An Ether Monument?

While wandering the Boston Common last month, I saw a picturesque monument dedicated to ether. I was surprised to see a monument for ether, a colorless liquid that causes unconsciousness and has hypnotic effects. I thought of ether as a popular recreational drug from the 19^th century, hardly something worth a memorializing with a statue.

The momument

It ends up that ether has been around for a while, it was discovered in 1275, and has been used for a few different purposes. The monument also has quite a history.

In the 1840s, a practicing dentist from Boston who never managed to finish medical school experimented with different drugs to use as anesthetics. This man was William Morton and he tried everything - from alcohol to opium- to lessen his patients’ pain. Alcohol was largely ineffective and opium had too many side effects. After seeing his former business partner Horace Wells’ limited success with nitrous oxide as a staple anesthetic, Morton decided to experiment with ether.

First Morton tried topical application of ether, which reduced the pain but didn’t end it completely. Next he experimented with inhalation of a mixture of ether and opium, which also wasn’t ideal. Last of all he tried inhalation of pure ether, and this was the winner. After inhaling ether, the patient went unconscious and felt no pain whatsoever during the operation. Ether is transmitted to the blood stream through the lungs so the effect is almost instantaneous. Ether’s influence tends to only last about half an hour, unlike opium. (One patient of Morton’s didn’t recover from the opium used during her operation for a week!)

Boston Common

After his success with ether, Morton developed a special device for ether inhalation he called a “letheon inhaler.” In 1846 Morton removed Gilbert Abbott’s vascular tumor in his jaw at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s operating theatre. Morton administered ether, and Abbott felt no pain throughout the operation.

People were impressed with the remarkable success of ether and in 1866, Thomas Lee, a retired merchant, suggested that the city of Boston build a monument on the Boston Common dedicated to the first use of ether as an anesthetic in 1846. The city agreed and the monument still stands there to this day.

Me in front of the ether monument

While Morton was adamant that he was the first person to use ether as an anesthetic, this may have not actually been the case. Ether began being used in medical treatment in 1794, and was widely used for recreational purposes in the 1800s. Morton spent most of his life in disputes with medical men about ether use. I would guess that Morton probably wasn’t the first one to use ether as an anesthetic, though he did popularize its use. Thankfully he did! Imagine surgery without anesthesia – it would be extremely painful. While ether isn’t used as an anesthetic anymore, Morton’s work no doubt helped anesthetics become a staple during medical operations, and that is well worth a memorial.

A Dangerous Drug: Elixir Sulfanilamide

Once, a medicine with antifreeze in it was prescribed to children as a cure for sore throats. It ended up killing them. How did something like this ever manage to happen? Well, it all started with trying to make Sulfanilamide a liquid.

This incident was the Sulfanilamide disaster of 1937, which I recently learned about in my pharmacology class at the ROC taught by Dr. Sonia Houston Pichardo, PhD.

Sulfanilamides were the first powerful anti-bacteria drugs discovered in 1932 by Gerhard Domagk. They were used widely during World War II in powder and tablet form to prevent infection. In 1937 a drug manufacturer S. E. Massengill Co., decided sulfa drugs were so effective they should develop a liquid form to treat infection in children who couldn't easily swallow tablets.

The chemist in charge of the project, Harold C. Watkins soon found sulfanilamide dissolved in diethylene glycol, a clear odorless substance that tasted sweet. Perfect! Not. It ended up that diethylene glycol was a deadly poison used in antifreeze.

"Elixir Sulfanilamide" by Unknown

Back in 1937 there were no laws requiring that drugs be tested before being sold to the public so Elixir Sulfanilamide was put right on the market. In fact, at the time, there were no laws against selling lethal drugs at all. The FDA did exist, but it had little power and its Food and Drug Act of 1906 was not enforced. The new form of sulfanilmide was  prescribed to children without ever being tested.

Soon both kids and adults began do die as a result of taking Elixir Sulfanilamide and the American Medical Association suspected something fishy was going on and had this new drug form investigated. The symptoms of poisoning lasted about 7-21 days and resembled kidney failure. The drug meant to cure these kids of a sore throat ended up killing them in an excruciatingly painful way. The AMA found that diethylene glycol to be poisonous and ordered a swift recall of the drug. Still hundreds of people across the United States died, including Harold C. Watkins who committed suicide when he learned his drug was a killer

 The FDA and AMA recalled 234 gallons and 1 pint of the 240 gallons of Elixir Sulfanilamide distributed. Despite the horrible consequences of Elixir Sulfanilamide even getting on the market the only fine S. E. Massengill Co. was one for mis-branding, as the name "elixir" suggested alcohol was involved in the drug when it wasn't. If the drug had been called  Solution Sulfanilamide instead, the company would have received no fine at all.

The only good thing Elixir Sulfanilamide did was worry the government enough to make and enforce laws requiring drugs to be tested before they were put on the market. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act was put into practice in 1938.  Thank goodness! This law helped prevent anything like the Sulfanilamide disaster from ever happening on such a great scale again.