[Contributions of the Spanish Navy to the introduction of anaesthesia in Spain. Medical science in the last third of the XIX century].

The last decades of the xix century were years of resurgence and progress in the field of Naval Health, which was in the vanguard of European health structures at that time. In this era, the navy physicians produced some documents known as "Memorias Clínicas" (Clinical Reports), previously established as obligatory in their rules and regulations. Valuable documents on medical science and the art of healing are deposited in the Archivo General de la Marina (Viso del Marqués, Ciudad Real). Although the information recorded in these Reports varies considerably, we have centred our interest on those that focus on the discovery and development of anaesthesia. The introduction of these discoveries was surrounded by immense controversy, with its defenders and critics. The exclusiveness of the documents presented here is an original testimony to the medical-surgical knowledge of the era and places Naval Health in the vanguard of European health structures at that time.