ANESTHESIA AND PAIN HISTORY RESOURCES ON THE
INTERNET
[updated 27 September
2007]
The main Anesthesia History Files page is here.
An excellent "History of the Health Sciences World Wide
Web Links" is here.
Anesthesia
History Calendar
Anesthesia
History Files
[News, notices, links to full text
materials, etc.]
Recent additions are indicated by 
*Discussion
forums
*anes-hist
Launched in July 1995, anes-hist is an electronic discussion list
devoted to the history of anesthesia,
pain management, critical care
medicine and related topics. List
owners are Keith J. Ruskin, MD
and A.J. Wright, MLS; there are just
over 140 subscribers as of 12/06.
Searchable archives are
available.
To subscribe, send the message "subscribe
anes-hist your name"
[without the quotes] to listproc@gasnet.med.yale.edu
*Full Text
1718
*Quistorp,
Johann Bernhard. Disputatio inauguralis
medica de anaesthesia...Rostock:
Rostochii, Typis Joh. Wepplingii, 1718. [English
translation by Ray Defalque, MD, with an introduction which was published as
Defalque RJ, Wright AJ. Quistorp and "Anaesthesia" in 1718. Bulletin of Anesthesia History
24(1): 5-8, January 2006]
1761
*Turner, Matthew. An
Account of the Extraordinary Medicinal Fluid, Called Aether.
London: Printed
by J. Wilkie, 1761. 16pp. [From Project Gutenberg]
1846
*Bigelow HJ. Insensibility during surgical operations
produced by inhalation..Boston Med Surg J 35:309-317, 1846
*Flagg
JF.
The
inhalation of an ethereal vapor to prevent sensibility to pain during surgical
operations.
Boston Med Surg J 35:356-359, 1846
*Clark J. Inhalation of ether in labor.Boston Med Surg J
37:214-216, 1847
*M. Etherization in dentistry. Boston
Med Surg J 37:302-303, 1847
*Marcy EE. Removal of a large scirrhous testicle from a man
while under the influence of nitrous oxide gas.
Boston Med Surg J 37:97-99,
1847
*Morton,
William T.G. . 1847
*Smith JVC. Mesmeric examinations. Boston
Med Surg J 37:85, 1847
*Channing W. A Treatise on Etherization in Childbirth.
1848
*Dana R.H., ed. A History of the Ether discovery.
Littell's Living Age 16(201):529-570,
March 18, 1848
*Peck G.W. In the Use of Chloroform in Hanging. American
Whig Review 8(3):283-297, September 1848
*Anaesthesia from the local application of
chloroform. Am
J Med Sci 34:528, 1849
*Chloride of olefiant gas as an anesthetic. Am J Med Sci
34:527-528, 1849
*Eve PF. Deaths from the inhalation of sulphuric ether. Am J Med Sci 35:293,
1849
*Atlee WL. On anaesthetic agents. Trans Am Med Assoc 3:389-390, 1850
1854
Robbery by means of chloroform. Boston
Med Surg J 51:427, 1854
*Crockett R. Death following the inhalation
of a mixture of ether and chloroform. Am J Med Sci 1857 July pp 284-285
*Orton JG. Amylene. .Boston Med Surg J
56:457, 1857
*Orton JG. Amylene in midwifery. Boston
Med Surg J 57:77, 1857
*Baker, Sarah W. Anaesthesia. Harper's
New Monthly Magazine 31(184):453-460, September 1865
1885
*Garland GM. Cocaine in urethrotomy. Boston
Med Surg J 102(6): 127, 1885
1887
*Chlorodynomania. Medical Record 31:
395, April 2, 1887
1888
*A victim of the chloroform habit. British
Medical Journal 2: 1021, May 12, 1888
1894
*Snell, E.L. Dr. Morton's Discovery of Anesthesia.
The Century: A Popular Quarterly. 48(4):584-592, August 1894
*Simpson, Eve Blantyre. Sir James Simpson's Introduction of
Chloroform. The Century: A Popular Quarterly.
