ANESTHESIA HISTORY IN ALABAMA: A BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW

A.J. Wright, MLS

Clinical Librarian

Dept of Anesthesiology Library

School of Medicine, UAB

The only book-length history of medicine in Alabama is Howard Holley's The History of Medicine in Alabama. Anesthesia, ether, and chloroform are mentioned a few times in the book, but only three examples actually pertain to Alabama, and only two of those are specific: surgeon E.H.C. Bailey's report from the Confederate supply depot at Demopolis that his stock of chloroform was adequate; and a note that chloroform was used in Dr. L.L. Hill's famous heart surgery operation in September, 1902. (1)

With only a few exceptions, the history of anesthesia in Alabama is equally absent from other books and the periodical literature. In her lengthy histories of Birmingham's Carraway and Lloyd Noland hospitals, Anita Smith has written about two important figures in the state's anesthesia history--Drs. Ben Carraway and Alfred Habeeb. (2-3) In the 1930s Dr. Carraway was an early pioneer in the use of sodium pentathol; and Dr. Habeeb was the state's first anesthesia resident and ABA-certified anesthesiologist. Dr. Habeeb has also been profiled in a 1983 article in the MASA journal. (4)

In the late 1980s I published two articles that reviewed early uses of general, regional and local anesthesia in Alabama. (5-6) Since then I have also examined other anesthesia events in the state. Selma physician B.B. Rogan reported use of the Cushing-Codman anesthesia record as early as the spring of 1901, even though the chart had only been developed seven years earlier in Boston and did not appear in print until Harvey Cushing published an article including it in 1902. (7) Before World War I, at least three physicians devoting themselves full-time to anesthesia appeared in the state: James Robertson Dawson [1876-1973] and Robert Goodloe McGahey [1887-1959] in Birmingham and James Satterfield Chilsolm (1880-?] in Selma. (8) I have also been documenting both the career of Dr. Alice McNeal, first chair of an academic anesthesia department in the state and the history of that department at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. (9-10)

Thus most of the state's anesthesia history remains buried in the state medical association's annual meeting transactions, and journal, newspaper, and newsletter articles. In future reports I want to exhume some of this material. The next installment will feature Gardner Quincy Colton's visit to Mobile in early 1848 to demonstrate--among other things--nitrous oxide inhalation to the masses.

References

1. Holley HL. The History of Medicine in Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1982, pp. 36, 139, 159-161, 402, 404-405

2. Smith A. Dr. Ben Joins Dr. C.N. in Medical Practice. In: Smith A. Culture of Excellence: A History of Carraway Methodist Medical Center. 2 vols. Birmingham: Carraway Hospitals Foundation, 1996, 1:305-312

3. Smith A. A Room for Freddy. In: Smith A. Lloyd Noland, M.D.: The Boss. Fairfield, Alabama: Lloyd Noland Foundation, 1986, pp 373-382

4. McDonald WH. A long way from Bishmizzin. J Med Assoc State Ala 52(9):8-11, 14-15, March 1983

5. Wright AJ. Early use of general anesthesia in Alabama, 1847-1853. Ala J Med Sci
23:333-335, 1986

6. Wright AJ. Regional and local anesthesia in Alabama before World War I. Ala J Med Sci 25:204-209, 1988

7. Wright AJ. Early use of the Cushing-Codman anesthesia record. Anesthesiology 66:92, 1987

8. Wright AJ. Three early physician-anesthetists in Alabama. Anesthesiology 89:A91, 1998

9. Wright AJ. Stranger in a strange land: Alice McNeal and academic anesthesia in Alabama. Anesthesiology 83:A1025, 1995

10. Wright AJ. Department of Anesthesiology Timeline. University of Alabama School of Medicine. WWW document. URL http://www.anes.uab.edu/timeline.htm