author
Frederick-Emil Neef
A surgeon and medical writer from the early 20th century, he is best remembered for a practical guide to anesthesia that reflected the day-to-day realities of operating rooms in his era. His work offers a clear window into how doctors thought about patient care, surgical technique, and anesthetic practice more than a century ago.
1 Audiobook
Practical Points in Anesthesia
by Frederick-Emil Neef
About the author
Born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1872, Frederick-Emil Neef built his career as a surgeon and physician at a time when modern surgery and anesthesia were still rapidly developing. Records connected with his life and publications identify him as an American doctor who later worked in New York City.
He is known today mainly for Practical Points in Anesthesia (1908), a concise medical book drawn from clinical experience. In it, he wrote for working practitioners, focusing on the hands-on use of anesthetics rather than abstract theory, which helps explain why the book has remained of historical interest.
Neef also wrote Guiding Principles in Surgical Practice and was associated with hospital and teaching work in his profession. For modern readers, his writing is valuable not just as medical instruction from another era, but as a vivid snapshot of how surgery and anesthesia were being explained to doctors in the early 1900s.