ether  Greek: aither "the upper and purer air"

William T. Morton

On October 16, 1846, in an operating theater at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr. William T. Morton, a dentist, administered ether vapors to a patient about to undergo surgery.

Ether inhaler

Early ether inhaler

Moments later the surgeon, Dr. John Collins Warren, raised a scalpel and made an incision in the patient's neck to remove a tumor

Warren

To the astonishment of all, the patient remained asleep, and insensitive to pain. "Gentlemen," said Dr. Warren, "This, is no humbug!" (1)

John Collins Warren

Jackson

Charles Jackson, a Boston physician and chemist – who had advised Morton on the use of ether – then claimed to have played a large part in its application to surgery. He pressed his claims for credit all the way to Congress, which upheld Morton as the true discoverer.

 Charles Jackson

Long

The first to use ether during surgery may actually have been Crawford W. Long, a Georgia physician. It was not until others took credit for it that he claimed to have used ether as early as 1841 for minor operations.

 Crawford Long

(1) Ether was discovered in 1275 by Spanish chemist Raymundus Lullius. This new discovery was given the name "sweet vitriol." In 1540, the synthesis of ether was described by German scientist Valerius Cordus.. At about the same time,  Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus discovered the hypnotic effects of ether. Later, in 1730, German scientist W.G. Frobenius changed the name of sweet vitriol to ether.

Before anesthesia, a surgeonīs reputation depended more on speed than ability. The faster the operation, the less the patient suffered. Screaming patients were restrained by assistants, and often received a generous dose of grain alcohol or opium before the operation. If the operation didn't kill them, sepsis and opiate overdoses did.

Back to Health-Science writing menu