- Email: [email protected]
Anaesthesia in philately
International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531 – 536
Anaesthesia in philately A.G. McKenzie* Department of Anaesthesia, The Lothian University Hospital NHS Trust, Royal Infirmary, Lauriston Place, EH3 9YW Edinburgh, UK
Abstract Philately provides a useful medium for the study of the history of anaesthesia in the broadest of terms. Using five categories of topics, vignettes are presented. Recognising that many deserving names and items have yet to be commemorated philatelically, postal authorities are urged to address these deficits. Postage stamps pertaining to medicine have been issued for more than a century, and philately provides a useful medium for the study of medical history [A. Furukawa, Medical History through Postage Stamps. Ishiyaku EuroAmerica, Tokyo, 1994]. Focussing on anaesthesia, analgesia and intensive care, one can select relevant stamps, first-day covers, postmarks, cachets and postal stationery. A method of classification is essential if philately is to be an educational tool. For this presentation, the following categories have been chosen: plants, dentists and physicians in anaesthesia, chemists, physiologists and pharmacologists, and equipment. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Philately, anaesthesia; Drugs, plant sources; Pharmacology, philately; Equipment, philately
1. Plants Opium from Papaver somniferum has been used as an analgesic for two millennia [2]. At least six countries have issued stamps of the opium poppy. Turkey has been a major (legal) producer of opium for many years and issued a fine stamp of the plant in 1979. Mandragora officinarum (mandrake) has been used as a sedative/hypnotic (due to hyoscine) for 2000 years [2]. Austria issued a stamp of mandrake to commemorate the 7th European Congress on Anaesthesiology in 1986. This shows the plant tied to a dog and a man holding his hands over his ears. According to legend, it was fatal to hear the
*
Fax: +44-131-536-3672. E-mail address: [email protected] (A.G. McKenzie).
0531-5131/02 D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 5 3 1 - 5 1 3 1 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 7 8 8 - 4
532
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
cries of the evil spirit which lived among the roots—the procurer would therefore retreat before calling the dog, who would come with the plant! The illustration was copied from the Codex Tacuinum Sanitatis, held in the Austrian National Library. Several stamps have been issued of Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), which has been used for centuries for its anti-spasmodic properties (due to atropine—a racemic mixture of D- and Lhyoscyamine). Atropine was used 120 years ago to reduce cardiac arrhythmias induced by chloroform, and later to reduce secretions induced by ether [3]. Several stamps have also been issued of Hyoscyamus niger (black henbane), which has long been used as a sedative and anti-spasmodic [2], properties due to L hyoscyamine. The Datura sp. contain hyoscyamine and hyoscine. Japan issued a stamp of Datura metel in 2000 showing the surgeon, Seishu Hanaoka, who used an extract of it in 1804 to facilitate the removal of a breast cancer [1,4]. The South American shrub Erythroxylon coca is the source of cocaine, the first local anaesthetic. Only one postage stamp of it has been issued, this in 1969 by Rwanda, where it was cultivated. No stamps have yet been issued of the curare vines Chondrodendron tomentosum and Strychnos toxifera.
