anaestheticadj.n.

1846 O. W. Holmes Let. to W. T. G. Morton 21 Nov. in E. Warren Letheon (ed. 2, 1847) 79 The state should, I think, be called ‘Anæsthesia’. This signifies insensibility... The adjective will be ‘Anæsthetic’. Thus we might say the state of Anæsthesia, or the anæsthetic state.

1848 Sir J. Simpson in Jrnl. Med. Sc. IX. 220 The anæsthetic state must be made adequately deep.

1853 R. G. Mayne Expos. Lexicon Med. Sci. (1860) Anæstheticus, Applied specially of late to the state of persons rendered insensible by inhalation of ether or chloroform: anesthetic.

1879 Timbs in Cassell's Techn. Educator IV. 106/2 The possibility of setting patients into an anæsthetic state.

1860 A. L. Windsor Ethica vii. 338 In his judgment of character this cold anæsthetic temperament displays itself perhaps more prominently.

1847 Sir J. Simpson in Jrnl. Med. Sc. VIII. 415 At the first winter meeting of the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society (10th November) I directed the attention of the members to a new respirable anæsthetic agent..Chloroform, Chloroformyle, or Perchloride of Formyle.

1848 Sir J. Simpson in Jrnl. Med. Sc. IX. 220 The results of anæsthetic midwifery.

1859 A. Bain Emotions & Will i. §21. 34 Exercise or action is itself anæsthetic.

1870 J. Y. Simpson Anæsthesia in Wks. (1871) II. 23 The first case of an anæsthetic operation under sulphuric ether occurred at Boston [U.S.A.] on the 30th September 1846. The first case of an anæsthetic operation under chloroform occurred at Edinburgh on the 15th of November 1847.

1848 Sir J. Simpson in Pharmaceut. Jrnl. VII. 518 None of the five anæsthetics which I have mentioned..are..comparable with chloroform.

1851 J. Arnott Neuralgic Affections 20 It is very natural that the disappointment from the exaggerated statements..should indispose the surgeon to put trust in any local anæsthetic, without such corroborative evidence.

1874 Dunglison's Med. Lexicon (rev. ed.) at Anæsthetic, The ethers, rhigolene and other agents, when applied to a part in the form of spray, by their evaporation benumb it; and thus act as local anæsthetics.

1876 R. Bartholow Pract. Treat. Materia Med. ii. 325 The term anæsthetic, proposed by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, means an agent capable of producing anæsthesia, or insensibility to pain.

1878 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Eng. 18th Cent. I. iv. 551 Vivisection..before the introduction of anæsthetics, was often inexpressibly horrible.

1879 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon (at cited word), General anæsthetics are commonly employed in the form of vapour.

1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 909/1 The earliest local anaesthetic was cold, produced by a mixture of ice and salt. In place of this cumbersome method, the skin is now frozen by means of a fine spray of ether or ethyl chloride directed upon it.

1955 Oxf. Junior Encycl. XI. 4/2 A patient to whom a general anaesthetic is administered loses consciousness, while a local anaesthetic affects only the area of operation, the patient remaining fully conscious. Cocaine..the most commonly used local anaesthetic, was introduced in 1879.