Victory Over Pain

This history of anesthesia is the first of a projected series in the history of the sciences to be published by Henry Schuman and is some 338 pages in length including a limited and somewhat casually selected bibliography which is briefly annotated, and an excellent index. The author, Victor Robinson, who occupies the chair of the History of Medicine at Temple University, is well known for his writings in this field. It is dedicated to-two leading teachers and investigators in clinical anesthesiology, and From Rag and Bottle. Under "Early Developments" there is a somewhat detailed and scholarly account of the drugs and methods described for the relief of pain down to the close of the eighteenth century. Under the other headings with the exception of the last, the discussion is largely biographical , centering about the personalities of those involved in the introduction of anesthesia during the nineteenth century. Most notable of these, largely because they are customarily passed over casually, are Hickman, Piro-goff, Guthrie, Snow, and Koller. In the final division, that "From Rag and Bottle"-an unfortunate phrase which tends to discredit all that has gone before-the author discusses the elaboration of apparatus and techniques occurring for the most part in the past quarter of a century, and which has led to the development of anesthesiology as a special and important division of medicine. Unfortunately, here the historian ventures in where history is still in the making, always a dangerous thing to do, with the usual result that he becomes a protagonist in matters still controversial and concerning which he is not through personal experience sufficiently well informed. The volume has many interesting illustrations including portraits of those who have made major contributions in this field. It is somewhat disturbing to the reviewer, however, to find that several of his contemporaries have already become 'historical. Nothing is more difficult it would seem than the writing of books which at the same time are scholarly and have a "popular appeal," and it will be of interest to see in the projected series how far Mr. Schuman will be successful. In this first attempt, a laudable effort, there are sections of dignified and informative composition, but interlarded with these are "purple passages" of the kind that one has come to associate with the present-day historical novel.