2. Dentists and physicians in anaesthesia Crawford W. Long successfully administered ether on 30 March 1842 in Jefferson, GA, the resultant general anaesthesia enabling painless removal of a neck tumour [2]. He was duly honoured on a USA postage stamp in 1940. William Thomas Green Morton, the Boston dentist who gave the first public demonstration of general anaesthesia by ether on 16 October 1846 [2], was honoured on a postage stamp from Transkei in 1984. Australia issued a pre-stamped envelope depicting Morton to mark the 11th World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in April 1996. The Virginia Philatelic Federation was responsible for several cachets celebrating the sesquicentenary of the first public operation under general anaesthesia in November 1996. The one depicting the scene at the Massachusetts General Hospital was clearly designed from the famous daguerreotype of the re-enactment [2]. In the following month, India issued a postage stamp marking the sesquicentenary, designed from a painting by Robert C. Hinckley (Fig. 1). This painting now hangs in the Boston Medical Library (in the Francis A. Countway Library building at Harvard Medical School). From a study of the painting, it is possible to identify the people on the stamp. Left to right they are: C.H. Hildreth (medical student), W.T.G. Morton (holding ether inhaler), J.M. Warren (junior surgeon), Gilbert Abbott (the patient), J.C. Warren (the surgeon), E.H. Frost (the first patient anaesthetised by Morton), C.F. Heywood (house surgeon). However, Hinckley made two errors through artistic licence, and these were faithfully reproduced on the stamp: J.M. Warren (son of the surgeon J.C. Warren) was absent from the great occasion; C.H. Hildreth would have been in the audience and not centre stage [5]. Karl E. Hammerschmidt published (probably the first) classification of depth of ether anaesthesia in Austria in 1847 [6]. He was honoured on a Turkish postage stamp in 1968. James Young Simpson, Professor of Midwifery in Edinburgh, introduced in November 1847 the inhalation of chloroform for women in childbirth [2]. Transkei issued a stamp of Simpson in 1992. Physicians John Snow and his successor Joseph Clover were the
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
533
Fig. 1. Postage stamp (India 1996) commemorating 150 years of anaesthesia: William Morton is holding ether inhaler.
pioneers of inhalation anaesthesia in England. They have not yet been honoured on postage stamps, but are the bearers of the coat of arms of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, which may be used on stationery and franked mail. William Stewart Halsted, New York surgeon, introduced nerve blocks with cocaine [7]. He was another of the heroes of medicine philatelically honoured by Transkei (1985). Harold R. Griffith, physician in Montreal, and Enid Johnson began the use of a muscle relaxant (curare) in anaesthesia on 23 January 1942. Griffith was one of four doctors honoured on postage stamps by Canada in 1990 (Enid Johnson not included). The stamp of Griffith shows his portrait in front of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (called in 1942 the Montreal Homeopathic Hospital), where the great event occurred [8]. Virginia Apgar, Professor of Anesthesiology at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, introduced the ‘‘Apgar Scoring System’’ for assessment of the newborn in 1953 [9]. She was included in a USA issue of stamps of great Americans in 1990. Regrettably, no postage stamps have ever been issued of Horace Wells, William Macewen, Carl Koller, August K.G. Bier, Heinrich F.W. Braun, Arthur La¨wen, Gaston Labat, Helmut Weese.
3. Chemists Raimundo Lulio was a Spanish alchemist, credited with the synthesis of ‘‘sweet vitriol’’ in the 13th century (though it was forgotten for nearly 300 years) [7]. [Stamp: Spain 1963].
534
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
Paracelsus, the famous Swiss alchemist who enunciated the scientific method, rediscovered the synthesis of ‘‘sweet oil of vitriol’’ in 1540, named ether 200 years later [7] [Stamps: Austria 1991, several others]. J.B. van Helmont discovered ‘‘gas sylvestre’’ (carbon dioxide) and coined the word ‘‘gas’’ about 1620 [10] [Stamp: Belgium 1942]. Robert Boyle (Irish, Eton educated) enunciated his all-important Gas Law in 1660. He also assisted Christopher Wren with experimental intravenous injection of drugs in dogs [10] [Stamps: Ireland 1981, Grenada 1987]. Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Sweden’s outstanding pharmacist, discovered the two major constituents of air in 1771 – 1772 [11] [Stamp: Sweden 1942]. Joseph Priestley, the great English chemist, produced oxygen in 1771 (without realising it). Over 1772 – 1773, he prepared nitrous oxide, calling it ‘‘dephlogistigated nitrous air’’. In 1774, he heated mercuric oxide over mercury and generated oxygen, which he called ‘‘dephlogistigated air’’. He proceeded to observe that ‘‘dephlogistigated air’’ sustained life in a mouse [12] [Stamps: USA 1983, Maldives 2000]. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the French father of modern chemistry, described the true nature of oxidation after 1774, and overthrew the Phlogiston Theory [10]. [Stamps: Mali 1983, several others]. Humphry Davy, another famous English chemist, coined the name ‘‘nitrous oxide’’ after discovering the analgesic properties of this gas in 1800; previously he had called it ‘‘laughing gas’’. He suggested that it might be useful to relieve the pain of surgery, but this was not followed up [7]. No stamp of Davy has yet been issued, but there are stamps of the miner’s safety lamp, which he invented. Michael Faraday, Davy’s pupil, in 1818 compared the anaesthetic effect of ether with that of nitrous oxide—again, this escaped the interest of clinicians! [7] [Stamps: Cuba 1994, several others]. Justus von Liebig, distinguished German chemist, discovered ‘‘chloride of carbon’’ in 1831, named chloroform 3 years later [10] [Stamps: Germany: W. 1953, E. 1978].
