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Adoniram Judson Shurtleff: a Tragic Picture of Anesthetic Drug Abuse
Journal of Anesthesia History xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Anesthesia History journal homepage: www.anesthesiahistoryjournal.org
Adoniram Judson Shurtleff: a Tragic Picture of Anesthetic Drug Abuse☆ Austine N. Lin, MD a, George S. Bause, MD, MPH a,b,c,⁎ a b c
Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, 2124 Cornell Rd, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA Honorary Curator and Laureate of Anesthesia History, Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, American Society of Anesthesiologists, 1061 American Lane, Schaumburg, IL, 60173-4973, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 23 June 2017 Accepted 27 June 2017 Available online xxxx
a b s t r a c t A previously unpublished carte-de-visit depicts Massachusetts dentist Adoniram Judson Shurtleff, who died at 41 years of age while abusing nitrous oxide in 1885. © 2017 Anesthesia History Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A third-great grandson of a founding settler of Plymouth, MA, Dr. Adoniram Judson “Ad” Shurtleff (1841–1885, Fig. 1) was born in nearby Hanson.1 His father, a Baptist preacher, named him after Adoniram Judson, the celebrated lexicographer and missionary to Burma. After briefly serving as a Private for the company of Ninth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers during the Civil War, “Ad” graduated from Brown University in 1864. 2 He then attempted to study medicine in Europe. After young Shurtleff had abandoned those studies, he began a dental practice back in Natick, Massachusetts. 3 The year 1885 found Dr. Adoniram Shurtleff nearly 20 years into his practice of dentistry and about 3 years into his “branch office” at Boston's Hotel Boylston. 4,5 At his hotel practice, he was observed “at times addicted to the too free use of spirituous liquors.” In early February of 1885, the hotel's janitor stumbled upon the 41-year-old dentist “in the act of giving himself gas” and apparently “slightly under the influence of something besides gas.”3 During the day on February 26, 1885, Dr. Shurtleff had complained of suffering from a headache and/or a toothache.3,6 Around 5 PM he had shown a close friend how to administer nitrous oxide, and the friend “at the doctor's request, gave him [Shurtleff] a little gas.” 3 Shortly after the hotel janitor had discovered the friend administering laughing gas to Dr. Shurtleff, the friend left the dentist to his own devices. At 10 p.m. the janitor discovered the lifeless yet warm body of Dr. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff, “lying upon the floor dead. The gas
☆ Neither author has any intellectual, ethical, or financial conflicts of interest. ⁎ Corresponding author at: 5247 Wilson Mills Rd, No. 282, Cleveland, OH 44143-3016. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.N. Lin), [email protected] (G.S. Bause).
Fig. 1. A close-up from a previously unpublished carte-de-visit of Dr. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff (1841–1885), a Bostonian dentist who died abusing nitrous oxide. While anesthetizing himself into an intoxicated state of mind, possibly for a toothache, he had failed to disengage his “laughing gas” apparatus before death ensued. (Image courtesy of George S. Bause, MD, MPH.)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janh.2017.06.002 2352-4529/© 2017 Anesthesia History Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Lin AN, Bause GS. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff: a Tragic Picture of Anesthetic Drug Abuse. J Anesth Hist (2017), http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janh.2017.06.002
2
A.N. Lin, G.S. Bause / Journal of Anesthesia History xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
cylinder was lying upon the floor close by his head, completely empty of [laughing] gas; the tube, detached from the inhaler, was held in the left hand with one end of it held tightly between the teeth the other of course attached to the cylinder.”3 At least one newspaper report had intimated at the possibility of suicide.6 An editor of The Archives of Dentistry, Albion Manley Dudley, DDS (1845–1899), however, discounted that possibility, noting that Dr. Shurtleff was a devoted husband and father and was “a man of excellent temperament” with a “large circle of friends.” Dudley opined that the “more probable theory is that he [Shurtleff] took the gas when not in just the condition of mind to judge rightly in regard to it, and died as the result of carelessness on his own part, in taking the gas for the pleasurable sensation it gave him.” An opponent of self-medication, Dr. Dudley admonished his journal's readers
that nobody “should ever undertake to administer an anesthetic to himself under any circumstances.”3,5 References 1. Shurtleff B. Descendants of William Shurtleff of Plymouth and Marshfield, 51 Massachusetts. Revere, Mass: publisher not identified, 1912: 326. 2. Burrage HS. Civil War Record of Brown University. Providence, RI: Publisher not identified, 1920; 52. 3. "AMD" [Dudley AM]. Death from inhaling nitrous oxide. Arch Dentistry. 1885;2(5):225-227. 4. Boston Directory Containing the City Record, a Directory of the Citizens, and Business Directory, No. LXXIX, for the year commencing July 1, 1883. Boston: Sampson, Davenport, & Co; 1883:1219. 5. Bause GS. Adoniram J. Shurtleff: how “Uncle Ad” became an “ad” against selfadministration of anesthesia. Anesthesiology. 2017;126(5):922, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1097/ALN.0000000000001652. 6. Current events. The Brooklyn [NY] Daily Eagle. Feb 28, 1885:4.
