Morton soon had an opportunity of making a practical experiment with the anæsthetic, for the same evening, about nine o’clock, a man named E. H. Frost called upon him suffering from a violent attack of toothache. “Can’t you mesmerise me?” asked the sufferer. “Upon which,” says Morton, “I told him that I had something better than mesmerism by means of which I could take out his tooth without giving him pain. He gladly consented, and saturating my handkerchief with ether, I gave it to him to inhale. He became unconscious almost immediately. It was dark, and Dr. Hayden held the lamp. My assistants were trembling with excitement, apprehending the usual prolonged scream from the patient while I extracted a firmly-rooted bicuspid tooth. I was so agitated that I came near throwing the instrument out of the window. But now came a terrible reaction. The wrenching of the tooth had failed to rouse him in the slightest degree. I seized a glass of water, and dashed it in the man’s face. The result proved most happy. He recovered in a minute, and knew nothing of what had occurred.” [Sidenote: First surgical operation under ether] Morton next appealed to Dr. John C. Warren, who was then Senior Surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and obtained permission to test his new anæsthetic on a patient about to undergo a surgical operation. The date fixed was Friday, October 16th, 1846, and at the appointed time a large number of medical men had assembled in the theatre. Morton administered the anæsthetic successfully, and the operation, which was for a congenital vascular tumour of the neck, in a young man named Gilbert Abbot, was completed in about five minutes without a groan from the patient. When it was finished, Dr. Warren exclaimed: “Gentlemen, this is no humbug!” The interest excited amongst those who witnessed the operation was naturally very great, and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, who was present, said to a friend whom he met later in the day: “I have seen something to-day that will go round the world!” His prophecy proved correct. Up to this time Morton had not disclosed the nature of the agent he employed, and nothing more was done until November 7th, when he expressed his willingness to reveal the secret. On this date two major operations were performed under ether, one by Dr. Hayward and the other by Dr. Warren. From this time ether took its place as a general anæsthetic, and the practice of anæsthesia was firmly established. [Sidenote: The origin of the words “anæsthesia” and “anæsthetic”] Soon after the memorable 16th of October, a meeting was held in Boston, to choose a name for the new anæsthetic agent, and the word “letheon” was chosen by Morton himself; but, subsequently, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes suggested the name “anæsthesia” for the condition, and “anæsthetic” for the agent, which names have since come into general use.