Anaesthesia was inspired by party tricks.

1844 · 1846 · apart: 2 years

People inhaled ether and laughing gas for fun at 'ether frolics', and in 1844 dentist Horace Wells noticed at one such show that a man who had gashed his leg felt no pain.

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The event

• First public demonstration of ether anaesthesia1846 · Boston. On 16 October 1846 at Massachusetts General Hospital, dentist William Morton put a patient under with ether while a surgeon removed a tumour painlessly. Anaesthesia spread worldwide within months and made modern surgery possible.

19th century

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