agents made from roots, barks, herbs, seeds, and flowers have been applied to the surgical field, but few of these substances proved adequate to produce relaxation or relieve pain. Under such conditions, it is difficult to imagine how extraocular procedures, let alone intraocular procedures, such as lens extraction, could be performed. Fortunately, over the last century, the search for surgical adjuncts to achieve anesthesia and analgesia has produced many advances, easing the ordeal of surgery for both the patient and the surgeon.

Victory Over Pain: Morton's Discovery of Anaesthesia

The discovery of ether as an anesthetic was an extraordinary event in medical history and one of the great turning points in the development of medicine. In this chain of events the story of William Morton is dramatic indeed. MacQuitty, aiming at a popular audience, tells the story well, in a colorful, sometimes even flamboyant style. The author contributes no new scholarship and, although she presents a substantial bibliography, relies heavily on a relatively few key sources. Various controversial features, such as Morton's search for recompense, the thorny relationships with Jackson, or the claims of Wells and Long, are treated in a somewhat partisan manner. Nevertheless, the book, in a highly readable fashion, successfully offers a dramatic narrative set against an interesting background.

Fifty Years of Anesthesia

NESTHESIA was foreshadowed by A the discovery of ether, by an ItaIian, VaIerius Cordus, in 1540, three centuries before its anesthetic properties were discovered. Oxygen and nitrous oxide were discovered by an English cIergyman and scientist, Priestly, in 1774, over seventy years before their use in surgery. Von Liebig, in Germany, SamueI Gutherie, in America, and Souberan, in France, independentIy, discovered chIoroform in I 83 I, sixteen years before its use as an anesthetic. Henry Hi11 Hickman, an English surgeon, in 1820 to 1828, made successful experiments upon Iower animals, rendering them insensibIe to pain, by the inhalation of nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide and the exclusion of air, and then proved insensibiIity to pain by performing various minor operations on these animals, but his work was treated with skepticism and scorn and he was not allowed to test his theories upon human beings. The discovery of the anesthetic properties of ether and nitrous oxide was made by observations of a doctor (Long) and a dentist (WeIIs). They proved that ether and nitrous oxide when inhaIed to a point of intoxication, at “Ether FroIics” or “ChemicaI Lectures,” the human subjects were unaware of bruises or painfu1 spots received while in a semi-intoxicated stage. Dr. Crawford W. Long, of Georgia, in 1842, was the first to use any drug (ether) in a surgical operation, to render the patient insensibIe to pain.*

Fifty years of anesthesia

NESTHESIA was foreshadowed by A the discovery of ether, by an ItaIian, VaIerius Cordus, in 1540, three centuries before its anesthetic properties were discovered. Oxygen and nitrous oxide were discovered by an English cIergyman and scientist, Priestly, in 1774, over seventy years before their use in surgery. Von Liebig, in Germany, SamueI Gutherie, in America, and Souberan, in France, independentIy, discovered chIoroform in I 83 I, sixteen years before its use as an anesthetic. Henry Hi11 Hickman, an English surgeon, in 1820 to 1828, made successful experiments upon Iower animals, rendering them insensibIe to pain, by the inhalation of nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide and the exclusion of air, and then proved insensibiIity to pain by performing various minor operations on these animals, but his work was treated with skepticism and scorn and he was not allowed to test his theories upon human beings. The discovery of the anesthetic properties of ether and nitrous oxide was made by observations of a doctor (Long) and a dentist (WeIIs). They proved that ether and nitrous oxide when inhaIed to a point of intoxication, at “Ether FroIics” or “ChemicaI Lectures,” the human subjects were unaware of bruises or painfu1 spots received while in a semi-intoxicated stage. Dr. Crawford W. Long, of Georgia, in 1842, was the first to use any drug (ether) in a surgical operation, to render the patient insensibIe to pain.*

THE EFFECT OF X-RAYS IN OPHTHALMOLOGY.

In December, 1895, Professor Rontgen gave to the world his great discovery that an invisible ray, now known as the X-ray, produced by sending a current of electricity through a vacuum tube, had the power of penetrating solid and opaque materials and leaving its impress on a sensitive plate. Aside from its great scientific value, this event marks an epoch in the history of medicine comparable to such discoveries as anesthesia and of antisepsis. Although there are experiments being made throughout the world and apparatus being perfected in every way, the new force, so far as its scientific or practical value is concerned, may be considered in its infancy and, as in the case of the discovery of ether and antisepsis, it has so far given its greatest aid to surgery, yet I am sure it will only be a question of time when, as we gain further knowledge of

Bibliographical Notices Trials of a Public Benefactor, as illustrated in the Discovery of Etherization . By Nathan P. Rice, M.D. New York: Pudney & Russell. 1859. 8vo. pp. 460.

Bibliographical Notices Trials of a Public Benefactor, as illustrated in the Discovery of Etherization . By Nathan P. Rice, M.D. New York: Pudney & Russell. 1859. 8vo. pp. 460.

Rival Claims to the Discovery of Etherization

Rival Claims to the Discovery of Etherization

Discovery of Etherization

Discovery of Etherization

The Discovery of Etherization

The Discovery of Etherization