Anesthesia
Georgia physician Crawford Long performed the first operation under ether anesthesia in 1842 when extracting a patient's tooth. Two years later, a Hartford, Connecticut, dentist named Horace Wells used inhaled nitrous oxide to extract a tooth painlessly. Prior to the 1840’s anesthesia was not commonly used during surgeries patients were conscious and given alcohol and opium in order to ease their pain.
Secondary Source:
This source gives information on various things that happened during the antebellum time period. Of the many topics anesthesia is well researched and specific accounts and various types of anesthesia are given. The authors from this source are graduates of University of North Carolina - Pembroke who were assigned to create a website on topics during the represented time periods, this particular time period and topic being the antebellum period and health.
http://www2.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/history/health.htm
Secondary Source:
This source gives information on various things that happened during the antebellum time period. Of the many topics anesthesia is well researched and specific accounts and various types of anesthesia are given. The authors from this source are graduates of University of North Carolina - Pembroke who were assigned to create a website on topics during the represented time periods, this particular time period and topic being the antebellum period and health.
http://www2.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/history/health.htm