47(3): 412-421, January 1894
1910
*Collum RW. On the diet of a patient before operations under
general anesthesia. British Medical Journal 2:
1302-1303, 1910
*Other
Resources
NOTE:
Some of these links no longer work. However, many of these "lost"
pages can be recovered by using
the Internet Archive's WaybackMachine. If you click on one of
these sources and get an error message, copy
the URL and paste it into the WM's search box.
*Adriani, John. Finding Aid to Papers, 1925-1988.
[Collection of the U.S. National Library of Medicine's History of
Medicine Division]]
*Alabama
Association of Nurse Anesthetists. History.
*Albin,
Maurice S. Celebrating Silver: The Genesis of a Neuroanesthesiology
Society NAS + SNSNSC +SNACC.
[originally published in J Neurosurg Anesthesiol 9(4):296-307, 1997]
*Allen and Hanburys Ltd. "A Reference
List of Surgical Instruments and Medical Appliances....", 1930.
This site contains more than 25
anesthesia-related portions of this medical equipment catalog. For further
information, contact Dr. John Oyston
*American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Brief Look at Nurse Anesthesia History.
*American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Dissertations and Theses at the AANA Archives-Library.
*American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.
Guide to the Holdings in the AANA Archives
*American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. History of
Nurse Anesthesia Practice.
*American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Through the Years in Nurse Anesthesia History.
*American College of Veterinary
Anesthesiologists. History.
*American
Society of Anesthesiologists. Centennial Celebration.
*American
Society of Anesthesiologists. History at the ASA Annual Meeting
-2006 -2005 -2004 -2003 -2002 -2001 -2000 -1999 -1998 -1997
*American
Society of Anesthesiologists. Newsletter.
-A Demonstration of Historic Proportions. September 1996
-Celebrating
150 Years of Modern OB Anesthesia. September 1997
-150 Years of Pediatric Anesthesia. September 1998
-Small Innovations, Large Implications [Under-recognized Heroes of
Anesthesiology]. September 1999
-Out Seal of Approval: Maintaining Vigilance and High Standards. September 2000
-Ralph Milton Waters. September 2001
-Monitoring: The Story Behind the Story. September 2002
-Professionalism and the Wood Library-Museum. September 2003
-Defining Moments for the ASA. September 2004
-WLM-Anesthesia Now and Then. October 2005
*American
Society of Anesthesiologists. Resident Component.
-History and Purpose of the ASARC
-History of Anesthesia [links]
*American
Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Historical Information.
*Anaesthesia. [entry from Encyclopedia
Britannica 1911 ed.]
*Anestesiologia Mexicana en Internet.
Historia de la Anestesia.
*Anesthesia and Popular
Culture
*Anesthesia Antiques: Inhalers and Droppers
[Alex Peck Medical Antiques]
*Anesthesia Greats [Wesley Bourne; Harold
Randall Griffith; Rod A. Gordon]
*Anesthesia History Association [official
site; under construction!]
*Anesthesia History Association [current
site]
--*Bulletin of Anesthesia History
Association Email: aneshxassn@aol.com
*Anesthesia History Calendar
*Anesthesia History Files. University of
Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Anesthesiology Library.
*Anesthesia Memorial Foundation
*Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation.
History.
Written by E.S. Siker,
MD
*Anesthesia Revolution of the 1800s: Early
Experiments with Surgical Anesthesia
Part of a pain exhibit at UCLA's Darling
Biomedical Library
*Ankara University Medical Faculty. Department
of Anesthesiology and Reanimation. History.
[in Turkish]
*Apgar, Virginia. [Who Named It? site]
*Apgar, Virginia [InVivo
V1N16, Oct 9, 2002; Columbia University Health Sciences]
*Apgar, Virginia. [Virtualology's
Virtual Museum of History-Hall of Women]
*Association
of Cardiothoracic Anaesthetists. Historical Note.
*Association
of Paediatric Anaesthetists.
History of the APA.
