Ether Dome

Ether Dome, Massachusetts General Hospital
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
The inside of the dome as viewed from the surgical theatre.
Location	Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates
Area	less than one acre
Built	1846
Architect	Charles Bulfinch; George Perkins; Alexander Parris
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP Reference #	66000366
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL	January 12, 1965

The Ether Dome is a surgical operating 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 Crawford Long, a surgeon in Georgia, had previously administered sulfuric ether in 1842, but this went unpublished until 1849.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 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". 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.

Today, the Ether Dome is actively used for daily medical conferences and presentations. When not in use, it is open to the public. There is a contemporary recreation of the historic event by Warren and Lucia Prosperi seen in the Ether Dome. In addition, there is a mummy and authentic surgical instruments in cases. The mummy was recently studied by CAT scan. More information about the ether story, including period ether inhalers and a 1930s silent film recreation of ether day, is on view at the Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation, also at MGH. The Ether Dome is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Gallery

• Inside the Ether Dome - 27 July 2013.jpg

  Inside the Ether Dome

• MGH Ether Dome Outside 29Jan2008.jpg

  Outside view as photographed from the grounds

• MGH Ether Dome Theater 29Jan2008.jpg

  Operating theater tiered seating under the dome

• MGH Ether Dome Apollo 29Jan2008.jpg

  Apollo statue by the entrance

• MGH Ether Dome Operating Theater.jpg

  Operating theater and seating

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  The Bulfinch Building: State of the Art from the Start

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  The MGH Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine traces its roots back to the October 16, 1846 public demonstration of medical ether.

• MGH-Ether-Dome-IMG 20140520 133215664.jpg

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston
• National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts

External links

• The Ether Dome: The restoration of an icon
• Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care: Our Story