April 2011 - Anesthesia History Association

AHA 

VOL VOLUME VOL UME 29, 29, 29, NUMBER NUMBER 2 

2 

An American in Paris in 1846 and 1847: 

F. W. Fisher (1821-1877) 

By Ray J. Defalque, MD 

Professor, Emeritus 

Department of Anesthesiology 

University of Alabama at Birmingham 

and 

Amos J. Wright, MLS 

Associate Professor 



This article has been peer reviewed for publication in the April 2011 issue of the Bulletin of Anesthesia History. 

Introduction 

Reviewing the introduction of ether in 

Paris in 1846, we recently suggested (1) that 

Francis Willis Fisher’s role in the event 

was less significant that he had claimed in 

his letter to the editor of the Boston Medical 

and Surgical Journal.(2) As little is known 

of Fisher’s life besides his sojourn in Paris, 

we researched various Boston and New 

York sources for biographical data. Our 

search yielded a little new information, so 

Fisher’s life remains largely a mystery. We 

would like to report our new findings here. 

Early Years (1821-1848) 

F.W. Fisher was born on September 21, 

1821, in Dedham, Massachusetts, (3-5) not 

in New York City, as has been claimed.(6) 

He was the son of the second marriage of 

Freeman Fisher (1787-1869), a cloth manufacturer, 

and Mary G. Bronson (1802- 

1885), both of Dedham. The Fishers were 

an old Massachusetts family descending 

from Anthony Fisher, a 1635 Puritan immigrant 

from Suffolk County, England, 

and a signer of the 1635 Dedham Covenant. 

For unspecified reasons, Francis 

was baptized long after his birth, on June 

9, 1822. He was the nephew of John Dix 

Fisher (1797-1850), a renowned professor 

of medicine at the Harvard Medical 

School, and of the latter’s brother Alvan 

Fisher (1792-1863), a gifted painter. 

Francis graduated from Harvard Col- 

lege in 1842 and from Harvard Medical 

School in the spring of 1845.(3,6) Upon his 

graduation, he joined the Massachusetts 

Medical Society (7) but resigned a few 

months later when he left Boston. Like 

many young American physicians of 

wealthy families, he sailed for Paris in 1846. 

A letter to the editor of the Boston Medical 

and Surgical Journal (8) hints that he may 

have been seasick during the crossing. 

How long Fisher remained in France is 

unknown but his letters to the editor of the 

Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (2,8) 

show that he was in Paris at least from 

October 1846 until June 1847. He probably 

spent two years there, as did most American 

physicians of that period.(9, 10) John 

Collins Warren wrongly thought that he 

had been a medical student while in Paris 

(11) and the famous French surgeon 

Velpeau remembered him as “Dr 

White.”(12) 

There is no evidence that Fisher visited 

other European medical centers, as was 

then the custom. The Lancet (13) reports a 

Dr. Fisher attending some operations at the 

Westminster Hospital of London on January 

11, 1847, but unfortunately omits his 

first name; Fisher, of course, is a common 

British name. 

Fisher probably returned to the U.S. in 

the spring or the summer of 1848. He immediately 

joined the Boston Medical Association 

(14) but resigned the same year 

APRIL APRIL 2011 

2011 

when he left for New York City. 

Fisher in New York City (1848-1877) 

Fisher’s professional life in New York 

remains obscure. His 1877 obituary (15) 

reports that he had been a police surgeon 

but a diligent search of the files of the New 

York Police Department and of its museum 

failed to elicit his name. The extensive literature 

on the history of that department 

does not mention him. 

On November 15, 1855, in New York 

City, Fisher, then 34, married in Jane 

(Jennie) Fairbanks, the 21-year-old daughter 

of Dexter and Lucretia Fairbanks, two 

prominent New York socialites.(16) The 

Fairbanks, natives of Dedham, also descended 

from Puritan immigrants who 

landed in Massachusetts in 1835. At the 

time of his marriage, Fisher was president 

of the New England Young Men’s Association.(17) 

The Federal Census of 1860 (4) records 

Fisher as living in the 16 th Ward of New 

York City with his wife Jane, aged 26, his 

in-laws the Fairbanks and four Irish servants. 

No children are mentioned. However, 

the Fisher genealogy (3) reports that 

the couple had two children, John and 

Minnie who resided in New York. They may 

have been born after 1860. In 1860 Fisher 

was 39, not 37 as recorded in the Census. 

Continued on Page 20

18 18 

BULLETIN BULLETIN OF OF ANESTHESIA ANESTHESIA HISTORY 

HISTORY

The Anesthesia History 

Association (AHA) 

Announces 

the 2011 C. R. Stephen 

Essay Contest 

for Residents and Fellows 

The C. Ronald Stephen Essay Contest is open to 

all completing the essay during Residency or Fellowship. 

Essays can be on any topic related to anesthesia, 

pain medicine or critical care, and must 

be less than 5000 words. “Finalists” (up to three) 

are announced during the October, 2011 Annual 

Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. 

“Finalists” must present 20 minute oral versions 

of their essays in person at the spring annual 

meeting of the AHA in 2012. Judging is by an expert 

panel based on the appropriateness and originality 

and of the subject, the quality of the research, 

the writing, the bibliography, and the quality of 

the oral presentation. 

All finalists must agree to submit their essays to 

be considered by the Bulletin of Anesthesia History 

(peer reviewed, listed in PubMed) for possible 

publication. 

Prizes will be $500, $200, and $100 for first, second, 

and third place. 

Entries in the current contest must be RECEIVED 

before midnight September 10, 2011. Submissions 

should be as attachments to an email, in Microsoft 

Word 2003 to 2007. 

For a complete prospectus: 

http://www.anesthesia.wisc.edu/AHA/Essay.php 

Correspondence: 

Bradley E. Smith, M. D., Chair, 

C. R. Stephen Essay Contest 

bradley.smith@vanderbilt.edu 

BULLETIN BULLETIN OF OF ANESTHESIA ANESTHESIA HISTORY HISTORY HISTORY 19 

19 

Bulletin of Anesthesia History (ISSN 1522-8649) is published 

four times a year as a joint effort of the Anesthesia History 

Association and the Wood-Library Museum of Anesthesiology. 

The Bulletin was published as Anesthesia 

History Association Newsletter through Vol. 13, No. 3, July 

1995. 

The Bulletin, formerly indexed in Histline, is now indexed 

in several databases maintained by the U.S. National 

Library of Medicine as follows: 

1. Monographs: Old citations to historical monographs 

(including books, audiovisuals, serials, book chapters, 

and meeting papers) are now in LOCATORplus 

(locatorplus.gov), NLM's web-based online public access 

catalog, where they may be searched separately from now 

on, along with newly created citations. 

2. Journal Articles: Old citations to journals have been 

moved to PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed), 

NLM's web-based retrieval system, where they may be 

searched separately along with newly created citations. 

3. Integrated History Searches: NLM has online citations 

to both types of historical literature -- journal articles as 

well as monographs -- again accessible through a single 

search location, The Gateway (gateway.nlm.nih.gov). 

Doris K. Cope, MD, Editor in Chief 

Douglas Bacon, MD, Associate Editor 

David Waisel, MD, Associate Editor 

A.J. Wright, MLS, Associate Editor 

Assistant Editors 

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Spring Meeting Papers: Bradley Smith, MD 

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20 20 


HISTORY 

Fisher. .. Continued from Page 17 

According to the Census, both Fishers and 

the Fairbanks were Massachusetts natives. 

On May 27, 1861, Fisher enlisted as a 

surgeon in the 9 th Regiment of the N.Y. militia 

(18-20). The regiment was heavily engaged 

in the battles of Fredericksburg, 

Gettysburg and the Wilderness, but 

Fisher’s medical activities are not mentioned 

in the regiment detailed histories.(18-20) 

A Dr. Fisher (without a first 

name) is listed elsewhere (21) as working 

at the Chester Hospital during the battle 

of Gettysburg. 

The date of Fisher’s discharge from the 

service is unknown but must have been in 

early 1864 as he was a member of the reception 

committee when the regiment returned 

to New York City on June 11, 1864,(19) 

shortly before its demobilization on June 

23, 1864.(18-20) The same year Fisher became 

president of the New York Union Veterans 

Club. (22) 

In the early 1870s, Fisher moved to the 

Grand Central Hotel (now the Broadway 

Central Hotel) at 670, Broadway where he 

worked as hotel physician.(23) While living 

there he became involved in the fatal 

shooting of “Colonel” James “Diamond 

Jim” Fisk, Jr., the crooked financier and 

crony of Jay Gould and Tammany boss 

Tweed.(24) At the time of his death Fisk 

was entangled in long and complex legal 

proceedings against his previous business 

partner Edward S. “Ned” Stokes (1841- 

1901) and his ex-mistress Helen Josephine 

“Josie” Mansfield, who had left Fisk for 

Stokes. 

