13. An early form of general anesthesia, a poisonous and often fatal concoction known as dwale was administered to surgical patients during the Middle Ages.
Efforts to safely and reliably induce a state of general anesthesia in a patient date to the earliest recorded histories, with references identified in ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Indian medical texts. Among the many suggested solutions to this longstanding problem, during the Middle Ages, specifically between 1200-1500 CE in England, a concoction known as “dwale” was employed as an anesthetic. An alcohol-based composition, dwale contained a broad collection of varying ingredients including bile, opium, lettuce, bryony, henbane, hemlock, and vinegar, and it was believed surgeons could counteract the effects of the anesthetic by rubbing vinegar and salt on the patient’s cheekbones.
Widely used, with dwale referenced in several literary sources including Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, more than 50 manuscripts have been discovered praising the effectiveness of the anesthetic and detailing different methods of preparation and composite ingredients. However, despite laudatory popular opinion, dwale was an immensely dangerous concoction due to its frequent inclusion of powerful poisons and was lethal if improperly prepared. Including henbane as well as hemlock, both were powerful toxic plants capable of killing full grown adults with ease. In spite of this, with opium outlawed by the Catholic Church due to its Eastern and thus blasphemous nature, dwale remained the best available option for surgeons for over 400 years.