Anesthesiology—the study and practice of the art and science of anesthesia in all its forms and all that pertains thereto—began in 1846 as the clinical administration of one agent by one method for one purpose, the relief of pain. As a technical procedure it was relegated to anyone available at the time and place of administration. This drew the condemnation of John Warren,1 President of the American Medical Association, in his address at Cincinnati in 1850. He said then that the administration of the anesthetic should be in the hands of a properly qualified assistant.
Anesthesia was accepted promptly by physicians the world over, but, in the United States, recognition as a specialty came only after ninety years. Early physician anesthetists were listed as surgeons, special interest: anesthesia. The Long Island Society of Anesthetists, founded in 1905, was composed of graduate physicians, licensed in New York, and most of