1842: The world's first anaesthetised operation was performed by Dr Crawford Long when he removed an encysted tumour from the neck of James Venable, having first rendered him unconscious by administering sulphuric ether on a tower. The operation was so painless that Venable's wouldn't believe it had been done until he was shown the tumour.
He was forced to stop the operations when citizens of Jefferson in Georgia accused him of witchcraft and threatened to lynch him.
1853: Vincent Van Gogh was born in the village of Groot Zundert, Holland.
1867: The best deal in history was concluded on this day when the hard-up Alexander II of Russia sold 586,400 square miles of land for $7,200,000 (375 million acres for less than two cents an acre) to America. The land sold was called Alaska.
1939: Politician David Steel was born.
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