This is an illustration of the Bulfinch Building, the first home of the Massachusetts General Hospital, which opened in 1823. The operating room of the hospital, now known as the Ether Dome, is visible in the center of the building's top floor. In this operating theater general anesthesia for surgery was demonstrated to the world's medical community for the first time.

(From an original ink wash and watercolor lithograph by Robert J. Leanna II.)

Neurosurgical Grand Rounds at MGH are presented in the Ether Dome Ampitheater located in the dome of the Bulfinch Building each Thursday from 8-9 a.m..

As you have seen, we use the symbol of the Bulfinch Building as a link to the MGH Neurosurgery homepage.

The East and West Neurosurgical Services are named after the wings of the Bulfinch building. The South Surgical Service also dates to the time of Harvey Cushing's Internship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

We use Mr Hinkley's painting of the first ether operation as a link to our Neurosugery Grand Rounds.

See also:

• History of Neurosurgery at MGH
  
• "We have conquered pain" A Celebration of Ether 1846-1996.
• Hinkley's Who Was Who On Ether Day (Boston Medical Library)