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Early use of curare in England. Correspondence between H. Griffith and R.R. Macintosh

Barcelona, Spain

To the Editor:

Griffith and Johnson introduced curare with their paper "The use of curare in general anesthesia".¹ Previously unpublished correspondence between Harold Griffith and Robert Macintosh, has allowed us to establish the early use of curare in England before it was introduced into the English market,

Robert Macintosh was in touch with Griffith as a result of their mutual involvement in Air Force medical matters during the Second World War.² Macintosh heard about curare in a letter from Griffith on 17th June 1942:

"I enclose a report which we have just completed on Curare and which will appear in the July number of Anesthesiology. As you can see, we have been greatly pleased with its use and we feel that it has a definite place in anesthesia. I am sure the Squibb Company would be glad to let you have some for experimental use if you would like to try it out. Our surgeons are enthusiastic about it".³

This provided Macintosh with early access to curare. In a film on artificial respiration from Macintosh's Department in 1943, the patient was paralysed with Curarine.² Macintosh contributed to its more widespread use through articles and lectures.^4,5 In a letter to Griffith, in 1945 he states:⁶

"On Friday 22nd (June), I gave a short paper on "Curare " to Service anaesthetists in the U.S.A. Hospitals. (...) I told them that I thought that your introduction of this substance promises to he one of the really big advances in anaesthesia."

The relationship between Griffith and Macintosh, encouraged the early introduction of curare in England.

References

1 Griffith HR, Jonhson E. The use of curare in general anesthesia. Anesthesiology 1942; 3: 418–20.

2 Beinart J. A History of the Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, Oxford 1937–1987. Oxford: University Press, 1987.

3 Letter from H. Griffith to R. Macintosh. 17th June 1942. Contemporary Medical Archives. London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.

4 Macintosh RR. Anaesthetics research in wartime. Med Times 1945; 253–5.

5 Macintosh RR. The role of curare. Practitioner 1946; 157: 306.

6 Letter from R. Macintosh to H. Griffith. 25th June 1945. Contemporary Medical Archives. London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.

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