The fascinating story of the first anaesthetics has not been told better than in this 7000 word essay from 1879 by James Paget. He takes the reader from the first realization of the analgesic properties of nitrous oxide to the arguments over who used anaesthetics first and who should gain the financial reward and approbation for the discovery. To Paget's paper has been added a treatise on the life of this amazing man from his schooling and apprenticeship in Yarmouth through his slow rise to become the premier surgeon and medical opinion in Victorian England. Further chapters have been added about the first anaesthetics to be used in England, the relevant merits of chloroform and ether as anaesthetics agents and examples of surgery before anaesthesia. The principal list of Paget's many writings is in the appendix