Abstract:

The article is devoted to the jubilee of Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov’s stay in the Caucasus. Based on a wide range of literature and the first-time archival sources introduced into scientific circulation, the authors gave a brief outline of the development of anesthesia in world medical practice. The variants and cases of etheric anesthesia in the Caucasus in the field are described in detail. The article also reflects the difficulties that Nikolai Pirogov encountered when introducing etheric anesthesia into medical practice. The authors point to the criticism that sounded towards Nikolai Pirogov and his methods both from the lips of medical colleagues and ordinary military men. Particular attention is paid to innovative proposals in the field of medical care in military field conditions. One of Nikolay Pirogov’s earlier notes on the organization of medical aid on the battlefield is analyzed, in which the surgeon describes a fundamentally important and new method for sorting the wounded. It was thanks to the tireless work of the great surgeon in the Caucasus that ethereal anesthesia began to be introduced throughout the Russian Empire, which greatly facilitated both the work of doctors and the fate of patients. At the same time, he points out those restrictions, which, according to N.İ. Pirogov had to be observed during the application of anesthesia in the military field: this is a closer monitoring of patients, as well as the uninterrupted supply of medical services to medicines. The result of N.İ. Pirogov in the Caucasus was the lifting of restrictions on the use of inhalation anesthesia in Russia.