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Wait...

There's a rest of the country?

that last sentence is... *chef's kiss

What’s the book?

There’ve been rumors, but evidence is sketchy

Julia Fenster's Ether Day about the first use of surgical anesthesia. It's an amazing story, though tragic, as the discovery and fight for ownership basically ruined the lives of all involved. Also sad as the chemistry for sulfuric ether and nitrous oxide was there already from about 1800, but people just had accepted that surgery was a painful fact of life, and so many people had to go through horrific suffering when something that could've eliminated it was dismissed as a frivolity. Boston had the right convergence of factors that allowed for the first public use of ether, often attributed as America's first great medical discovery. And in a very American fashion, it took a lightly educated con-artist to break the paradigms held by the European oriented medical community and change medicine forever.

It feels like something out of hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, but I can't say for certain

Look, I'm willing to entertain the idea that New England exists, but are you seriously trying to tell me there's more beyond that? Like Ohio?

Its out past 495, or so the weather man says

Ohio is an imaginary place that our parents made up to get us to behave.

So Boston doctors discovered effective surgical anesthesia, and the rest of the country's medical establishment didn't believe them?

Man, even back then you were lucky AF to live where medical research was cutting edge. Imagine amputation or organ removal while conscious. And be very grateful we live when we do.

Here's some deets: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1868/06/the-discovery-of-etherization/628447/

Ohio is this place where that Douchebag general from the patriot tried to move to

Hmm... where else have I heard of a simple, effective medical advance able to save millions of lives and reduce the suffering of tens of millions more being developed largely in the Greater Boston Area?

And then getting rejected by some portions of the rest of the country bc they don't like the "elites" in their "hub of the universe"...

A Boston "dentist" looking to get rich first demonstrated its use at MGH, mostly because other doctors were afraid of what would happen to their career if they promoted something exposed as "humbug." He then attempted to patent it by pretending it was a more complicated formula than simply diethyl ether (which failed as people could easily recognize the smell).

I had a minor surgery a few months ago, and was nonetheless very thankful to the flawed men that were Charles Jackson and William Morton, which ever truly realized the potential of ether. I make sure to stop at both of their graves whenever I find myself walking at Mt. Auburn.

>don't like the "elites" in their "hub of the universe"...

In this case it was the "elites" rejecting the successful and lucky work of a con-artist fraudster.

North Dakota doesn't exist, either.

Fascinating stuff. I’m real glad we have this, as opposed to having to bite down on a rag or be knocked out.

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Have you ever met anyone from Wyoming though?

Yea, its called West USA and South USA

Perhaps the most New England thing ever written

“Boston-based Entrepreneurs from Non-Traditional Backgrounds Seek to Disrupt Surgery. But are Their Claims Just Made of Vapor?”

-STAT News headline, circa 1846.

But really, fuck the rest of the country.

there be dragons

It’s not as bad as Semmelweis, who is one of the more fucked up stories in medicine. Guy basically proves via clinical experiments that sanitization of doctors hands reduces patient mortality. Instead of other doctors being convinced by his evidence, they get him fired, ostracized, he’s forced to move, eventually admitted to an asylum, and dies presumably from complications after being by guards. It would take many more decades before the medical community would begin to adopt antiseptic techniques.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

Even more than a century later, many doctors would be doing autopsies without gloves on too. I worked with pathologists (in their 60s now) who were doing that in their residencies because it was the norm and got medical issues from doing so.

People (including doctors) are surprisingly stupid sometimes.

This is amazing

Should be our actual state motto.

Boston is a fake city

I don't get the reference.

Boston has a killer drug scene

I’m still wondering how far western mass stretches

Remember to pay your respects to the ether monument in the public garden

I like the early crypto/Ether reference as well. Boston ahead of the curve, as usual.

Not only has nothing changed, I think we’ve actually doubled down

This is actually really great to know! Will do!

All the way to New York

Shockingly, yes. Or at least, he says he’s from there.

>Boston is a fake port city

FTFY

Boston really is the best place to live in the country. I’m not talking about price wise because that’s definitely not the appeal, this is the most foreword thinking place on the east coast. I’m happy to live here over anyplace in the south 😖

Fun fact: Ohio has the most astronauts! There's something about Ohio that makes people want to flee the Earth...

(Go buckeyes!)

My cousin moved to Ohio but he can confirm that it is some kind of purgatory and not a real place that people can get to without some form of demon sacrifice or hell portal.

It's a really easy decision to stay here when the rest of the country is so god damned intent on making itself as shitty as possible.

Covid vaccines, I think.

I am in Ohio right now, and let me assure you that these single-digit temps, slow-ass drivers, and super nice/chatty Midwestern folk are definitely real.

That last sentence is very ironic.

U might need to get out a bit more

>People (including doctors) are surprisingly stupid sometimes.

I will never forget that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson believes the Egyptians built the pyramids as glorified grain silos. It's one of those useless pieces of trivia that's now permanently burned into my brain.

The operating theater in which ether was first used has been preserved and remains as a museum of sorts with Massachusetts General Hospital.

I was housemate with some lads into the EDM scene, who held what was supposed to be an ether frolic. They had a friend that got them ether and DMSO from the lab he worked in. I never tried it myself. They seemed to enjoy it, but they were kinda dumb about drugs.

It is true. I'm sitting here at my mother's house in Purgatory as we speak.

Fear, children. Your parents told you truths.

I don't live in boston, I'm not from there, but my boyfriend is. He's from Southie. I followed the sub specifically to have a better understanding of my guy, and I can say that this sums him up perfectly.

Or could be broadly interpreted as any scientific or medical achievement making rural folks upset.

And get my boots covered in shit?

unlikely

Massholes. A badge of honor since the 1840's

Biggest risk is definitely how flammable the stuff is. I remember reading an account from a WWII doctor, the bottom foot or so of atmosphere in a surgical tent at the front would ether vapor (heavier than air). If there was a spark, not to mention a shell, the whole thing would instantly go up.

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Ok, bud. Thx for makin my point. Tough guy.

Boston is moving down on the medical front…and NYC has moved ahead of it.