The Centenary of the Hypodermic Syringe 1853-1953

One hundred years ago a French physician, Charles-Gabriel Pravaz1(1791-1853), of Lyons, France, introduced into medical practice the use of the hypodermic syringe. The Pravaz syringe was patterned primarily for the application of ferric chloride to nevi and to aneurysms. The syringe was provided with an external nut working on a thread cut about the piston so the contained liquid could be extruded drop by drop. Another novel item of this syringe was a slip joint, the needle being of steel and the hub of hard rubber. Alexander Wood2(1817-1884), of Edinburgh, was the first physician to use this hypodermic syringe for the administration of drugs. He injected morphine hydrochloride into patients with intractable neuralgias; in all of them a remarkable rapidity of the effect of the drug was demonstrated. Wood concluded correctly that in all probability what is true in regard to narcotics would be found