Early intravenous anesthesia: an eyewitness account.

Abstract

Descriptions of the earliest iv injections of various substances by individuals who actually witnessed the experiments in 1656 are presented. Of particular interest is an apparently overlooked account of an experiment in which opium was administered intravenously to a dog many years before 1674 as related by the physician and anatomist Thomas Willis. He does not identify the precise date nor the experimenters. However, at the time of this event Willis would have been at Oxford. There he was a very close professional associate of Christopher Wren who originated the practice of iv injection. These eyewitness accounts are worthy of note because the articles usually cited to establish Wren as the first individual to administer a drug intravenously were not written by anyone who actually observed the experiments.