CiteULike is a free online bibliography manager. Register and you can start organising your references online.

Samuel Latham Mitchill (1764-1831). A neglected American pioneer of anesthesia. Export

JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 253, No. 5. (1 February 1985), pp. 675-678.

Citation Format

[Posts]

View FullText article


ultrascichick's tags for this article

18th history-medicine nitrous-oxide

X Reviews [Write a review of this article]

X Find related articles from these CiteULike users

X Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

X Posting History

X Abstract

In 1795, Samuel Latham Mitchill, MD, of New York City published a theory of contagion. He proposed that the cause of plaguelike disease was exposure to "gaseous oxide of azote" (nitrous oxide). During the course of his exposition of this theory, Mitchill presented a clear and vivid description of the effects of nitrous oxide inhalation and the resulting anesthetic state. This earliest description of nitrous oxide narcosis appears to have been overlooked. It antedates that of Humphry Davy by five years. Samuel Latham Mitchill should be accorded an important position among the pioneers of anesthesia because of this description and also because his interest in nitrous oxide was the direct stimulus for Humphry Davy's investigations, ultimately leading to introduction of anesthesia into clinical practice.


X BibTeX record

X RIS record


Privacy Statement | Terms & Conditions
CiteULike organises scholarly (or academic) papers or literature and provides bibliographic (which means it makes bibliographies) for universities and higher education establishments. It helps undergraduates and postgraduates. People studying for PhDs or in postdoctoral (postdoc) positions. The service is similar in scope to EndNote or RefWorks or any other reference manager like BibTeX, but it is a social bookmarking service for scientists and humanities researchers.