On the morning of January 6, 1872, 

Fisk’s lawyers obtained a grand jury indictment 

against Stokes on charge of 

blackmail. Hearing the news during his 

lunch, an enraged Stokes ran to the Grand 

Central Hotel after learning that Fisk was 

returning there from a visit to his friends, 

the Morses. Stokes reached the hotel 

around 400 PM, shortly before Fisk, and 

waited for him at the top of the stairway. 

As Fisk climbed the stairs, Stokes fired two 

pistol shots: the first entered Fisk’s abdomen, 

the second one pierced his left arm as 

he turned around to escape. Stokes tried to 

flee but was caught by the hotel staff and 

later jailed at the Tombs. 

Fisher arrived at the hotel around 4:45 

PM, shortly after the shooting. Entering 

his suite he found a note summoning him 

to room 212 where Fisk had been taken. 

Fisher’s testimony at Stokes’ first trial (23) 

gives a detailed, although at times confusing, 

account of Fisk’s last 18 hours. Except 

for a few brief absences, Fisher remained 

with the victim until the latter’s death. 

Entering room 212, Fisher found the 

patient pale and slightly tachypneic, conversing 

with two physicians, Dr Thomas, 

the main hotel physician, and Dr John P. 

White, Fisk’s personal doctor, whom Fisher 

remembered as “Dr Wood.” Fisk complained 

of severe abdominal pain. His 

physicians found a large gunshot wound 

in the right abdomen. Around 6:00 PM the 

wound was probed after the patient had 

inhaled one drachm (3.7 ml) of chloroform 

but the bullet was not found. Fisk continued 

to complain of severe pain and received 

several large draughts of morphine and at 

least two subcutaneous injections of 

Magendie’s solution (injectable morphine). 

The wound was again probed twice but 

without success. At Stokes’ trial, the coroner 

E.Y.T Manse explained that the bullet 

had entered the right abdomen, six inches 

above the navel, traveled through the ileum 

and the colon and lodged itself in the 

left thigh muscles. He felt that Fisk had 

died from shock. 

A total of seven physicians attended 

Fisk, limiting themselves to multiple consultations, 

observations of the vital signs 

and reluctant administration of morphine. 

Fisher simply reassured the patient, 

helped him to walk to the more comfortable 

room 214, repeatedly sponged his face 

with cold water and catheterized his bladder 

at 3:00 PM. When Fisk sank into coma 

at 5:00 the next morning, Fisher made futile 

attempts to arouse him with inhalations 

and frictions of ammonias. 

Fisk’s wife Lucy arrived from Boston 

at 6:30 AM but was unable to talk with her 

comatose husband. Turning to Fisher, she 

asked him if anything could be done to 

save her husband. Fisher loftily answered, 

“Alas, Madam, I fear not.” The forgiving 

Lucy, kissing her dying husband’s lips, 

murmured, “He was such a good boy.” Fisk 

died around 11:00 AM on January 7, 1872. 

Stokes’s first trial ended with a hung 

jury and a mistrial.(24) Fisher does not 

seem to have testified in the two subsequent 

trials. In February 1874, Stokes was sentenced 

to death but was reprieved by the 

Court of Appeals which declared a mistrial. 

After a third trial, Stokes served four 

years at Sing Sing. 

Fisher’s Death (January 20, 1877) 

Fisher died in 1877 under strange circumstances.(15) 

He resided at the time at 

49 South Washington Square.(5) On January 

19, 1877, at 10:00 PM, he visited the 

Cooper Drug Store on Sixth Avenue and 

prescribed for himself ten drops of tincture 

of digitalis and two drops of aconite 

that he swallowed on the spot. Upon leaving 

the pharmacy, he became dizzy, vomited 

and went to bed as soon as he got home. 

His condition worsened and at 3:00 AM 

his family called Drs. Clarke and Knox. 

They found the patient alert but very dyspneic. 

They diagnosed cardiac or renal failure 

but Fisher suspected poisoning from 

an overdose caused by a pharmacist’s error. 

Fisher died at 9:00 on the morning of 

Saturday 20, 1877. Dr. Clarke refused to 

sign the death certificate and requested an 

autopsy. This was performed at the 

deceased’s home on the morning of Sunday, 

January 21, 1877, by Dr. Henry 

Woltman, coroner, and his deputy, Dr. Joseph 

Cushman.(5) Dr. Woltman found 

thickening and stenosis of the mitral valve, 

myocardial hypertrophy and pulmonary 

edema. He attributed the death to heart 

disease. His report wrongly described 

Fisher as being 51 year old and a resident 

of New York for 35 years. Fisher was buried 

in Dedham, Massachusetts, on January 

22, 1877.(5) 

Fisher’s prescription of digitalis suggests 

that he thought he had congestive 

heart failure. Aconite was widely used at 

the time for various neurological and arthritic 

conditions and, more rarely, for 

heart failure and edema. At Stokes’ trial 

(23) Fisher had mentioned that his right 

hand was partially paralyzed, following 

what he called a “heat stroke” but may have 

been a cerebral embolism, a complication 

of his valvular disease. 

Conclusions 

We have found it curious that a doctor 

described by the New York Times as “well 

known” and a “society physician” left so 

few traces of his professional life after his 

return to the United States. He did not belong 

to the A.M.A. or any of the New York 

or Massachusetts medical societies and 

joined the Boston Medical Association for 

a few months only. 

Odd, also, is Fisher’s change of first 

name over the years: from Francis Willis 

to F. Willis then to Francis W. and finally 

Frank W. We were unable to find a photograph 

or portrait. Thus most of Fisher’s 

life remains a mystery. 

References 

(1) Defalque RJ, Wright AJ. The introduction 

of ether in Paris revisited. Bull Anesth Hist 

2008;26:10-12. 

(2) Fisher FW. The ether inhalation in Paris. 

Boston Med Surg J 1847;36:109-113. 

(3)Fisher PA. The Fisher Genealogy: Records 

of the Descendants of Joshua, Anthony and 


BULLETIN BULLETIN OF OF ANESTHESIA ANESTHESIA HISTORY HISTORY 

21 

21 

Methamphetamine for Hitler’s Germany: 1937 to 1945 





and 





This article has been peer reviewed for publication in the April 2011 issue of the Bulletin of Anesthesia History. 

Introduction 

Methamphetamine, developed in Berlin 

in 1937-38, was widely used by the German 

civilians and armed forces personnel 

until 1945 despite the authorities’ efforts 

to curb its abuse. Neither physicians nor 

researchers could agree on its physical or 

mental effects or on its medical indications. 

Some German authors (1-3) suggested 

after the war that the drug had been encouraged 

by the Nazi regime to help create 

a “superman” hero. However, we found no 

grounds for that claim; in fact, the Health 

“Leader” and the military’s medical authorities 

repeatedly tried to curtail its use. 

We hope this article dispels many legends 

that have grown up around the Nazis and 

“speed.” 

The Discovery of Methamphetamine 

Working on the formula of ephedrine 

discovered in 1887, the Japanese A. Ogata 

(4) in 1919 synthesized methyl-amphetamine 

by replacing ephedrine’s OH radical 

by a CH3 chain. German and Swiss 

chemists (5) in the 1920s showed some interest 

in the compound, but only from a 

chemical point of view. 

In 1937, Fritz Hauschild (1908- 1974), 

a young physician and chemist with the 

firm Temmler in Berlin, rediscovered 

methamphetamine, while synthesizing 

over 50 ephedrine derivatives to study their 

pharmacological actions. Experimenting 

on small mammals and on himself and 

his co-workers, he found that methamphetamine 

was more potent than ephedrine as 

a stimulant of the central nervous and cardiovascular 

systems. It also was active 

when taken orally. In rodents, cats and 

rabbits it caused hyperactivity and excitement 

and reversed barbiturate sleep. In 

men it stimulated mental activity, caused 

euphoria, and hindered fatigue. 

Central nervous-active doses only 

caused minimum cardiovascular stimulation. 

Hauschild immediately reported his 

findings at two medical meetings and in 

four medical journals in 1938.(6,7) Gener- 

ally ignored is the fact that scientists in 

Copenhagen in the late 1930s had made 

the same discovery, as acknowledged by 

Hauschild in one of his articles.(7) 

The firm Temmler, anxious to exploit 

Hauschild’s discovery before the entry of 

Benzedrine (amphetamine) on the German 

market, applied for a patent in early 1937 

and it was granted on October 31, 1937. 

