In the Hades-Pluto underworld of Greco-Roman mythology, there were five major streams. The rivers Lethe, Cocytus, Styx, and Pyriphlegethon reflected amnesia, akinesia, hypnosis, and stability, respectively—four of the hallmarks of general anesthesia. The fifth hallmark, analgesia, could be provided by Charon, who ferried paying souls across the “River of Pain” (or “of Woe” or “of Aches”), the Acheron. Although today’s patients may consider anesthesia heavenly, in classical times, the afterworld comprised heaven and hell and was traversed by five plutonic rivers, each of which reflected what many today would regard as hallmarks of general anesthesia. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
In the Hades-Pluto underworld of Greco-Roman mythology, there were five major streams. The rivers Lethe, Cocytus, Styx, and Pyriphlegethon reflected amnesia, akinesia, hypnosis, and stability, respectively—four of the hallmarks of general anesthesia. The fifth hallmark, analgesia, could be provided by Charon, who ferried paying souls across the “River of Pain” (or “of Woe” or “of Aches”), the Acheron. Although today’s patients may consider anesthesia heavenly, in classical times, the afterworld comprised heaven and hell and was traversed by five plutonic rivers, each of which reflected what many today would regard as hallmarks of general anesthesia. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H., Honorary Curator and Laureate of the History of Anesthesia, Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Schaumburg, Illinois, and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. UJYC@aol.com.
