DEVELOPMENT IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 313 



tion of their tortures; they were incised with red-hot knives, and 

 they were compelled to have their wounds dipped in a caldron of 

 seething tar to control hemorrhage. 



Through God's infinite mercy in the progress of the century, 

 all this is now changed. The patient falls asleep without a struggle ; 

 and when he awakens to consciousness the operation is finished. 

 The convalescence is fever-free and painless; the mortality is 

 reduced almost to zero in many cases, and the operation itself 

 robbed of all its horrors. The evolution which surgery has made 

 to effect such a wonderful change is one of the most fascinating 

 studies in the world's history. 



To dwell upon this in orderly manner is the purpose of the present 

 discourse. In order to simplify as much as possible the compre- 

 hensive subject, it is necessary to divide it into four different parts, 

 and to trace the rise, progress, and development of surgery in its 

 triumphal march as it pertains to these four great events in his- 

 tory, during the past century. 



1. The discovery and employment of anesthetics. 



2. The discovery and practice of antiseptics. 



3. The discovery and application of modern therapeutics and of new 

 diagnostic aids. 



4. The improvement of old and the discovery of new operations 

 with their mortality. 



1. The Discovery and Employment of Anesthetics. Among the im- 

 portant events in the history of mankind which have been far- 

 reaching and beneficent in their influence, the discovery of anes- 

 thesia easily stands in the foremost ranks. What greater blessing 

 has science ever conferred upon the human race? Other discoveries 

 and inventions have indeed been revolutionary in their results for 

 social advancement and comfort; but anesthesia outranks them all, 

 in its combinations of kindness and power at a point of unutterable 

 need. This wonderful boon to suffering humanity, now gratefully in 

 use throughout the civilized world, comes from our own land 

 America. No other nation has presumed to lay the slightest claim 

 to any priority in its discovery. Anesthesia with its world-wide 

 blessings is confessedly American. 



In 1844, Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, Conn., heard a lecture 

 by Colton on nitrous oxid gas. In illustration of the lecture the gas 

 was administered to a person in the audience. The man fell to the 

 floor; but was insensible of his fall, confessing afterward that he was 

 absolutely unconscious. This episode caused Wells to think that per- 

 haps the gas could be utilized in dentistry for the painless extraction 

 of teeth. With a true courage of his convictions he tried the experi- 

 ment upon himself, inhaling the gas, and having one of his own teeth 

 extracted by his assistant. When a few moments afterward, he 



