Scan Uncovers Oldest Known Anesthetic Used in Surgery

Surgeons in 14th-century China were doing more than cutting into flesh—they were carefully numbing, too. Researchers say they've found the first direct chemical evidence that Ming dynasty doctors used a powerful plant-based anesthetic during surgery, a surprisingly advanced medical practice for the era, per Live Science. Using a laser-based imaging method called stimulated Raman scattering, the team analyzed residue on iron scissors and tweezers buried with physician Xia Quan, who died sometime between 1348 and 1411 in what's now Jiangyin, according to a release. The traces matched aconitine, a highly toxic compound from the plant aconitum, or wolfsbane, long known in China for both its danger and its medicinal value.

Historical texts describe ways to reduce the toxin—such as special boiling methods and additives—so it could be applied to the skin to dull pain during surgery. Six centuries later, "we have read the traces of anesthetic medicine left on [a doctor's] instruments using a beam of laser light," says Congcang Zhao, an archaeologist and professor at China's Northwest University and co-author of a study published Tuesday in Antiquity. The researcher says this is "the first time humanity has found direct chemical evidence of anesthetics on ancient surgical tools," suggesting Ming doctors were not only producing anesthetics, but controlling dose and delivery closely enough to balance strong pain relief against lethal risk.