The History of Medicine in Boston

On Monday, July 15, my class and I took the Red Line T into Boston to visit Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Public Gardens. This was a trip I was particularly excited for. On the first day of class, Dr. Bhattacharyya told us about this great space where a massive medical breakthrough occurred - and it was only a short T-ride away! We left from Harvard around 8:40 and arrived at the Ether Dome a little after 9. Once arrived, there were a few things that I immediately noticed:

1) You have to walk up 4 flights of stairs to get there. Apparently, this was because patients' screams were so loud it would disturb others in the hospital. So they put this operating theater high up for no one to hear. In fact, I think that was the highest floor in this particular part of the building.

2) It was a lot smaller than I expected. Maybe it was the way the paintings and pictures depicted the Ether Dome, but I thought the space was going to be a lot bigger than it was. Even the entryway was tiny. Mekal, Micheka, and I walked through and fit perfectly.

3) There were a lot of items that didn't seem to belong. The thing that stood out the most were the two mummies. They were apparently a gift to the hospital form the city of Boston. Why the hospital chose to store them in the Ether dome is unclear.

Additionally, there was the interesting statue chilling in the corner of the room. I later found out that the statue is supposed to be Apollo. The Greek god is known for many things such a dance and music or truth and prophecy, but he is also recognized as the god of healing and diseases. Thus, it makes a tad more sense why he is there. Maybe it's me but, I just find it weird for a statue to be somewhere you conduct suggestions and other operations

Otherwise, I though the room was normal. There wasn't a bad seat in the house. No matter where you stood or sat you could clearly see the person at the bottom. Additionally, the room had really good acoustics. This makes sense because the room was used for demonstrations. The doctors needed to be able to operate while clearly explaining what they were doing. The other cool thing about this space was the so called, museum located just behind the main theater. It was just essentially just a shrine to the men who discovered and administered Ether. They particularly highlighted a man by the name of John Collins Warren. He was a doctor at Mass General and is one of the men operating on the patient in the painting "Ether Day." Many of his quotes and pictures adorned the wall. Oddly enough, his wedding clothes were there. Again, it's unclear why this decision was made. But regardless, it was cool to step foot in a place that has so much historical significance. Prior to taking this class I had never heard of Ether, let alone the Ether Dome. So I am extremely thankful to have learned about it.

After we left MGH, we headed down to Boston Public Gardens (but not before stopping at JP Licks fr ice cream). Our mission: to look at the only monument dedicated to a substance (and not a person) in the Northern Hemisphere. The statue, which is dedicated to the discovery of Ether, is located near the middle of the park, right next to the pond and the George Washington statue. After analyzing the statue one thing becomes very clear: some people think they've solved all of the world's problems with the creation of Ether. There are 4 sides to the statue, each with a different inscription. One specifically stood out to me. It reads, "In gratitude for the relief of human suffering by the inhaling of Ether a citizen of Boston has erected this monument" The statement that all of human suffering is ended because of ether is very bold, but that just goes to show how strongly this man felt about Ether. But who was the man who "donated" this statue? If he had enough money to commission a statue we can assume he is of the upper class. This leads me to my open-ended question(s)...

Would the man who commissioned this statue's opinion be favorable among the upper class? Additionally, what did the common folk think about the discovery of Ether?

As always, if you have anything to contribute to the conversation, head over to the forum page or leave a comment.

Check out the pictures I took from the trip below!