September 30th in history

September 30th1846:=13px Ether =13px anesthesia is administered for the first time by Dr. William Morton during a surgical procedure at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

1951 Big crowds attended the final ceremonies which marked the official end of the Festival of Britain.

1967 The BBC Light Programme, Third Programme and Home Service were replaced with BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 Respectively. BBC Radio 1 was also launched, with Tony Blackburn, a former Radio Caroline DJ, presenting the first show.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Surgical Anaesthetics: first time in the USA, perhaps; but by no means world-wide.

The first historical achievement in anesthesia occurred around 4000 BC in ancient Mesopotamia.[5][10][32][33][34] This was the advent of ethanol (commonly known as drinking alcohol), the first general anaesthetic agent.[1][2][3][7] These accounts of the anesthetic uses of ethanol come from the oldest known historical civilization of Sumer and are documented in the oldest known writing system cuneiform.

(Wikipedia)

Military surgeons performing grisly amputations in dreadful battle conditions, used a stiff oral dose of alcohol as a partial "anaesthetic", but I don't suppose it did more than relax the casualty slighty and numb some of the pain!

There are accounts of more formal anaesthetic or analgesic use, with plant extracts, in China around 300AD, and early in the 19C, in Japan.

The British scientists discovered various gases and suggested nitrous oxide or ether as an anaesthetic; and after that first use in America, the first in England was on December 19, 1846.

Oddly, the peculiar effects of nitrous oxide (still an important analgesic) led to its being used "recreationally" even in the 19C - we now know that is dangerous, of course.

Nevertheless the history of trying to alleviate pain in medical procedures goes back to ancient times.

PatientlyWaiting25 · 46-50, F

Interesting advancements in our history on this day xx

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