Anaesthetics

Question 1

What were 3 anaesthetics that revolutionised history?

Answer 1

Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas)
Ether
Chloroform

Question 2

Nitrous Oxide
Key Details: Names, Dates, People, Places, Events

Answer 2

1795 - Thomas Beddoes and his assistant Humphrey Davy, experimented with inhaling nitrous oxide

1800 - Davy published and account on how nitrous oxide made him laugh, and feeling giddy and relaxed, but he did not recognise its medical value

1844 - Horace Wells used nitrous oxide when removing one of his own teeth

Question 3

Ether
Key Details: Names, Dates, People, Places, Events

Answer 3

1842 - Willian Clark (a dentist) experimented weigh ether in a tooth extraction followed by Crawford Long, a doctor who also used ether to remove a neck growth

1846 - October: William Morton Gave a public demonstration in use of ether in a Boston hospital. December: Robert Liston used ether to amputate a leg

Ether was difficult to inhale, it caused vomiting and was highly flammable

Question 4

Chloroform
Key Details: Names, Dates, People, Places, Events

Answer 4

1847 - Scottish doctor James Simpson discovered chloroform after experimenting on himself and his friends with a number of different substances

Chloroform induces dizziness, sleepiness and unconsciousness. Simpson used it to successfully reduce pain in child birth

1853 - Chloroform was used when Queen Victoria gave birth to Prince Leopold