Contribution of Berlin clinics and especially the Charité to the development of modern anesthesia in Germany]

Soon after announcement of the first American ether anesthesias in 1846 one started to anesthetize with ether in Europe. The first ether anesthesia in Germany took place on January 24th, 1947, and was given by Johann Ferdinand Heyfelder in Erlangen. Two weeks later the first ether anesthesia in Berlin was given on February 6th, 1847, by the orthopaedic surgeon Heimann-Wolff Berend. On February 12th, 1847, the surgeon Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach used ether to anesthetize a patient in the Berlin university hospital. Still in 1847 he published his book "The Ether against Pain" which used to be the standard textbook of anesthesia in Germany for many years to come. On February 15th, 1847, Johann Christian Jüngken operated his first patient under ether anesthesia in the surgical department of the Charité hospital assisted by Rudolf Virchow. Since then several famous Berlin surgeons influenced the development of modern anesthesia until the middle of the 20th century. The nitrous oxide bottle was introduced into practice by the Barth company in cooperation with the dentist Carl Sauer and Kurt Schimmelbusch introduced his mask for ether anesthesia. Carl Ludwig Schleich reported at the German congress of surgery in 1894 about his first experience with infiltration anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia developed by August Bier in Kiel was improved during his time in Berlin.