The introduction of ether in Paris revisited

Modern accounts of the introduction of ether anesthesia in France are mainly based on a letter written in February 1947 to the editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal by Francis Willis Fisher, a young Boston surgeon at that time a student in Paris. Fisher's letter hints that his efforts were the main impetus to the acceptance of ether by the French academic surgeons. The authors have reviewed the contemporary medical literature, especially the numerous French journals, relative to that event. Their review suggests that Fisher was largely ignored by the French surgeons and by his young competitors then studying in Paris. He seems to have exaggerated his role in the acceptance of ether anesthesia in France. The reviewed literature also provides some additional details and some corrections to Fisher's account. Modern accounts of the introduction of ether in France have relied heavily on a letter sent in February 1847 to the editor of the Boston Medical & Surgical Journal by Francis W. Fisher, a young Boston physician then studying in Paris. Fisher's report is often vague, occasionally incorrect, and probably exaggerates his role in the acceptance of anesthesia in Paris. This review attempts to complement and correct Fisher's account.