Ether Monument/Good Samaritan Statue

How cool is this?! The oldest monument in Boston's Public Garden.

This 40 foot tall monument commemorates the first use of ether as an anesthetic under the Etherdome at Massachusetts General Hospital On October 16, 1846.

It stands in a prominent spot in the Boston Public Garden,
and is the world's only monument to a drug. :)

Before the discovery of the anesthetic properties of ether, one of the greatest dangers of surgery was the likelihood of death resulting from the terrible pain the patient would have to undergo. This monument was dedicated to the great benefit to humanity that resulted from the use of anesthetics.