From Jerking Teeth to Clerking Harvard: Dr. Hiram Whitney and His Patients' Ethereal Requests

A lifelong native of Harvard, Massachusetts, Dr. Hiram Whitney (1815 to 1879) served as both a popular dentist and, for his final 13 yr, as the town clerk. Just 1 yr after Morton's public demonstration of surgical etherization, the 1848 “Environs of Boston” directory listed Dr. Whitney at the Warren Street address printed on this business card (above) from the Wood Library-Museum's Ben Z. Swanson Collection. In those early years of etherizing patients, many dentists were discouraged by the ethereal legacy of day-long accumulation of drowsy, nauseated patients in dental offices. Perhaps that is why Dr. Whitney would only administer ether “at therequest of the patient. ” (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists' Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
Source: Anesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research