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The First Operation with Ether: A Historical and Medical Perspective

This guide provides more information on the painting, The First Operation with Ether, as well as the history of anesthesia.

Timeline of Key Events

The Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology has created an authoritative timeline on the history of anesthesia, and below are listed some of the major events surrounding the development of ether as anesthesia.

  • 1525 - Paracelsus uses ether on animals
  • 1540 - German physician Valerius Cordus synthesizes diethyl ether
  • 1842 - William Clarke etherizes a patient for dental extraction
  • 1842 - Dr. Crawford Long etherizes a patient for removal of neck cysts
  • 1846 - William T.G. Morton publicly and successfully demonstrates ether anesthesia in surgery.  Other surgeries, amputations, and dental extractions using ether follow.

Although there is some controversy over the claim that Morton was the first to use ether in surgery, he is credited with developing a delivery instrument that could control the level of ether given to a patient during surgery.  Even with the surrounding controversy, "Morton’s genius resided not only in his observations of the power of ether but also in his development of a crude but scientific method of regulating its inhalation, thus creating the field of anesthesiology." [1]   

Chloroform and nitrous oxide soon follow as popular anesthetics for surgery and dental procedures, and would become more popular in other parts of the world for a period of time.  

[1]  Markel, H. (2013)  The painful story behind modern anesthesia.  PBS.org.  Accessed January 2, 2025.

Significance of Ether in Medical History

Although many techniques and substances have been used throughout history to ease pain, sedate or cause "insensibility" [1] in patients, and aid with surgery (opium, henbane, acupuncture, herb mixtures, alcohol, cannabis, carotid compression, mandrake, coca leaves, mesmerism, nitrous oxide), the 19th century saw great advancements in the use of ether as a regulated general anesthetic, transforming surgery for both patients and doctors.  With regard to the surgery of 1846, "[T]he public display of the etherization of Edward Abbott at Massachusetts General Hospital opened the proverbial door to a whole world of new possibilities in surgical intervention. The demonstration set into motion the quest to advance general anesthesia practice." [2]

[1]  Bigelow, H. J. (1846). Insensibility during surgical operations produced by inhalation. The Boston medical and surgical journal, 35(16), 309-317.

[2]  Abhyankar, R. S., & Jessop, K. M. (2022). From Craft to Profession: The Development of Modern Anesthesiology: Part II. Missouri medicine, 119(1), 14–20.