Wikipedia describes general anaesthesia as “a method of medically inducing loss of consciousness that renders a patient unarousable even with painful stimuli.” Amen.

The effect is achieved by administering either intravenous or inhalational [Ed: I like that word] general anaesthetic medications, and is usually performed in an operating theatre to allow surgical procedures that would otherwise be intolerably painful for a patient.

General anaesthesia is only around 160 years old. So, what did people do before that? Alcohol and other substances often played a role. Ancient Greek and Roman physicians like Hippocrates and Galen used wine and opium to sedate patients. They also employed physical techniques such as compression of the carotid arteries to induce unconsciousness. No thanks.

In Medieval Europe, herbal mixtures known as "dwale" were used for surgical procedures. These contained ingredients like opium, henbane and hemlock.

However, despite all this progress, surgery often remained a treatment of last resort. Largely because of the associated pain, many patients chose certain death rather than undergo surgery.

In the 18th century, the discovery of gases such as nitrous oxide ("laughing gas") by Joseph Priestley and ether by several chemists laid the groundwork for future use in anaesthesia.

Then, on 13 October 1804, Hanaoka Seishū, a Japanese surgeon, performed a partial mastectomy for breast cancer on Kan Aiya (藍屋勘), a 60-year-old woman whose family was beset by breast cancer, using tsūsensan, a compound composed of extracts of several different plants.

Although there has been a great deal of debate as to who deserves the most credit for the discovery of modern anaesthesia, for the birth of that, people often reference the date 16 October 1846 when dentist William T.G. Morton successfully demonstrated the use of ether as an anaesthetic during a surgical procedure at Massachusetts General Hospital in what is known today as the “Ether Dome”. Following Morton's demonstration, ether and chloroform quickly became the standard anaesthetics used in surgeries across the world. Phew!

The 20th century has seen the development of safer and more effective inhalation anaesthetics and the introduction of intravenous agents like thiopental (1934), ketamine (1962) and propofol (1977), and offered new options for inducing and maintaining anaesthesia … along with the practice of using a combination of anaesthetic agents to achieve optimal sedation.

Thank you, thank you medical science!
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References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_general_anesthesia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanaoka_Seish%C5%AB

Images

1. Re-enactment of the first public demonstration of general anaesthesia by William T. G. Morton on 16 October 1846, in the Ether Dome at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
2. Going under with a general anaesthetic. Photo credit: Shutterstock.
3. Hanaoka Seishu
4. Willian Morton, 19th-century American dentist
5. The Bulfinch Building, home of the Ether Dome
6. The Ether Dome
7. A modern anaesthetic machine. This particular machine is a "Flow-I" model, manufactured by Maquet.