ABSTRACT
Anaesthesia (Greekan-, “without”; and aisthēsis, “sensation”) is a temporary state with unconsciousness, loss of memory, lack of pain, and muscle relaxation (Snow and Joubert, 1847). One of the greatest discoveries in medical field is overcoming the pain associated with surgeries, wounds and disorders by the help of small molecules. One of the truly great moments in the long history of medicine occurred on a tense fall 414morning in the surgical amphitheater of Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital. Morton named his “creation” Letheon, after the Lethe River of Greek mythology, which erased painful memories (Snow and Joubert, 1847). Hardly such an exotic elixir, Morton’s stuff was actually sulfuric ether. Yet while the discovery of anesthesia was a bonafide blessing for humankind, it hardly turned out to be that great for its “discoverer,” William T. G. Morton. Most of the General Anesthetics (GA) was in the form of gases.