(Reich Patent No 767-186). In March, 1938, 

Temmler released methyl-amphetamine 

hydrochloride commercially under the 

trade name of Pervitin in 3mg tablets and 

15mg ampules. The drug was inexpensive 

and available without prescription. 

Pervitin in Civilian Practice 

Pervitin tablets became immediately 

popular with tired night workers (nurses, 

phone operators, watchmen) and with 

young people seeking cocaine-like euphoria 

and heightened sexual pleasure.(1,8) 

Temmler also launched an intensive advertising 

campaign among German physicians, 

flooding their offices with samples 

and literature quoting amphetamine’s success 

in the U.S. and offering them financial 

incentives to publish their findings. 

By the end of 1939, over 100 clinical studies, 

most of them laudatory, had been published. 

All were uncontrolled trials of little 

scientific value. They claimed successes in 

a variety of conditions: 

a) Surgery: cure of surgical and anesthetic 

collapse; quicker recovery 

from anesthesia; enhanced convalescence; 

well-being and euphoria 

in inoperable cancer patients. The 

influential surgeons of Leipzig 

University were especially enthusiastic 

about the drug. 

b) Medicine: treatment of asthma and 

hay fever; reversal of barbiturate 

coma; weaning of morphine and 

alcohol addicts; weight gain in 

debilitated patients. 

c) Obstetrics: infant resuscitation. 

d) Neurology: migraine and other 

headaches; apathy; post-encephalopathic 

Pakinson’s syndrome. 

e) Psychiatrists reported the best successes 

in schizophrenia; depressions; 

phobias, anxiety and sexual 

deficiencies. 

There were, however, a few reports of 

addiction and chronic abuse with personality 

changes or collapse. 

Pervitin was more critically studied at 

the Dortmund Institute of Work Physiology 

on alert and tired volunteers.(9,10) The 

results were inconsistent or conflicting but 

the investigators agreed that Pervitin did 

not increase the metabolism but simply 

induced the subjects to produce more work. 

They warned against the danger of continuing 

working over the physiological 

limits. The Dortmund research was closely 

watched by another work physiologist, Dr. 

Otto F. Ranke (1899-1959) in Berlin, as 

mentioned below. 

Dr. Leonardo Conti (1900-1945) and 

Pervitin 

The reports of chronic abuse and addiction 

started to raise some concern by 

the end of 1939.(11) In an influential medical 

journal (12) F. Haeffner, a renowned 

pharmacologist, warned against the use of 

stimulants and recommended government 

control. Some academic psychiatric departments 

and the Berlin criminal police reported 

a disturbing increase in the number 

of Pervitin addicts. Dr. Leonardo Conti, 

the Reich Health Leader, a physician obsessed 

with the health of the German 

“Volk” (community), was informed of these 

problems, and on November 11, 1939, ordered 

Pervitin to be sold only with a doctor’s 

prescription. This order, however, did not 


22 22 


HISTORY 

Germany. .. Continued from Page 21 

curb the abuse; physicians now prescribed 

Pervitin for various vague or trivial indications. 

In a March 1940 speech to the Nazi 

Medical Association in Berlin, Conti 

warned his colleagues that their laxity seriously 

threatened the “Volk’s” health. In 

early 1941, German newspapers quoted reports 

in the British press and from the BBC 

attributing the brilliant German military 

successes to the use of stimulants and 

claiming that German pilots captured in 

England carried Pervitin. There were stories 

of German soldiers taking Pervitin 

before visiting French brothels where the 

girls used the “love pill” Maxiton (amphetamine). 

In the spring of 1941, the Berlin 

police uncovered a large black market of 

Pervitin, including deliveries to a popular 

brothel. 

At Conti’s prompting, Ernst Speer 

(1889-1964), a noted psychiatrist and director 

of the Lindau Institute of Psychiatry, 

reviewed the literature on, and his experience 

with, Pervitin. He published his 

conclusions in the January 1941 issue of a 

prominent medical journal.(13) He had 

found no sound medical indications for the 

drug, not even in psychiatry, and knew of 

numerous cases of true addiction or chronic 

abuse. For Speer, the drug’s only indication 

was life-threatening exhaustion, as in 

military drivers or motorcycle riders. A few 

physicians objected to Speer’s conclusions 

and felt that he exaggerated the drug’s dangers 

and ignored some sound indications. 

Conti, however, accepted Speer’s recommendations 

and in mid-June 1941 asked the 

Interior Minister to place Pervitin under 

the “Opium Law” (the German equivalent 

of regulations for controlled substances). 

The decree, published on July 1, 1941, 

threatened severe penalties but exempted 

the research institutions, and, implicitly, 

the armed forces. Conti’s decision was 

clearly detailed by his assistants Kaerber 

(14) and Gruenwald (15) who insisted that 

the drug should never be prescribed for 

healthy subjects and that other, safer drugs 

were available for true medical indications. 

The abuse of Pervitin by civilians markedly 

decreased after 1941 because of the new 

law, but also because of competition with 

the military and difficulties in production 

and distribution caused by the Allied bombings. 

However, physicians still occasionally 

prescribed it for depression, narcolepsy, 

apathy and Parkinson’s syndrome. Towards 

the end of the war, large amounts of Pervitin 

were distributed to the armament workers 

to increase their output during the night 

shifts.(2) 

Pervitin in the Armed Forces 

(Wehrmacht) 

1. Army (Heer)(2,3,16-18) 

As the Army, especially its motorized 

divisions, expanded after 1935, the German 

drug companies saw a large potential market 

for their stimulants. In October 1938, 

Boehringer and Knoll, and in early 1939, 

Temmler, recommended their stimulants 

Benzedrine and Pervitin respectively, to 

General Dr A. Waldman, the Army’s Medical 

Inspector (the highest medical officer). 

Up to May 1939, Dr Waldman had refused 

to introduce stimulants in the service, but 

he, however, asked Dr O. Ranke to study 

the matter. In May 1937, Ranke had become 

chairman of the Department of Physiology 

at the Berlin Medico-Military Academy, 

the Army’s medical school and research 

center. An aggressive scientist interested 

in work physiology, Ranke had read 

Hauschild’s papers and was in close contact 

with his colleagues at the Dortmund 

Institute of Work Physiology. In the last 

week of September 1938, he started studying 

Pervitin’s effects on the physical and 

mental activity of sleep-deprived cadets. He 

could not complete his experiments as some 

of his subjects developed cardiac 

arrhythmias or abused the drug to “cram” 

for their examinations. He resumed his 

experiments in April and May 1939 testing 

Pervitin, Benzedrine and caffeine against 

a control (dextrose) and adding a psychiatrist 

to test the cadets’ mental and motor 

skills. Because of side-effects (attributed to 

overdose) and again because of abuse by 

the “cramming” students, Ranke again did 

not finish his study. He, however, reached 

some conclusions that he sent to the Medical 

Inspector: 

1. As stimulants, Pervitin and Benzedrine 

were equipotent but superior 

to caffeine. 

2. Pervitin in 3-6 mg doses maintained 

alertness and good mental 

and motor skills for up to eight 

hours. 

3. It could cause physical collapse if 

used over 24-36 hours. Its use 

should always be followed by a long 

restorative sleep. 

4. It should always be given under 

medical supervision. 

5. It would not reverse alcohol intoxication. 

From May through August 1939, i.e., 

immediately before the onset of the Polish 

campaign (September 1, 1939), Ranke distributed 

large amounts of Pervitin to the 

medical officers of motorized units to test 

it against fatigue. In October 1939 at Dr 

Waldman’s request, he interviewed the physicians 

who had been in Poland. They had 

taken Pervitin themselves or given it to officers 

and soldiers exhausted by the long 

and rapid advances. All were enthusiastic: 

Pervitin had kept them alert, clear-thinking 

and proficient and it had saved many 

lives by preventing accidents with tired 

drivers and motorcycle riders. 

Visiting the Western front the same 

month, Ranke found that many overworked 

junior officers carried Pervitin in 

their briefcases, using it frequently and 

with excellent results. Ranke reported his 

findings to the Inspector while deploring 

the lack of good control studies, repeating 

his previous guidelines and warning of the 

danger of addiction and chronic abuse. In 

fact, in November 1939, Ranke wrote to the 

Health Leader Conti recommending that 

Pervitin become a controlled substance. 

In early 1940, Inspector Waldman sent 

Dr Krueger, an assistant of Ranke’s at the 

Medico-Military Academy, to interview the 

medical officers who had served in Poland 

to obtain another, unbiased opinion. In his 

April 1940 report, Krueger confirmed the 

enthusiasm for Pervitin but noted that 

some interviewees had misgivings about 

its abuse. The same month Ranke recommended 

that the Army adopt Pervitin, provided 

administration was done by a medical 

officer and only in exceptional cases of 

life-threatening exhaustion. 

