Harold Griffith: The Evolution of Modern Anaesthesia

John H. Gryfe is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon practicing in
Toronto.

When dental surgeon W.T.G. Morton demonstrated the effects and surgical
benefits of ether to a group of physicians at the Massachusetts General
Hospital in 1846, the barrier preventing painless surgery was breached
forever. From this humble beginning, surgical general anaesthesia has
evolved into a sophisticated and respected operating-room discipline.

A major step in the specialty’s maturation occurred when it became
possible to control muscle relaxation without the risk of asphyxiation.
This breakthrough was linked to the identification and purification of a
South American primitive arrow poison called curare. Harold Griffith, a
homeopathic physician/anaesthetist from Montreal, became the first
practitioner in the world to use curare in a clinical setting. This
volume, the latest in the Canadian Medical Lives Series, relates
Griffith’s life and his intimate link with the training and practice
of anaesthesia in Canada in the 20th century.

Authors Bodman and Gillies are both specialists in anaesthesia. Bodman
is also an active student of the history of surgical anaesthesia.
Gillies initially trained as a specialist in Griffith’s McGill
University–based program and ultimately became the
anaesthetist-in-chief at the same hospital where Griffith had previously
held that position.

For those interested in Canadian contributions to the improvement of
medical care in the 20th century, this biography is often entertaining
and always readable.