A 1907 re-enactment of the demonstration of ether anesthesia by WTG Morton on October 16th, 1846, in the operating room of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Photograph: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
October 16th is a milestone date that marks the first public demonstration of ether as an anaesthetic, heralding the end of copious alcohol and a sponge wedged in a patient’s mouth to numb patients for surgery.
That first successful operation was conducted on October 16th, 1846, at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Barely two months later, in the grip of the Great Famine, Ireland followed suit.
Mr John MacDonnell administered ether on January 1st, 1847, at the Richmond Hospital in Dublin to an 18-year-old girl who underwent an amputation of her septic arm without feeling any pain.
“I regard this discovery as one of the most important in this century, it will rank with vaccination, and other of the great benefits that medical scienc
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