November 21 – On This Day in Medical History
Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with November 21.
My Dear Sir : Everybody wants to have a hand in a great discovery. All I will do is to give you a hint or two, as to names, or the name, to be applied to the state produced and the agent.
“The state should, I think, be called ‘anaesthesia.’ This signifies insensibility, more particularly to objects of touch. The adjective will be ‘anaesthetic.’
“ Thus we might say the state of anaesthesia, or the anaesthetic state. The means employed would be properly called the anti- aesthetic agent. Perhaps it might be allowable to say anaesthetic agent, but this admits of question.
“ The words antineuric. aneuric. neuro leptic, neurolepsia, neuro etasis, etc., seem too anatomical; whereas the change is a physiological one. I throw them out for consideration.
“ I would have a name pretty soon, and consult some accomplished scholar, such as President Everett or Dr. Bigelow, Senior, before fixing upon the terms, which will be repeated by the tongues of every civilized race of manhind.
“You could mention these words which I suggest for their consideration ; but there may be others more appropriate and agreeable
Every body wants to have a hand in a great discovery. All I will do is to give you a hint or two as to names—or the name—to be applied to the state produced and the agent. The state should, I think, be called “Anaesthesia” (from the Greek word anaesthesia, “lack of sensation”). This signifies insensibility …. The adjective will be “Anaesthetic.” Thus we might say the state of Anaesthesia, or the anaesthetic state. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in a letter dated November 21, 1846, to William Thomas Green Morton
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