Bulfinch Building/MGH Ether Dome (Boston, Massachusetts)

 hospital, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1810s construction, U.S. National Historic Landmark

 Upload a photo

Designed by Charles Bulfinch to replace the original home of the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Bulfinch building was the location of the first public demonstration of ether as an anesthetic. The glass dome over the center of the building houses one of the oldest operating suites in the world. This room is still used for conferences, but no longer for surgical procedures.

Here on 16 October 1846 William Thomas Green Morton successfully anesthetized Edward Gilbert Abbott and Dr. John Collins Warren painlessly removed a tumor 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".

www.massgeneral.org/history/exhibits/etherdome/