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The place where the historical event occurred is preserved as a monument in Boston and is known as ETHER DOME. In memory of this great event, every year October 16 is celebrated worldwide as Ether Day or WORLD ANAESTHESIA DAY.

 

ANAESTHESIA was the word suggested by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1846 to designate the effects of Ether, which made a revolution in medical history. The next year, in 1847, James Young Simpson, an obstetrician introduced another agent Chloroform in England for anaesthetizing patients for surgery. It became very popular in a short time as it is pleasant smelling. Nevertheless, it was a cardio-toxic agent that it induced cardiac arrest and killed many patients and fell into disrepute, slowly went out of use.

 

Compared to Chloroform Ether is a very safe agent that since introduction in 1846 it was in extensive use until recent years for more than 160 years. It is only because of its inherent safety, of course, it is the cheapest anaesthetic and is still I use in certain places.

 

However, the name Chloroform has become so popular, that long after its disappearance, the name is still popular. Some people call the anaesthesiologists as Chloroform Doctor. In my younger days, I have heard people referring to me as chloroform doctor, possibly because it is easy for them to remember a specialist that way.

 

Before the time of Ether and Chloroform, surgery was considered as a cruel affair and incidentally deaths during surgery were considered inevitable. The patient subjected for surgery was considered as a condemned criminal. If someone survives after surgery, it was considered as a great escape from the claws of death.

Even after introduction of anaesthesia, because of the primitive nature of anaesthesia and surgery, deaths were common. That is the reason why the term RECOVERY came into use to tell about a person emerging from anaesthesia. The term RECOVERY literally means that finding out and getting back a lost property. It refers here a patient who was about to be lost during anaesthesia has been saved and got back. This term is intimately related to anaesthesia and surgery.

 

The fact is that only when proper anaesthesia is administered, and the patients safety is ensured, the surgery could be performed comfortably.

 

In 1942, on 23rd January, a new pharmacological agent, D-Tubocurarine, derived from a plant, originally used by South American tribes as an arrow poison was introduced into anaesthesia by Harald Randell Griffith and G Enid Johnson. This created a landmark in history of anaesthesia, as this drug could produce good muscle relaxation under lighter level of anaesthesia, which indirectly conferred safety to anaesthesia.

Long, intricate surgeries could be attempted and literally, this development only allowed surgical specialties to develop and the skills of surgeons developed. But for this development in anaesthesia, surgery would have faced stagnation in further development.

 

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