A calculus of suffering : pain, professionalism, and anesthesia in nineteenth-century America / Martin S. Pernick.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-397) and index.

Part I. Anesthesia and medicine in nineteenth-century America -- 1. The case of McGonigle's foot: nonanesthetic surgery in postanesthetic America -- 2. A house divided: an interpretive overview of nineteenth-century American medicine -- Part II. Why not everyone? The meaning of selective anesthetization -- 3. The drawbacks of anesthesia -- 4. The benefits of anesthesia -- 5. The professional calculus: anesthesia and the origins of utilitarian professionalism -- 6. From the universal to the particular: professionalism, anesthesia, and human individuality -- 7.'They don't feel it like we do': social politics and the perception of pain -- Part III. Who received anesthetics: theory and practice -- 8. Indications and contraindications: rules for using anesthetics -- 9. Ideology and action: who actually received anesthetics -- 10. Why doctors still differed -- 11. Anesthesia and the calculus of suffering: a critical evaluation -- Afterword: Professionalism and change: history and social theory.