4. Physiologists and pharmacologists William Harvey, English physician, described the circulation of the blood in 1616. This was the foundation of physiology [10] [Stamps: Hungary 1987, many others]. Claude Bernard, the great French physiologist, made many important contributions to anaesthesia: he determined that the site of action of curare was at the peripheral end of motor nerve (1857), developed a method for measuring the oxygen in blood (1858), originated the idea of premedication (1868), and determined that the site of general anaesthetic action (chloroform) was the central nervous system (1875) [13] [Stamps: several French]. Otto Loewi, a German born pharmacologist, was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize for Medicine jointly with Henry Dale, for explaining the chemical transmission of nerve effects [14] [Stamp: Austria 1973]. Henry Hallett Dale, the doyen of British pharmacologists, went on to show that the principal site of action of curare was the acetylcholine receptor site [14] [Stamp: Guyana 1995]. Daniel Bovet, the Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist, described gallamine in 1947 and introduced suxamethonium in 1949 [10]. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Medicine [Stamp: St. Vincent 1995].
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
535
5. Equipment There are many stamps of the hypodermic syringe and needle, but the inventors have never been honoured in philately. An interesting stamp issued by Belgium in 1957 showed a patient undergoing surgery while under anaesthesia administered by an Ombre´danne inhaler. This stamp was designed from a painting by Allard l’Olivier, which hangs in the Royal Academy of Medicine in Brussels. The surgeon, Dr. Antoine Lepage, is assisted by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (who was a physician), while the anaesthetist is Dr. Georges E. Debaisieux [1]. There is a dearth of stamps showing early anaesthetic machines; probably the best was issued by Austria in 1954. An anaesthetic machine ‘‘Medimorph’’, which won a gold medal at the Leipzig autumn trade fair, featured on a stamp issued by E. Germany in 1975. This machine was manufactured by VEB Kombinat Medizin und Labortechnik in Leipzig [1]. In some stamps, a glimpse of anaesthetic circuitry can be found within surgical scenes. A good example from Ghana in 1968 showed a facemask and Y-attachment of (probably) a circle system. An endotracheal tube formed part of the logo for the 2nd Pan-Arab Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Congress in 1987 and this logo duly appeared on a postage stamp issued by Egypt. This was repeated in 1997. In philately, it is said that a subject collector produces a story and illustrates it with stamps, whereas a thematicist tells the story by the stamps. Most medical historians using philately will remain subject collectors. The true thematicist will devote time to a wider range of philatelic material and research details such as printing processes, perforations, watermarks, paper and gum. A small book on the history of anaesthesia through postage stamps was published in 2000 [15]. Of course, the anaesthetic historian will find it regrettable that not all the names and items in the story have featured on postage stamps or other philatelic material. It is here that enthusiastic historians may help by urging the appropriate postal authorities to issue the missing stamps! For example, the following forthcoming anniversaries should be commemorated: 2003, bicentenary of isolation of morphine from opium by F.W.A. Serturner; 2004, sesquicentenary of removal of Broad Street pump due to John Snow; 2005, centenary of 1st edition of textbook on Local Anaesthesia by Heinrich F.W. Braun; 2007, sesquicentenary of birth of Carl Koller; 2007, 75th anniversary of introduction of IV hexobarbitone by Helmut Weese.
