Being Off This World

To be without pain is a blessing. Although pain can be useful as a warning that something’s wrong. To be without that sensation, such as pain is, or anesthesia (greek for without sensation) has known a long history, that’s having a highlight today, in the year 1842, when ether was used in the USA for the first time to make childbirth more bearable. From the 4000 BC Sumerian poppy fields, Incan coca leaves, Islamic Spain’s narcotica soaked sponges, to creepy mandrake (Harry Potter knows, ask him if you see him), to less sophisticated ways such as biting on a simple piece of wood after a sip of rum, to morphine, chloroform and all the latest we use today, a modest hit-on-the-head can be helpful. At the age of 10 I had the honour to get sedated. I can’t remember much of it, only that the hospital staff was trying to soften the anxiety by singing some songs for me. I’m sure ‘Dry Bones’ wasn’t one of them.