Photographs of Early Ether Anesthesia in Boston

PUBLICATIONS on the history of anesthesia may have an image of a photograph, engraving, or painting of early ether anesthesia in Boston, Massachusetts. Closer inspection of the photographs in various publications reveals that there are five known photographs that were taken in the original amphitheater (now called the Ether Dome) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Four photographs (figs. 1–4) were reproduced in a book on the daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes.1No publication on the history of anesthesiology has reproduced more than three of the five known photographs. Richard J. Wolfe's book on Robert C. Hinckley (1853–1941) and his well-known painting of the first demonstration of ether at MGH contains three of the photographs (figs. 2, 3, and 5) taken at MGH.2Wolfe's later book on William T. G. Morton, M.D. (1819–1868), contains a different set of three photographs (figs. 1–3).3The five photographs, all believed to have been taken by Southworth and Hawes, have not been published together in any previous publication in the field of anesthesiology or photography.Albert Sands Southworth (1811–1894) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901) were partners in a photographic studio in Boston, Massachusetts, that specialized in the production of daguerreotypes, an early type of photograph. They photographed surgery on several occasions at MGH. They also produced portraits of individuals associated with early ether anesthesia in Boston. Their photographs are unique records of the momentous events in Boston in relation to the administration of ether by inhalation.Four of the five photographs were probably taken in April 1847, nearly 6 months after Morton's first demonstration of ether anesthesia at MGH. Ether was by then being used elsewhere in the United States and in Europe. However, there are no earlier known photographs of ether anesthesia. Therefore, the photographs of Southworth and Hawes are the earliest known photographs of ether anesthesia and among the earliest known medically related photographs.This article will discuss the history and technique of the daguerreotype, the partnership of Albert Southworth and Josiah Hawes, and all five known photographs taken by Southworth & Hawes in the Ether Dome at MGH. The five photographs are published together for the first time. Their incorrect descriptions in previous publications are also documented. Many of the published interpretations were by photo-historians who may not have been familiar with the history of ether anesthesia or the physicians involved in early ether anesthesia.The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. It was described before the French Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1839 and named after Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851). Daguerre was also a painter and the inventor of the Diorama (a theatrical show using painted landscapes).Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833), Daguerre's partner from 1829, also deserves some credit for the development of the daguerreotype. Niépce had tried for many years to produce permanent images by photochemical means. His early attempts resulted in images that soon faded. Niépce's 1825 photograph of an engraving is regarded as the world's oldest known photograph. In 1826, Niépce produced the earliest known permanent image from nature. The photograph, a view from an upstairs window of his country home, Gras , in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, was produced on a pewter plate coated with bitumen of Judea (a tar-like material that hardens on exposure to light) and exposed in a camera obscura*for approximately 8 h.†The daguerreotype is a direct positive image on a metal plate; there is no accompanying negative. A silver-coated copper plate is polished and then made sensitive to light by exposure to iodine vapor. The plate is exposed to light in a camera obscura and then developed by exposure to mercury vapor. The image is fixed by washing it with a solution of sodium thiosulfate (also known as hyposulphite of soda) and toned with a solution of gold chloride. The first daguerreotypes were exposed to light for up to 60 min. Two- to 3-min exposures were routinely used within the first year of its introduction. Exposure times of less than 5 s became possible when it was discovered that bromine and chlorine increased the photographic speed of the plate. The image on the copper plate is horizontally (or laterally) reversed (i.e. , the image is reversed left-to-right) unless a prism or mirror is used. The plates were sometimes colorized or tinted by hand. The plates were usually mounted in decorative frames or cases with the surface protected by glass.The patent for the process was acquired by the French government and declared “free to the world.” In contrast, William Henry Fox Talbot's (1800–1877) technique of paper negatives and paper prints (the calotype or talbotype), which was invented at roughly the same time as the daguerreotype, was patented and had significant start-up costs. The disadvantages of the daguerreotype were the labor intensive process, the lack of negatives, and the delicate nature of the image. Daguerreotypes were popular in the United States during the 1840s. They became less popular in the 1850s as other techniques of photography were introduced.Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D. (1809–1894), the acclaimed physician, poet, and author, who suggested the term “anaesthesia” for the state of insensibility produced by ether, called the daguerreotype a “mirror with a memory.”4Albert Sands Southworth (1811–1894) was born in West Fairlee, Vermont. He established himself as a “druggist” in Cabotville (now Chicopee), Massachusetts. Joseph Pennell (1812–1868), a school- and roommate of Southworth, invited him to New York to learn the technique of producing daguerreotypes under Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872). Morse had been in Paris in 1839 to promote his invention of the telegraph. While there, Morse had learnt the technique of daguerreotypes from Daguerre himself.Southworth and Pennell set up their first studio in Cabotville in 1840. In 1841, Southworth moved to Boston, Massachusetts. The studio of A. S. Southworth and Co. was located in the top floor of the Scollay Building at 60½ Court Street, Boston, Massachusetts. From 1842, the studio was listed as being at 5½ Tremont Row. Pennell left in 1843, and from 1844, the business was listed as “Southworth & Hawes.”Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901) was born in East Sudbury (now Wayland), Massachusetts. He gave up work as an apprentice carpenter and became a self-taught portrait painter. He learned about producing daguerreotypes from Francis Fauvel-Gouraud (also known as François Gouraud) (d. 1847), who lectured and demonstrated the technique in Boston in 1840. Hawes was initially in business on his own. He became a partner of Southworth in 1843. In 1849, Hawes married Nancy Niles Southworth (1820–1895), the sister of Albert Southworth. Southworth and Hawes were partners in the firm Southworth & Hawes for 19 yr (1843–1862). It is not clear why the partnership ended—it may have ended because of the decline of the daguerreotype. Southworth remained in the field of photography (there are no known examples of his postdaguerreian work) and was later involved in the use of photography in handwriting analysis.1Hawes continued working in the photographic studio in Tremont Row until his death in 1901. Late in his life, he was said to be the world's oldest living professional photographer.5From 1857, the listed address of Southworth and Hawes was 19 Tremont Row. The change in address occurred because the properties in Tremont Row had been renumbered. Coincidentally, this new address was the same as the old address of William T. G. Morton. This has led several historians to incorrectly state that the studio of Southworth & Hawes was above Morton's dental rooms.1,3,6The Wikipedia Web page on Southworth & Hawes also states that the studio of Southworth & Hawes was above Morton's rooms.‡David Kruh stated in his book on the history of Scollay Square that Morton and Wells' rooms were at 19 Tremont Row above the studio of Southworth & Hawes.7The renumbering of Tremont Row took place in 1857. Morton's rooms had by then been closed. The Southworth & Hawes studio, which was at 5½ Tremont Row, was renumbered as 19 Tremont Row. The studio was at the junction of Tremont Row and Brattle Street and looked down Brattle Street. The road where Morton's rooms had been was now known as Tremont Street. Morton's rooms had been above the music store of George P. Reed and opposite the Boston Museum.3Southworth and Hawes were highly regarded for their technical and artistic skills and are now generally acknowledged to have been the most accomplished daguerreotypists in the United States. Their daguerreotypes are now in the collections of several major art museums. In 2005, Young America, a major exhibition of the daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes, was jointly curated by George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, and the International Center of Photography, New York, New York.§The accompanying book, Young America , has approximately 2,000 images of daguerreotypes produced by Southworth and Hawes and is the most comprehensive catalog of their work.1In 2002, the work of Southworth and Hawes was commemorated in a stamp issued by the United States Postal Service. The stamp was one of a set of 20 stamps (“Masters of American Photography”) on the 20 most influential American photographers.The catalog by Romer and Wallis of the daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes has 11 images known to be related to ether anesthesia at MGH.1Four images are of daguerreotypes produced in the Ether Dome (figs. 1–4). There are six portraits of three of the physicians associated with early ether anesthesia at MGH. The three physicians are Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., John Collins Warren, M.D. (Hersey Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; 1778–1856), and Augustus Addison Gould, M.D. (1805–1866). The author has also identified Gould in two daguerreotypes that were classified as “unidentified” (no. 798, p. 355 and no. 1709, p. 448–9).1Solomon D. Townsend, M.D. (Surgeon, Boston, Massachusetts; 1793–1869), Jacob Bigelow, M.D. (Physician and Botanist, Boston, Massachusetts; 1786 or 1787–1879), and George Hayward, M.D. (Surgeon, Boston, Massachusetts; 1791–1863) can be seen in a group photograph (no. 1721, p. 451) of 12 Boston physicians.1Previously unknown images of ether anesthesia may still be discovered, because multiple images were usually taken with each commission. Southworth and Hawes also sold copy daguerreotypes (a new daguerreotype was made by photographing an original daguerreotype) and paper prints of daguerreotypes (a daguerreotype was photographed to produce a glass negative, which was then used to make paper prints). No copies of the daguerreotypes taken in the Ether Dome are known to exist.There are currently four known daguerreotypes that were produced by Southworth and Hawes in the Ether Dome at MGH (figs. 1–4).