Mass. General beyond Ether Dome

Spatch takes a tour of Mass. General's historic Ether Dome, which may be the first place where somebody was ever anaesthetized:

... This operating theater was the place of over 8,000 surgical procedures from 1818 to 1868, and the fact that anesthesia was only used from 1846 on was difficult to contemplate. What screams must have echoed through this chamber, I thought, while Learned Men of Medicine sat in the oddly-shaped seats, peering down at the blood and gore, taking notes or nodding approvingly. ...