Henry Jacob Bigelow (1818-1890): A Champion for Anesthesia and Catalyst for the Advancement of Surgery

Prior to the advent of anesthesia, surgery was limited in scope due to the excruciating pain experienced by patients. This raised challenges for surgeons who were distressed by the inadvertent suffering caused by surgery. The first successful use of ether anesthesia by William Thomas Green Morton (1819-1868) in 1846 at Massachusetts General Hospital was a turning point for the profession. The innovation and proliferation of operations catalyzed by the introduction of anesthesia altered the landscape of surgical practice. Initially, the introduction of ether into the field was met with hesitation and resistance by several parties in the medical field. It took the efforts of prominent surgeons to ensure that ether achieved its full potential. The greatest supporter of ether during this epoch was the young surgeon Henry Jacob Bigelow (1818-1890), who spent 30 years of his career advocating for and experimenting with anesthesia. The efforts of Bigelow, a gifted surgeon renowned for his contributions to orthopedic surgery, were instrumental in the promotion of anesthesia and the advancement of the surgical profession. In this article, we discuss the life, career, and contributions of Bigelow, particularly in the context of the introduction of modern anesthesia.