Anesthesia of old refers to the use of ETHER as a general anesthetic in the 19th century. ETHER was first used as an anesthetic in 1842 by American physician Crawford Long, and it quickly became the most popular anesthetic of its time. ETHER was used to induce unconsciousness during surgery, allowing for painless operations. It was eventually replaced by safer and more effective anesthetics such as chloroform and nitrous oxide.