anaesthetic drug around a nerve, allowed the patient to remain awake, but to feel nothing in the anaesthetised, numb area. The group met regularly to practise on each other and enjoyed wonderful evenings together. Halsted became not only a pioneer of local anaesthesia, but – because the drug they used was cocaine – he also became an addict. Cocaine has long since been replaced in local anaesthesia by derivative drugs that have the same effect locally, but without the stimulating side effects.
