WRIGHT,WILLIAM, AURIST - 19TH-CENTURY PNEUMATIC PRACTITIONER AND A DISCOVERER OF ANESTHESIA

William Wright (1773-1860) was Surgeon-Aurist in Ordinary to Her Majes ty Queen Charlotte of England. One interesting feature of his otologic practice was his employment of gases and vapors in treating deafness and other disorders of the ear. Among aeroform substances that he advo cated for such uses were nitrous oxide and ether - gases that were des tined to become anesthetic agents in another quarter of a century. Wri ght made the observation that inhalation of ether vapor would suppress the cough elicited by instrumentation of an inflamed and sensitive ea r canal. He used ether inhalation beginning about 1820 in his practice for this purpose, and in so doing appears to have administered some o f the earliest anesthetics on record.