In the spring of 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital, a young Boston dentist named William Thomas Green Morton was about to change the course of medicine. Hisdiscovery of the use of ether as an anestheticThis would allow for painless surgery, an advance that would usher in the modern era of surgery. However, in this history of anesthesia, there is an interesting connection with Spain, and in particular with Galicia, a place that also played an important role in its evolution.
1) Natural techniques and remedies to numb the body and mind
Long before the 19th century, when modern anesthetic agents were discovered, many civilizations developed techniques and natural remedies to numb the body and mind.
1a) Anesthesia in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China
In ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China, plants such asyoung, the mandrake, he black henbaneand thecannabisThese substances were inhaled or ingested to induce sedative states. In ancient China, around the 1st century BC, the physician Hua Tuo developed a herbal mixture calledmafeisan, which probably included opium, and used it to induce unconsciousness before performing surgeries.
1b) Anesthesia in ancient Greece and Rome
In Greece and Rome, the use ofyoung It was a common analgesic. Hippocrates recommended its use to relieve severe pain, and the Roman physician Galen included it in his treatments. Although they didn’t guarantee complete insensitivity to pain, these methods marked a significant advance in the control of suffering during medical procedures.
1c) Anesthesia during the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, knowledge of the anesthetic properties of plants evolved further. Arab physicians such asAvicennaThey expanded the use ofmandrake, young and other herbs. Avicenna, who lived in the 11th century, wrote about the importance of relieving surgical pain and developed herbal preparations that induced sedation in patients.
1d) Anesthesia during the Renaissance
In Europe, during the Renaissance, surgeons and barbers began to use theopiate wine, a mixture of wine, opium and other sedative herbs, to reduce pain during operations. Experiments also began with theether, although in a rudimentary form and without yet understanding its true potential to induce a safe anesthetic state.
One of the most fascinating and least known techniques of the medieval period was thesleep-loving spongeThis sponge was soaked in a mixture of opium, henbane, mandrake, and other herbs and applied near the patient’s face to induce a state of semi-consciousness. Although this technique had variable results, in some cases it managed to lull the patient enough to perform minor surgical procedures. However, this practice was dangerous, as the doses could not be precisely controlled and often resulted in an overdose or a lack of full effect, leaving the patient awake and suffering during the operation.
2) The problem of pain in surgery
Until the mid-19th century, the greatest challenge facing surgeons was not a lack of anatomical knowledge or skill with a scalpel, buthow to deal with the immense pain of patientsAmputations, tooth extractions, and any type of major surgery were true tests of endurance for those who underwent them. The agony was so severe that some patients died of shock, while others chose to avoid the procedures, even though they could save their lives.
Despite all these efforts, anesthetic methods before the 19th century were unreliable and extremely dangerous.The doses and effects of natural substances were difficult to control.and often caused more problems than they solved. Without a proper understanding of human physiology and how these substances interacted with our bodies, many patients continued to experience intense pain during surgery.
2a) Horace Wells’ experience with nitrous oxide
In this gloomy context appearedHorace Wells, an American dentist from Connecticut who was one of the pioneers in the use of anesthesia. In 1844 Wells attended a demonstration at a public show where anesthesia was used.nitrous oxideas entertainment commonly known as laughing gas. During this demonstration, a volunteer inhaled the gas and, upon accidentally hitting his leg, showed no signs of pain. This observation sparked in Wells the idea that nitrous oxide could be used to reduce suffering during dental and surgical procedures. Determined to test his theory, Wells administered nitrous oxide to himself and underwent a tooth extraction performed by a colleague. The operation was a success, as he felt no significant pain during the procedure. Convinced of his discovery, Wells decided to bring this innovation to a wider audience.
In 1845, Wells organized apublic demonstration of his discoveryAt Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the very place where the history of anesthesia would reach a pivotal moment. However, Wells’ demonstration turned into a complete disaster when the dose of nitrous oxide he administered to the patient was insufficient, and the patient began to scream in pain in the middle of the operation. The audience of doctors and students mocked Wells and his discovery.
The audience of physicians and students mocked Wells and his discovery. It was ridiculed as a hoax. Devastated by the failure and feeling humiliated, Wells withdrew from public practice and fell into a deep depression.
2b) William Morton’s great demonstration
Despite Wells’s initial failure, the idea of anesthesia continued. Morton, Wells’s student and associate, took his work as inspiration and began experimenting with other substances. He was determined to find a more reliable and controllable way to induce unconsciousness. It was then that he discovered the potential of sulfuric ether, a compound known for its sedative properties since the 15th century, but which until then had not been used in a controlled manner in medicine.