∥Three daguerreotypes belong to MGH Archives and Special Collections and have been on loan to the Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, since 1979 (figs. 1–3). One daguerreotype belongs to the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California (fig. 4). All four daguerreotypes are whole plates (approximately 16 × 21 cm in size). The daguerreotypes will be referred to as Ether Dome daguerreotypes to distinguish them from other daguerreotypes of patients at MGH.In addition, the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, has a paper print of a daguerreotype plate that is not known to exist (fig. 5). This image was not reproduced in the Young America exhibition catalog.1The five images are all horizontally (or laterally) reversed. The right side of the image is the left side of the room, as observed from the seating area of the amphitheater. In Ether Dome daguerreotypes 2, 3, and 4 (figs. 2–4), John Collins Warren, M.D., appears to be standing on the left side of the patient. He is actually standing on the right side of the patient. In figure 5, the patient has been turned prone and John Collins Warren, M.D., is standing on the patient's left side. This is clearly demonstrated when figure 5is flipped horizontally (fig. 6). The statue of Apollo (the Apollo Belvedere or Pythian Apollo), part of which is seen in the upper right corner of the daguerreotypes (figs. 2–5), is actually on the left side of the amphitheater when observed by the audience. The different positions of the right and left lower limbs of the statue provide the best evidence for horizontal reversal of the images. A hand-written note (reproduced in a book by Wolfe2) that is attached to the print of Ether Dome daguerreotype no. 5, ends with the following statement: “The arrangement of the room is reversed in the photograph.” Wolfe also reproduced a photograph of the interior of the Ether Dome showing objects arranged to resemble the daguerreotypes.2However, the horizontal reversal of the images had been overlooked, and the objects were incorrectly placed. The photograph was taken in 1896 for the semicentennial commemoration of Morton's first demonstration of ether at MGH.It is not clear why the daguerreotypes were produced. They were not used to promote ether anesthesia because the earliest known publication of any of the daguerreotypes was 1897. Photography, like anesthesia, was in its infancy, the preparation of plates was time consuming, and the process required good lighting and stationary subjects. It was not easy to take quick pictures because the photographer had to be summoned to the hospital and had to have several plates already prepared. The daguerreotype was more suited to photography in a studio or an to events was not The Ether Dome daguerreotypes not any or new of They may have been made as There is of the of the daguerreotypes in the on the America , the book to the exhibition of the same contains a by and the and publication history of the images produced in the Ether This is the known published of all the Ether Dome The of the production of the daguerreotypes is and from some on the author has identified publications and a of of the Ether Dome produced in multiple were of the publications were photography related 11 publications were on the history of or There were three publications related to history than of of the publications in or the daguerreotypes was made to the individuals in the The author it easy to the two John Collins Warren, M.D., and D. Townsend, M.D. identified were Augustus A. Gould, M.D., and two of the Warren, M.D. and Samuel M.D. The author not the with The to the by other are listed in the of the A is before some of the as this author is not of the of the The in this article the possible of the photographs and the be regarded with as are on by and not be The lack of of the and the has resulted in many incorrect interpretations of the was said to have been invited to MGH on to the momentous when William T. G. Morton ether to for an on the left side of his by John Collins Warren, M.D. The earliest that the author has located is a of the Ether commemoration at MGH on contains the following by Albert M.D. the time of the first Hawes was invited to be for the of photographing the of the He not to the of became and was to the amphitheater with the still the of the which had been successful and had demonstrated the of ether, Hawes and him with the and used at the together with his to J. Hawes, a is to have been the of he was to the of a The Wikipedia Web page on Southworth and Hawes states that Hawes not the of and the was not in his article on Robert C. Hawes in one the Josiah J. is said to have had a change of and to at the is a in the that Hawes took photographs at MGH on that are not known to have of the on be highly and to the In 1857, Southworth and Hawes a photograph of a and probably also have any of the on of the have been by the individuals who had been at the there was no of any original or in the published of three physicians who to Hinckley in three Henry Jacob Bigelow, M.D. M.D. and M.D. were at the on of the three to Hinckley discuss the of in not Hinckley to any photographs of the was in for a article Boston p. to the the he made of the first of ether at the Massachusetts General and also of the well-known who