Please cite this article as: Lin AN, Bause GS. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff: a Tragic Picture of Anesthetic Drug Abuse. J Anesth Hist (2017), http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janh.2017.06.002
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Anesthesia History journal homepage: www.anesthesiahistoryjournal.org
Adoniram Judson Shurtleff: a Tragic Picture of Anesthetic Drug Abuse☆ Austine N. Lin, MD a, George S. Bause, MD, MPH a,b,c,⁎ a b c
Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, 2124 Cornell Rd, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA Honorary Curator and Laureate of Anesthesia History, Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, American Society of Anesthesiologists, 1061 American Lane, Schaumburg, IL, 60173-4973, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 23 June 2017 Accepted 27 June 2017 Available online xxxx
a b s t r a c t A previously unpublished carte-de-visit depicts Massachusetts dentist Adoniram Judson Shurtleff, who died at 41 years of age while abusing nitrous oxide in 1885. © 2017 Anesthesia History Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A third-great grandson of a founding settler of Plymouth, MA, Dr. Adoniram Judson “Ad” Shurtleff (1841–1885, Fig. 1) was born in nearby Hanson.1 His father, a Baptist preacher, named him after Adoniram Judson, the celebrated lexicographer and missionary to Burma. After briefly serving as a Private for the company of Ninth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers during the Civil War, “Ad” graduated from Brown University in 1864. 2 He then attempted to study medicine in Europe. After young Shurtleff had abandoned those studies, he began a dental practice back in Natick, Massachusetts. 3 The year 1885 found Dr. Adoniram Shurtleff nearly 20 years into his practice of dentistry and about 3 years into his “branch office” at Boston's Hotel Boylston. 4,5 At his hotel practice, he was observed “at times addicted to the too free use of spirituous liquors.” In early February of 1885, the hotel's janitor stumbled upon the 41-year-old dentist “in the act of giving himself gas” and apparently “slightly under the influence of something besides gas.”3 During the day on February 26, 1885, Dr. Shurtleff had complained of suffering from a headache and/or a toothache.3,6 Around 5 PM he had shown a close friend how to administer nitrous oxide, and the friend “at the doctor's request, gave him [Shurtleff] a little gas.” 3 Shortly after the hotel janitor had discovered the friend administering laughing gas to Dr. Shurtleff, the friend left the dentist to his own devices. At 10 p.m. the janitor discovered the lifeless yet warm body of Dr. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff, “lying upon the floor dead. The gas
☆ Neither author has any intellectual, ethical, or financial conflicts of interest. ⁎ Corresponding author at: 5247 Wilson Mills Rd, No. 282, Cleveland, OH 44143-3016. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.N. Lin), [email protected] (G.S. Bause).
Fig. 1. A close-up from a previously unpublished carte-de-visit of Dr. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff (1841–1885), a Bostonian dentist who died abusing nitrous oxide. While anesthetizing himself into an intoxicated state of mind, possibly for a toothache, he had failed to disengage his “laughing gas” apparatus before death ensued. (Image courtesy of George S. Bause, MD, MPH.)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janh.2017.06.002 2352-4529/© 2017 Anesthesia History Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Lin AN, Bause GS. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff: a Tragic Picture of Anesthetic Drug Abuse. J Anesth Hist (2017), http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janh.2017.06.002
2
A.N. Lin, G.S. Bause / Journal of Anesthesia History xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
cylinder was lying upon the floor close by his head, completely empty of [laughing] gas; the tube, detached from the inhaler, was held in the left hand with one end of it held tightly between the teeth the other of course attached to the cylinder.”3 At least one newspaper report had intimated at the possibility of suicide.6 An editor of The Archives of Dentistry, Albion Manley Dudley, DDS (1845–1899), however, discounted that possibility, noting that Dr. Shurtleff was a devoted husband and father and was “a man of excellent temperament” with a “large circle of friends.” Dudley opined that the “more probable theory is that he [Shurtleff] took the gas when not in just the condition of mind to judge rightly in regard to it, and died as the result of carelessness on his own part, in taking the gas for the pleasurable sensation it gave him.” An opponent of self-medication, Dr. Dudley admonished his journal's readers
that nobody “should ever undertake to administer an anesthetic to himself under any circumstances.”3,5 References 1. Shurtleff B. Descendants of William Shurtleff of Plymouth and Marshfield, 51 Massachusetts. Revere, Mass: publisher not identified, 1912: 326. 2. Burrage HS. Civil War Record of Brown University. Providence, RI: Publisher not identified, 1920; 52. 3. "AMD" [Dudley AM]. Death from inhaling nitrous oxide. Arch Dentistry. 1885;2(5):225-227. 4. Boston Directory Containing the City Record, a Directory of the Citizens, and Business Directory, No. LXXIX, for the year commencing July 1, 1883. Boston: Sampson, Davenport, & Co; 1883:1219. 5. Bause GS. Adoniram J. Shurtleff: how “Uncle Ad” became an “ad” against selfadministration of anesthesia. Anesthesiology. 2017;126(5):922, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1097/ALN.0000000000001652. 6. Current events. The Brooklyn [NY] Daily Eagle. Feb 28, 1885:4.
Please cite this article as: Lin AN, Bause GS. Adoniram Judson Shurtleff: a Tragic Picture of Anesthetic Drug Abuse. J Anesth Hist (2017), http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janh.2017.06.002