Ether Dome at Massachusetts General Hospital

The Ether Dome in the Warren Operating Theatre at Massachusetts General Hospital is the site of the first public demonstration of ether anesthesia by William T. G. Morton on October 16, 1846. The amphitheater and operating theater are preserved as a historical museum exhibit and are accessible to the public through the hospital's historical collections. The room's association with early surgical practice has long drawn medical curiosity and occasional anecdotal reports of an uncanny atmosphere; such reports are anecdotal and debated. The site is a documented landmark in the history of medicine.