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| Morton inhaler |
I did not make up that word. Dodransbicentennial means 175th and today is the 175th anniversary of the first public demonstration of ether. It's a real word because Wikipedia says so and Wikipedia is the source of all knowledge in the world now.
On October 16, 1846, William Morton showed how ether can induce unconsciousness in a patient undergoing surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The event was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and recently voted the most important article in the history of the publication. The operating room where the event took place is now called the Ether Dome.
So if you need another reason to party this weekend, raise a cold one to Dr. Morton and the invention of anesthesia. That was truly a seminal moment in medicine and I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that it changed the course of humanity forever. For more information, check out the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.
Two days later, the crossword puzzle was invented so anesthesia would have something to do during the case... :-)
ReplyDeleteThank god smartphones were invented. Crossword puzzles are too hard. Takes away our focus from the case.
ReplyDelete