Early Anesthetics
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Soporific Sponge
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The soporific sponge was a very early painkilling device, used as early as the ninth century. Its anesthetic properties came from a mixture of ingredients like hemlock, nightshade and mandragora. Breathing in the fumes rendered a patient unconscious so surgery could be performed.
Nitrous Oxide
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More commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous oxide was first discovered in 1793 and used recreationally until the 1840s, when dentist Horace Wells experimented with it as a means for pain relief. He demonstrated its use to a group of scientists at Harvard Medical School by anesthetizing a man before removing his tooth. Since the patient still experienced some discomfort, the Harvard scientists were not impressed, although nitrous oxide is still used by dentists today.
Ether
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In 1846, Boston dentist William T.G. Morton demonstrated the use of ether as an anesthetic in front of an audience of surgeons and medical students. He removed a tumor from the jaw of Gilbert Abbott after making him breathe ether through a specially-designed gas inhaler. When Abbott woke up, he had no memory of pain from the operation.
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