Informed of these reports (possibly by 

Ranke himself), the firm Temmler then resubmitted 

its request for the adoption of 

Pervitin into the service. In late April 1940, 

General Waldman issued a directive, written 

with Ranke’s help, accepting the drug 

in the Army, provided it be used as recommended 

by Ranke. Tubes of 30 tablets of 3 

mg were added to the units’ medical packs. 

Waldman’s directive was complemented by 

an ordinance of General v. Brauchitsch, 

the Army’s Commander in Chief, extolling 

Pervitin as a boon for fighting Germany. 

Pervitin was thus officially available 

during the Western campaign of May-June 

1940. From April through December 1940, 

the military medical depots dispensed 30 

million Pervitin tablets. Ranke was attached 

to General v. Kleist’s Army Corps, 

which included many motorized divisions, 

during its rapid advances across France 

of May 1940. Reviewing the use of Pervitin

after the armistice in June-July 1940, 

Ranke found that large amounts of the drug 

had been distributed to the troops, sometimes 

for 24 to 36 hour periods by the units’ 

physicians at the urging of their commanding 

officers. Again Pervitin was hailed as 

saving the life of many exhausted men. 

Ranke also discovered that some officers 

had taken it as an aid in their drinking 

binges or to treat hangovers. Some senior 

officers while on Pervitin had suffered 

myocardial infarcts (occasionally fatal) 

while swimming or during drinking bouts. 

In his post-campaign report Ranke again 

deplored the lack of controlled studies and 

insisted on his previous guidelines. 

In February and September 1941, General 

Dr S. Handloser (1885-1954), the new 

Medical Inspector, issued two directives on 

the use of stimulants in the Army, insisting 

on Ranke’s strict guidelines. The ordinances 

were probably prompted by letters 

from Dr Conti complaining of Pervitin 

abuse in the service (see below). These directives 

may have curtailed the abuse of 

Pervitin as the medical depots only dispensed 

10 million tablets in 1941. 

The military use of Pervitin after 1942 

is poorly documented as most of the 

records after that date were lost.(16,17) But 

there is evidence that the drug continued 

to be widely used. The Deutsche Militaerarzt, 

the official journal of the military physicians, 

in 1942 and 1943 published letters 

from medical officers reporting that they 

had been ordered by their commanding 

officers to distribute the drug to the troops. 

The memoirs of senior commanders and 

soldiers statements to newspapers after the 

war suggest a large use of Pervitin by the 

soldiers to help them escape the enemy 

encirclements during the harsh Russian 

winters. 

The pharmaceutical companies continued 

to encourage the Army’s use of 

Pervitin. The medical Inspector denied the 

requests of two firms to add Pervitin to 

their products such as Energetika (dextrose 

tablets) and the firm Sarotti’s Moka 

Glycolade (cocoa, caffeine and dextrose). 

In 1942-3, the firm Temmler recommended 

its Pervitin to the Army for the management 

of surgical shock and to produce 

shorter anesthesia recovery time. Temmler 

also released a morphine-Pervitin preparation 

(morphine 20 mg, Pervitin 7.5 mg) 

to prevent morphine’s somnolence and cardiovascular 

depression during the protracted 

evacuations of the wounded in the 

cold Russian winters and thus avoid frostbites. 

Experiments at the Berlin Medicomilitary 

Academy in 1944 also suggested 

that Pervitin enhanced morphine’s anal- 

gesic action. The Army also occasionally 

used Pervitin on its exhausted horses in 

the Soviet Union. 

Conti and the Wehrmacht: A Power 

Struggle 

Between January 1940 and December 

1941, Dr Conti sent at least four letters to 

the Inspectors Waldman and Handloser 

to complain of Pervitin abuse in the Army; 

he saw it as a threat to Germany’s health 

after the soldiers’ demobilization at the end 

of the war. In their delayed answers, the 

Inspectors refuted these accusations and 

claimed that the Army strictly followed 

Ranke’s and Speer’s recommendations. 

The correspondence prompted General 

Handloser’s two directive mentioned 

above. These exchanges probably were a 

power struggle between a Nazi agency and 

the fiercely independent armed services. 

2. Pervitin in the Air Force 

(Luftwaffe)(19) 

The Luftwaffe’s medical authorities rejected 

Pervitin because of its danger of pilots’ 

hypoxia and hyperventilation and the 

need for long restorative sleep after its use. 

Pilots on long flights used hot coffee or tea 

and the “Fliegers Chocolate” (flyers’ candy 

bar, Sho-Ka-Kola, a mixture of cocoa, dextrose, 

caffeine and extract of kola nut) made 

by the firm Hildebrand. However, Pervitin 

tablets were included in the bail-out kits 

of flyers shot over the sea or behind enemy 

lines. Towards the end of the war, faced 

with exhausted, overworked fighter pilots, 

the Luftwaffe’s medical authorities held 

several conferences to discuss the advantages 

of Pervitin over caffeine but reached 

no decision. 

3. Pervitin in the Navy 

(Kriegsmarine)(20-22) 

A directive issued by the Navy’s chief 

medical officer in early 1941 introduced 

Pervitin in his service, with the same guidelines 

as in the Army. Ships’ pharmacies 

stored Pervitin tablets to be administered 

by a physician only in extreme cases of exhaustion. 

In submarines, which rarely had 

a doctor aboard, Pervitin was controlled 

by the captain. In all ships the use of the 

drug had to be recorded in the medical log. 

However, many ship captains distributed 

Pervitin during long, tiring missions, such 

as long convoy battles. During the “Channel 

Dash” of February 11-13, 1942, when 

the cruiser “Prinz Eugen” and her sister 

ships escaped from their French port of 

Brest to return to their Baltic bases, the 

sailors received Pervitin to maintain their 

seven hour “high alert” watches. The crews 


23 

23 

of the small “Schnell Boote” (small,fast 

torpedo boats) who were on 12 hour duty 

also received Pervitin. At the end of the 

war, tablets containing Pervitin, cocaine 

and hydro- or oxycodone were tested on 

the crews of the “one-man torpedoes” during 

trials in the frigid Baltic Sea. The large 

amounts of Pervitin found in the 

Kriegsmarine’s medical depots after the 

war suggest an intensive use of the drug. 

D. Pervitin in the S.S. Forces(1,2,22,23) 

Tablets containing Pervitin, cocaine 

and oxycodone were provided to Colonel 

O. Skorzeny’s S.S. commandos trying to 

capture Tito in the rugged Serbian mountains 

during the winter of 1944-45. S.S. 

physicians also tested Pervitin on concentration 

camp inmates: 

a) Hunger experiments in Buchenwald 

and Matthausen. 

b) Marches of 60 miles with a heavy 

backpack after a three hour sleep 

in Sachsenhausen. 

c) In Dachau in May 1942, the infamous 

Dr Raschner administered 

Pervitin to his victims to test their 

resistance to low atmospheric pressure 

(68 mm Hg). 

Notorious German Pervitin Addicts in 

World War II 

1. Heinrich Boell (1917-1985). The prolific 

novelist, winner of several German 

literary awards and of the 1972 Nobel prize 

for literature, became addicted to Pervitin 

while a soldier in Poland in 1932, an addiction 

which persisted after the war. 

2. Ernst Udet (1896-1941). An air ace in 

the Red Baron’s squadron, Udet after 

World War I became a flamboyant stunt 

pilot, movie star, playboy and popular idol. 

Commissioned general in the Luftwaffe in 

1935 he directed the department of research 

and development. He introduced the dive 

bombers, including the famous Stuka, in 

his service after visiting the Curtis plants 

in the U.S. Heavily addicted to Pervitin 

and alcohol, he became depressed in the 

fall of 1941 after his chief Goering blamed 

him for the Luftwaffe’s defeats and shot 

himself in November 1941. 

3. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). L.L. 

Heston, an American academic psychiatrist, 

concluded, without good evidence, 

that Hitler had become addicted to Pervitin. 

This addiction would have explained his 

physical and mental deterioration at the 


24 24 


HISTORY 


end of his life.(24) E.G. Schenck, a German 

physician who had met Hitler and 

became an expert on his health,(25) rejected 

Heston’s suggestion and felt that 

Pervitin, on rare occasions, had been added 

to the multiple vitamins prescribed for 

the Fuehrer, probably without his knowledge 

or even that of his physician Morell. 

Pervitin Outside of Germany during 

World War II 

Small clinical trials of Pervitin were 

carried out on Swiss, Swedish and Italian 

military personnel from 1938 to the early 

1940s. Although Pervitin was known in the 

U.S. at the time it was never used by the 

military.(26) Benzedrine, of course, was 

extensively used in the U.S. and British 

armed forces during the war. 

