Definition of Anesthetic:
Anesthetics (Gr. not sensible) are sedative nervines which reduce sensory nerve-functions until nerves cannot receive or conduct sensation; some directly depress the skin's end-organs, others impair the sensory nerve conductivity, others reduce local circulation; these are mostly volatile substances, whose vapor when inhaled sufficiently causes complete unconsciousness, loss of sensation and motion; anodynes only diminish, while anesthetics temporarily destroy skin and mucous membrane sensibility: ether, chloroform, nitrous oxide, ethyl bromide, methylene bichloride [Culbreth1927, pg 40].