Baby Death Mask of the First Birth using Ether Anaesthetic 1847
Historic death bust of the first baby in the world delivered with the use of ether anaesthetic by James Young Simpson on 19 December 1847. Ether was the first effective agent used as an anaesthetic. It's use was discovered in the US in October 1846 and the news of its success in producing insensibility to pain reached England by a letter sent from Professor Jacob Bigalow in Boston to Dr Boott in London on 17 December 1846. James Young Simpson was the Professor of Obstetrics and Midwifery at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh at this time and already had the reputation of being possibly the greatest obstetrician of his day. (His discovery and use of Chloroform in 1847 confirmed his status and gave him worldwide fame). The case presented to Simpson in this instance was of the utmost difficulty. A young lame woman with a misshapen pelvis in whose first pregnancy the baby's head had literally to be cut up in order to extract it, had not been to see her doctor until she was nearly nine months into her second pregnancy. After she went into labour Simpson managed to turn and extract the body of the baby feet first but the head stuck as the sacrum bone in her pelvis projected so far forward that it reduced the bone diameter to about 2½". At this point he used ether to anaethretise the patient - the first time it had been used to aid childbirth anywhere in the world - and managed to extract the head with "extreme exertion". The occipito-frontal circumference is an astonishing 13.5" (342 mm). The baby was born alive but failed to survive however the life of the mother was saved in all probability from the absence of trauma produced by the Ether anaesthetic and she "made the best possible recovery." Professor Simpson's report of this case published in the 1847 February issue of The Monthly Journal of Medical Science is reproduced along with the photos of the bust. The death mask plaster cast of the infant shows grafically from the skull indentations the extreme difficulty of this birth. This unique death mask brings one as close to the earliest days of anaesthetics as it is possible to imagine and the 'touch' of one of the greatest obstritians the world has produced. Height of bust 7.2" (183 mm)Delivery and insurance at cost.
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£3,400.00Cast of First Child Born with the use Of Ether Anaesthetic 1847
Cast of the Fist Baby Born using Ether Anaesthetic 1847
Cast of the First Baby born with the use of Ether Anaersthetic 1847
Cast of Bust of the First Child Born using Anaesthetic - base
