Discovery of Anesthesia

On October 16, 1846, dentist William T.G. Morton administered inhaled diethyl ether to patient Gilbert Abbott at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Surgeon John Collins Warren then removed a vascular tumor from Abbott's neck while the patient reported no pain. Morton had tested ether on a tooth extraction two weeks earlier. The demonstration established inhaled anesthesia as a viable surgical tool, though priority remains disputed — Crawford Long had used ether in surgery in 1842, and Morton spent his remaining years in legal conflicts over the claim.