Conclusions 

Pervitin was widely used in Germany, 

by civilians until 1941 and by the 

Wehrmacht from 1938 to 1945, mainly as a 

stimulant to prevent or treat fatigue. Its 

medical indications were never clearly defined 

and it was rarely used clinically after 

1941. Studies of its mental and physical 

action gave inconclusive or inconsistent 

results. Its potential for abuse and 

addiction was recognized but thought to 

be rare and to occur only in subjects with 

personality disorders. Some German writers 

after the war (1-3) claimed that the use 

of Pervitin had been encouraged by the 

government to create a Nazi “superman.” 

Our extensive review of the literature, however, 

does not support this view. On the 

contrary, the over-zealous Health Leader 

Conti consistently attempted to curtail the 

use of Pervitin and other stimulants. The 

abuse of Pervitin in the Wehrmacht resulted 

from efforts to prevent or treat physical 

and mental fatigue during exhausting 

battles and thus save soldiers’ lives. 

Summary 

Methamphetamine was synthesized in 

Germany in 1937 and commercially released 

in 1938. It became a popular stimulant 

for tired night workers and a recreational 

drug for young people until mid- 

1941 when it became a controlled substance. 

It was abused by the armed forces during 

World War II when it was distributed by 

some commanding officers (occasionally 

over the objections of the units’ physicians) 

to prevent or treat the fatigue of exhausted 

troops and thus allow them to survive, despite 

the strict restrictions issued by the 

Army Inspectorate. There is no evidence 

for the claim that the use of Pervitin was 

encouraged by the Nazi government to create 

a “superman.” In fact the Health Leader 

L. Conti strongly discouraged its use. 

Cast of Characters 

1. The firm Temmler was founded in 

1937. Its Berlin plant was bombed in 1943- 

44 and occupied by the Russians in May, 

1945. It was re-established in West-Berlin 

then moved to Marburg. It is now one of 

the major German drug companies with 

seven plants in Germany, Switzerland and 

Ireland. Temmler stopped the production 

of Pervitin in May 1988 and renounced its 

patent in December of the same year for 

undisclosed reasons. 

2. Fritz Hauschild (1908-1974). He studied 

in Munich, Berlin and Goettingen, obtaining 

a PhD in Chemistry in 1932 and 

his medical diploma in 1934. He joined 

the firm Temmler in early 1937, and in 

1939 became professor of pharmacology at 

the Berlin Faculty of Medicine. He left the 

firm Temmler in 1941 and taught at the 

Universities of Heidelberg and Frankfurt/ 

Main. He was drafted in the Army in February 

1943 and served on the Eastern front 

as a medical officer until May 1945. In June 

1946, he returned to East-Germany and 

became a dedicated member of the Communist 

party. Made chairman of the Department 

of Pharmacology at the Karl 

Marx University in Leipzig in October 

1947, he taught, did research and published 

a highly regarded textbook of pharmacology 

and toxicology. He was a member 

of various committees and a scientific 

adviser to the East-German government 

which often praised him and decorated him 

twice despite his harsh criticism of the 

Party’s research policies. He died from 

cancer in Leipzig in 1974.(27) 

3. Leonardo Conti (1900-1945). Born in 

Lugano (Switzerland) from an Italian father 

and a German mother (a midwife), 

Conti moved to Germany and became naturalized 

in 1915. He received his medical 

diploma in 1925 after studying in Berlin 

and Erlangen. A zealous Nazi, he chaired 

various medical groups and in early 1939 

became “Reich Health Fuehrer,” the 

regime’s highest medical authority. Put on 

trial by the US Army in 1945 for his role in 

the euthanasia program and the 

Buchenwald typhus human experiments, 

he hanged himself in his cell in Nuremberg 

on October 6, 1945. 

4. Siegfried Handloser (1885-1954). 

General Dr Handloser became the Army 

Medical Inspector (chief medical officer) 

in January 1941 shortly after the death of 

his predecessor Waldman. In June 1942, 

Hitler made him Chief Medical Officer of 

all the German armed forces (Wehrmacht), 

including the S.S. medical service. He was 

tried in Nuremberg in December 1946 for 

condoning the S.S. human experiments 

and sentenced to life imprisonment. His 

sentence was reduced to twenty years by 

the U.S. High Commissioner John J. Mc 

Cloy in 1951. Diagnosed with terminal 

cancer in early 1954, he was released from 

prison and died in a Munich hospital in 

July 1954 from surgical complications. 

5. Otto F. Ranke (1899-1959). Born in 

Munich in 1899, Ranke studied in Munich, 

Freiburg/Br and Heidelberg. He received 

his medical diploma in 1923 and a PhD 

degree in Physiology in 1935. A captain in 

the Luftwaffe in 1935, he transferred as a 

colonel in the Army in 1937 to chair the 

Department of Physiology at the Berlin 

Medico-Military Academy. In March, 1939, 

he also became professor at the Berlin Medical 

Faculty. He directed various 

Wehrmacht’s research programs during 

the war and in 1946 became professor of 

physiology at the University of Erlangen 

where he taught, did research and published 

until his November 1959, death from 

heart failure following a myocardial infarct. 

His colleagues described Ranke as a 

rigorous, obsessive scientist but also as 

intolerant, quarrelsome and bigoted.(17) 

References 

(1) Roth KH. Leistungsmedizin : Das Beispiel 

Pervitin. In: Aerzte in Nazionalsocialismus. Edit 

F. Kudien. Koeln, Kiepenhauer & Witsch Verlag, 

1985:167-184. 

(2) Kemper WH. Pervitin. Die end-Sieg Droge? 

In: Nazis on Speed. Drogen im 3. Reich Volume 

1 Edit W Pieper Lohrbach (Germany) Gruene 

Kraft Verlag, 2002:122-133. 

(3) Baader G. Menschenversuch in der 

deutsche Wehrmacht In: Wissenschaft im Krieg. 

Krieg in der Wissenschaft, Edit M Tschir-merm & 

HW Goebel. Marburg, Eigen Verlag, 1990:258- 

266. 

(4) Ogata A. Constitution of ephedrinedesoxyephedrine 

(In Japanese) Yakugaki Zasshi 

(J Jap Phamacol Soc) 1919;451:751-764. Also in 

Chem Abstracts 1920;14:475. 

(5) Emde H. Ueber Diastereometrie. I. 

Konfiguration des Ephedrins. Helvet Chim Acta 

1929;12:365-376. 

(6)Hauschild F. Pharmakologische Wirkungen 

nach Abaenderungen am Ephedrinmolekuel. 

Naunyn-Schmiedeberg Arch fuer exp Pathologie 

Pharmakologie 1938;190:177-178. 

(7) Hauschild F. Tierexperimentelles ueber 

eine peroral wirksamend zentralanaleptische 

Substanz mit peripherer Kreislaufwirkung. Klin 

Wochenschr 1938;17:1257-1258. 

(8) Grunske F. Gesundheitliche Gefahren der 

Genuss-und Reizmitteln bei der Ermuedungsbekaempfung 

und Leistungssteigerung. In: 

Wehrmedizin. Edit S. Handloser & W. Hofman. 

Berlin, Springer Verlag, 1944:226-236. 

(9) Lehmann G, Staub H, Szakall A. Pervitin 

als Leistungssteigerendes Mittel. Arbeitsphysiologie 


Ray J. Defalque, M.D., 1932-2011 

By Mark Mandabach, MD 

Associate Director 

The Chestnut Section on the History of Anesthesiology 

Anesthesiology Department 


and 


Director 

The Chestnut Section on the History of Anesthesiology 

Anesthesiology Department 


Our friend and colleague Dr. Ray 

Defalque died on March 11, 2011, when he 

succumbed to an aggressive recurrence of 

head and neck cancer. More than a year 

ago, after extensive surgery, a remarkable 

recovery and return to a productive and 

comfortable life, his perseverance served 

as a wonderful example for all who knew 

him. 

Personally and professionally, he preferred 

the humble nomenclature of “Ray.” 

Ray was born on March 8, 1932, in Belgium; 

his siblings were Pierre and Arnold. 

His childhood was interrupted by World 

War II, when the family moved to the Belgian 

Congo. After the family returned to 

Belgium, Ray received his undergraduate 

degree in 1952 and his medical degree at 

the University of Louvain in 1957. He then 

came to the U.S. and completed an internship 

at hospitals in New York City in 1957- 

1958 and an OB-GYN fellowship in 1958- 

1959 at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals. 