References [1] A. Furukawa, Medical History through Postage Stamps, Ishiyaku EuroAmerica, Tokyo, 1994, pp. 209, 260. [2] S.B. Nuland, The Origins of Anesthesia, The Classics of Medicine Library, Birmingham, AL, 1983, Chaps. I, VI, VIII, XII. [3] W.M. Shearer, The evolution of premedication, Br. J. Anaesth. 32 (1960) 554 – 562. [4] T. Ogata, Seishu Hanaoka and his anaesthesiology and surgery, Anaesthesia 28 (1973) 645 – 652. [5] R.J. Wolfe, Robert C. Hinckley and the recreation of the first operation under ether. Boston Medical Library (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine), Boston, 1993, pp. 31, 35 – 36, 41, 79. [6] W.F. List, A. Kernbauer, Karl E. Hammerschmidt—scientist, humanist and pioneer of anaesthesia, in: J. Schulte am Esch, M. Goerig (Eds.), Proceedings of 4th International Symposium on the History of Anaesthesia, Dra¨ger, Lubeck, 1998, pp. 223 – 225.
536
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
[7] R. Fu¨lo¨p-Miller, Triumph over Pain, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1938, pp. 25 – 7, 61 – 65, 117, 384. [8] H.R. Griffith, G.E. Johnson, The use of curare in general anaesthesia, Anesthesiology 3 (1942) 418 – 420. [9] V. Apgar, A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant, Anesth. Analg. 32 (1953) 260 – 267. [10] M.H.A. Davison, The Evolution of Anaesthesia, John Sherratt, Altrincham, 1965, pp. 66, 68, 82, 135 – 136, 157 – 158, 178, 182, 194. [11] C.A.B. McLaren, The third man—Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Hist. Anaesth. Soc. Proc. 28 (2000) 19 – 25. [12] G. Priestley, Joseph Priestley (1733 – 1804) dissident theologian and experimental chemist, Hist. Anaesth. Soc. Proc. 12 (1993) 47 – 51. [13] J.A. Lee, Claude Bernard (1813 – 1878), Anaesthesia 33 (1987) 741 – 747. [14] A.G. McKenzie, The contributions of Sir Henry Dale to anaesthesia, Hist. Anaesth. Soc. Proc. 26 (1999) 30 – 36. [15] A.G. McKenzie, A History of Anaesthesia through Postage Stamps, Maclean Dubois, Edinburgh, 2000.
Anaesthesia in philately A.G. McKenzie* Department of Anaesthesia, The Lothian University Hospital NHS Trust, Royal Infirmary, Lauriston Place, EH3 9YW Edinburgh, UK
Abstract Philately provides a useful medium for the study of the history of anaesthesia in the broadest of terms. Using five categories of topics, vignettes are presented. Recognising that many deserving names and items have yet to be commemorated philatelically, postal authorities are urged to address these deficits. Postage stamps pertaining to medicine have been issued for more than a century, and philately provides a useful medium for the study of medical history [A. Furukawa, Medical History through Postage Stamps. Ishiyaku EuroAmerica, Tokyo, 1994]. Focussing on anaesthesia, analgesia and intensive care, one can select relevant stamps, first-day covers, postmarks, cachets and postal stationery. A method of classification is essential if philately is to be an educational tool. For this presentation, the following categories have been chosen: plants, dentists and physicians in anaesthesia, chemists, physiologists and pharmacologists, and equipment. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Philately, anaesthesia; Drugs, plant sources; Pharmacology, philately; Equipment, philately
1. Plants Opium from Papaver somniferum has been used as an analgesic for two millennia [2]. At least six countries have issued stamps of the opium poppy. Turkey has been a major (legal) producer of opium for many years and issued a fine stamp of the plant in 1979. Mandragora officinarum (mandrake) has been used as a sedative/hypnotic (due to hyoscine) for 2000 years [2]. Austria issued a stamp of mandrake to commemorate the 7th European Congress on Anaesthesiology in 1986. This shows the plant tied to a dog and a man holding his hands over his ears. According to legend, it was fatal to hear the
*
Fax: +44-131-536-3672. E-mail address: [email protected] (A.G. McKenzie).
