History of anaesthesia

  Licensed under CC BY 4.0

A short history of anaesthesia: from unspeakable agony to unlocking consciousness by David Liley, Swinburne University of Technology was recently published in The Conversation.  Here he recounts terrifying reminders of how surgery was conducted two hundred years ago and how far we have come.

For more details on this fascinating topic, I recommend the very extensive History of Anaesthesia Society Timeline from the UK. The ANZCA (Australian & NZ College of Anaesthetists) also has a History of Anaesthesia section on their website.

Which all reminds me of a recent episode of the superb podcast, This American Life, where the story of a Russian doctor who performed an appendectomy on himself was recounted in vivid detail from his diary.