The Civil War is the bloodiest war in American history and with many soldiers wounded in combat there were many surgeries that took place. Now in days, Americans think back on this historic period as a time when soldiers experienced pain from not only injuries but the grueling surgeries they went through with no anesthesia and only whiskey for the pain. This however is a misconception because once the Civil War broke out in 1861 anesthesia was being used around the country, and the war even caused anesthesia to become more widely used.

Nitrous Oxide

The anesthetic Nitrous Oxide was first tested by chemist Humphry Davy to see if it caused diseases in the 1770s. Davy gave the gas its better known name, laughing gas, after studying the euphoric effects it had. Nitrous Oxide became widely popular because of its effect and at parties and fairs it was common to see laughing gas being distributed or sold in cow and pig bladders with wooden spigots (Boyd).

Nitrous Oxide became a spectacle of its own and upon this realization a medical student named  Gardner Q. Colton made his own traveling road show where he had audience come on stage and inhale Nitrous Oxide. When visiting Hartford, Connecticut in 1844 two of his volunteers were a young dentist named Horace Wells and an acquaintance of his named Sam Cooley.  Wells noticed Cooley was bleeding after they got off stage and Cooley stated that he had not even felt himself get injured. This revelation made Wells consider the possibility of using laughing gas to reduce patients’ pain in dentistry. Soon after, an experiment took place in which Colton administers Nitrous Oxide to Wells and then he had a wisdom tooth taken out by a colleague. After the surgery, Wells declared he felt no pain whatsoever and later did his own demonstration of tooth removal with laughing gas in January of 1845 at Massachusetts General Hospital. Wells was unable to convince medical students and doctors of the success of Nitrous Oxide as an anesthetic because his patient groaned and moved during the tooth extraction. Even though the patient stated they felt no pain at all, the medical professions would not believe him (Boyd).

This behavior of patients under anesthesia was common and even apparent during the Civil War. Many onlookers perceived this to be the patient experiencing pain and in distress during the surgery, but that was not the case and patients were in fact receiving the correct amount of anesthetic to allow them to feel no pain.  Now in days, Nitrous Oxide is still used and is the most common anesthetic in dentistry for minor oral surgeries.

Ether

The origins of Ether go back to the 16th century when it was regarded as the “sweet oil of vitroil” and throughout the centuries many remarked on its said therapeutic properties (Boyle). Ether is best known for having a strong a distinguishable odor, being highly flammable, and needing to be administered over a long period of time. Dentist and doctor William T. G. Morton decided to use Ether, a distilled mix of ethanol and sulphuric acid, as an anesthetic after recognizing the success Nitrous Oxide was having. While Morton’s character is certainly in question because of his scheming ways of trying to pass off the ideas of others as his own,

he played an important role in the use and growth of Ether as an anesthetic by taking part in the “first successful demonstration of Ether as a general anesthetic” on October 16, 1846 at Massachusetts General Hospital,“Ether Dome.”(Boyle). Morton even created an inhaler to administer the anesthesia to the patient. With the success of the surgery came the widespread use of anesthetic and peoples’ interest in its effects.

During the civil war, Ether was used in 15% of the 8,900 known cases where anesthesia was used (Rutkow). While it was successful in relieving patients of their pain, surgeons and soldiers alike preferred the use of Chloroform because it needed to be administered for only 9 minutes in comparison to Ether’s 14 minutes, required less of the substance, and was not flammable like Ether.

Chloroform

In 1847, Chloroform, an organic chlorine based compound, was discovered to be an anesthetic by Sir James Young Simpson, a surgeon and obstetrician. Simpson and his two assistants had been in search of a new anesthetic and were smelling chemical compounds to determine which would be safe for patients and take away their pain. These men were focussed on finding an anesthetic that had a better fragrance, was not as flammable, and caused less side effects for the patient than Ether (Boyd). At the time, experiments were not as controlled and ethical, so not only the men but Simpson’s family members were used to test the effects of Chloroform. The anesthetic became widely produced and used for various patients. Many noted that the anesthetic was much easier to obtain and administered in comparison to Ether and resulted in less effects on the patients.

Not all people were happy with the fact that patients’ pain could be taken away. Some doctors and clergy argued that it was necessary for individuals to feel pain and even pointed out it was ordained in the Bible (Boyd). Others were fearful of being under its influence and spread word about how disorienting and unnatural it felt. Poet William Ernest Henley wrote about this in a poem called Operation . In his writing, Henley describes anesthesia in a negative light and scares the reader with his word choice. It is because of work like this and false claims that created misconceptions regarding anesthesia. While some chose to object the use of anesthesia, Simpson and others saw it as an innovation for the 19th century world.

Not long after Chloroform played a critical role in the Civil War. Of the 8,900 known cases where anesthesia was used during the war, 76% of them noted that Chloroform was the anesthetic used on the patient (Rutkow) Chloroform was administered by placing the anesthetic on a sponge that was then placed on top of a cone that covered that patients nose and mouth for an average of nine minutes. It was important that the anesthetic was gradually administered to avoid shock (Reimer).

Conclusion

The use of anesthesia throughout the United States greatly increased during the Civil War and after. The high number of injured soldiers allowed surgeons to to practice and perfect their use of anesthetics during surgeries. The administration of these anesthetics allowed for the public to be more accepting of their use and to gain more understanding of how they were improving the pain level of many. While the anesthesia used now in days is much more advanced and safe for patients than it was during the time of the Civil War, the innovations from back then are what allowed for the reality we have today.