470 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
Wells. Morton persuaded Dr. J. C. Warren, son of Dr. J. M. Warren, 
associated with General Putnam at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 
to permit him to use ether on one of his patients. On October 16, 
1846, in Massachusetts General Hospital, Morton began the admin- 
istering of ether to Dr. Warren’s patient. From that operating room 
reverberated that memorable statement which has echoed down 
through the decades, “Dr. Warren, your patient is now ready.” Dr. 
Warren commented that this was no humbug. Mr. Abbott, the patient, 
was fast asleep. Ether had found its place. 
Shortly after this, Oliver Wendell Holmes, in a letter to Morton, 
conveyed the fact that he had assigned a generic name to ether and 
all such agents. He commented on the importance of a proper selec- 
tion of a name, for Holmes held that it would be on the lips of 
every person of all races who in time to come would dwell on this 
planet. He coined the word “anesthesia” from the Greek aoAnors, 
perception, and the av negative, namely, without perception. Ethyl 
ether is the most generally used of all volatile anesthetics. Its mode 
of action is like that of nitrous oxide. It is not decomposed in the 
body, but its presence in the cells of the central nervous system pro- 
duces insensibility to pain and a hiatus in consciousness. Ether re- 
quires 6 to 8 percent concentration in the inspired air to produce 
anesthesia. During surgical anesthesia the concentration in the blood 
is approximately 150 mg. percent. The blood pressure remains es- 
sentially normal, respiration full and regular during ether anesthesia. 
The relaxation of abdominal musculature is complete with ether. 
The administration of the anesthetic agent in the circuit with oxygen 
instead of air seems to reduce the incidence of postanesthetic nausea 
and vomiting with ether. Postoperative abdominal distress and too 
great a degree of volatility appear to be the principal drawbacks 
to ethyl ether as an anesthetic. 
Ether, when exposed to light and air, has a tendency to develop 
peroxides. These are explosive and also serve as pulmonary irritants, 
when ether containing them is employed as an anesthetic. The struc- 
ture of ether peroxide, according to Wieland, is: 
H H 
cHy—c—o—0-b—cn,. 
bx bn 
Dihydroxydiethyl peroxide 
The Pharmacopeia requires that ether used for anesthetic purposes 
must be peroxide-free. The test is carried out as follows: “Shake 10 
ce. of ether occasionally during 1 hr. with 1 cc. of a freshly prepared 
aqueous solution of potassium iodide (1 in 10) in a 25-ce. glass-stop- 
pered cylinder of colorless glass, protected from light: when viewed 
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