One of the most easy and effective ways for obtaining insensibility at the extremities, with a minimal danger for the patients, is the intravenous regional anesthesia. However, the origin of this type of anesthesia still remains controversial. Some of the questions suggested by this theme are answered in this article. It is very likely that the basis of this technique were established by Dr. José Goyanes Capdevila, who by the beginning of this century was a lecturer in Surgery at Madrid's University. It must be considered that he used the arterial pathway following the anatomical and physiological criteria in use then.