In 1878, famed French physiologist Claude Bernard reported on ether’s ability to “anesthetize” Mimosa pudica, a plant known for its rapid movements to touch. Placing an ether-soaked sponge next to the species had abolished its sensitivity to contact. Thirty years later, North American carnation growers mourned the mysterious narcotization of their flowers (right) in Chicago’s greenhouses. Scientists at the University of Chicago soon determined that ethylene (left), a fruit-ripening greenhouse gas, had caused open carnation petals to droop and nascent buds to remain closed. Physiologists A. B. Luckhardt and J. B. Carter then tried to determine ethylene’s toxicity in animals, only to discover its anesthetizing properties instead. In 1923, they reported in JAMA (8:765–70) ethylene-induced surgical anesthesia first in animals and then in humans (i.e., the study authors and two surgeons). That same year, Isabella Herb, M.D., chief physician anesthetist at Chicago’s Presbyterian Hospital, became the first to administer ethylene clinically. Initially lauded as a superior alternative to nitrous oxide for both faster onset and deeper anesthetic effect, ethylene’s popularity bloomed for a time but then wilted, given its odor and explosivity. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
In 1878, famed French physiologist Claude Bernard reported on ether’s ability to “anesthetize” Mimosa pudica, a plant known for its rapid movements to touch. Placing an ether-soaked sponge next to the species had abolished its sensitivity to contact. Thirty years later, North American carnation growers mourned the mysterious narcotization of their flowers (right) in Chicago’s greenhouses. Scientists at the University of Chicago soon determined that ethylene (left), a fruit-ripening greenhouse gas, had caused open carnation petals to droop and nascent buds to remain closed. Physiologists A. B. Luckhardt and J. B. Carter then tried to determine ethylene’s toxicity in animals, only to discover its anesthetizing properties instead. In 1923, they reported in JAMA (8:765–70) ethylene-induced surgical anesthesia first in animals and then in humans (i.e., the study authors and two surgeons). That same year, Isabella Herb, M.D., chief physician anesthetist at Chicago’s Presbyterian Hospital, became the first to administer ethylene clinically. Initially lauded as a superior alternative to nitrous oxide for both faster onset and deeper anesthetic effect, ethylene’s popularity bloomed for a time but then wilted, given its odor and explosivity. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
Jane S. Moon, M.D., University of California, Los Angeles, California, and Melissa L. Coleman, M.D., Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
