7. Here we see the surgeon holding an ether can. Contrary to popular belief, anesthesia was nearly universally given to soldiers undergoing major operations. This widespread use of anesthesia was, in fact, the primary contribution of Civil War medicine to posterity. If anesthesia was witheld from a patient, it was done so because it was believed that shock was so pronounced that the anesthetic would kill the soldier.

Shown here is "stronger ether" from Squibb & Son, Philadelphia, Penn. About 25% of CV anesthetics were ether, the other 75% being chloroform. Although chloroform produced a more rapid induction of anesthesia, ether was safer. Chloroform was later found to produce cardiac arrythmias and death and was discontinued about 20 years after the civil war. Ether was slower to produce anesthesia, caused more nausea, and was highly flammable. It also caused much less respiratory depression, less cardiac side effects and more muscle relaxation. For these reasons, ether remained in use until the 1950's, and is still used in some third world countries today.