Editing Inhalational anesthetic (section)

==History==
[[Paracelsus]] developed an inhalational anaesthetic in 1540.<ref name="Terrel1986">{{cite book|last=Terrell|first=RC|chapter=Future Development of Volatile Anesthetics|title=ZAK Zürich |series=Anaesthesiologie und Intensivmedizin / Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine|year=1986|volume=188|pages=87–92|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-71269-2_12|isbn=978-3-642-71269-2}} citing Fülöp-Miller R (1938) ''Triumph over pain.'' Literary Guild of America, New York.</ref> He used sweet oil of vitriol (prepared by Valerius Cordus and named ''Aether'' by Frobenius):<ref name="Terrel1986" /> used to feed fowl: “it was taken even by chickens and they fall asleep from it for a while but awaken later without harm”.<ref name="Terrel1986" /> Subsequently, about 40 years later, in 1581, Giambattista Delia Porta demonstrated the use of ether on humans although it was not employed for any type of surgical anesthesia.<ref name="Terrel1986" />

In modern medicine, Dr. [[Horace Wells]] used nitrous oxide for his own dental extraction in 1844. However his attempt to replicate these results at [[Massachusetts General Hospital]] (MGH) resulted in a partial anesthetic and was deemed a failure.

[[William T.G. Morton]] is credited with successfully demonstrating surgical anesthesia for the first time on October 16, 1846, at MGH. Following this event, the use of ether and other volatile anesthetics became widespread in Western medicine.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/history-of-anesthesia/ | title=History of Anesthesia }}</ref>

After the experiments and publications by the Scottish obstetrician [[James Young Simpson]] in late 1847, [[chloroform]] became the first widespread [[halocarbon]] anaesthetic. Chloroform is a much stronger and effective anaesthetic than ether, it is non-inflammable and it did not irritate the airways, unlike ether.

First non-gaseous inhalational anaesthetics such as ether and chloroform were inhaled from a handkerchief which the liquid was poured on and allowed to evaporate. Concerns about the dosage of chloroform lead to development of various [[anaesthetic vaporiser|inhaler]]s.