Local anesthesia was used whenever possible, even for hernias of moderate size. We compounded it in our own pharmacy each Monday fourth Tuesday surgeries.
For the really large hernias, spinal anesthesia was sometimes used. When it was necessary to use anesthesia, open drop either or of the Oxford Bellows was used.
Our particular oxford bellows belongs in a museum, but it was beautifully functional and effective and was resistant to the various plagues of the jungle that usually disabled most valves, connections, and hoses. When we used the Bellows, we needed an endotracheal tube, placed under muscle relaxants administered intravenously. The particular agent we were using had an expiration date that had passed some years back, but by increasing the dosage, it worked quite effectively. On patients for whom open drop ether was the choice, we used a metal ether cone with a rolled clean white cotton sock over it. The sock had to be changed frequently since it kept water, which interfered with vaporization.
Ethyl chloride was a useful inhalation agent that had been used successfully for a long time at the hospital for induction of general anesthesia and for brief surgical procedures such as incision and drainage of large abscesses. A patient could be put into a satisfactory state for a quick procedure within about a half dozen deep breath, and then be up and walking around, inquiring what had happened in nearly the same period. From first breath to totally reactive and recovered was usually only a minute.