The Ether Dome

One painless operation, several men claiming it, and a quarrel that ended in a jail cell and an asylum.

Collection: Boston: More Stories · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

Tiered seats under the Ether Dome’s skylight · NateBergin, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

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How the story begins

Nearly every man who claimed credit for what happened in this building came to a bad end. On the sixteenth of October, 1846, a dentist named William Morton gave a patient ether in the operating room under the dome. The surgeon John Collins Warren cut a tumor from the man's neck. Warren's reported words to the room were "Gentlemen, this is no humbug." Morton called his substance Letheon and patented it.

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Visiting

Fourth floor, Bulfinch Building, Massachusetts General Hospital. The hospital's Russell Museum says the Ether Dome is open weekdays nine to five, except during faculty meetings, and gives 617-724-9557 for information, but that page is not kept current and these hours are not confirmed for 2026. The museum's line is also listed as 617-724-8009. It is a working hospital room, so call before you go.