Discovery:
First use dates back to the Incan civilization. During religious ceremonies,
shamans got disoriented chewing cocoa leaves and drilled holes
in the heads of their patients. These holes were supposed to let the bad spirits
escape. The mixture with the leaves numbed the site, so the drilling could
take place.
Humpry Davy a seventeen year old college student, inhaled nitrous oxide.
This did not harm him but gave him a case of the giggles. This was not
immediately used as laughing gas. Instead Davy used it as a way of “getting
high.” Laughing parties became a trend.
In 1842, Dr. William Crawford Long, got high at a party off the fumes of
ether. He received a bruise but no pain. He then convinced a patient to inhale
the ether. He did, and with that, Long operated on him. He had
two cysts on his neck that were removed when he was blacked
out. This was not publicized.
In 1844, Horace Wells witnessed Gardner Quincy Colton give a patient, Sam
Cooly, an excess amount of laughing gas. When Cooly left, his leg was
bleeding uncontrollably. Wells took this knowledge and observation to go to
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and perform the first ever
painless tooth extraction in 1845 using nitrous oxide. Unfortunately it did not
go over well, and not enough nitrous oxide was given off.
In 1846, Coworker of Wells, Dr. William Thomas Green Morton gave ether to
Gilbert Abbot for a tumor removal surgery.Dor John Snow was considered the
first anesthesiologist and the first to use anesthesia after devoting his medical
practice to giving anesthetics. He was the one who gave Queen Victoria
chloroform during the birth of Prince Leopald in 1853.
shamans got disoriented chewing cocoa leaves and drilled holes
in the heads of their patients. These holes were supposed to let the bad spirits
escape. The mixture with the leaves numbed the site, so the drilling could
take place.
Humpry Davy a seventeen year old college student, inhaled nitrous oxide.
This did not harm him but gave him a case of the giggles. This was not
immediately used as laughing gas. Instead Davy used it as a way of “getting
high.” Laughing parties became a trend.
In 1842, Dr. William Crawford Long, got high at a party off the fumes of
ether. He received a bruise but no pain. He then convinced a patient to inhale
the ether. He did, and with that, Long operated on him. He had
two cysts on his neck that were removed when he was blacked
out. This was not publicized.
In 1844, Horace Wells witnessed Gardner Quincy Colton give a patient, Sam
Cooly, an excess amount of laughing gas. When Cooly left, his leg was
bleeding uncontrollably. Wells took this knowledge and observation to go to
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and perform the first ever
painless tooth extraction in 1845 using nitrous oxide. Unfortunately it did not
go over well, and not enough nitrous oxide was given off.
In 1846, Coworker of Wells, Dr. William Thomas Green Morton gave ether to
Gilbert Abbot for a tumor removal surgery.Dor John Snow was considered the
first anesthesiologist and the first to use anesthesia after devoting his medical
practice to giving anesthetics. He was the one who gave Queen Victoria
chloroform during the birth of Prince Leopald in 1853.