A dentist named Morton claimed that he could produce surgical anesthesia with this miracle compound and that he would demonstrate it at Mass General. With the observation gallery full and the men prepared to hold down the patient as usual during the surgery, the dentist appeared with the anesthesia machine he had invented to administer the ether. For the first time, a patient underwent major surgery while asleep but with his heart and respiration safely intact. Within a month the word had spread and ether became a powerful part of medicine and surgery.
