A chronology of the very early history of inhalation anaesthesia in Canada

Abstract

ALTHOUGH SEVERAL WELL DOCUMENTED ABTICLES 1-7 are available on the history of surgical anaesthesia in Canada, it has not been fully elucidated when information about ether anaesthesia was first brought from the United States to Canada. Furthermore, the available sources eontain conflicting reports as to who administered the first surgical anaesthetic with ether and chloroform, as well as the first obstetrical anaesthetic. Fuller 2 states that Dr. Almon was the first to use chloroform for surgical anaesthesia; yet Shields 5 attributes the first chloroform anaesthetic to Dr. A.F. Holmes. According to a recent article by Jacques, 6 Dr. Worthington was the first to administer both ether and chloroform during surgical operations. McKenzie 1 and Fuller 2 report that a chemist, Frazer, of Nova Scotia, administered chloroform to his wife during delivery and that consequently this was the first obstetrical anaesthetic. However, Heagerty 3 credits Dr. Holmes with its first use for parturition in Canada. Thus it is still unclear exactly when, where and who administered the first surgical and obstetrical anaesthetics with ether or chloroform in Canada. It seems appropriate therefore to provide a chronology of the history of early surgical anaesthesia in Canada, in the hope that this may be helpful to future historians. November, 1846. Information on ether anaesthesia is brought to Canada.