Before Edward R. Squibb (1819-1900) founded the drug company that bore his name, he was a United States Navy doctor who was unimpressed by the quality of medicines available on ships. In 1854, he developed a method of safely distilling ether for use as an anesthetic. He did not patent his method, but instead published it freely. His daily journal, shown here, documented his experiments with ether and chloroform in Philadelphia.
On November 25, 1854, a typical day, he visited bookstores with famed naturalist Joseph Leidy, and then attended a medical lecture. Squibb noted: "Finally an amputation of the thigh in a middle-age woman. Done pretty well - with Ether." This operation, using the ether that made it successful, would be performed frequently in the following decade.
In 1858, the same year he founded E.R. Squibb, ether caused a disastrous fire in his laboratory; the fire burned both Squibb and ...
