1800 Sir Humphry Davy discovers the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide
1803 US purchases the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon mostly because French troops are decimated by Yellow Fever in Haiti Late in 1801, Napoleon sent his brother-in-law, General Victor-Emmanuel LeClerc and 20,000 troops to seize the entire island and put an end to the pretender, L'Ouverture. LeClerc and his troops landed at Cap Francais on 29 January 1802. The French forces under LeClerc were the most capable the rebels had yet faced. After a few short, bloody battles, the French essentially controlled the island. LeClerc was certain that total victory was his, as soon as reinforcements arrived (Parkinson 1978).
But LeClerc was troubled because many of his soldiers were becoming sick with a high fever. He expressed his concern to Napoleon, writing, "I have 600 men on my sick list." A week later, he noted, "I have already 1,200 in hospital." (Parkinson 1978). It would only get worse. In late March, LeClerc was still fighting rebel forces. And in April the rains came, and with the rains came yellow fever.
Acutal compass from the Lewis & Clark Expedition
1808 US prohibits importation of Slaves
1809: Scottish anatomist Allan Burns demonstrates the association of high blood pressure with angina (chest pain) and sudden death due to heart attacks (which had previously been attributed to "acts of God")
The demonstration is still valid today: put a tourniquet on your bicep and then exercise the arm. It won't be long until extreme fatigue and pain sets in and the arm goes limp. Remove the tourniquet and soon all is well. This mimics what happens to the heart if coronary arteries (arteries supplying the heart with blood and nutrients) are restricted due to clogging (the most common form of severe heart disease today)
Scots and people of Scottish descent have contributed hugely to the development of the sciences, medicine, exploration, engineering, economics, and philosophy; click here to go to my page celebrating the Ross Clan and other great Scots in history.
1810-1815 US declares war against Britain over control of Canada and other issues ... war ends in a stalemate
Meanwhile all of Europe and Russia fighting the Napoleonic Wars and much of South America at War gaining independence from Spain
1812 Courties discovers iodine
1814 first gas street lights in London
1816: French physician Rene Laennec devises the stethoscope which magnifies the cardiac sounds allowing us to detect murmers and valvular diseases. Midwifes were using something similar to a stethoscope to listen for the presence of a fetal heart beat, so I'm reluctant to give Dr Laennec too much credit for his "invention", but the interesting thing about the stethoscope is that he apparently devised it to keep from putting his ear up against the bosom of his female patients, which he thought improper! (No wonder it took so long to invent the thing)
Note: the above story about Dr Rene Laennec may not be 100% accurate. Other related stories indicate that the good doctor may have been telling a white lie to be polite; maybe he was a fussy sort of person and didn't want to get too close to patients who stunk. Or maybe he had an inkling that physicians that got too close to sick patients might also get the disease. And maybe he shouldn't get too much credit at all; midwives had been using a similar cone device for centuries to listen to fetal heartbeats
1816 major economic hardship in England leads to mass immigration to Canada and The United States
1818
Savannah the first steam ship to cross the Atlantic
James Blundell performs the first successful transfusion of human blood
1819 US purchases Florida from Spain
U.S. food canning industry established
1824: The first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was formed (SPCA) in England.
1825 Erie Canal completed
1829 Slavery abolished in Mexico
1831 Sir James Clark Ross determines position of magnetic North Pole
1832
Chloroform invented
Great Cholera epidemic spreads from Russia to Europe
1833
Abolition of Slavery in British Empire
Hog cholera first reported in the U.S. This one disease will play a major role in the history of U.S. veterinary medicine.
Click here to read about this major disease and the long and interesting battle to eventually eradicate this disease from our country. (coming soon)
1834
McCormick reaper patented These machines and other large pieces of farm machinery led to a much higher demand for horses and mules. Also, about this time farmers started to rely on bank loans for purchasing equipment, seed, and so forth.