0531-5131/02 D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 5 3 1 - 5 1 3 1 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 7 8 8 - 4
532
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
cries of the evil spirit which lived among the roots—the procurer would therefore retreat before calling the dog, who would come with the plant! The illustration was copied from the Codex Tacuinum Sanitatis, held in the Austrian National Library. Several stamps have been issued of Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), which has been used for centuries for its anti-spasmodic properties (due to atropine—a racemic mixture of D- and Lhyoscyamine). Atropine was used 120 years ago to reduce cardiac arrhythmias induced by chloroform, and later to reduce secretions induced by ether [3]. Several stamps have also been issued of Hyoscyamus niger (black henbane), which has long been used as a sedative and anti-spasmodic [2], properties due to L hyoscyamine. The Datura sp. contain hyoscyamine and hyoscine. Japan issued a stamp of Datura metel in 2000 showing the surgeon, Seishu Hanaoka, who used an extract of it in 1804 to facilitate the removal of a breast cancer [1,4]. The South American shrub Erythroxylon coca is the source of cocaine, the first local anaesthetic. Only one postage stamp of it has been issued, this in 1969 by Rwanda, where it was cultivated. No stamps have yet been issued of the curare vines Chondrodendron tomentosum and Strychnos toxifera.
2. Dentists and physicians in anaesthesia Crawford W. Long successfully administered ether on 30 March 1842 in Jefferson, GA, the resultant general anaesthesia enabling painless removal of a neck tumour [2]. He was duly honoured on a USA postage stamp in 1940. William Thomas Green Morton, the Boston dentist who gave the first public demonstration of general anaesthesia by ether on 16 October 1846 [2], was honoured on a postage stamp from Transkei in 1984. Australia issued a pre-stamped envelope depicting Morton to mark the 11th World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in April 1996. The Virginia Philatelic Federation was responsible for several cachets celebrating the sesquicentenary of the first public operation under general anaesthesia in November 1996. The one depicting the scene at the Massachusetts General Hospital was clearly designed from the famous daguerreotype of the re-enactment [2]. In the following month, India issued a postage stamp marking the sesquicentenary, designed from a painting by Robert C. Hinckley (Fig. 1). This painting now hangs in the Boston Medical Library (in the Francis A. Countway Library building at Harvard Medical School). From a study of the painting, it is possible to identify the people on the stamp. Left to right they are: C.H. Hildreth (medical student), W.T.G. Morton (holding ether inhaler), J.M. Warren (junior surgeon), Gilbert Abbott (the patient), J.C. Warren (the surgeon), E.H. Frost (the first patient anaesthetised by Morton), C.F. Heywood (house surgeon). However, Hinckley made two errors through artistic licence, and these were faithfully reproduced on the stamp: J.M. Warren (son of the surgeon J.C. Warren) was absent from the great occasion; C.H. Hildreth would have been in the audience and not centre stage [5]. Karl E. Hammerschmidt published (probably the first) classification of depth of ether anaesthesia in Austria in 1847 [6]. He was honoured on a Turkish postage stamp in 1968. James Young Simpson, Professor of Midwifery in Edinburgh, introduced in November 1847 the inhalation of chloroform for women in childbirth [2]. Transkei issued a stamp of Simpson in 1992. Physicians John Snow and his successor Joseph Clover were the
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
533
Fig. 1. Postage stamp (India 1996) commemorating 150 years of anaesthesia: William Morton is holding ether inhaler.
pioneers of inhalation anaesthesia in England. They have not yet been honoured on postage stamps, but are the bearers of the coat of arms of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, which may be used on stationery and franked mail. William Stewart Halsted, New York surgeon, introduced nerve blocks with cocaine [7]. He was another of the heroes of medicine philatelically honoured by Transkei (1985). Harold R. Griffith, physician in Montreal, and Enid Johnson began the use of a muscle relaxant (curare) in anaesthesia on 23 January 1942. Griffith was one of four doctors honoured on postage stamps by Canada in 1990 (Enid Johnson not included). The stamp of Griffith shows his portrait in front of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (called in 1942 the Montreal Homeopathic Hospital), where the great event occurred [8]. Virginia Apgar, Professor of Anesthesiology at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, introduced the ‘‘Apgar Scoring System’’ for assessment of the newborn in 1953 [9]. She was included in a USA issue of stamps of great Americans in 1990. Regrettably, no postage stamps have ever been issued of Horace Wells, William Macewen, Carl Koller, August K.G. Bier, Heinrich F.W. Braun, Arthur La¨wen, Gaston Labat, Helmut Weese.