*Artusio, Joseph. "Ether Analgesia for Open-Heart Surgery."
[video]
*Association
de Neuro-Anesthesie-Reanimation de Langue Francaise (ANARLF). Historique.
*Austin,
David B. History of Inhalational Anesthesia.
*Australian
Society of Anaesthetists. Harry Daly Museum.
*Australian
Society of Anaesthetists. History of the ASA. "The Founders"
*Bartlett, Adelaide. [found not guilty of
killing her husband Edwin in January, 1886, by chloroform poisoning]
*Beddoes, Thomas. [1760-1808] See also
entry for Stock, J.E.
*Bergman
NA. The Genesis of Surgical Anesthesia.
[Review by EC Pierce Jr from JAMA 10 March 1999]
*Blood Banking.
*Blood Transfusion Medicine.
*Bochum Anaesthesia
Antiques Online Museum
*Bonica, John J. Virtual Archives.
*Bourne, Wesley [1886-1965]
*Brian Welsh Memorial Museum of Anaesthesia.
Northern Schools of Anaesthesia, U.K.
*Bulletin of Anesthesia History
*California Association of Nurse Anesthetists. History.
*Canadian Anaesthetists' Society. History of the CAS.
Chronology by decade from the 1940s to the 1990s.
*Carranza FA. The Discovery of Anesthesia: The Tragic History of Wells and
Morton.
*Caton, Donald. What a Blessing She Had Chloroform: The
Medical and Social Response to the Pain
of Childbirth from 1800 to the Present. Yale University Press, 1999.
Chapter One is online here.
*Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Magill
Department of Anaesthetics. History.
*Clendening, Logan. Logan Clendening Anesthesia Collection Finding Aid.
[from the Clendening History
of Medicine Library and Museum, University of Kansas Medical Center]
*Club de l'Histoire de l'Anesthesie
Reanimation
*Converging Pathways of Pain Research at
NIDCR. DeWitt Stetton, Jr., Museum of Medical Research
*Davy, Humphry [1778-1829] [Royal
Institution of Great Britain]
*Davy, Sir Humphry. [Columbia
Encyclopedia, 6th ed, 2000]
*Davy, Sir Humphry.
*Davy, Sir Humphry
*Davy, Sir Humphry, Baronet
*Davy, Sir Humphry. [Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1911 ed.]
*Davy,
Humphry. Collected Works of Sir Humphry
Davy. 9 vols. Reprint of 1839-40 ed. Edited by John Davy. Bristol, England: Thoemmes Press, 2001. Publishers blurb is here.
*Educational Synopses in Anesthesiology and Critical Care.
Anesthesia History Column.
This
electronic peer-reviewed journal, distributed free via the Internet, includes a
history column in many issues. If you would like to submit, contact A.J.
Wright, MLS (meds002@uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu), Anesthesia History Contributing Editor.Past columns can be found on the University of
Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Anesthesiology's "Anesthesia History Files in the
"Anesthesia History Menu".
*Evans,
Thomas J. Origin of the Word "Anesthesia"
*Evans,
Thomas J. The Unusual History of "Ether"
*Facts about Anaesthesia's Past
*Fenster JM. Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America's
Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men
Who Made It. HarperCollins, 2001. Link at Amazon.com
*Fisher,
Carl. Anesthetic Agents of the Forties and Fifties.
[Permanente Journal winter 1998]
*Foldes, Francis F. Obituary from ASA Newsletter, July 1997.
*Foregger,
Richard. Death of a Company.
*Founding Father of the Pain
Field: John Joseph Bonica [1917-1994]
*Gadsby, Gordon. Electroanalgesia: Historical and Contemporary Developments.
*Georgia Association of Nurse Anesthetists. History.
*Gordon, Rod A. [1911-1998]
*Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years
*Griffith, Harold Randall [1894-1985]
*Guedel Memorial
Anesthesia Center
*Guerra,
Luis Federico Higgins. Anesthesiology in Mexico.
