Strange Magic of the Enchanted Goblet

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In 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital, the first public demonstration of a surgical operation employing ether anesthesia changed medicine, surgery, and patient care in a sudden and fundamental way. Strange Magic of the Enchanted Goblet draws on the rich holdings of both the Boston Medical Library and Harvard Medical School to examine this critical event in medical history—with its rival claimants and controversies—and outline the tangled story of the introduction of surgical anesthesia.

Credits

Strange Magic of the Enchanted Goblet is an exhibit curated by Jack Eckert for the Center for the History of Medicine. The online exhibit was created in OnView in May 2018.