Anesthesia During The Civil War Essay

First, the Civil War improved anesthesia was by lowering the dosage used for each patient. Anesthesia was used in high quantities of a chemical called chloroform. Before the war began, surgeons used to obtain a specific dosage of chloroform, soak a cloth into it, and then proceed to use the saturated cloth to cover the patient's mouth and nose. This would then make the patient fall into unconsciousness during the time the surgeon performed on the invalid. However, at the start of the Civil War, doctors and surgeons found that this "chloroform-cloth" plan backfired quickly. The supply of chloroform would rapidly fall because too much would be used on just one patient. There was too little chloroform and too many patients to try to revive. One man found a way to fix this dilemma, and that was Dr. Julian John Chisholm of the Confederate Army. Dr. Chisholm solved this vital issue by inventing a 2.5-inch inhaler. His inhaler only required an
Once surgeons far and wide realized how versatile and efficient anesthesia was during surgery, this paved the way for a myriad of different ways to experiment with wounded patients through different surgical procedures. For example, one procedure that was tinkered with was reconstructive surgery of the face ("To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds"). Anesthesia revolutionized throughout the Civil War, and this allowed for reconstructive surgery to be experimented with. Today, reconstructive surgery is a more intricate name for plastic surgery. Plastic surgery can be performed for several different reasons, whether it be for vanity, trauma, or other reasons. Anesthesia was impacted by the Civil War; it vastly improved and helped physicians advance into newer practices in the medical field. Anesthesia truly led the way for America's healthcare to explore new ways to improve a patient's state of