Ether Dome
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Ether Dome, Massachusetts General Hospital
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The inside of the dome as viewed from the surgical theatre.
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| Location: | Boston, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates: | 42°21′48.70″N 71°4′4.30″W / 42.363528°N 71.067861°WCoordinates: 42°21′48.70″N 71°4′4.30″W / 42.363528°N 71.067861°W |
| Built: | 1846 |
| Architect: | Charles Bulfinch; George Perkins |
| Architectural style: | Greek Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000366 [1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966[1] |
| Designated NHL: | January 12, 1965[2] |
The Ether Dome is an amphitheater in the Bulfinch Building at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. 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 16 October 1846. Crawford Long, a surgeon in Georgia, had previously administered ether, but this went unpublished until 1849. 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 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". [3] 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.[4]
The Ether Dome is now used for medical conferences and presentations, and is open to the public when not in use. It contains a remarkable contemporary painting of that historic event by Warren and Lucia Prosperi, as well as mummies and other odd artifacts and relics. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark.[5]
[edit] Gallery
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Outside view as photographed from the grounds
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Operating theater tiered seating under the dome
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Apollo statue by the entrance
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Operating theater and seating
[edit] References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-02-01. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ "Ether Dome, Massachusetts General Hospital". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=249&ResourceType=Building. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- ^ 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 978-0060195236.
- ^ "Horace Wells". http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/images/horace-wells.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
- ^ "National Historic Landmarks Program: Ether Dome, Massachusetts General Hospital". http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=249&ResourceType=Building. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
[edit] External links
- The Ether Dome: The restoration of an icon
- Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care: Our Story
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