Medicines and Anesthetics

Introduction

To 1790

The effects of drugs derived from plants on humans was known to the ancients.   The Greek physician, Pedanius Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica in 50 CE that described about 600 plants and nearly 1,000 drugs, which effectively began pharmacology, the study of drugs.   The Swiss physician, Theophrastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus, used opium extracts and compounds of mercury and antimony as medicines in the early 16th century.   He isolated an alcohol from immature opium blooms, called laudanum. ^{Asimov, 68}

Quinine from the bark of the cinchona tree was used by the Incas to treat malaria.   Spaniards learned of it around 1642.   It saved many lives in the more tropical southern regions of the United States and thereby increased life expectancy. ^{Asimov 163}

1790-1799

1800-1809

In 1800, Humphry Davy, a British chemist, discovered nitrous oxide ("laughing gas").   Its inhalation caused one to be giddy, intoxicated, and suggestible, but also caused the loss of nerve sensation.   Later, it became the world's first anesthetic. ^{Asimov 281}

In 1805, the German chemist, Friedrick Serturner, isolated a chemical from laudanum that was more effective in dulling pain and inducing sleep than laudanum.   This extract eventually was called morphine.   Although it is addictive, morphine has been used ever since as an anesthetic.   This discovery also stimulated the study of alkaloids in general, which have distinctive physiological effects on animals. ^{Asimov, 290}

1810-1819

1820-1829

1830-1839

In 1831, Dr. James Guthrie of Sacketts Harbor, NY, synthesized chloroform, CHCl₃, then called chloric ether.   In 1847, the anesthetic properties of chloroform were discovered by the Scottish surgeon, Dr. James Young.   Eventually, it became a universal anesthetic. ^{Carruth 185}

1840-1849

1850-1859

1860-1869

In 1865, Joseph Lister, a Glasgow and London surgeon, demonstrated the use of carbolic acid as a disinfectant in surgery.   It eventually reduced surgical deaths from more than 50% to 3%.   It would become a general disinfectant under the name of "Listerine" by the Lambert Pharmacal Company (later, Warner-Lambert). ^{Barlett 200}

1870-1879

1880-1889

1890-1899

1900-1909

In 1901, yellow fever was proved to be spread by the Stegomyia calopus mosquito. ^{Carruth 391}

In 1902, Dr. Charles Wardell Stiles discovered hookworm, which he said caused malaise in poor, barefoot southern whites.   Thereafter, an anti-hookworm campaign began its eradication, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. ^{Carruth 393}

1910-1919

In 1912, Elmer V. McCollum of Yale U. discovered the curative powers of 2 food chemicals called vitamins A and B. ^{Carruth 419}

1920-1929

An antitoxin for scarlet fever was invented by George Frederick and Gladys Henry Dick of Chicago in 1925. ^{Carruth 461}

1930-1939

1940-1949

In 1943, the discovery of a cantaloupe mold in a Peoria, IL, fruitmarket that yielded 10 times more penicillin than the original mold discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming of England.   Penicillin was effective against many diseases and led to the "sulfa drugs" to fight more diseases. ^{Carruth 519,523}

In 1944, synthetic quinine was invented by Dr. robert R. Woodwared and Wiliam E. Doering of Harvard U. ^{Carruth 525}

In 1948, Aureomycin (chlortetracycline) was invented by Dr. Benjamin Minge Duggar at the Lederle Laboratories at Pearl River, NY. ^{Carruth 539}

In 1948, vitamin B-12 was discovered in liver extracts that had been used for cures.   It was used to cure pernicious anemia. ^{Carruth 539}

In 1949, cortisone hormone was discovered.   It provides pain relief to sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis. ^{Carruth 545}

1950-1959

In 1954, anti-polio inoculation of schoolchildren was begun in Pittsburgh, PA by Dr. Jonas E. Salk, who invented the serum.   In 1955, the antipolio vaccine was announced by Dr. Salk after 44 states indicates its effectiveness against poliomyelitis.   It was put on the commercial market in 1956. ^{Carruth 563, 567.}

1960-1969

In 1967, synthetic DNA was produced by biochemists at Stanford U. ^{Carruth 651}

In1969, the first synthesized enzyme, ribonuclease, was announced by Merck Laboratories and Rockefeller U. ^{Carruth 661}

1970-1979

1980-1989

1990-1999