Medical

The First Hypodermic Injection

The patient had an agonising pain in her face that had kept her awake. The conventional painkiller then was to drink a solution of morphine, but powerful though it was, it provided no relief. Francis Rynd realised that morphine would be more effective if you could deliver it direct to the site of the pain. He used a surgical instrument called a trocar to puncture a small hole in the woman's face, and allowed some morphine solution to flow in through a tube. The operation was relatively painless, and the woman later slept well for the first time in months. It was effectively the first local anaesthetic, and the technique was soon widely used to treat pain. Image: A commercial version of Francis Rynd's syringe. There is no plunger (the lever is to facilitate the injection), and the solution simply flowed in under gravity.

The First Hypodermic Injection

The First Hypodermic Injection

The patient had an agonising pain in her face that had kept her awake. The conventional painkiller then was to drink a solution of morphine, but powerful though it was, it provided no relief. Francis Rynd realised that morphine would be more effective if you could deliver it direct to the site of the pain. He used a surgical instrument called a trocar to puncture a small hole in the woman's face, and allowed some morphine solution to flow in through a tube. The operation was relatively painless, and the woman later slept well for the first time in months. It was effectively the first local anaesthetic, and the technique was soon widely used to treat pain. Image: A commercial version of Francis Rynd's syringe. There is no plunger (the lever is to facilitate the injection), and the solution simply flowed in under gravity.

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The First Practical Endoscope

A primitive endoscope had been invented in the USA in 1827, to look inside the bladder, but its poor light source made it ineffective. Francis Cruise (1834-1912) built an improved endoscope with a powerful paraffin lamp and mirrors to reflect the light into the patient's bladder. It was successfully demonstrated in 1865, received considerable international attention, and later commercial versions came with various attachments for peering into nearly every orifice. Image: The box holds a paraffin lamp; the attachment is a cystoscope to view inside a patient's bladder.

The First Practical Endoscope

The First Practical Endoscope

A primitive endoscope had been invented in the USA in 1827, to look inside the bladder, but its poor light source made it ineffective. Francis Cruise (1834-1912) built an improved endoscope with a powerful paraffin lamp and mirrors to reflect the light into the patient's bladder. It was successfully demonstrated in 1865, received considerable international attention, and later commercial versions came with various attachments for peering into nearly every orifice. Image: The box holds a paraffin lamp; the attachment is a cystoscope to view inside a patient's bladder.

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The first hypodermic injection took place at Dublin's Meath hospital in 1844, when a physician Francis Rynd improvised a way to give a local anaesthetic to a woman who was suffering with an agonising pain in her face.

The modern stereo stethoscope was invented in 1851 by a Wexford doctor, Arthur Leared. Until then, doctors had used a mono-stethoscope, essentially a wooden cylinder, to listen to sounds from a patient's chest.

Leared realised the device would work better with two earpieces. His new stereo design was shown at the Great Exhibition in London's Crystal Palace in 1851 and quickly copied.

The first practical endoscope, enabling doctors to see inside a patient's body, was built by a physician at Dublin's Mater Hospital in 1865.


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