| Author: | Stefano |
|---|---|
| category: | Chemistry |
| tags: | history, molecule |
With this post I want to start a series about single molecules whose synthesis, discovery, or explanation had such dramatic effects for humanity to produce a complete paradigm shift for daily life or scientific insight. On purpose, I left out the "big ones": you will not find DNA in this list, nor you will find vitamins. Instead, I will focus on small, apparently insignificant compounds of a handful of atoms, whose legacy is so pervasive that we cannot imagine a world without it.
So... here we go.
Diethyl Ether, also simply known as ether, chemical formula CH3-CH2-O-CH2-CH3, is not a particularly pleasant compound at first sight: it is highly flammable, with tendencies of explosiveness, toxic in high doses, and with an unpleasant, suffocating smell... but in fact it is a really precious substance.
Ether was the breakthrough that started the formal discipline of anesthesia. Before 1842, having a surgery or a tooth extraction was synonymous with excruciating, horrible pain. There was basically no reliable anesthetic available. Traditional methods against pain were based on either alcohol, opium, mixtures of herbs or similar drugs, all suboptimal: their effect is difficult to control, sometimes partial, and often dangerous in the required dose. In the first half of the 19th century, not many candidates were available as potential anesthetics.
Known and synthesized hundreds of year earlier, ether was not the only substance known to demonstrate anesthetic properties. Chloroform, chemical formula CHCl3 is another one, but it is strongly toxic. Improperly used, it is fatal. A better compound was known to be Nitrous Oxide, chemical formula N2O, and also known as "laughing gas"
Produced for the first time in 1775 by Joseph Priestley, this colorless, harmless and slightly sweet gas did not receive much attention until Humphry Davy, aged 21, decided to take a sniff... you know, as an experiment. The result: tingling sensation, sensitivity to sounds, hallucinations, and a very pleasant euphoria. In the spirit of scientific sharing, in particular when you are 21 and science gives you the air of paradise, big public parties were organized. People got inebriated and apparently had a good time, so good that N2O became a de-facto alternative to alcohol. The distraction perpetuated by the recreational use of nitrous oxide was so strong that for more than 30 years nobody really took the time of using it as anesthetic.
Around the same time, ether was used for the same activity: getting high. There were some rumors of danger about it, so it remained less popular than nitrous oxide, but regardless of the rumors some people, in the US so-called "ether frolics", continued using it. Among them was a 17 years old student, Philip Wilhite. Not what we would call a kind person: while getting inebriated with friends, they forced a passing-by black guy to breathe large quantities of ether. The poor guy fell completely unconscious, and only after an hour or so and much slapping by the local doctor he was able to, I assume, run away on his legs from that bunch of criminals.
In 1842, Wilhite became assistant for Crawford Long, a doctor and surgeon. Apparently, it was not unusual for Long's team to throw wild ether parties, where it was also not uncommon to get bruises due to the ether-induced tumbling and falling. The realization that no memory remained about the bruises, together with Wilhite experience with the poor black guy years earlier, made them realize they found something interesting. They performed the first dental surgery under anesthesia, to remove a tumor, and it was successful, but they did not publish their findings until 1848, although Long openly demonstrated his findings to other colleagues.
In the meantime, Horace Wells, a dentist, pioneered the use of nitrous oxide during dental surgery. Unfortunately, the process did not work during a crucial presentation at the Massachusetts General Hospital , and Wells was strongly derided by the audience. He ended up living in shame until he took his own life while in jail. However, his disappointing result set the stage for the success of his former associate, William Morton, in 1846.
Morton, a dentist as well (although he never graduated), used ether for his patients. Apparently, he got the idea from his tutor Charles Jackson, from Wells, and hearing about the "ether frolics". He was invited for a demonstration of his claims at the very same hospital where Wells had his personal disgrace the year before, and successfully excised a tumor without any sign of pain from the patient. Morton claimed it was not using ether, but a substance he called "Letheon", for which he applied a patent. Nobody believed him, as it was clear as sunlight it was ether. He got many enemies, and he never really obtained anything out of his efforts of getting money. He died poor at the relatively young age of 49. Nevertheless, the buzz generated around the issue was enough for him to be credited as the one who started anesthesia.
Except that he wasn't. Crawford Long did it four years before him. Today, Long (and partially Wilhite and the poor black guy) is recognized as the person who started it all, but he did not receive a commemorative monument, unlike Morton
Today, ether is no longer used as anesthetics, except in developing countries where cost is a major factor, mainly because it's flammable, slightly toxic, and better alternatives exist. On the other hand, nitrous oxide is still used as mild anesthetic in dentistry. Interestingly, the jury is still out on the mechanism behind the anesthetic effect of these substances. After 150 years and all the improvements in our scientific techniques, we still don't really know what exactly happens when we inhale ether or nitrous oxide.
- http://www.anesthesia-nursing.com/ether.html
- http://www.anesthesia-nursing.com/ether2.html
- The First Anesthetic: The Story of Crawford Long - Frank Kells Boland
- A manual of etherization - Charles T. Jackson