Aspects of the development of anesthesia in France

Abstract

The first trial of ether in France antedated use of the agent in England. During the next few years, France's Académie des Sciences examined the claims for the discovery of anesthesia, finally according it jointly to Morton and Jackson. By 1848, chloroform displaced ether despite inexplicable fatalities associated with its use. In 1908, ether spectacularly returned with the introduction of the Ombrédanne inhaler, remaining popular in France to the 1960s. As World War II began, doctors, pharmacists, dentists and medical orderlies might be briefly trained in anesthesia. Surgeons directed anesthesia, and article 45 of the 1947 code of practice gave the surgeon the right to choose his operating assistants as well as the anaesthestist. Students completing a 6-week course, supervised by surgeons or physicians and supplemented by a 6-month hospital assignment, received a Certificate of Anaesthesia. The institution of examinations in 1948 led to the award of the Diplôme d'Anesthésie-Réanimation (Diploma in Anesthesia and post-operative care)