the Harvard It is not known which photograph was to the the the is not to Hawes was invited to at or he the demonstration on was to photograph the The known photograph that has some to the on is a (fig. is also not clear when John Collins Warren, M.D., his and to Warren, who was of the nature of the 16 demonstration of be to have the and for his to the The Ether from states that the after the first demonstration of ether at M.D. in to Albert M.D. in of the Boston states that he the and from No earlier to has been The and were then acquired by and (now New York, New and on permanent loan to the Boston Library (now part of the Francis A. Countway Library of in Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, 5, Dome daguerreotype no. (fig. is by MGH and is on loan to the Fogg no. It is now to Southworth & However, in it was incorrectly by the Fogg as the work of was called the occurred because the on the of the daguerreotype states that it was by Richard a photographer at took photographs of the daguerreotype on daguerreotype the of the first administration of ether at MGH on The of the is not It has been stated to have been a of in or early April evidence was for any of the three different The author has that to Southworth and Hawes & Hawes Richard and George Eastman House, Rochester, New and John Collins Warren, M.D. Collins Massachusetts Boston, and no of the when the Southworth & Hawes daguerreotypes have been made in the Ether patient in the photograph than be from known descriptions of The MGH records of state that he was and has been and of the is not are standing a patient. They are listed in from left to earliest known publication of this image is in an article by the The three Ether Dome daguerreotypes by the Fogg (figs. were and all three were described as to M.D. observed the administration of ether at MGH in there was no evidence that he was in any of the three daguerreotype was then published in by and in the Young America is not clear why the daguerreotype (fig. was It has in the first demonstration of ether anesthesia. However, its of production is and no copies of the daguerreotype, or paper prints of are known to It not to have been used to promote ether anesthesia that its earliest known publication was in of the the ether is not and the John Collins Warren, M.D., is Dome daguerreotype no. (fig. is by MGH and is on loan to the Fogg no. and called this daguerreotype the and stated that it the first 3, when a was used at MGH to is not clear to the by and is the history from MGH can be to the patient in the MGH records of April 3, 1847, the earliest use of the at MGH. However, earlier of the at MGH may not have been documented. The author a by John Collins Warren, M.D., for 1847, that states to the Ether on a in Massachusetts Boston, No other are in the It also be that the first use of the in the United States was at an unknown in Boston, Massachusetts, in in the first use of the was in daguerreotype not the first use of the an early use of the at following was by the author from and MGH A was on by John Collins Warren, M.D., on April 3, had been to MGH on 2, from a by on or 4 above the that occurred in the of work as a were of of and of and ether from a and the nature of the was identified as are standing in the Ether Dome a patient (fig. They are from left to of this daguerreotype was first published in as a in an of the address by John Collins Warren, M.D. at a of the American Collins Warren, the of Warren, M.D., and of the John Collins Warren, M.D., stated that the daguerreotype to the from the time it was image was also published in together with in a book that the publications that used the were the of to and photographic image of the daguerreotype was first published by and and described the daguerreotype as a of one of the first using ether and stated that the in the was image of this daguerreotype was also reproduced by in the Young America Dome daguerreotype no. (fig. is by MGH and is on loan to the Fogg no. The of the daguerreotype has a that it was to in by Joseph Joseph was a Professor of at the Harvard and the of John Collins Warren, Dome daguerreotypes no. (fig. and no. 4 (fig. were said to have commemorated one of the Anatomy by John Collins and were called the Getty Web page states that it was called it in in article to the an image of the Getty daguerreotype has been However, to a in the Boston and Collins Warren, M.D., gave his to the on 2, John Collins Warren, M.D., his in his for 2, 1847, and not any in his for April in Massachusetts Boston, daguerreotype has not been The use of the to ether that this daguerreotype not have been made before the of or early April to and D. Townsend, M.D., had washing his when Ether Dome daguerreotype no. 5 (fig. 5) was it is that the the of the of three photographs (fig. is April patient in the This was the of at MGH in the of However, in figure 5, the has been to the patient's left be that the daguerreotype images are horizontally the patient's history of the right This be at may be by a of all the records of MGH for that following was by the author from and MGH D. Townsend, M.D., one at MGH in the of The was on April A patient from of the right The of the was min. He was by The ether was probably with the are standing in the Ether Dome in daguerreotype no. (fig. There is an group of as to from left to standing the patient. The two and in the may be earliest known publication of an image of this daguerreotype (fig. is was incorrectly referred to as the

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