Georgia physician who used ether earlier but published later
James Young Simpson
Introduced chloroform in Edinburgh in 1847
Plate 063
16 October 1846
Boston, United States
No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
William T. G. Morton publicly demonstrated ether anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital on 16 October 1846. Crawford Long had used ether in 1842 but did not publish until 1849.
About credit
Priority was fiercely disputed, with several claimants. Long, Morton and Horace Wells all have a claim.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before Anaesthesia
Patients were held down while surgeons worked as fast as they could. Many refused operations because of the pain.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
At the “Ether Dome” in Boston, Morton gave Gilbert Abbott ether while Warren removed a tumour from his neck. Word spread across Europe within months. Chloroform was soon used in childbirth, including by Queen Victoria in 1853.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
Anaesthesia, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
Blocking pain
Ether depresses the nervous system so the patient does not feel or remember the operation.
Blocking pain
Dose control
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Surgery
Complex operations in the abdomen and chest became feasible.
Childbirth
Pain relief became available in labour.
Surgery no longer had to be done in seconds on screaming patients. Longer, more careful operations became possible.
V
Before and after
Life before and after Anaesthesia
Before
Awake, held down, a few minutes.
After
Unconscious and painless.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
VI
Its legacy
What came after
MHI 063
Anaesthesia
Beyond the collection
Antiseptic surgery
Lister’s 1860s work made surgery safer from infection.
Beyond the collection
Modern anaesthesia
Drugs are now monitored by dedicated specialists.
VII
Human stories
The people and the moments
The Ether Dome
The operating theatre where Morton demonstrated ether is still preserved at Massachusetts General Hospital and is known as the Ether Dome.
Where accounts differ, this museum follows the documented record and says so.