3. Chemists Raimundo Lulio was a Spanish alchemist, credited with the synthesis of ‘‘sweet vitriol’’ in the 13th century (though it was forgotten for nearly 300 years) [7]. [Stamp: Spain 1963].
534
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
Paracelsus, the famous Swiss alchemist who enunciated the scientific method, rediscovered the synthesis of ‘‘sweet oil of vitriol’’ in 1540, named ether 200 years later [7] [Stamps: Austria 1991, several others]. J.B. van Helmont discovered ‘‘gas sylvestre’’ (carbon dioxide) and coined the word ‘‘gas’’ about 1620 [10] [Stamp: Belgium 1942]. Robert Boyle (Irish, Eton educated) enunciated his all-important Gas Law in 1660. He also assisted Christopher Wren with experimental intravenous injection of drugs in dogs [10] [Stamps: Ireland 1981, Grenada 1987]. Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Sweden’s outstanding pharmacist, discovered the two major constituents of air in 1771 – 1772 [11] [Stamp: Sweden 1942]. Joseph Priestley, the great English chemist, produced oxygen in 1771 (without realising it). Over 1772 – 1773, he prepared nitrous oxide, calling it ‘‘dephlogistigated nitrous air’’. In 1774, he heated mercuric oxide over mercury and generated oxygen, which he called ‘‘dephlogistigated air’’. He proceeded to observe that ‘‘dephlogistigated air’’ sustained life in a mouse [12] [Stamps: USA 1983, Maldives 2000]. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the French father of modern chemistry, described the true nature of oxidation after 1774, and overthrew the Phlogiston Theory [10]. [Stamps: Mali 1983, several others]. Humphry Davy, another famous English chemist, coined the name ‘‘nitrous oxide’’ after discovering the analgesic properties of this gas in 1800; previously he had called it ‘‘laughing gas’’. He suggested that it might be useful to relieve the pain of surgery, but this was not followed up [7]. No stamp of Davy has yet been issued, but there are stamps of the miner’s safety lamp, which he invented. Michael Faraday, Davy’s pupil, in 1818 compared the anaesthetic effect of ether with that of nitrous oxide—again, this escaped the interest of clinicians! [7] [Stamps: Cuba 1994, several others]. Justus von Liebig, distinguished German chemist, discovered ‘‘chloride of carbon’’ in 1831, named chloroform 3 years later [10] [Stamps: Germany: W. 1953, E. 1978].
4. Physiologists and pharmacologists William Harvey, English physician, described the circulation of the blood in 1616. This was the foundation of physiology [10] [Stamps: Hungary 1987, many others]. Claude Bernard, the great French physiologist, made many important contributions to anaesthesia: he determined that the site of action of curare was at the peripheral end of motor nerve (1857), developed a method for measuring the oxygen in blood (1858), originated the idea of premedication (1868), and determined that the site of general anaesthetic action (chloroform) was the central nervous system (1875) [13] [Stamps: several French]. Otto Loewi, a German born pharmacologist, was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize for Medicine jointly with Henry Dale, for explaining the chemical transmission of nerve effects [14] [Stamp: Austria 1973]. Henry Hallett Dale, the doyen of British pharmacologists, went on to show that the principal site of action of curare was the acetylcholine receptor site [14] [Stamp: Guyana 1995]. Daniel Bovet, the Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist, described gallamine in 1947 and introduced suxamethonium in 1949 [10]. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Medicine [Stamp: St. Vincent 1995].
