Davy comes to America: Woodhouse, Barton, and the nitrous oxide crossing (original) (raw)

Early misconceptions about nitrous oxide, an “invigorating” asphyxiant

Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, 2010

Well into the twentieth century, nitrous oxide was often suspected to support life in the manner of oxygen. Authorities contributing to that life-threatening misimpression include Humphry Davy, Gardner Q. Colton, and George W. Crile. Concomitantly, deprivation of oxygen was long touted as a requisite for nitrous oxide anesthesia.

Horace Wells’ Demonstration of Nitrous Oxide in Boston

Anesthesiology, 2013

Horace Wells, a dentist in Hartford, Connecticut, first used nitrous oxide in dentistry in December 1844. A few weeks later he travelled to Boston, Massachusetts, to demonstrate to physicians and dentists the use of nitrous oxide in painful procedures. Wells’ unsuccessful demonstration of nitrous oxide for the extraction of a tooth is well known, but other details of this trip are poorly understood. A description of Wells’ visit to Boston was compiled using information from 21 statements and 5 newspaper notices. The precise date and location of Wells’ demonstration could not be determined. There is no primary evidence that Wells’ demonstration occurred in the surgical amphitheater (Ether Dome) at Massachusetts General Hospital. Wells’ demonstration of nitrous oxide probably occurred around the end of January 1845, in a public hall on Washington Street, Boston.

The 2016 Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture: America's Doctor Anaesthetists (1862-1936)-Turning a Tide of Asphyxiating Waves

Journal of anesthesia history, 2017

Laughing-gas showman G.Q. Colton franchised dental extraction under 100% nitrous oxide in many large American cities before popularizing the practice with French Imperial Court dentist T.W. Evans in France and then England. Chicago dentist Z. Rogers helped surgeon E. Andrews oxygenate nitrous oxide, with neither man changing significantly the clinical practices of others. London's F.W. Hewitt and Pittsburgh's S.J. Hayes oxygenated anesthetics with greater clinical impact. By 1920, E.I. McKesson had publicized his practice of secondary saturation with bursts of 100% nitrous oxide to relax musculature in anesthetized patients. In the banner year of 1936, (1) C.B. Courville published a paper about brain damage following hypoxic anesthetics, (2) pulse oximetry pioneer T. Aoyagi was born, and (3) a New York society nationalized into the American Society of Anesthetists, many of whose presidents would champion the adequate oxygenation and the monitoring of anesthetized patients. M...

[Who discovered general anesthesia?]

Revista de la Federación Odontológica Ecuatoriana

have been accorded varying degrees of credit for the discovery and introduction of anesthesia. I shall set forth briefly and objectively the part played by each so that the reader may judge the merits of each. Early Pioneers of conversation among Borlase and his associates, to all of which young Davy was an attentive listener. His interest was particularly aroused by the discussions of nitrous oxide which had been branded as dangerous by the American chemist and physician, Dr. Lantham Mitchell. The element of mystery and danger surrounding the gas intrigued Davy, and he began experimenting with it secretly. He first discovered that nitrous oxide induced a feeling of Humphrey Davy well being and cheerfulness which Humphrey Davy, at seventeen increased untilhe became convulsed years of age, became apprenticed with laughter. Hence the origin of to John Bingham Borlase, a promthe term "laughing gas." inent surgeon of Penzance. At this Davy's experimental work on time many newly discovered gases gases was brought to the attention were being used in medicine for the of Dr. Beddoes, head of the Pneutreatment of diseases and hence matic Institute of Clifton, who furnished the most frequent topicSpromptly offered him the post of

Nitrous Oxide Inhalation Sedation in Present Scenario: A Review Article

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022

Joseph Priestley's discovered of nitrous oxide (N2O) in 1772. Nitrous oxide is the first modern anesthetics, was first manufactured in by this English chemist. Sir Humphrey Davy (1800) experimented with the physiological properties; he coined the term "laughing gas". Dr. Horace Wells (1844)-Nitrous oxide was used for the first time as a dental anesthetic drug. Provision of General Anaesthesia is now limited and restricted to the hospital setting. Sedation for paediatric patients is an essential tool in anxiety management and is used as an adjunct to behaviour management. Inhalation sedation with nitrous oxide/oxygen sedation to reach a plane of relative analgesia may be administered easily and safely in children for general dental practice and is a potential alternative to general anaesthesia.