Crawford W. Long

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Crawford W. Long (1870)

Crawford Williamson Long (born November 1, 1815 in Danielsville in Madison County / Georgia , † June 16, 1878 in Athens , Georgia) was an American surgeon and general practitioner. He led in 1842 the first surgical operation by, in which the pain of the patient by a diethyl ether - anesthesia was influenced ( "ether anesthesia"). Long's pioneering work in anesthesia wasn't published until 1849, after other medical professionals had made similar claims.

Life

Long, son of the plantation owner and local politician James Long (1781-1853) and his wife Elizabeth Ware (1789-1856), received schooling at Franklin College in Athens from the age of fourteen until 1835 . During this time a lifelong friendship began with Alexander H. Stephens , who later became Vice President of the Confederate States of America and Governor of Georgia .

Long began training as a doctor in 1836 with Georg Grant in Jefferson / Jackson County (Georgia) and enrolled in 1836 at Transylvania University in Lexington to study medicine. In 1838 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , where he earned the degree of Medical Doctor (MD) in 1839 . Then Long was practically active until 1841 in New York City and trained in particular in surgery . In 1841 he became a general practitioner in rural Jefferson in Jackson County, Georgia . In 1850, Long moved with his family to Atlanta and the following year to Athens , where he established himself as a surgeon. During the American Civil War , Long enrolled in the Confederate Forces in 1864 , but no actual service is known. In the post-war period he was appointed as a surgeon in Athens by the Surgeon General of the United States . The doctor died in Athens on June 16, 1878 while giving birth to the wife of the politician Henry Hull Carlton .

Crawford Long was married to Mary Caroline Swain (1825-1888) and had twelve children, seven of whom reached adulthood. His daughter Frances Long Taylor (1845–1930) later published a book about her father's work.

Act

During his studies in Philadelphia, Crawford Long and fellow students learned about the intoxicating effects of diethyl ether ("ether"). The use of the substance as an intoxicating drug was popular in the 19th century ("ether frolics"), and Long later stated frankly about his own consumption in a publication in a medical journal.

After settling in rural Jefferson in 1841, Long met younger men there in December 1841 or January 1842 to inhale laughing gas (nitrous oxide). Since Long did not have the equipment needed to produce the gas he had requested, he suggested using the more readily available diethyl ether instead, which he then made available for those present. At this and similar meetings, Long had found that those involved did not seem to feel pain under the influence of the inhaled substance . This, and his own experience of inhaling the substance, prompted him to undergo a surgical procedure with the addition of ether.

One of Long's patients, James M. Venable (then living near Jefferson, Jackson County, Georgia) had postponed the planned removal of two cystic lumps on his neck several times because he was afraid of the painful procedure. Crawford Long suggested that he perform the procedure under the influence of diethyl ether, under which he might not feel pain. Venable had already inhaled ether in social circles and consented to the removal of a tumor.

On March 30, 1842, Crawford Long removed the approximately 1.3 centimeter large encapsulated tumor. Meanwhile, his patient inhaled ether from a towel soaked with it. According to Long's account, he showed no signs of pain and assured Long afterwards that he had not felt any pain during the operation. On June 6, 1842, the second, somewhat more difficult to remove tumor was removed with largely successful "etherization". By September 1846 he carried out eight more surgical interventions using sulfur ether.

Long published his description An account of the first use of Sulphuric Ether by Inhalation as an Anesthetic in Surgical Operations in December 1849 - seven years after the procedure . in the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal. The article also contains the authentication of the presentation by the patient Venable, who has since moved to Cobb County , on July 23, 1849, two witnesses to the operation and the mention of another operation under ether anesthesia on July 3, 1843, the toe amputation of a young Negro slave. The presentation of the operation itself is not very detailed.

In the years between performing Long's operation and describing it, the dentists Horace Wells (1844) and William TG Morton (1846), as well as the doctor Charles Thomas Jackson, had claimed to have performed the first anesthesia with ether. Long himself, who had initially intended to inform the press (the medical examiner who reported on Morton's Letheon in December 1846) of his pioneering work as early as January 1847 , gives various reasons for the late publication, including the workload in the rural area Practice, the questionable generalizability of his observations and the need for further describable cases. The description was ultimately made at the insistence of friends and colleagues. Perhaps Long wanted to stay out of the so-called "ether controversy" (ether debate) that was fought between Wells, Morton and Jackson and included Long's claims in the following years. At that time, due to the Japanese isolation policy in the rest of the world, it was not known that Hanaoka Seishū operated on patients under anesthesia 38 years before Long.

Honors

1940 United States Postal Service commemorative stamp
Longs marble statue in the crypt of the United States Capitol.

Crawford W. Long received several honors after his death. In 1920, Long County in Georgia was named after him. In the crypt of the Capitol in Washington stands a statue of Crawford W. Long, donated by the state of Georgia in 1926 and created by J. Massey Rhind. It is part of the National Statuary Hall Collection . In 1940 Long was featured on a Famous Americans stamp issued by the United States Postal Service .