*Harry Daly Museum. [Australian Society of
Anaesthetists.]
*Hinckley's Who Was Who
on Ether Day (Boston Medical Library)
*Histoire de L'Anesthesie
*Historia de la Anestesia
*History of Anaesthesia
Society, Great Britain.
*Hyman Collection in the History of Anesthesiology.
Long Health Science Library, Columbia University. [An extensive finding aid for the collection is
included.]
*Hypnosis, History of
*Hypoxia:
Aero-Medicine-the Effects of Hypoxia
*In Appreciation of Dr. John Snow: A Medical Pioneer"
*International
Symposium on the History of Anaesthesia VI
Cambridge, England 14-18 September 2005
Call for Papers
*International
Symposium on the History of Anaesthesia VI
Cambridge, England 14-18 September 2005
Call for Papers: John Bullough
Prize
*International Symposium on the History of Anesthesia. V.
19-23 September 2001.
Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
*Jackson, Charles Thomas [1805-1880].
-Jackson's gravestone, Mount Auburn Cemetery
*James,
William. Subjective Effects of Nitrous Oxide.
[1882]
*James,
William. Review of "The Anaesthetic Revelation and the Gist of
Philosophy." [Atlantic Monthly November 1874;
James' review of a pamphlet by Benjamin Paul Blood]
*L'Histoire de L'Anesthesie Pediatrique. Club de L'Histoire de L'Anesthesie Reanimation.
*Littell Industries, Inc. [California]. A History of Service and Experience.
*Liverpool, History of Anaesthesia
in
*Long, Crawford. [Famous Georgians page]
*Long,
Crawford. Crawford Long Stamp.
*Long,
Crawford. Crawford Long Stamp First Day Cover.
*Magill Department of Anaesthesia,
Intensive Care and Pain Management.
Chelsea and Westminister
Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
History.
*Martin,
Lawrence. Oxygen Therapy: The First 150 Years.
Curiosities, Quackeries, and Other Historical Trivia. A Chronology from
Priestley to Haldane, Based Mainly on Original
Sources With Editorial Comment.
*Matas, Rudolph.
*Medical Sciences Video Archive. Royal
College of Physicians and Oxford Brooks University.
--Includes several anaesthetists:
Drs. Aileen Adams, Thomas Boulton, Margaret Branthwaite, etc.
*Mesmerism. Wood Library-Museum of
Anesthesiology History Review.
*Mesmerism. National Library of Medicine.
This excellent overview is part of a large exhibit developed
in 1992 for the centennial celebration of the American
Psychological Association. The entire exhibit was titled
"Mind and Body: Rene Descartes to William James."
*Migraine
Action Association. History.
*Missouri Association of
Nurse Anesthetists. History.
*Mott,
Valentine. Pain and Anaesthetics. [1864]
*Mount Auburn Cemetery
[Cambridge, Massachusetts; final resting place of William Morton,
Charles Jackson, Henry Bigelow, Oliver Wendall Holmes
and about 93,000 others]
*NDA Online Anaesthesia Museum [Nuffield
Dept of Anaesthetics, University of Oxford]
*Neuroscience
Research. Milestones. [includes material related to
anesthesia/pain]
*Nitrous Oxide--a brief history
*Northern
Schools of Anaesthesia, U.K. Brian Welsh Memorial Museum of Anaesthesia.
*Obstetric Anesthesia
Sesquicentenary 1847-1997 . Society for Obstetric Anesthesia
and Perinatology.
*Ostergard, Judith. The History of Methadone and How the USA Grabbed the Glory.
*Pain and Suffering in History: Narratives of Science,
Medicine, and Culture.
Symposium in Los Angeles, California, 13-14 March, 1998
*Potter, Rose. History of anaesthetics.
*Powell,
John. Comparison of Agents Available in 1847.
*Priestley, Joseph. [from Spartacus Schoolnet]
*Priestley, Joseph. [from Useless
Information]
*Priestley, Joseph. [entry from Encyclopedia
Britannica 1911 ed.]
*