John Lane began to manufacture plows faced with steel saw blades
1836 Texas becomes a Republic independent from Mexico
1837
first Kindergarten in Germany
John Deere and Leonard Andrus began manufacturing steel plows
Practical threshing machine patented
1838 Thousands of native Americans in the East are forced to move West ... many dying on the way
1839 First bicycle built by Scotsman Kirkpatrick Macmillan
1839
Charles Goodyear develops vulcanization process for making rubber
The Opium Wars between Britain and China
Hong Kong becomes British
1840's - The growing use of factory-made agricultural machinery increased farmers' need for cash and encouraged commercial farming
The first Pig War that I know about; click here to read more about the Pig War of 1840, the Pig War of 1859 and the Pig War of 1906
1841 James Ross explores the Antartic and discovers the Ross Sea
1842
First grain elevator, Buffalo, NY
The first surgical anesthetic use of ether is credited to Dr. Crawford Williamson Long, MD, age 27, of Jefferson, Georgia. On March 30, 1842, he removed one of the two tumors from the neck of Mr. James Venable under ether anesthesia. Apparently, he had used ether for minor surgery as early as 1841, and had originally learned about ether during "ether frolics" while in medical school at the University of Pennsylvania.
1843
Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia first introduced into the U.S.
SS Great Britain first propeller driven ship to cross the Atlantic
1844
Dr. Horace Wells uses nitrous oxide as an anesthetic Dr. Horace Wells, American dentist, uses nitrous oxide as an anesthetic. He orginally gets historical credit for being the first to do this because Dr Long in 1842 didn't publish his results as quickly.
Morse's telegraph used for the first time from Baltimore to Washington DC
1845
The Hypodermic syringe was invented in the mid nineteenth century. In 1845 Francis Rynd, an Irish physician, developed the hypodermic needle. Six years later Tabourin, a French veterinarian, made various improvements to the syringe. The invention of the hypodermic syringe, however, is largely attributed to Alexander Wood, a Scottish physician from Edinburgh.
The hypodermic syringe significantly added to the tools available to the veterinary surgeon, it's earliest use was for the injection of morphine, used as an anaesthetic in surgery.
The US - Mexican War
1846
Famine in Ireland due to potato crop failure. Huge numbers of immigrants arrive in the United States
William Morton, a dentist, is the first to publish the process of using anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide
1847
The Mormons settle Salt Lake City
US Troops occupy Mexico City
British Factory Act limits work day for women and children to 10 hours
Ignaz Semmelweis discovers how to the prevent the transmission of puerperal fever
1848
Waldo Hanchett patented the dental chair.
1848 Marx and Engels: Communist Manifesto
First Women's Rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY
Mexico cedes Texas, California, New Mexico, and Arizona to USA and soon after the California Gold Rush commences
1849 Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to gain a medical degree from Geneva Medical College in New York
Mixed chemical fertilizers sold commercially
Ross' , other Great Scots and Canadians in Medical History ... coming soon
This page is a simple timeline of major historical events, things of interest, and anything of import to veterinary medicine in the early 1800's.
Enjoy.
On other Pages:
Ross' , other Great Scots and Canadians in Medical History ... coming soon
Sir Humphry Davy announces the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide, although dentists do not begin using the gas as an anesthetic for almost 45 years. (1800) mercury thermometer, by Gabriel Fahrenheit (1714)
1801-1850 British obstetrician James Blundell performs the first successful transfusion of human blood. (1818)
Dr. Horace Wells, American dentist, uses nitrous oxide as an anesthetic.(1844)
Waldo Hanchett patented the dental chair. (1848)
Birth of William Osler (1849)(called the "Father of Modern Medicine" ) René Laënnec invents the stethoscope. (1816)
endoscope, by Pierre Segalas (1827) Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to receive a medical degree (from Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York). (1849)
1851-1860 Louis Pasteur suggests in a paper that microorganisms may cause many human and animal diseases.(1859) Death of John Snow (1858)(anaesthetist and pioneer epidemiologist who studied cholera ) hypodermic syringe, invented by Alexander Wood (1853)
1861-1870 Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch establish the germ theory of disease. According to germ theory, a specific disease is caused by a specific organism. Before this discovery, most doctors believe diseases are caused by spontaneous generation. In fact, doctors would perform autopsies on people who died of infectious diseases and then care for living patients without washing their hands, not realizing that they were therefore transmitting the disease. (1870) Joseph Lister publishes Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, one of the most important developments in medicine. Lister was convinced of the need for cleanliness in the operating room, a revolutionary idea at the time. He develops antiseptic surgical methods, using carbolic acid to clean wounds and surgical instruments. The immediate success of his methods leads to general adoption. In one hospital that adopts his methods, deaths from infection decrease from nearly 60% to just 4% (1867)
Under the guise of nature research, Dr. Ross visited plantations where black slaves lived. He helped many make an escape to the Underground Railroad and freedom
Dr. Alexander Milton Ross had a passion for nature. A licenced physician, he was also an active naturalist and ornithologist, traveling throughout Canada and the United States to document the varying nature and bird populations. But on his trips to the southern US, he also made clandestine contact with black slaves. Under the guise of bird watching on plantations, Ross gave hope to desperate freedom seekers.