National Doctor's Day has been held in the United States since 1991 on March 30th, marking the anniversary of Long's first use of ether anesthesia . The day dates back to a private initiative in 1933 and was passed in 1990 with broad approval by the United States Congress (Senate Joint Resolution 366, Public Law 101-473). It should draw attention to the work of doctors.

In 1910 the Medical Association of Georgia erected a statue in Jefferson in his honor, and in 1912 the University of Pennsylvania had a commemorative medal minted. The hospital Emory University Hospital Midtown wore from 1931 to 2009 the name of Emory Crawford Long Hospital .

The Crawford W. Long Museum in Jefferson is dedicated to Long's life and displays the doctor's possessions and documents.

literature

Web links

Commons : Crawford Williamson Long  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Albert Faulconer, Thomas Edward Keys: Crawford Williamson Long. In: Foundations of Anesthesiology. 2 volumes, Charles C Thomas, Springfield (Illinois) 1965, Volume 1, pp. 310-316, here: p. 310.
  2. ↑ Boland, p. 22 ff.
  3. ^ Crawford W. Long Museum: Dr. Long's Parents, Siblings, and Sibling's Spouses . Genealogical representation, accessed November 30, 2012.
  4. ↑ Roger K. Thomas: Crawford W. Long's Discovery of Anesthetic Ether: Mesmerism, Delayed Publication, and the Historical Record  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / faculty.franklin.uga.edu  Paper presented at the Key Barkley Symposium on the History if Psychology Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology . Atlanta, April 17, 2003.
  5. ↑ According to Boland, p. 25, according to Hammonds and Steinhaus (p. 163), Long studied at the university from 1837.
  6. ↑ Hammonds, Steinhaus, pp. 163f.
  7. ↑ Boland, pp. 116f.
  8. ↑ Boland, p. 120.
  9. ^ Crawford W. Long Museum: Dr. Long's Children and Their Spouses . Genealogical representation, accessed November 30, 2012.
  10. ↑ Boland, p. 115.
  11. ^ Frances Long Taylor: Crawford W. Long and the Discovery of Ether Anesthesia. Paul B. Hoeber, New York, 1928. Digitized in the Internet Archivehttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3D39002011123255.med.yale.edu~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3DDigitalisat%20im%20Internet%20Archive~ PUR% 3D
  12. ↑ Boland, p. 28.
  13. ↑ Boland, p. 31f.
  14. ↑ a b c d e f Crawford W. Long: An Account of the First Use of Sulfuric Ether by Inhalation as an Anesthetic in Surgical Operations. In: Southern Medical and Surgical Journal. New Series, Volume 5, No. 12 (December) 1849, pp. 705-713 (the text is complete in Boland (1950), pp. 35-39, and in Albert Faulconer, Thomas Edward Keys (1965), pp. 310-316, reprinted).
  15. ^ Crawford W. Long: An Account of the First Use of Sulphuric Ether by Inhalation as an Anesthetic in Surgical Operations. 1849.
  16. ↑ Hammonds, Steinhaus, p. 165.
  17. ^ Albert Faulconer, Thomas Edward Keys: Crawford Williamson Long. 1965, p. 310.
  18. ↑ Boland, p. 34.
  19. ^ A b S. Y. Tan, H. Sung, C. Wong: Crawford Long (1815–1878): father of modern anaesthesiology. In: Singapore medical journal. Volume 46, Number 11, November 2005, pp. 598-599, ISSN  0037-5675 . PMID 16228089 .
  20. ^ Albert Faulconer, Thomas Edward Keys (1965), p. 310 f.
  21. ^ CW Long: An Account of the First Use of Sulphiric Ether by Inhalation as an Anesthetic in Surgical Operations. (1849); see. Albert Faulconer, Thomas Edward Keys (1965), p. 311.
  22. ^ A b Henry Connor: Crawford W. Long - Still an Enigma. In: Proceedings of the History of Anesthesia Society. 2004, No. 34, pp. 61-68.
  23. ^ Richard J. Wolfe: Tarnished Idol: William Thomas Green Morton and the Introduction of Surgical Anesthesia: a Chronicle of the Ether Controversy. Jeremy Norman Publications, San Anselmo 2001, ISBN 0-930405-81-1 .
  24. ↑ Boland, p. 77.
  25. ↑ Geographic Names Information System (GNIS): Long County (GNIS ID: 326719) . Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  26. ^ Architect of the Capitol: Sculptures - Crawford W. Long. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  27. ^ Woodruff Health Sciences Center: National Doctors' Day & Emory Crawford Long Hospital Have Common Link in History. March 30, 2006, accessed November 30, 2012.
  28. ↑ Boland, p. 125.
  29. ↑ Emory Magazine: Milestone in Midtown . Fall 2008 edition, accessed November 30, 2012.
  30. ^ Emory University: Emory Crawford Long Hospital, Renamed Emory University Hospital Midtown. . February 13, 2009, accessed November 30, 2012.
  31. ^ Crawford W. Long Museum , accessed November 30, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Long, Crawford W.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Long, Crawford Williamson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American doctor, pioneer of ether anesthesia
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH Danielsville , Georgia
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1878
Place of death Athens , Georgia