[Figure 1] His anesthesia residency 

followed at the University of Iowa and by 

1961 he was back in Belgium as Chief of 

the Anesthesia Section at the Naval Hospital 

in Ostend. He returned to the United 

States in 1965 as Chief of the Anesthesia 

Section at the Indianapolis VA, a position 

he held until 1988. [Figure 2] Dr. Defalque 

was named Professor in the Anesthesia 

Department at Indiana University School 

of Medicine in 1975. 

His next move was to Birmingham, Alabama. 

On July 1, 1988, he joined the University 

of Alabama at Birmingham Department 

of Anesthesiology at the rank of full 

Professor, serving in the VA/Cooper Green 

Division. Later he worked at University 

Hospital and staffed the pain clinic. During 

his long career he specialized in regional 

anesthesia for orthopedics and pain 

management and published a number of 

articles in that area. In 1988 and 1989 he 

was voted Teacher of the Year in our department. 

Ray retired in 1999 and was sub- 

Fig. 1. Dr. Defalque at the University of 

Wisconsin during his OB-GYN fellowship in 

1958-1959. 

sequently awarded Professor Emeritus status 

by UAB. Our department’s Defalque 

Award was established in his honor. As the 

plaque notes, “The Ray J. Defalque Award 

for Outstanding Performance in Regional 

Anesthesia is awarded annually to an anesthesiology 

resident. This award was established 

in 1999 and is given in honor of 

Dr. Ray Defalque who, before his retirement 

in 1999, was a steadfast advocate of 

resident education and was widely known 

for his skill in the administration of regional 

anesthesia.” One of our history colleagues, 

Dr. Jason McKeown, was the recipient 

of this award in 2002. 

After retirement, Ray spent four to six 

weeks a year for several years in Vietnam 

teaching regional anesthesia. These trips 

to an orthopedic hospital in Ho Chi Minh 

City were taken under the auspices of 

Health Volunteers Overseas [HVO]. In the 

spring of 2006 Dr. Defalque was named 


25 

25 

one of the first winners of the Golden Apple 

Award by HVO as part of their observance 

of World Health Day 2006. “Dr. Defalque 

is a remarkable educator, devoted to sharing 

his knowledge and skills at the sites,” 

stated Nancy Kelly, MHS, Executive Director 

of HVO. “He was selected for this 

recognition by his peers for his work in 

both Vietnam (to which he has traveled 5 

times) and Peru training anesthesiologists. 

His input was critical not only in the design 

of the training program, but also in 

terms of teaching and clinical supervision 

of the students. He is spoken of by staff at 

the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopedics 

in Ho Chi Minh City as having 

‘lots of energy’ and is credited for contributing 

long days and weekend hours in the 

hospital teaching and mentoring. He is 

known for this same passion and dedication 

in both Lima and Arequipa, Peru, 

where he has made significant contributions 

to HVO’s educational programs and 

has established ongoing relationships with 

Fig. 2. Dr. Defalque in Indianapolis, 1972. 


26 26 BULLETIN BULLETIN BULLETIN OF OF ANESTHESIA ANESTHESIA ANESTHESIA HISTORY HISTORY 

HISTORY 

Defalque. .. Continued from Page 25 

Fig. 3. Dr. Defalque at the AHA 2008 

Spring Meeting in Pittsburgh. 

Peruvian colleagues.” [UAB Anesthesiology 

Tuesday Report, May 16, 2006] Shortly 

after receiving this award, he returned to 

Peru for a second time. In this period, Ray 

also pursued locum tenens in Alabama and 

seemed to never tire in his energy and enthusiasm 

for life in general and anesthesia 

in particular. 

Well before his retirement, Dr. Defalque 

developed a deep interest in the history of 

anesthesiology and began to publish what 

has become a long series of articles in that 

area. He was especially interested in the 

history of chloroform and the status of 

anesthesia in Germany under the Nazis. 

Some of the other topics that attracted his 

interest over the years included the histories 

of chloric ether, scophedal, and methadone; 

such nineteenth century figures with 

interesting roles in the history of anesthe- 

Fig. 4. Dr. Defalque speaks at the AHA 

2005 Spring Meeting in Birmingham, 

Alabama. 

sia as Robert Glover and Francis Fisher; 

and the treatment of frostbite by German 

and Allied forces in World War II. He was 

active for many years in the Anesthesia 

History Association [Figures 3-4] and a 

member of our Department’s History Section 

from its beginnings in 2002. 

More than a decade ago, Dr. Defalque 

began donating research materials to the 

Wood Library-Museum [WLM]. He started 

Fig. 5. Dr. 

Defalque 

examines a 

poster at the 

department’s 

60th 

anniversary 

celebration, 

June 2008 

(photo by 

Steve Pearce). 

with materials that he had annotated for a 

bibliography on chloroform. Many years 

earlier he had started a quixotic journey to 

create a bibliography of everything ever 

published on that agent—medical, environmental, 

industrial, etc. Needless to say, 

this bibliography was never completed, but 

his thousands of annotations will be preserved 

at the WLM, along with what has 

become the Defalque Chloroform Collection. 

Judith A. Robins, WLM Collections 

Supervisor, noted in an email to one of us 

[AJW] that “I enjoyed assisting Dr. 

Defalque in his efforts to compile a definitive 

bibliography of all publications relating 

to chloroform. I corresponded often 

with Dr. Defalque as he regularly added to 

the collection, and I had the pleasure to 

meet him in person. The Defalque Chloroform 

Collection is an extensive resource 

for anyone who wishes to study this fascinating 

topic. The materials range in date 

from the 1830s to the present, including 

newspaper accounts, scholarly articles, 

and doctoral dissertations. These relate to 

every aspect of the subject, from chemistry 

to complications, criminal history, and its 

environmental impact. While the bulk of 

the collection is in English, it also includes 

materials in French, German, and many 

other languages. The Defalque Collection 

is available for research use on request.” 

Other friends have come forth with personal 

recollections, and we would like to 

share a few of these. 

Dr. Marie Therese Cousin in France 

I met R. Defalque in Hamburg at the 

international Meeting of History of Anesthesia. 

He spoke French perfectly and seeing 

my embarrassment when questions 

were asked, he helped me with spontane- 

ous translations. Since this moment we became 

friends and when I wrote my book (a 

history of anesthesia and critical care in 

France ( L’anesthésie et la réanimation en 

France , des origines à 1965, L’Harmattan, 

publisher, 2005) he made a report about 

this work in an issue… (of the Bulletin); he 

was enthusiastic and proposed to translate 

the book. Ray Defalque was generous 

and always attentive to others, he never 

forgot me and always found friendly 

words. I felt very sad when I (heard) this 

new(s), last month he said that he was OK 

Fig. 6. Dr. Defalque in 2008.

with his health. [email to AJW, 25 March 

2011] 

Dr. Bernhard Panning in Germany 

Thank you for your e-mail which is written 

due to the very sad occasion of the death 

of our friend Ray Defalque. I think you 

Fig. 7. Dr. Defalque in 2008. 

know how I came into contact with Ray. 

This is perhaps a typical story which describes 

his uncomplicated way to get contact 

and his broad interests in many topics. 

Ray wrote in 1991 a note to me concerning 

an article in a very local Austrian journal 

(Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift). He 

asked for an offprint of my paper and he 

was of course able to read and to understand 

it in German. By the way there was 

only one other request for an offprint of 

this paper. From this time we had a very 

intensive contact. You know that we published 

several papers together also with 

yourself as a coauthor and I always felt 

Fig. 8. Dr. Defalque on a trip to Greece with 

his wife Druscilla in 2006. 

very honoured and happy about this. I saw 

Ray personally only once which was in 1997 

in Hamburg at the international Symposium 

on the History of Anaesthesia and I 

regret very much that he never had time to 

follow my invitations to visit Hannover. I 

am very sad that Ray has now passed in 

another world and I will miss him very 

much. [email to AJW, 28 March 2011] 

Theresa Kindt Kulb, MSN, CNOR, 

Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. 

I met Dr. Defalque in 1984 at the VA 

Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. I had 

transferred in from the Nursing Home 

Care Unit where I was awaiting a position 

in the Operating Room. One day, the anesthesia 

tech became ill and was gone for two 

weeks. In her absence, I was assigned the 

technician job. What this entailed was to 

be the assistant of the dreaded Dr. 

Defalque, other anesthesia staff and residents. 

I was to do the organizing and stocking 

of the anesthesia carts, checking out 

drugs, ordering supplies; basically EV- 

ERYTHING. I am sure the administration 

put me in there to hang myself, knowing 

someone new would just be destroyed. 

While I tore apart the Anesthesia room, 

trying to organize the room and carts and 

throwing away all the trash, in walked Dr. 

Defalque. Not yelling, but speaking very 

loudly, ‘Oh, my Gott, what are you doing? 

