Humphrey Davy
discovered nitrous oxide or 'laughing gas'
Horace Wells performed successful operations under nitrous
oxide
When he tried a demonstration patient
groaned and Wells' reputation was ruined
Well's colleague William Morton tried with ether-removed tumour from
neck-successful
Irritated Lungs and also
flammable-not good
James Simpson discovered Chloroform at 'solvent abuse'
party-unconscious-wrote up findings-chloroform general anaesthetic.
Overdose of chloroform can stop heart
John Snow invented inhaler to control how much chloroform patient got
Carl Koller discovered Cocaine as anaesthetic
Safer than chloroform
Highly addictive if overused
Modern anaesthetics greatly based around cocaine
Beating Blood Loss
First Blood Transfusion was in 1492-Pope
Innocent slipped into a coma and 3 boys had
tubes inserted from their arms into the pope's
However, the blood
clotted, the pope had an
allergic reaction and the
three boys and the pope
died
Blood clotting and
allergic reactions
two main
problems with
blood transfusions
Karl Landsteiner was a
haematologist and he
organised blood into the
groups A, B, O and AB
Richard Lewis discovered
that a way of preserving
blood was to add Sodium
Citrate to blood and freeze it
NB: Albert Hustin carried out first successful blood transfusion
As a result, blood banks were set up
History of Antiseptics
Joseph Lister noticed that gangrene did not set in if wound was covered in
boiling tar
Lister thought that best way to prevent infectionwas to keep microbes
away from wound
Lister helped prevent blood poisoning by making sure
hands, bandages and surgeons' clothes were kept very
clean
Known as antiseptic surgery
Lister invented 'squirt' or 'spray'
machine, which sprayed carbolic acid
over operation
Greek Four Humors
Blood
Air
Hot and Wet
Spring
Yellow Bile
Fire
Hot and Dry
Summer
Black Bile
Earth
Cold and Dry
Autumn
Phlegm
Water
Cold and Wet
Winter
The Ancient Greeks believed that there
were four 'humours' in the body, liquids
that everyone needed a healthy balance
of to remain healthy. These 'humours'
were also related to weather, seasons
and the Greek elements Earth, Air, Fire
and Water.
Anatomical Problems
Microscope improved
knowledge of anatomy
Murder Act of 1752-only
bodies of murderers can be
dissected
Medical schools got extra bodies through stealing from graves