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Ether Day is the unpredictable story of America's first major scientific discovery -- the use of anesthesia -- told in an absorbing narrative that traces the dawn of modern surgery through the lives of three extraordinary men. Ironically, the "discovery" was really no discovery at all: Ether and nitrous oxide had been known for more than forty years to cause insensitivity to pain, yet, with names like "laughing gas," they were used almost solely for entertainment. Meanwhile, patients still underwent operations during which they saw, heard, and felt every cut the surgeon made. The image of a grim and grisly operating room, like the one in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, was in fact starkly accurate in portraying the conditions of surgery before anesthesia. With hope for relief seemingly long gone, the breakthrough finally came about by means of a combination of coincidence and character, as a cunning Boston dentist crossed paths with an inventive colleague from Hartford and a brilliant Harvard-trained physician. William Morton, Horace Wells, and Charles Jackson: a con man, a dreamer, and an intellectual. Though Wells was crushed by derision when he tried to introduce anesthetics, Morton prevailed, with help from Jackson. The result was Ether Day, October 16, 1846, celebrated around the world. By that point, though, no honor was enough. Ether Day was not only the dawn of modern surgery, but the beginning of commercialized medicine as well, as Morton patented the discovery. What followed was a battle so bitter that it sent all three men spiraling wildly out of control, at the same time that anesthetics began saving countless lives. Meticulously researched and masterfully written, Ether Day is a riveting look at one of history's most remarkable untold stories.Product Identifiers
PublisherHarperCollins
ISBN-100060195231
ISBN-139780060195236
eBay Product ID (ePID)575956
Product Key Features
LanguageEnglish
TopicExperiments & Projects, United States / 19th Century, Anesthesiology, History, Science, Medical
AuthorJ. M. Fenster
IllustratorYes
Dimensions
Item Height1in
Item Length8.2in
Item Weight15.9 Oz
Item Width5.5in
Additional Product Features
Publication Year2001
TypeTextbook
FormatHardcover
Reviews"A fascinating chronicle of jealousy, greed, chicanery, and outright fraud, sometimes darkly funny, sometimes appalling." -- Richard Snow, editor, American Heritage "The personal side heroic, comic, and tragic--of the early history of anesthesia has never been more vividly recreated than in Julie Fenster's well researched and crisply written book." -- Roy Porter, author of The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity "A riveting saga.... This is non-fiction story telling at its absolute finest." -- Douglas Brinkley, Historian "A steady and witty guide to the fascinating charges and frustrations that grew out of Ether Day." -- New York Times Book Review "It would not be inappropriate to compare anesthesia history to a Shakespearean play. Here we have all the ingredients: tragedy, comedy, farce, a well-drawn set of characters, and intricate subplots. All this and more can be found in Ether Day." -- Journal of the American Medical Association "The cast of characters here is a rich one. . . . A thoroughly compelling account, well told and well situated in its larger context." -- Kirkus Reviews
Publication NameEther Day : the Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It
Lccn00-054117
Intended AudienceTrade
Lc Classification NumberRd80.3.F46 2001
Number of Pages288 Pages
