title: The early days of anaesthesia.
abstract: If you should ask me to name the most important date in the whole history of surgery, I would reply, without a moment's hesitation, Friday October 16th 1846. The operation was a simple, almost trivial procedure, the removal of a small benign lump in the neck, but it marked the watershed between the past agonies of surgery and the modern era, where our patients enjoy the blissful oblivion of anaesthesia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of London, Guy's Campus, London, SE1 1UL.
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000266:history; D000769:Anesthesia, Inhalation / Q000266:history*; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000266:history*; D001900:Boston; D004986:Ether / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D004986:Ether