WORLD BENEFACTORS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1722, 12 April 1913, Page 6

WORLD BENEFACTORS.

Surely the man who succeeds in lessening the volumo of that pain which seems to bo tho heritage of humanity is entitled to rank as a world benefactor. Sir James Young Simpson, by his application of chloroform in surgical operations sixty-six years ago,'conferred a boon upon sufferers, the vsluo of which it is to-day impossible to estimate. But Sir James Simpson's condition of anaesthesis failed to cover the entire ground. The operating theatre was robbed of its horrors and its agonies; but the patient often suffered intense pain after emerging from the influence of the anaesthetic. Now, it would appear, mea,ris have been discovered for tho prevention of this reactionary pain. Dr. Forbes Ross has recently contributed to the Lancet particulars of a local anaesthetic he has discovered which promises to carry Sir James Simpson's great alleviative and preventive of suffering to what may bo termed its adequate and logical conclusion. Chloroform, as everybody knows, produces genoral anaesthesis; Dr. Ross's method continues the anaesthesis, but within specific areas of tho body, leaving the brain active and unclouded. It 'seems somewhat- surprising to the lay mind that Dr. Ross's discovery has beon so long delayed.'. But great difficulties had to bo overcome. Both the discovery and the application of chloroform came relatively late. Sir James Simpson, whilo a.Professor, aged thirty-six years, occupying the Medical Chair in Edinburgh University, first experimented effectively with chloroform in 1847. That experiment was upon himself and his two assistants. In a letter to Dr. David Waldie, Linlithgow, Sir James—then plain Professor—described this historic experiment. "I am sure," he wrote, "you will be delighted to hear of the good results of our hasty conversation. I had tho 'chloroform' for several days in the house before trying it, as, after seeing it to be such a heavy unvolatilelike substance, I despaired of it, and went on, dreaming about others. The first night we took it—Dr. Duncan, Dr. Keith, and I—we all tried it simultaneously, and were all under the table in a minute or two." Sir James Simpson was born in June, 1811, and, on the occasion of his centenary, much was said and written about the discovery and the discoverer of chloroform. It then appeared to be taken for granted by many writers that to liim was due the distinction of being its discoverer.. This claim, however, seems to rest upon a rather slender basis. Liebeq certainly discovered chloroform, and the Dr. Waldie mentioned is said to have found out by independent experiment the true nature of this powerful compound. The subject is interesting, and it seems difficult in some quarters to decide whether there wen! two, or more, almost simultaneous discoveries, «r that nimply Ui LiKDiio Violoiifjs tho solo distinction. Liebeg .was born

eight years before Simpson, and having been a frequent visitor in Great '* Britain, it is possible that the know- - ledge of his discovery was fairly common among all the medical students of Edinburgh at the time that _ both Waldie and Simpson were attending the University. . Dr. Waldie, it is said, experimented with the anaesthetic oil the lower animals, ' once very successfully with a pet dog, r| to its owner's immense constcrnaa tion. But the experiment of the I- young Professor ind his two associe ates, in the Professor's house in Edinburgh, on November 4, 1547, e seems to have been the first occasion [- on which the"potent fluid was tested, t with man for tho subject. A writer r in the Daily Telegraph, on the occac sion of the centenary, is responsible n for the statement that Slit James s Simpson ''awoke to tho value of f anaesthetics in 184 G." In that year, r ho proceeds, "Robert Lister peri, formed an operation upon a patient r rendered unconscious by an mhalae tion of ether. Simpson was present, i- He divined the full significance of tl the demonstration. Then and tnere a he began his campaign in favour of [- the systematic use of anaesthetics, e and he was known in duo course as 0 the apostle of chloroform." "So y long," commented.The Times, "as v anaesthesia is the handmaid of surge cry,-Simpson's fame cannot die." r Dr. Pomes ltoss, if. his discovery r, realises the sanguine expectations ■- formed concerning its efficacy, seems y destined to have his name linked for t air time with that of Sir James c Simpson. His method of securing local anaesthesia he describes as t quite simple; and within the reach of 1 any operator. By infiltering that - part of the body whero.an operation 3 is to be performed with a solution of t quinine and urea hydrochloric! there 1 is induced an absence of sensation, s and, therefore, of pain, when the patient recovers from the. effects of the general anaesthetic. _ Small areas, it is explained, which have been infiltrated by solutions of coca™ and other substances to produce insensibility are often subject to intense pain when the blood circulation is resumed, and sensation is boing re-established. Suffering such as this is prevented by Dr. Ross's methods, an almost total loss of sensation in the parts being secured for periods extending from twenty-four hours to six_ days. There is, Dr. Ross states in the Lancet, absolutely no return or vestige of post-opera-tive pain, and there is the minimum of operative and post-operative shock. Pain, medical authorities inform us, is capable of killing the organism, and even its tolerably frequent occurrence is able to modify profoundly the life of an individual. CJnder the pain-preventing solution of _Dr. Ross a world ,of suffering may thus be saved, while the infiltrated area is given a greater opportunity to recover. _ The vitality of the tissues l is not jeopardised, and the absence of pain tends to promote rapid healing. Dr. Ross writes in the Lancet: "My experience So far has been lhat from the moment of the completion of-an operation until the skin has healed, the patient is not conscious of suffering from injury to the parts operated on. If further observations confirm these results the method will confer a boon on delicate and nervous women and others. Crushed limbs and fractures could be made painless, the fatal shock averted by the immediate infiltration of the damaged part above the seat of injury with this solution."