Unusual Partnerships: The Corfe–McMurdie Anaesthetic Inhaler of 1918 and the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station

Author:

Cooper M. G.1,Gebels A. C.2,Bailey R. J.3,Whish D. K. M.4

Affiliation:

1. St George Hospital, Kogarah and The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales

2. Curator, Harry Daly Museum, Australian Society of Anaesthetists, Sydney, New South Wales

3. Emeritus Honorary Librarian, Richard Bailey Library, Australian Society of Anaesthetists, Sydney, New South Wales

4. Senior Anaesthetist, St Andrews War Memorial Hospital, Spring Hill and The Wesley Hospital, Auchenflower, Brisbane, Queensland

Abstract

This World War 1 ether/chloroform vaporiser-inhaler was designed by and made for Captain Anstruther John Corfe by Private Eric Aspinall McMurdie, both of the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (ACCS), Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC). It has a plaque attached labelled 25 May 1918. It is a perfect example of the ingenuity forced by the realities of war, and is one of the unique pieces in the Harry Daly Museum at the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) headquarters in Sydney, Australia. While serving in Blendecques, France, Private McMurdie ingeniously fashioned this vaporiser from discarded items he found on the battlefield. These included Horlick's Malted Milk bottles, on which he etched measurements for ether and chloroform, and a spent brass artillery shell, which made the heating component of the inhaler. The 2nd ACCS triaged and operated on thousands of troops, and this inhaler is a reflection of the skills and innovative expertise of the staff of the 2nd ACCS which included X-rays to localise foreign bodies, and locally made splints and apparatus to treat trench foot.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine,Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine

Reference5 articles.

1. ThomasK.B. The Development of anaesthetic apparatus. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford 1975; pp. 179–186.

2. SURGICAL NOTES FROM THE WESTERN FRONT DURING THE SUMMER FIGHTING OF 1917

3. No. 2 AUSTRALIAN CASUALTY CLEARING STATION, IN FRANCE

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