Charles Hunter

Charles Hunter (18358 August 1878) was an English physician best known for coining the word "hypodermic" and for realising that injections of morphine could relieve pain anywhere in the body, regardless of where the injection was delivered. Life Charles Hunter was the only son of surgeon Dr John Charles Hunter of Belgrave Square, London. Hunter qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1856. He then became House Surgeon at St George's Hospital in London and also worked at the Royal Pimlico Dispensary. Hypodermic research and debate over injection methods Hunter was very early in his career when he became interested in using syringes to administer injections of pain relief. In the 1860s, he improved on the design of the syringe that had been invented by Alexander Wood by adding the needle point and lateral opening. He also created a locking mechanism to prevent the needle from becoming detached when the plunger was pushed. Hunter initially followed Wood's method of using syringes to inject morphine locally, into the area where pain was located. However, when this area became infected for one of his patients, he injected elsewhere and realised that the results were still effective. After conducting tests on animals to establish his findings, Hunter campaigned for the "general therapeutic effect" of what he initially called the "ipodermic" method, later inventing the term "hypodermic". He published his findings in 1865, and popularised the use of the syringe in medical circles by speaking at medical society meetings and publishing papers on the subject of hypodermics.