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September 1996
Volume 60 |
Number 9
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| The Most Significant
Event in American Medical History |
Adolph H. Giesecke, M.D., Trustee
Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology
The cover of this issue of the ASA NEWSLETTER portrays
a beautiful image of the heroic painting of Ether Day by Robert
C. Hinckley, completed in 1892. The inset is a painting of the
facade of the Bulfinch building by anesthesiologist, artist and
educator Leroy D. Vandam, M.D. The events of Ether Day, described
by many as the most significant in American medical history, took
place inside the Bulfinch building in an amphitheater known as
the "Ether Dome." This site is now a national shrine
managed by the United States Parks Department and should be a
mandatory stop for any anesthesiologist visiting Boston.
The following cover story is abstracted from published writings
of Henry R. Viets, M.D., Curator, Boston Medical Library in the
Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts,
with his permission. The material on Dr. Vandam's painting was
abstracted from Harvard Medical Focus, March 12, 1987.
Hinckley Painting: Dramatic Documentation of History
The painting of Ether Day, now in the Boston Medical Library,
is by American artist Robert C. Hinckley (1853-1941). Beginning
in Paris in 1882, the painting was done over a 10-year period
by Hinckley, who carefully delineated the figures and historical
background. Each figure was a true portrait of the man as only
an artist in portraiture could paint him. Hinckley may well have
interviewed some of the participants in the original Ether Day.
This possibility accounts for his adding a local physician and
two students to the group. He also painted in two surgeons who
were known not to have been present.
The sources of inspiration and information for this elaborate
composition to a young American artist working in Paris are unknown.
Some have supposed that the original commission may have come
from Massachusetts General Hospital; others have thought that
Hinckley painted his canvas on "speculation," perhaps
hoping ultimately to sell to the hospital. No satisfactory offer
was received, and after letting it hang for 20 years in his studio,
Hinckley was persuaded to give it to the Boston Medical Library
in 1903, just as he was about to cut the canvas into smaller pieces
for other use.
Most of the persons in the Hinckley painting can be identified
with certainty. The principals are unmistakable; others pose some
questions, but answers have been found with considerable assurance.
Hinckley identified some of the minor figures on a photograph
taken in Paris before the picture was complete.
All historians would agree that four persons were present at the
first public demonstration of ether anesthesia on October 16,
1846: Gilbert Abbott, the patient; John Collins Warren, M.D.,
the surgeon; William T.G. Morton, who administered the ether;
and Henry Jacob Bigelow, M.D., a junior surgeon and champion of
Morton who was to write the first published account of that eventful
day. House surgeon Charles F. Heywood, M.D., who wrote the patient's
history in volume 30 of the "Surgical Records," was
present. One newspaper reporter (standing on the chair at the
left) wrote that he was a witness. Two other physicians were also
there: Morton's friend Augustus Gould, M.D., an internist, and
Solomon Townsend, M.D., a senior surgeon. Eben Frost, a businessman
whose tooth was removed under ether by Morton on September 30,
was also present. Seven students are recorded as having been present.
Photographer (daguerreotypist) Josiah Hawes is thought to have
been there, but the sight of blood so unnerved him that he was
obliged to retire, thus missing the chance of a lifetime. Three
others in the painting are known not to have been present, but
we can forgive Hinckley's artistic license in view of his warm
and vivid portrayal of the memorable occasion.
The auburn-haired, tall, handsome dentist in a blue frock coat,
Morton is a dignified, striking figure holding his glass ether
vaporizer and gazing at Warren's first incision on the unconscious
patient, Gilbert Abbott. Towering above all except Dr. Bigelow,
Morton was backed by minor figures and set facing the all powerful
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) surgical staff: Drs. Warren,
Bigelow and Townsend. Jonathan M. Warren is the smaller figure
behind Morton holding the patient's head as if a little doubtful
that Abbott might move at the touch of the knife. By his own statement,
he was not present.
Dr. Bigelow stands tall and distinguished with blue eyes and pale
hair, his hands on the patient's chest. It was he who caught the
true significance of the occasion, talked it over with Oliver
Wendell Holmes, communicated the news to the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences on November 3 and published the full account
on November 18. At age 28, he had been appointed as a visiting
surgeon to the MGH staff in February. Hinckley balanced the figures
of Morton and Dr. Bigelow in his composition, matching them in
height. Without Dr. Bigelow's keen insights into Morton's previous
experiments, no demonstration at MGH would have been possible.
He was the key that opened the door for Morton.
The Hinckley painting stands today as a dramatic documentation
of an event that changed the world and shaped the nation.
Vandam Painting: A Product of Planning and Inspiration
Leroy D. Vandam, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesia Emeritus at
Harvard Medical School in Boston. The transformation of anesthesiology
into a rigorous academic discipline has been accomplished in no
small measure by his productive career. According to his colleagues,
Dr. Vandam is a marvelous teacher, a consummate clinician and
a superb man of letters who has written about, interpreted and
shaped his profession. He is also an accomplished artist whose
paintings grace the homes and offices of scores of important people.
As a child, Dr. Vandam drew constantly, winning prizes and lessons
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While a medical student, he
also studied etching, lithography and composition but resisted
the temptation to give up medicine for art. In 1949, he turned
to watercolor as his primary medium. "To turn out a good
watercolor requires a lot of simultaneous planning and looking
ahead," he says. "You might equate it with planning
for an anesthetic." His paintings have appeared on several
covers of the ASA NEWSLETTER and the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Some years ago, Richard J. Kitz, M.D., asked Dr. Vandam to paint
the Bulfinch building. "One Sunday in spring," says
Dr. Kitz, "he sat down with his watercolor pad, and an hour
later he had painted an absolutely outstanding rendering of the
scene of the first [demonstration of the] use of ether."
Dr. Vandam has also published an article on his analysis of the
Hinck-ley painting in the journal Anesthesiology [1980;
52:62-70].
Adolph H. Giesecke, Jr., M.D.,
is Jenkins Professor of Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology
and Pain Management, University of Texas Southwestern Medical
School, Dallas, Texas.
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