Dr F. P. de Caux—the first user of curare for anaesthesia in England

Summary Curare was used in the 19th century in England by a wide variety of scientists, physicians and veterinarians. Their experiments indicated many of the properties of the drug, but its clinical usage remained very limited and was reserved for cases of tetanus, hydrophobia and strychnine poisoning. Griffith and Johnson are usually credited with the introduction of curare into clinical anaesthesia in 1942, but a Dr F.P. de Caux working at the North Middlesex Hospital, London, in 1928 utilised curare in a series of seven patients. His work was not widely publicised and this contribution to anaesthetic history has been overlooked by subsequent authors.