Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It

I spent half my time reading this book shaking my head. Even my husband asked what was wrong. It's simply incredible that even this far back in medical history, the mid-1800s, that an actual advance could cause as much trouble as it did. This story is about three men; one discovered the ability of certain chemicals to cause people to become oblivious to pain, one man found the best chemical and the right means to deliver it--but his reputation as a con artist proved to be his undoing for something he actually did right, and the last man was a doctor on the peripherary of all this who sought to claim more credit for something he had little to do with.I thought I was cynical before, because of all the problems we are having with pharmaceutical companies placing profits above health, and physicians and researchers following suit...but apparently, this has been a problem for over a hundred and fifty years.The major 'discoverer' of etherization as an anasthetic for surgery, Morton, actually followed through and experimented with the formulas to get the right amount to allow patients to sleep through horrific surgery such as amputation. However, Morton's previous life as a con artist and also his rush to place a patent on this technique for profit reasons, caused his discovery to backfire against him. Not only did he never receive recompense for his work in this area, even the military absconded and used his work during the Civil War. The poor man died in despair in his mid-40s, with little recognition paid until after his death.None of the men received what they thought was their rightful due concerning ether use in surgery. One committed suicide, and the last man who was a very intelligent man ended up dying slowly in an insane asylum of most probably a stroke, that may have incapacitated his ability to speak, but not necessarily his memory or thinking abilites.This is one of the worse case scenarios of the attempt to profit off of the pain of others. I felt remorse for all of these men and their families; yet at the same time, if they had handled it differently with less eagerness to make a profit or be the 'one' whose name was attached with etherization, maybe it would have worked out better.Well-written and interesting book. It's amazing after 150 years we still don't understand how anasthetia (sic) works. I think it would be more helpful to designing specific methods for individuals if we did understand it more.Karen Sadler,Science Education

Very well researched and entertaining. I had read a chapter about the origin of clinical anesthesia in another book and found the story fascinating. I wanted another book solely devoted to the subject. Again, this is well researched and the author went through numerous pieces of correspondence of the main characters and has several journals, letters and other documents that had to be difficult to track down. The reason I say 4 stars though is for two reasons. First of all, this book is essentially entirely about the debate amongst three new englanders regarding the first to use anesthesia clinically. While she does mention him towards the end of the book, the author largely ignores Crawford Long, a Georgian who many recognize as the first. Second, while William Morton does appear to have been, by all accounts, a total scumbag, I thought the author was pretty damaging to his claim through some of the opinionated remarks in the book. As a nonfiction book I thought she should have been completely objective but I know that is often difficult to do entirely. Still very well researched and interesting and a great book for those wanting to learn more about this story.

Being a retired physician, I have always been drawn to medical history.I first heard of this book some years ago when it first came out, when the author was interviewed on NPR.Since it's not new, this book may now be owned economically, second hand from amazon.The history of the invention of ether, preceeded by nitrous oxide, is very fascinating.The personalities of the discoverers, both American and unfortunate, are carefully described in a fascinating way.There was also an interesting tidbit for me. Crawford Long, a physician in Athens, Georgia, later claimed to have been the first to employ general anesthesia.I happen to be retired in a community not far from Atlanta, which is famous for hosting a hospital named Crawford Long.The little tidbit is that a foreign newspaper, learning that Long was from Athens, erroneously informed its readers that he lived in Greece!

Julie Fenster is a terrific author. Her ability to include all the details while keeping the story ‘alive’ is what I like most about her writing. Make sure you check out her latest, ‘Cheaters Always Win’.

Ether Day is wonderfully written by J. Fenster. The subject matter, the birth of the medical and commercial business that became anesthesia, at first glance possesses all the excitement of a blue haired tea party. However, the author performed exacting research, in depth character development and, told a compelling and very human story.The book will appeal to students of history as well as science and medicine (especially nurse anesthetists or anesthesiologists) The book is not heavy with science or medical jargon. A truly enjoyable read.

The subject fascinates me. This story is so well researched and reported, almost to a fault, because it got boring 2/3 through the book. I still recommend it for students of history and especially medical history.

Fascinating tale of the early days of anesthesia and the people involved. Well worth reading.

A niece wants to be an anesthesiologist - I gave her this book for Christmas, we didn't hear from her the rest of the evening! She immediately started reading!It was a suggestion from a physician friend for a young woman going into this field - good suggestion!

I was writing an article about how ether was found to be useful for anesthetic, and was searching for all kinds of data. Most books would try to show Morton as a hero, while subtly cover up those stories that would shine for him. This book did not try to cover anything. I believe this is the way to go for a book about history of science. Morton was not a saint, and one does not to be a saint to make great discoveries. There was not much to be appreciate regarding Morton's personality, but no one would deny that his effort made the anesthetic property of either become known to mankind.

A great book.....nothing more to say

Love the book, but some of the pages were dirty though so that sucked.