Anaesthesia During The Industrial Revolution
Inventions during the Industrial Revolution (Anaesthesia)
Inventions like the light bulb dominate modern-day history books, however, anyone facing surgery would have to be compelled to agree with the very fact that anaesthesia was one of the most necessary inventions during the Industrial Revolution. Before the invention of anaesthesia, the fix for a given ailment was often far worse than the ailment itself. One of the greatest challenges during that period occurred when Doctor’s had to pull a tooth or amputate a limb whilst restraining the patient during the harsh process, and substances like alcohol and opium did very little to improve the experience patients endured.
In the practice of medicine, especially surgery, and dentistry, anaesthesia …show more content…
From 1821 to 1846 (25 years), the annual reports of the MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital) recorded 333 surgeries in total, representing hardly more than one case per month. Surgery was a last and desperate resort for patients. In 1897, one elderly Boston physician could only compare pre-anaesthesia surgery to the Spanish Inquisition. He recalled "yells and screams, most horrible in my memory now, after an interval of so many years.” Over the centuries, numerous techniques had been tried to dull the sensation that occurred during surgery. Healers attempted to induce a psychological state of anaesthesia by mesmerism or hypnosis. Soporifics (sleep-inducing and awareness-dulling agents) and narcotics were prepared from a wide range of plants, including marijuana, belladonna and jimsonweed. Distraction could be provided by rubbing the patient with counterirritants such as stinging nettles. A direct but cruel way of inducing a state of insensitivity was to knock the patient unconscious with a blow to the jaw. Yet, by 1846, opium and alcohol were the only agents which continued to be regarded as of practical value in diminishing the pain of operations. Unfortunately, the large doses of alcohol needed to produce stupefaction were likely to cause nausea, vomiting and in some serious scenarios, death instead of sleep. On the other hand, opium, while a strong analgesic, had significant side effects itself and was typically not powerful enough to completely blunt a surgical
Inventions like the light bulb dominate modern-day history books, however, anyone facing surgery would have to be compelled to agree with the very fact that anaesthesia was one of the most necessary inventions during the Industrial Revolution. Before the invention of anaesthesia, the fix for a given ailment was often far worse than the ailment itself. One of the greatest challenges during that period occurred when Doctor’s had to pull a tooth or amputate a limb whilst restraining the patient during the harsh process, and substances like alcohol and opium did very little to improve the experience patients endured.
In the practice of medicine, especially surgery, and dentistry, anaesthesia …show more content…
From 1821 to 1846 (25 years), the annual reports of the MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital) recorded 333 surgeries in total, representing hardly more than one case per month. Surgery was a last and desperate resort for patients. In 1897, one elderly Boston physician could only compare pre-anaesthesia surgery to the Spanish Inquisition. He recalled "yells and screams, most horrible in my memory now, after an interval of so many years.” Over the centuries, numerous techniques had been tried to dull the sensation that occurred during surgery. Healers attempted to induce a psychological state of anaesthesia by mesmerism or hypnosis. Soporifics (sleep-inducing and awareness-dulling agents) and narcotics were prepared from a wide range of plants, including marijuana, belladonna and jimsonweed. Distraction could be provided by rubbing the patient with counterirritants such as stinging nettles. A direct but cruel way of inducing a state of insensitivity was to knock the patient unconscious with a blow to the jaw. Yet, by 1846, opium and alcohol were the only agents which continued to be regarded as of practical value in diminishing the pain of operations. Unfortunately, the large doses of alcohol needed to produce stupefaction were likely to cause nausea, vomiting and in some serious scenarios, death instead of sleep. On the other hand, opium, while a strong analgesic, had significant side effects itself and was typically not powerful enough to completely blunt a surgical