Where is my tech?’ Sheepishly, I answered, 

‘(W)ell, she is gone and you have me for at 

least two weeks’. Out he walked. Saying 

nothing and telling me nothing. So there I 

was, did not know what to do, did not know 

what to set up—and he did not come back. 

So out I went to find him. And find him I 

did. I just followed him for the next full 

week. Day by day as I anticipated his 

needs, he taught me. As it turns out, Dr. D. 

and I had many things in common, Belgian 

blood—my great, great grandfather 

built several buildings in the city of Ghent, 

many of which still stand today, the love 

of Indiana and Alabama sports teams and 

the turmoil of their coaches, the love of 

our families and their talents. He was very 

proud of his boys and his grandchildren. 

We also shared the love of travel and photography, 

and lastly, the love of great tireless 

teachers. As my life continued and I 

was forced to quit working, we still kept in 

touch and wrote and e-mailed routinely. I 

talked to him on e-mail 10 days before he 

passed, asking the temperature of 

Santiago, Chile this time year and what to 

take with me to wear at night. He was off 

by one degree. One of my favorite things to 

do was to send Dr. D. the new Notre Dame 

Football shirt. I sent him one every year 

BULLETIN BULLETIN OF OF ANESTHESIA ANESTHESIA HISTORY HISTORY 27 

27 

they came out after the annual Blue/Gold 

game. He must have 25 of them by now. He 

was always so thankful. I shall miss that 

and his wealth of all things I ever wanted 

to know about. [e-mail to AJW, 29 March 

2011] 

J. Antonio Aldrete, M.D., M.S., Birmingham, 

Alabama, U.S.A. 

We were almost the same age and had 

in a way what may be called ‘parallel professional 

lives.’ Beginning in the 1960s, Ray 

and I met at the reunions of the chiefs of 

anesthesia at Veterans Administration hospitals. 

These sessions would take place each 

year at the ASA annual meeting, lasting 

for about three hours usually on a Saturday 

morning. We met to discuss the good 

news, bad aspects and the ugly events that 

used to occur at each of our hospitals. Ray 

was Chief at the VA Hospital in Indianapolis 

while I had the same position at 

the VA Hospital in Denver. After 1970 we 

saw each other less often, mostly at meetings. 

When I returned to Birmingham in 

Fig. 9. Dr. Defalque on a trip to Russia with 

Druscilla in 2008. 

2002, he was still very active and we began 

to share our passion for the history of anesthesia. 

We did some translating for each 

other, he from French or German for me 

and I from Spanish for him. We both did 

volunteer teaching, he in Vietnam and later 

Peru and I in South America. I can say 

without exception that every encounter that 

we had was pleasant, positive, and very 

friendly. I felt I could always rely on and 

trust Ray. I will remember him, not only 



HISTORY 

Defalque. .. Continued from Page 27 

when I need an article translated, but also 

in conferences where we saw each other off 

and on. So many of us will miss him. [letter 

to AJW, 30 March 2011] 

Under his sometimes gruff exterior, we 

found Ray to be a warm and funny man 

who knew so much about so many things 

and was always ready to share that knowledge. 

Ray has been a friend and mentor, 

always willing to listen and help. He translated 

numerous articles for us in a variety 

of languages, including German, French, 

Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin. A 

major example was the first translation into 

English of Johannes Quistorp’s Die 

Anaesthesie, a German medical school dissertation 

written in Latin in 1718. [See 

Defalque RJ, Wright AJ. Quistorp and 

“Anaesthesia” in 1718. Bull Anesth Hist 

24(1):5-8, January 2006] Ray was a scholar 

in the classical sense and soft spoken and 

kind. We will miss him very much. [Figures 

5-9] He is survived by his wife 

Druscilla, sons James (and wife Kristi) and 

Jeff, and two grandchildren, Grant and 

Gillian. [Figures 10-11] He is also survived 

by a brother, Arnold, living in Nontron, 

France. 

Personal photos courtesy of the Defalque 

family. 

Fig. 10. Dr. Defalque with 

grandson Grant and flanked by 

sons Jeff (left) and James, 

Thanksgiving in Atlanta, 2007. 

Fig. 11. Dr. Defalque with daughter-in-law Kristi, sons James and Jeff, 

Druscilla and grandchildren Gillian and Grant, 2007.

From Amsterdam to Leeds: The Travels of 

the Dutch Liquid 





and 





Introduction 

The main events of the history of the 

Dutch liquid of chloride of olefiant gas 

are well known.(1) Our review presents 

lesser known details of that history and 

also addresses the confusion existing in 

the 1830-40s between Thomson’s and 

Guthrie’s chloric ethers. We also suggest 

that J. Y. Simpson’s introduction of chloroform 

in anesthesia was not directly related 

to the Dutch liquid. 

Discovered in Amsterdam in 1794 the 

compound travelled to Paris, Glascow and 

North America, then returned to Liverpool 

and from there to London, Edinburgh and 

Leeds. It disappeared from clinical practice 

in the 1850s, but continued being studied 

in laboratory animals in the 1880s. It 

remains today an industrial toxic and carcinogen. 

From Amsterdam to Paris (1794-1812) 

The Batavian Society or Society of the 

Dutch Chemists, an informal group of 

amateur chemists, was founded in 

Amsterdam in the winter of 1790-1 to 

study and expand the recent discoveries in 

chemistry, especially those of Antoine 

Lavoisier (1745-1794) and his antiphlogistic 

theory.(2,3) In 1794 the group included 

Adriaen Paets van Trostwijck (1750-1837), 

a wealthy merchant and the society’s dominant 

scientist; Johan R. Deiman (1743- 

1808), a physician; Nicholas Bondt (1765- 

1796), another physician; and Anthoni 

Lauwerenburgh (1758-1820), a pharmacist. 

In 1794 these four chemists created a 

dark-greenish explosive gas by heating 

equal volumes of alcohol and concentrated 

sulfuric acid. Using Lavoisier’s new nomenclature 

they gave it the French name 

of “gaz hydrogene carbone huileux” (oily 

hydrogenated carbonated gas). This was 

our present ethylene (C2H4). They were 

unaware that the gas had already been discovered 

by Anae and Cuthberton in 

Amsterdam in 1777 (4) and in 1789 by Carl 

W. Scheele (1742-1786) in Sweden.(5) They 

called the gas “oily” because when they 

combined it with an equal volume of chlorine 

(Cl2) they obtained a thick, heavy and 

whitish liquid “of pleasant odor and sweet 

taste” which the French chemists later 

called “liqueur ou huile des hollandais” 

(Dutch liquid or oil). Later the British 

chemists also named it “chloride of olefiant 

gas.” It is our modern 1,2 dichloroethane 

or ethylene dichloride (C2H4Cl2). 

The manuscript of the four Dutch chemists 

describing their discovery reached the 

French chemist Antoine Fourcroy (1755- 

1809), a friend of Lavoisier and an influential 

member of the “Institut de France” 

via Jean Baptiste van Mons (1765-1892) a 

chemist and botanist in Brussels and a 

corresponding member of the “Institut de 

France.” The bilingual van Mons probably 

translated or corrected the text. Fourcroy 

received it in Paris in August of 1796 and 

presented it to the “Institut” in December 

of the same year.(6) It was published in a 

1794 issue of The Journal de Physique et de 

Chimie.(7) (Political troubles in Paris prevented 

publication of The Journal from 1795 

to 1799 and the article was postdated to 

1794). The same manuscript was published 

in a 1795 issue of the influential German 

Chemische Annalen (8) and in several Dutch 

scientific journals.(2.3) Despite 

Trostwijck’s primary role in the research, 

Deiman was the publication’s first author, 

probably because of Trostwijck’s lack of 

academic titles.(2,3) 

In 1816 two Parisian pharmacists, 

Pierre Robiquet (1780-1860) and Jean 

Colin (1784-1865) undertook the difficult 

purification of the gas and of its oil and 

elucidated their formulas.(9,10) They were 

the first to suggest a possible medical indication 

for the liquid but gave no details. 

An Unlikely Medical Viennese Interlude 

in 1771 

Three articles (11-13) cite a professor 

Franck, of Leiden (Netherlands) without 

providing a reference. According to 

BULLETIN BULLETIN BULLETIN OF OF ANESTHESIA ANESTHESIA HISTORY HISTORY HISTORY 29 

29 

Franck, three young Dutch physicians visited 

the renowned Gerard van Swieten 

(1700-1772) in Vienna in 1771. Van Swieten 

was then the personal physician of Maria 

Theresa, the Austrian Empress. They made 

a dog inhale the Dutch liquid and induced 

a deep, short anesthesia. Van Swieten volunteered 

to be the next subject but the 

Empress forbade the trial. 

