Power and mysticism in the introduction of anesthesia in nineteenth century America PDF
Preview Power and mysticism in the introduction of anesthesia in nineteenth century America
YALE UNIVERSITY CUSHING/WHITNEY MEDICAL LIBRARY Permission to photocopy or microfilm processing of this thesis for the purpose of individual scholarly consultation or reference is hereby granted by the author. This permission is not to be interpreted as affecting publication of this work or otherwise placing it in the public domain, and the author reserves all rights of ownership guaranteed under common law protection of unpublished manuscripts. Date Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Arcadia Fund https://archive.org/details/powermysticisminOOdonn Power and Mysticism in the Introduction of Anesthesia in Nineteenth Century America A Thesis Submitted to the Yale University School of Medicine in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine by Naomi Strachan Donnelley 1998 Med dd 71)3 (oStoj VALE Hm»< t'RURY AUG 1 3 1998 POWER AND MYSTICISM IN THE INTRODUCTION OF ANESTHESIA IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICA Naomi Donnelley Sponsored by Maria Trumpler, Ph.D., Department of the History of Medicine Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut The introduction of the inhalational anesthetics to surgery in nineteenth century America revolutionized the treatment of pain. It promised relief from the horror of experiencing every movement of the surgeon's knife. Beyond pain relief, however, what was anesthesia's legacy to the American medical profession? Anesthesia was a new tool in the medical arsenal that possessed the luster of science, and at the same time, possessed ill-defined mystical qualities - ether, chloroform and nitrous oxide could induce an artificial death from which patients could be "resurrected". In this thesis, I argue that anesthesia's marriage of technology and mysticism had an enormous transformative power that helped redirect the medical profession and change the nature of the doctor- patient relationship. In support of my argument, I examined both medical and lay responses to the anesthetics, paying careful attention to the emotional, cultural and philosophical concerns the new anesthetics raised. As wielders of the mystically and symbolically charged new tool, doctors were forced to address not only the scientific, but also the metaphysical implications of the anesthetics. They became philosophers and moral and social caretakers, as well as physical healers. As their authority expanded, so did their confidence and prestige.
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