Born in Belleville, Upper Canada (now the Province of Ontario) on December 13, 1832, Alexander Milton Ross became a slavery abolitionist at a young age, his parents firmly against the practice. During the era, racism may have run rampant in Upper Canada, but slavery was not permitted. It had been abolished in 1793.
After the death of his father, Ross moved to New York City. The teenager became a compositor at the Evening Post, noted Famous Americans. Working days at the Evening Post, he took up night classes in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, according to Biographi.ca. He graduated at age 23 as a Medical Doctor in 1855. He was a strapping young man with a large personality. According to Biographi.ca, Ross was “basically an idealist and he manifested his idealism in radical, anti-establishment activity and in vigorous, often polemical writing.”
Ross Part of Underground Railroad
In 1855, Ross toured those southern states that permitted slavery, using his bird studies as a reason to visit plantations. While at the farms, he surreptitiously spoke with the black slaves, supplying them with detailed information about the networks of the Underground Railroad into Canada and safe houses for hiding during the daytime. Occasionally he provided “a compass, knives, pistols and food,” said Great Clan Ross, to help them escape from their lives of desperate oppression.
Taking little notice of the dangers to himself, Ross often accompanied small groups of black slaves on their flight to freedom into Canada, escorting them to safety between Niagara Falls and Windsor. It was a huge risk for all involved. Slave owners often posted Wanted ads for the return of their slaves, occasionally offering cash rewards for their capture. The runaway slaves risked vicious beatings, lashings by whips and possible death if they were caught, according to Spartacus Schoolnet. If they left family behind at the plantation, those family members could face punishment. The people aiding runaway slaves did not get off easy themselves, and were severely disciplined for their acts of kindness.
Ross’s posts as physician took him to fascinating places. One of his first jobs was as a surgeon in Nicaragua. He then served with the National Army during the American Civil War in the early 1860s. Leading a life of intrigue, Ross took a post in Canada as “confidential correspondent” to President Lincoln during the Civil War. His work involved monitoring Confederate activities on Canadian soil. Ross’s efforts were praised by President Lincoln as a contribution to an early ending of the Civil War.
Ross a Naturalist
Later, Ross performed a stint of surgical duty with the Mexican Army. The doctor then returned to Canada, putting his focus on his passion as a naturalist. He “collected and classified hundreds of species of birds, eggs, mammals, reptiles, and fresh-water fish,” plus, Famous Americans said, “3,400 species of insects, and 2,000 species of Canadian flora.” Ross wrote many books on nature, including “Ferns and Wild Flowers of Canada in 1877, “Mammals, reptiles and Fresh-water Fishes of Canada” in 1878, and “Medical Practices of the Future” in 1887, just to name a few.
His vast knowledge of many topics lead Ross to the position of Ontario Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture. He was a one of the founders of the Society of the Diffusion of Physiological Knowledge and was also appointed to the Canadian Consul in Belgium and Denmark. Ross was knighted by the Emperor of Russia and awarded medals from the European countries of Italy, Greece and Portugal. France’s government presented him with the “Academie Francaise”.
Dr. Alexander Ross died on October 27, 1897 in Detroit, Michigan, leaving behind his wife Hester and three children. Considered a “conductor” on the Underground Railway, he was able to assist a number of black people to freedom from oppressed lives as slaves.
The copyright of the article Dr. Alexander Milton Ross in Canadian History is owned by Susanna McLeod. Permission to republish Dr. Alexander Milton Ross in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
1850 Farmers sow by hand, cultivate with hoes, and reap with sickles, but John Deere Company is manufacturing 10,000 iron plows a year. Iron plows cut plowing time in half. Mechanical reapers are beginning to replace sickles, turning two weeks' harvesting into a day's work.
