To the Editor: The first recorded use of an anaesthetic in Australia was not at Sydney Hospital, as stated by Kappagoda,1 but was at Dr John Belisario’s rooms in Spring Street, Sydney. Belisario, with Dr Charles Nathan (honorary surgeon to Sydney Infirmary), administered ether to two patients having dental extractions on 6 June 1847, and possibly to other patients a day or two earlier.2,3
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- 1. Kappagoda A. We’ll drink to that: the 200th anniversary of Australia’s oldest hospital. Med J Aust 2012; 196: 77-78. <MJA full text>
- 2. Cooper MG. Dr Charles Nathan – his contribution to colonial Australian anaesthesia. Anaesth Intensive Care 1991; 19: 261-266.
- 3. Wilson G. One grand chain. The history of anaesthesia in Australia 1846-1962, Vol 1. Melbourne: Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, 1995.
- 4. Winton RR. Australian medical journals: their history and current locations. Bull Postgrad Comm Med Univ Syd 1969; 24: 259-261.
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