On October 16, 1846, in the surgical amphitheater of Massachusetts General Hospital (known today as “The Ether Dome”), Morton gave one of the most important demonstrations in the history of medicine:successfully anesthetized a patient named Edward Gilbert Abbott, who was to undergo the removal of a tumor from his neck. To the surprise of everyone present, the patient did not cry out in pain, remaining still and calm throughout the operation. At the end of the procedure, the surgeon in charge, John Collins Warren, uttered a phrase that would become immortalized: “Gentlemen, this is not a hoax,” confirming that the anesthesia was real.
The First Operation Under Ether – Cuadro de Robert Hinclkey
2c) Injectable local anesthesia
The first injectable local anesthetic—the dreaded dentist’s needle—was introduced in 1872 with the use of morphine. It was the German surgeon Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner who initially discovered morphine in the early 19th century, although its use as an anesthetic didn’t become popular until decades later, when it began to be administered through injections to control pain.
The real breakthrough in injectable anesthesia occurred in 1884 with the introduction of cocaine as a local anesthetic. Austrian ophthalmologist Carl Koller used cocaine to perform local anesthesia in eye procedures. His success revolutionized surgical procedures, as it allowed specific areas of the body to be numbed without affecting the entire patient.
The use of cocaine as a local anesthetic marked the beginning of the development of numerous synthetic injectable anesthetics that are common in modern medicine today, such as lidocaine and procaine. These advances in local and injectable anesthesia allowed surgical and dental procedures to be performed with much greater pain control, avoiding some of the adverse effects and complications associated with general anesthesia.
Historia de la anestesia Anestesia inyectable
3) The arrival of anesthesia in Spain
While Morton was making history in the United States, advances soon reached Europe. The discovery of the anesthetic ether quickly crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and it wasn’t long before European surgeons began experimenting with its use.
Anesthesia arrived in Spain thanks to the scientific exchanges and communications that flowed between the medical communities of Europe. One of the first places whereA surgical intervention with ether was performed at the San Carlos Hospital in Madrid, in 1847, just a few months after W. Morton’s demonstration in the United States.
3a) The use of anesthesia in Galicia
For its part, Galicia, always connected to the sea and the world through its ports, wasone of the regions that most quickly adopted European medical innovationsThe Faculty of Medicine of Santiago de Compostela was a benchmark in the introduction of scientific advances, and it wasn’t long before the first experiments with anesthesia were conducted there. There is evidence that ether was used to anesthetize a patient undergoing dental surgery at the Royal Hospital of Santiago in 1848. Interestingly, Santiago de Compostela was a place where dentistry and surgical medicine were closely linked. The first dentists in Galicia began using anesthesia for tooth extractions shortly after its introduction in the United States.
3b) Chloroform competition and the Spanish controversy
However, ether anesthesia was not the only option that came to Spain. Just a year after Morton’s demonstration,Chloroform was discovered by Dr. James Young Simpson in Edinburgh in 1847In Spain, doctors began to debate which of the two agents was safer and more effective; Galicia was also part of this debate. It is known that, in hospitals in A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela, doctors began experimenting with chloroform beginning in the 1850s, as it caused less irritation to patients than ether. Although chloroform gained popularity, ether continued to be used, especially in longer and more complex operations, where the depth of anesthesia was crucial.
3c) Pagés and the development of the epidural in Spain
One of the most prominent medical figures in the evolution of anesthesia in Spain was theDr. Fidel Pagés Miravé, a military surgeon who had a significant impact by developing epidural anesthesiaPagés made his discovery in 1921, while serving as a military doctor in Melilla. Although his work came considerably later than the discovery of ether, the epidural represented an important step forward in anesthesia, offering an alternative for procedures that did not require general anesthesia. The importance of epidural anesthesia lies in its ability to block pain in a specific region of the body without inducing a state of total unconsciousness. This advance was crucial for obstetric procedures and operations on the lower extremities. Although Pagés died in a car accident in 1923 and his contribution was not internationally recognized until much later, his discovery is still used throughout the world today.
Foto de Fidel Pagés en la Exposición de Huesa
3d) The legacy of ether in Spain and Galicia
Today, the history of ether and anesthesia in Spain is recognized asone of the most important medical milestones of the 19th centuryGalicia, with its medical tradition in Santiago de Compostela and its connection through ports to America and Europe, played a crucial role in the rapid adoption of these advances. While Morton struggled to gain the recognition he deserved in the United States, in Europe, and particularly in Spain, anesthesia was spreading and saving lives, echoing his legacy. The introduction of anesthesia in Galicia, linked to advances in dentistry and surgery, symbolically connects with Morton’s feat in Boston. Although separated by the Atlantic Ocean, these episodes are united by a common goal: to alleviate human suffering, uniting the two regions in a historic struggle against pain.
