NITROUS OXID—"LAUGHING GAS"
Nitrous oxid, or "laughing gas," was first used in labor cases in 1880 by a Russian physician. During the last twenty-five years it has been used off and on by numerous practitioners in connection with confinement, but not until the last few years has this method of relieving labor pain come into prominent notice.
While the "laughing gas" method of obstetric anesthesia did not gain notoriety and publicity from being exploited in magazines and other lay publications, it did get its initial boost in a very unique and unusual manner. A gentleman who manufactured and sold a "laughing gas" and oxygen mixing machine for the use of dentists, insisted that this method of anesthesia should be used in the case of his daughter, who was about to be confined. This patient was kept under this nitrous oxid anesthetic for six hours—came out fine—no accidents or other undesirable complications affecting either mother or child, and thus another and safe method of reducing the sufferings of childbirth has been fully demonstrated and confirmed, although it had previously been known and used in labor cases to some extent.
Starting from this particular case in 1913, many obstetricians began experimental work with "gas" in labor cases; and, at the time of this writing, it has come to occupy a permanent place in the management of labor, alongside of chloroform, ether, and "twilight sleep."