Ether Dome, Massachusetts General Hospital | |
 The inside of the dome as viewed from the surgical theatre. | |
    | |
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°21′48.70″N 71°4′4.30″W / 42.3635278°N 71.0678611°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1821 |
| Architect | Charles Bulfinch; George Perkins; Alexander Parris |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000366[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966[1] |
| Designated NHL | January 12, 1965[2] |
The Ether Dome is a surgical operating amphitheater in the Bulfinch Building at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, United States. It served as the hospital's operating room from its opening in 1821 until 1867. It was the site of the first public demonstration of the use of inhaled ether as a surgical anesthetic on October 16, 1846, otherwise known as Ether Day. Crawford Long, a surgeon in Georgia, had previously administered sulfuric ether in 1842, but this went unpublished until 1849.[3][4] The Ether Dome event occurred when William Thomas Green Morton, a local dentist, used ether to anesthetize Edward Gilbert Abbott. John Collins Warren, the first dean of Harvard Medical School, then painlessly removed part of a tumor from Abbott's neck. After Warren had finished, and Abbott regained consciousness, Warren asked the patient how he felt. Reportedly, Abbott said, "Feels as if my neck's been scratched". Warren then turned to his medical audience and uttered "Gentlemen, this is no Humbug".[5][6] This was presumably a reference to the unsuccessful demonstration of nitrous oxide anesthesia by Horace Wells in the same theater the previous year, which was ended by cries of "Humbug!" after the patient groaned with pain.[7]
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "Ether Dome, Massachusetts General Hospital". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- ^ Madden, M. Leslie (May 14, 2004). "Crawford Long (1815-1878)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. University of Georgia Press. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ^ "Crawford W. Long". Doctors' Day. Southern Medical Association. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ^ Fenster, J. M. (2001). Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It. New York, NY: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-019523-6.
- ^ The Roots of Critical Care, Jennifer Nejman Bohonak, Massachusetts General Hospital Magazine, 2011
- ^ "Horace Wells". Retrieved 2010-11-02.