Edward Gilbert Abbott (1825–1855) was the patient upon whom

William T. G. Morton William Thomas Green Morton (August 9, 1819 – July 15, 1868) was an American dentist and physician who first publicly demonstrated the use of inhaled ether as a surgical anesthetic in 1846. The promotion of his questionable claim to have been th ...

first publicly demonstrated the use of

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be ...

as a surgical

anesthetic An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...

. The operation was done in an amphitheater at the Massachusetts General Hospital now known as the

Ether Dome The Ether Dome is a surgical operating amphitheater in the Bulfinch Building at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. It served as the hospital's operating room from its opening in 1821 until 1867. It was the site of the first public demonstr ...

on 16 October 1846. After Morton administered the ether, surgeon

John Collins Warren John Collins Warren (August 1, 1778 – May 4, 1856) was an American surgeon. In 1846 he gave permission to William T.G. Morton to provide ether anesthesia while Warren performed a minor surgical procedure. News of this first public demonstrat ...

removed a portion of a

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

from Abbott's neck. After Warren had finished, and Abbott regained consciousness, Warren asked the patient how he felt. Reportedly, Abbott said, "Feels as if my neck's been scratched." Warren then turned to his medical audience and uttered "Gentlemen, this is no Humbug." This was presumably a reference to the unsuccessful demonstration of nitrous oxide anesthesia by

Horace Wells Horace Wells (January 21, 1815 – January 24, 1848) was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia in dentistry, specifically the use of nitrous oxide (or laughing gas). Early life Wells was the first of three children of H ...

in the same theater the previous year, which was ended by cries of "Humbug!" after the patient groaned with pain.Horace Wells
. Retrieved 2010-11-02.

References

External links

Edward Gilbert Abbott: Enigmatic Figure of the Ether Demonstration

The Day Pain Died

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Edward Gilbert 1825 births 1855 deaths History of anesthesia