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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, I'm Eves, and Welcome to This Day

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Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that uncovers history one day

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Speaker 1: at a time. Today is March nineteen. The day was

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Speaker 1: March eighteen forty two. Dr Crawford Long used ether as

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Speaker 1: a general anesthetic for the first time ever, laying the

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Speaker 1: groundwork for a new standard in surgery. Surgery today can

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Speaker 1: be a nerve wracking experience, even with all the medical

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Speaker 1: technology we've developed in the last two centuries, But in

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Speaker 1: the mid eighteen hundreds, surgery could still be a terribly

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Speaker 1: painful process as patients weren't sedated. Doctors were often using

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Speaker 1: rudimentary means to calm patients before surgery, like alcohol, hypnotism,

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Speaker 1: and restraint. Just imagine being fully conscious and having to

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Speaker 1: receive an invasive surgery. Patients would ride around and scream

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Speaker 1: during operations and often died from blood loss. Many doctors

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Speaker 1: did whatever they could to avoid having to resort to surgery,

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Speaker 1: but over the course of the late nineteenth century that

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Speaker 1: would change. While Crawford Williamson Long was a medical student

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Speaker 1: at Transylvania College in Kentucky and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Speaker 1: In Philadelphia, he observed and participated in several surgeries. During

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Speaker 1: this time, Long saw people using nitrous oxide or laughing

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Speaker 1: gas recreationally, and he went to laughing gas parties and

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Speaker 1: eat their frolics where people inhaled nitrous oxide or sulfuric

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Speaker 1: ether just for its euphoric effects. Long used ether himself too,

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Speaker 1: and he noticed that people who used sulfuric ether could

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Speaker 1: fall or run into things but not feel any pain,

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Speaker 1: and they would forget what they done while in deebris

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Speaker 1: aided after the effects of the substances were off. In

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Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine, Long received his medical degree, and in

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Speaker 1: eighteen forty one he started a medical practice in Jefferson, Georgia,

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Speaker 1: a small rural community. Once he had his own practice,

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Speaker 1: he began experimenting with sulphuric ether, and on March thirtieth,

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Speaker 1: eighteen forty two, he administered ether to James M. Venable,

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Speaker 1: a patient who attended ether parties and had postponed his

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Speaker 1: surgery several times due to fear of pain. Long removed

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Speaker 1: two tumors from the back of Vinable's neck. He charged

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Speaker 1: the patient two dollars for the surgery. Long continued to

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Speaker 1: use anesthesia in his surgeries after that. He even gave

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Speaker 1: ether analgesia to his wife during labor pains. Friends, colleagues,

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Speaker 1: and critics knew about his discovery and practice, but Long

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Speaker 1: didn't publish his findings until eighteen forty nine. Long had

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Speaker 1: wanted to gather more evidence and be sure of his discovery,

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Speaker 1: but by then dentists Horace Wells and William T. G. Morton,

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Speaker 1: as well as physician Charles T. Jackson, had already claimed

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Speaker 1: they discovered anesthesia. Long said it had taken so long

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Speaker 1: for him to publish his results because of his isolated

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Speaker 1: rural environment and because he was super busy and he

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Speaker 1: wanted recognition for first using ether anesthesia during surgery. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: Long didn't get much recognition during his life. Regardless, the

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Speaker 1: other three doctors did make contributions to the development of anesthesia.

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Speaker 1: Wells first used nitrous oxide for pain relief during dental surgery.

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Speaker 1: Morton was the first to publicly demonstrate ether anesthesia and

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Speaker 1: publicize its efficacy, and Jackson suggested to more in that

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Speaker 1: ether be used as an anesthetic. There was lots of

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Speaker 1: debate over who really pioneered the use of anesthesia, but

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Speaker 1: Long is considered the official discoverer of inhaled anesthesia. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: there was now an effective method to sday patients during surgery,

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Speaker 1: so there was no thrashing around and excruciating pain during operation,

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Speaker 1: but that did not mean that anesthesia was perfect. It

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Speaker 1: made surgery a breeze. The quality of ether was an issue.

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Speaker 1: It could be so weak that a patient wouldn't go

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Speaker 1: under or would regain consciousness during surgery, or it could

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Speaker 1: be so strong that a person would die from overdosing. Also,

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Speaker 1: germs were a problem. Germ theory wasn't fully accepted in

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Speaker 1: medicine until the late eighteen hundreds, and doctors had some

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Speaker 1: pretty dangerous habits at the time, like entering surgery wearing

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Speaker 1: bloody frocks, without wearing masks, and without washing their hands

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Speaker 1: and tools thoroughly. Since patients weren't protected from germs, they

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Speaker 1: were getting infection and dying. On top of this, the

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Speaker 1: new process of operating on an unconscious patient was just

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Speaker 1: foreign to doctors who were used to conversing with the

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Speaker 1: people they were operating on, and plenty of medical professionals

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Speaker 1: just weren't convinced about its benefit. There were people who

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Speaker 1: protested anesthesia because they believed it simply went against the

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Speaker 1: natural order of people feeling pain. There were others who

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Speaker 1: thought that either was an evil drug. Anesthesia had its champions,

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Speaker 1: but it definitely was not widely accepted at first. Once

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Speaker 1: people learned more about how Germ's work, sterilization became the

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Speaker 1: norm and drugs had federally mandated standards, anesthesia became an

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Speaker 1: essential part of surgery and medicine. Long died in June

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Speaker 1: seventy eight, and a year later, the National Eclectic Medical

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Speaker 1: Association declared him the discoverer of anesthesia. Doctor's Day, a

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Speaker 1: day to recognize physicians contributions to society, is now celebrated

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Speaker 1: on marcht in honor of Crawford Long's discovery. I'm each

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Speaker 1: Deathcote and hopefully you know a little more about history

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Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. And if you're so inclined,

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Speaker 1: you can and follow us at T D I h

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Speaker 1: C Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We'll be back

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Speaker 1: with more history tomorrow. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.