The story is probably apocryphal. Van 

Swieten died in 1772, 22 years before the 

compound’s discovery; extensive inquiries 

in Leiden failed to discover a professor 

Franck; and the incident is not mentioned 

in any of the numerous van Swieten’s biographies. 

From Paris to Glascow (1796-1820) 

In 1820 Thomas Thomson (1773-1852), 

a prominent professor of chemistry at the 

University of Glascow, described the properties 

and the formula of the chloride of 

the olefiant gas (Dutch liquid) that he had 

studied since 1810.(14) He gave it the name 

of “chloric ether,” an abbreviation for hydrochloric 

ether. This was the first appearance 

of the name “chloric ether” in the literature. 

From Glasgow to North America (1820- 

1832) 

Thomson’s name of “chloric ether” for 

the Dutch liquid was adopted by 

BenjaminStilliman, Jr. (1816-1865), the 

Yale professor of chemistry. In the 1831 

edition of his “Elements of Chemistry,”(15) 

he suggested that its alcoholic solution 

might be an excellent medical “diffusible 

stimulant.” His suggestion prompted 

Samuel Guthrie (1782-1848), a physician 

and amateur chemist in Sackets Harbor 

(New York) to find an easier and cheaper 

way of making the product for medical use. 

Distilling a mixture of chloride of lime 

and alcohol he unwittingly obtained an 

alcoholic solution of what would be called 



HISTORY 

Dutch. . . Continued from Page 29 

later chloroform. Unaware of the error, 

Silliman accepted Guthrie’s “sweet whiskey” 

as a cheaper chloric ether and gave it 

to his Yale colleagues, the physicians Eli 

Ives (1776-1861) and his son Nathan, to 

try it as a “diffusible stimulant” in lung 

diseases. They used it in inhalation, ingestion 

and even injection for various respiratory 

and infectious conditions.(16) 

From 1831-2 on, the name of “chloric 

ether” in North America and shortly later 

in Great Britain, signified Guthrie’s compound, 

but there were exceptions, however. 

Daniel B. Smith (1792-1883), a professor 

of chemistry at the Philadelphia College 

of Pharmacy, aware of Eugene Soubeiran’s 

(1797-1859) discovery of “bichloric ether” 

(an impure chloroform) in 1831 clearly 

distinguished between Thomson’s Dutch 

liquid and Guthrie’s solution of chloroform.(17) 

Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) in 

Giessen (Germany) made a similar distinction 

in 1832.(18) As will be mentioned below, 

some confusion also existed in London 

in the early 1840s. 

From North America to Leeeds (1832- 

1852) 

The American chloric ether soon 

reached Great Britain. In 1833, a Dr. J. 

Black, of Bolton (North England), after 

hearing of it from American colleagues, 

prescribed it for asthma and asthaenia.(19) 

In 1838 or 1839 a prescription for chloric 

ether was brought to Dr. Brett, the head 

chemist at the Liverpool Apothecary 

Hall.(20,21) Brett did not find its name in 

any British compendium but he did in the 

1834 edition of the United States Dispensatory.(22) 

The prescription’s writer may 

have been Dr. Richard Formby (1790-1865), 

a prominent Liverpool physician and 

friend of J. Y. Simpson. He had heard of it 

from American visitors.(23) Many prescriptions 

for chloric ether were later filled 

for him and other local physicians.(20,21) 

How the drug reached London from 

Liverpool is unknown, but it was used there 

in the early 1840s as an oral medication 

for bronchitis (24) and as a topical analgesic 

and deodorant in ulcers, ulcerated cancers 

and noma.(25-27) It was generally 

known as per- (or ter-) chloride of carbon. 

The latter’s nature (chloride of olefiant gas 

vs. American chloric ether) was often unclear.(25,28) 

The use of chloric ether as an 

alcoholic solution of chloroform as an inhalation 

anesthetic in two London hospitals 

in early and mid-1847 is well 

known.(29,30) 

David Waldie (1813-1889), Brett’s col- 

league in Liverpool, who had refined an 

alcoholic solution of chloroform, suggested 

to his friend J. Y. Simpson in October 1847 

that he try chloroform as an inhalation 

anesthetic.(20,21) It is doubtful, however, 

that Simpson was swayed by Waldie’s advice. 

His account (31) and and that of his 

assistant James Matthews Duncan (32,33) 

show that Simpson inhaled chloroform on 

November 4, 1847, at the suggestion of 

Duncan who had inhaled it a few hours 

before. They had obtained a sample of pure 

chloroform (among several other compounds) 

from Dr. William Gregory (1803- 

1858), professor of chemistry at the University 

of Edinburgh. Gregory, who had 

studied under von Liebig in Giessen was 

well aware of the nature and formula of 

chloroform in 1847. 

The success of chloroform renewed 

clinical interest in the chloride of olefiant 

gas (as the Dutch liquid was then commonly 

called in Great Britain). Simpson 

saw it induce anesthesia in several subjects 

but when he inhaled it himself it 

caused him a severe and prolonged sore 

throat.(34) He had probably used an impure 

product.(35) Allegedly, Lyon Playfair 

(1818-1898), a professor of chemistry in 

Manchester, suggested the Dutch liquid as 

an anesthetic to Simpson but prevented 

him from inhaling it it; they gave it to a 

rabbit which immediately died.(36) 

John Snow (1818-1858) purified the 

product and tried it on mice and on nine 

patients.(35) He found it to be a good anesthetic 

but slower and less potent (and hence 

safer) than chloroform but very expensive, 

Robert M. Glover (1815-1849) in 1840 

had given it to dogs by ingestion and intravenous 

injection without causing anesthesia.(37) 

In 1848, however, he used it on 

a few patients and found it to be a good 

anesthetic but without marked advantage 

over chloroform. He also found it difficult 

and expensive to manufacture.(38,39) 

The main advocate of the chloride of 

olefiant gas was Thomas Nunneley (1809- 

1856), a Leeds surgeon who wrote several 

laudatory papers about it, based on his 

extensive animal experiments (40) and his 

trials on seven subjects.(41) He had used a 

purified product, that he claimed to be 

cheaper than chloroform. He failed to convince 

his colleagues, however, and the compound 

soon disappeared from British surgical 

practice. 

The Dutch Liquid after 1852 

Abandoned by physicians, the compound 

continued to be studied in the laboratory. 

In 1881, Edward T. Reichert (1855- 

1931) a noted physiologist at the Univer- 

sity of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia described 

it as potent as chloroform in rabbits 

but a severe cardiac depressant.(42,43) 

It was also tested in rats and frogs in France 

(44-46) and in cats (47) and mice (48) in 

Germany. It generally was found to be equipotent 

to chloroform. An exception was the 

Glascow Committee of the British Medical 

Association: in rabbits and dogs it produced 

no anesthesia but only convulsions 

and death.(49) French chemists found it 

to be an excellent preservative for meat and 

produce.(50) 

In 1850 the French chemist Henri Victor 

Regnault (1810-1878) prepared a chlorinated 

derivative of the Dutch liquid that 

he named “chlorinated chlorhydric ether.” 

It was successfully tested in France (51) 

and in Germany (52) as a topical analgesic 

for neuralgias and abdominal cramps. 

However, Johann F. Heyfelder (1798-1869) 

the famous Erlangen (Gernany) surgeon 

found it to be ineffective as a topical analgesic 

although he induced anesthesia in 

two patients who inhaled it.(53) 

The Dutch Liquid Today 

1,2 dichloroethane or ethylene dichloride 

is still extensively used in industry as 

a solvent, degreaser, fumigant and precursor 

of various chemicals. Twelve tons are 

manufactured yearly, made like in 1794 by 

chlorination of ethylene. It has been found 

to be toxic to humans in factories and as 

an environmental contaminant from industrial 

discharges, damaging the central 

nervous system, the lungs, the liver and 

the kidneys and being a carcinogen.(54- 

56) 

Acknowledgments 

The authors gratefully acknowledge the 

valuable help of Professor Bernhard Panning, 

of Hanover (Germany) and of Professors 

Marie Therese Cousin and Jean 

Bernard Cazalaa, of Paris (France). 

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International 

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January 22-25, 2013 

Sydney, Australia 

isha2013.wordpress.com/


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Acknowedgments 

We deeply appreciate the great help 

provided by the staffs of the Countway Library 

of Medicine at Harvard University 

and the New York Public Library; by the 

office of New York Senator Charles 

Schumer; and by Jeff S. Defalque. 

Einfuehrung. Erfahrungen bei Heer und 

Kriegsmarine. In: Nazis on Speed. Drogen im 3. 

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April 2011 - Anesthesia History Association

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