Ether
Ether is a colorless, transparent, and very volatile (readily vaporizable) liquid. It has a characteristic odor and is highly flammable. Ether is used as a general anesthetic for surgery.
Ether (from the Latin "aether" and the Greek "eithr," or "the upper and purer air") is believed to have been first synthesized about 1540 by German botanist and chemist Valerius Cordus (1515-1544), who called his discovery "sweet oil of vitriol" and praised its medicinal properties. Paracelsus (1493-1541), a contemporary of Valerius, noted that the "oil" induced sleep in chickens when added to their feed. Frobenius (Froben) named the liquid "ethereal spirits" or "ether" in 1730.
History of Surgical Anesthesia
Only a few surgical procedures were available before the mid-1800s. Little was known about diseases or how to prevent infection. There was also no satisfactory anesthesia available to put the patient into a deep sleep and allow doctors to perform unhurried operative procedures. Certain means of reducing surgical pain had been available since ancient times, however. These included such drugs as alcohol, hashish, and opium derivatives.
Also available were rudimentary physical methods of producing analgesia (insensitivity to pain). These included packing a limb in ice or applying a tourniquet. Another technique used, although an extreme one, was to induce unconsciousness, either by inflicting a blow to the head or by strangulation. Most often, however, the patient was simply restrained by physical force, thus making surgery a last resort.
As more and more was learned about anatomy and surgical procedures, the need to find safe methods to prevent pain became more urgent. With the advent of professional dentistry, this need became even more urgent because of the sensitivity of the mouth and gums. Indeed, dentists were largely responsible for the introduction of both nitrous oxide and diethyl ether.
Nitrous Oxide and Anesthesia
In 1772 the English chemist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) discovered nitrous oxide gas. Soon people, especially medical students, began to whiff this "laughing gas" at "revels" for social amusement and for the euphoria ("high") it produced. Ether "frolics," in which participants inhaled ether, also became popular in the United States.
Dr. Crawford W. Long (1815-1878) of Georgia may have been the first person to apply his social experiences with ether to surgery. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Crawford is said to have observed a participant at a frolic take a heavy fall but show no indication of pain. In 1842 Long performed three minor surgeries using sulfuric ether, a form of ether with chemical properties similar to those of diethyl ether. Long apparently did not realize the medical significance of what he had done and failed to publicize his discovery. He published his results only after anesthesia had been hailed as a major breakthrough.
Attention next returned to nitrous oxide. Horace Wells (1815-1848), a Hartford, Connecticut, dentist, learned about the effects of nitrous oxide in 1844. He decided to test the gas by having one of his own teeth removed while under the influence of the gas. He was delighted with the results and soon began using the gas on his patients. He also told his friend and former partner, William T. G. Morton (1819-1868), a student at Harvard Medical School, about his discovery.
Morton was interested in the possibilities of anesthesia but began to look for a more potent agent than nitrous oxide. He began experimenting with sulfuric ether. Pleased with the results in his dental practice, he contacted Dr. John C. Warren (1778-1856) of Harvard University in 1946 and arranged for a public demonstration of surgery without pain. News of this event spread rapidly, and a new era for surgery began. Oliver Wendell Holmes later coined the term anesthesia to describe the condition brought on by ether.
The knowledge of ether as an anesthetic spread rapidly. The medical establishment and the public quickly and gratefully accepted the use of ether inhalation for painless surgery. Within months, surgery using ether anesthesia was being performed in England. In Germany Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach (1795-1847), a pioneer in plastic surgery, wrote: "The wonderful dream that pain has been taken away from us has become reality. Pain, the highest consciousness of our earthly existence, the most distinct sensation of the imperfection of our body, must now bow before the power of the human mind, before the power of ether vapor."
Other advances in anesthesia soon followed. In 1847 Russian Nicolai Ivanovich Pirogoff (1810-1881) devised a method of administering ether vapor via the rectum. Marc Dupuy investigated the same technique that year in Paris, France. In 1915 American surgeon George Crile began combining local anesthetics with ether inhalation to block pain impulses more completely.
Typo in the paragraph about Morton contacting Warren: Did you mean 1846?
regarding its publication? Thank you.
Amen for that!
With local, there is none of that grogginess or nausea for days after surgery as with General. If you ever have a choice take the new Local Anesthesia. You heal much quicker and feel much better afterwards.
Just a note: there's a typo in the 3rd paragraph below Joseph Priestley's photo (the paragraph that begins: "Morton was interested in the possibilities." In the 3rd sentence of the paragraph, it says that Dr. Morton contacted Dr. Morris in 1946, but that's the typo . . . it should read 1846.
years old. I remembered being strapped down and a mask put on my face, then feeling like I was smothering. My mother confinrmed that I had two surgeries,
one when I was 3 months (my poor parents!), which I was told about, since it left a long abdominal scar, and another surgery for a growth on the back of my head
when four. I was researching ether and came upon these comments. Very helpful and interesting!
WAS smothered asleep again. Nausea was beyond description. Better than being awake, but what a nightmare
Are there people out there with memories of what happened at hospitals in the US in the 1950's.
He agreed but if I made one peep, he would use it.
I took the pain.
It was the worst experience I had as a child.
She had a terrible experience with the gas they gave her to fall asleep.
There is treatment that I'm looking into that has been shown to be helpful with PTSD. It's called Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
If you're suffering similar symptoms, you might want to check this out!
It was terrible... I am interested in knowing if there is any link between having been given ether multiple times as a child and developing Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatique Syndrome and or MS.
I was told I was given ether as a child for a tonsillectomy (early 60's). I don't remember the smell. I do remember feeling like I was upside down and felt dizzy watching and alternating orange and black colors swirling around my head. I'm OK now :)