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Georgia and the Atlanta area are associated with three important figures in the history of surgery. Crawford Long (1815-1878) discovered the anesthetic effects of ether while in practice in Jefferson. Born in Culloden, Alfred Blalock (1899-1964) was a pioneer researcher in shock and resuscitation, and developed the Blalock-Taussig shunt for Tetralogy of Fallot. His technician, African-American Vivien Thomas (1910-1985), was a full partner in the landmark advances. Louis T. Wright (1891-1952) was born in LaGrange and grew up in the Jim Crow South. As the country's leading black surgeon, he led the integration of major hospitals and helped lay the groundwork for the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960s that integrated American medicine. Their stories, with roots in small towns in Georgia, reveal the deep surgical traditions of the South.
WITHIN AN EASY DAY TRIP of Atlanta are places associated with three important figures in surgery's proud past. Two are giants: Crawford Long (1815-1878) and Alfred Blalock (1899-1964). Less well-known but one who had a profound impact on civil rights and modern health care is Louis T. Wright (1891-1952), in his day America's most prominent African-American surgeon. The small towns and ethnic neighborhoods in and around Atlanta do not have the power of a landmark like the Ether Dome in Boston or the Hunterian Museum in London. But their stories reveal the deep surgical traditions of the South.
Crawford Long and the Birthplace of Anesthesia
The discovery of anesthesia, one of the signal events in history, has its own literature. The all-too-human part of the story is the greed and rivalry that surrounded the claims of the priority of the discovery of the anesthetic effects of ether. In his book The First Anesthetic (Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1950), Frank Boland tells Long's story1; Julie Fenster, in her book Ether Day (New York, HarperCollins, 2002), provides the Boston side.2 The brief summary here draws from their texts.
Long was born in 1815 in Danielsville, a small town about 90 miles east of Atlanta. Franklin College, the predecessor to the University of Georgia, was a logical choice for undergraduate study in nearby Athens. After receiving his diploma in 1835, he wanted to study medicine. But in his father's judgment, 20 was too young...