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
535
5. Equipment There are many stamps of the hypodermic syringe and needle, but the inventors have never been honoured in philately. An interesting stamp issued by Belgium in 1957 showed a patient undergoing surgery while under anaesthesia administered by an Ombre´danne inhaler. This stamp was designed from a painting by Allard l’Olivier, which hangs in the Royal Academy of Medicine in Brussels. The surgeon, Dr. Antoine Lepage, is assisted by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (who was a physician), while the anaesthetist is Dr. Georges E. Debaisieux [1]. There is a dearth of stamps showing early anaesthetic machines; probably the best was issued by Austria in 1954. An anaesthetic machine ‘‘Medimorph’’, which won a gold medal at the Leipzig autumn trade fair, featured on a stamp issued by E. Germany in 1975. This machine was manufactured by VEB Kombinat Medizin und Labortechnik in Leipzig [1]. In some stamps, a glimpse of anaesthetic circuitry can be found within surgical scenes. A good example from Ghana in 1968 showed a facemask and Y-attachment of (probably) a circle system. An endotracheal tube formed part of the logo for the 2nd Pan-Arab Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Congress in 1987 and this logo duly appeared on a postage stamp issued by Egypt. This was repeated in 1997. In philately, it is said that a subject collector produces a story and illustrates it with stamps, whereas a thematicist tells the story by the stamps. Most medical historians using philately will remain subject collectors. The true thematicist will devote time to a wider range of philatelic material and research details such as printing processes, perforations, watermarks, paper and gum. A small book on the history of anaesthesia through postage stamps was published in 2000 [15]. Of course, the anaesthetic historian will find it regrettable that not all the names and items in the story have featured on postage stamps or other philatelic material. It is here that enthusiastic historians may help by urging the appropriate postal authorities to issue the missing stamps! For example, the following forthcoming anniversaries should be commemorated: 2003, bicentenary of isolation of morphine from opium by F.W.A. Serturner; 2004, sesquicentenary of removal of Broad Street pump due to John Snow; 2005, centenary of 1st edition of textbook on Local Anaesthesia by Heinrich F.W. Braun; 2007, sesquicentenary of birth of Carl Koller; 2007, 75th anniversary of introduction of IV hexobarbitone by Helmut Weese.
References [1] A. Furukawa, Medical History through Postage Stamps, Ishiyaku EuroAmerica, Tokyo, 1994, pp. 209, 260. [2] S.B. Nuland, The Origins of Anesthesia, The Classics of Medicine Library, Birmingham, AL, 1983, Chaps. I, VI, VIII, XII. [3] W.M. Shearer, The evolution of premedication, Br. J. Anaesth. 32 (1960) 554 – 562. [4] T. Ogata, Seishu Hanaoka and his anaesthesiology and surgery, Anaesthesia 28 (1973) 645 – 652. [5] R.J. Wolfe, Robert C. Hinckley and the recreation of the first operation under ether. Boston Medical Library (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine), Boston, 1993, pp. 31, 35 – 36, 41, 79. [6] W.F. List, A. Kernbauer, Karl E. Hammerschmidt—scientist, humanist and pioneer of anaesthesia, in: J. Schulte am Esch, M. Goerig (Eds.), Proceedings of 4th International Symposium on the History of Anaesthesia, Dra¨ger, Lubeck, 1998, pp. 223 – 225.
536
A.G. McKenzie / International Congress Series 1242 (2002) 531–536
[7] R. Fu¨lo¨p-Miller, Triumph over Pain, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1938, pp. 25 – 7, 61 – 65, 117, 384. [8] H.R. Griffith, G.E. Johnson, The use of curare in general anaesthesia, Anesthesiology 3 (1942) 418 – 420. [9] V. Apgar, A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant, Anesth. Analg. 32 (1953) 260 – 267. [10] M.H.A. Davison, The Evolution of Anaesthesia, John Sherratt, Altrincham, 1965, pp. 66, 68, 82, 135 – 136, 157 – 158, 178, 182, 194. [11] C.A.B. McLaren, The third man—Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Hist. Anaesth. Soc. Proc. 28 (2000) 19 – 25. [12] G. Priestley, Joseph Priestley (1733 – 1804) dissident theologian and experimental chemist, Hist. Anaesth. Soc. Proc. 12 (1993) 47 – 51. [13] J.A. Lee, Claude Bernard (1813 – 1878), Anaesthesia 33 (1987) 741 – 747. [14] A.G. McKenzie, The contributions of Sir Henry Dale to anaesthesia, Hist. Anaesth. Soc. Proc. 26 (1999) 30 – 36. [15] A.G. McKenzie, A History of Anaesthesia through Postage Stamps, Maclean Dubois, Edinburgh, 2000.