Born in Rochester, New York, and raised in London, England, Charles H. Birkett (1856 to 1932) returned home in 1873 to learn dentistry. After 13 yr of dental practice in East Liverpool, Ohio, Birkett visited Cleveland dentist George H. Hurd (1829 to 1904) in 1886 to acquire one of the Clevelander’s early “Vitalized Air” vaporizers for adding trace amounts of alcohol and chloroform to unoxygenated nitrous oxide. Impressed with Hurd’s ideas, Birkett began advertising on trade cards, such as the one above, that Birkett’s was the only practice in the “vicinity licensed and using Hurd’s apparatus—a new and harmless process for administering Vitalized Air, pleasant, agreeable, and harmless to all.” (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)

Born in Rochester, New York, and raised in London, England, Charles H. Birkett (1856 to 1932) returned home in 1873 to learn dentistry. After 13 yr of dental practice in East Liverpool, Ohio, Birkett visited Cleveland dentist George H. Hurd (1829 to 1904) in 1886 to acquire one of the Clevelander’s early “Vitalized Air” vaporizers for adding trace amounts of alcohol and chloroform to unoxygenated nitrous oxide. Impressed with Hurd’s ideas, Birkett began advertising on trade cards, such as the one above, that Birkett’s was the only practice in the “vicinity licensed and using Hurd’s apparatus—a new and harmless process for administering Vitalized Air, pleasant, agreeable, and harmless to all.” (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)

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George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H., Honorary Curator and Laureate of the History of Anesthesia, Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Schaumburg, Illinois, and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. UJYC@aol.com.