The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-18
uNDER ErHER.


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'Etherls said the man who had just come
out, Of hospital. Ethsrl Oh, there are
worse thinga than ether. Whiskey Ia q
great deal worse-that is, bad whiskey;
90 10 Welsh rabbit.
"Seriously, ether Ii only bugaboo.
think the trouble is very much In the fuss
the doctors make about 1t. They are nerv-
GUS about It themselves. That In the
reason why they reassure you 30 much-or
may be it's just to swell up your idea Of their
Importance that they suggest fears while
pretending TO allay them.
! Anyway, I tell you. ether Is not half 30
bad as it's represented to be. The worst thing
about 1t Is the preliminary ceremonial.
| Elm the first place, Of course, you're rugged
In your night gear. and that suggests the
idea of going to bed-your death bed, Of
course. Your nerves are a little bit on
edge. too, from the obvious efforts your
family and friends have been making to be
cheerful and to keep your heart up. You
notice that not one Of them would say
good-by to you for the world-not for the
last three days.
The nurse has made some preparations
for the operation, too, and 1t reminds you
OF something you have read about cutting
a mans hair before he is guillotined. or
Sitting the leg Of his trousers before he La
eleotrocuted. The idea strikes you as
grimly humorous.
! sYour room, with its bare walls, severe
furniture and queer iron bed, hardly bigger
than q cot. might pass for the condemned
cell and you are going to march out Of 1t
In few minutes TOBY gum, yes, perhaps
to your death.
THAT is pleasant to think of and you look
around for something to divert your mind,
when the nurse comes in and takes posses
sion OF you She is stately young woman
with distant and naughty air-which she
has only put on for the occasion. She in.
| Inmates that the doctors are waiting and
she looks 80 white-robed and formal that
| you half expect her to begin reciting the
burial service as she heads the procession
to the operating room.
The operating room, ! must confess, Is
not pleasant. In spite of the bright light,
1t Is fendishly like mortuary chamber
with it's lining OF glazed white brick. ,
Then there ia the table with shining
things on it that the nurse steers you away
from, and the doctors are washing their
hands and scrubbing them with brushes,
and you know what that is for. One of the
| doctors, your own particular one, devotes
himself to you. He begins most enter
tanning narrative Of his last hunting trip,
idushb az his oWH JOht'S 10 81 dSsI cSSiNely
trying to keep up your. spirits that you
would be rather inclined to resent it if you
| were not feeling just a trife dazed from
fasting all the morning-and perhaps
| little from the natural emotions Of the mo-
| ment.
Next you are told to take of your slip
| pers, and you do it with the submissi eness
Of child being put to bed; and then you
lie down on the table, vaguely wondering
how many OF your predecessors have made
a IN nft nf lar
II you will, and you notice that the doctors
are putting on white wraps like SUPPLIES
or bath robes wrong side to the front, and
there is rivalry between couple Of in
ternes for the honor Of tying the strings
down the back of the specialist who is to
perform on your anatomy.
Meanwhile couple Of nurses are pack
ing you in blankets, composing your hands
by your sides and otherwise converting
you as rapidly and deftly as possible from
patient into a subject.
And now comes the supreme moment.
You have heard the roar Of the laughing
gas which is to be given you as an easy
introduction to the ether-for your hospital
Is strictly UP to date.
"A smiling young fellow who looks very
agreeable in spite Of his butcher costume
puts his ear to, your breast and seizes your
wrist. You half hope he will find you have
heart trouble and the ordeal will have to be
postponed. But no; he smiles more sweetly
than ever as he assures you that there Is no
trouble there and produces big rubber
cone which he prepares to press over your
| mouth and nose.
Don't be afraid, he says. 1T will not
cause you the slightest Inconvenience
Inconvenience you say to yourself;
the idea OF using such word; as II you be
there at all if your convenience were Of the
least consequence in such an emergency.
Then you are told to take deep breaths
and you do, and some one remarks that that
| is excellent.
@You close your eyes and thinking that
there Is chance you may never open them
| again, you are inclined to give thought
| to the hereafter. just at that moment a
voice tells you to open one eye, then the
other. The voice says that is fine and
| tells you to close them again. You do,
and you hastily resume your, 30 to speak,
religious attitude.
sion of submission to the Great Will OF the
Universe when the beating OF your heart
begins to alarm you. 1t thumps like a
hammer. You wonder whether you had
not better stop the proceedings and tell
them about it; but you have just made
up your mind to take the chances when
your head begins to roar and whirl and
| whirl -
| and then? Oh. yes, and then you find
! yourself feebly moving hand and rollin z
your head from side to side; and you wish
they hadn't Weakened you till it was over.
and then it occurs to you that you are
alive and you wonder at it.
"You are incredulous. You open your
eyes and you realize that you are in your
room. And dull pain, as IL you had been
dubbed, takes hold OF your attention and
you are quite sure that 1t is all over: the
work is done and you are back in world
whore pain is the beginning of everything.
"Then you beg. the nurse not to freeze
you to death with the ice cloths VI hich
she Is too zealously changing every fifteen
seconds And then you slip away again
with feeling of nausea and a bad taste in
your mouth which lasts for day.
THAT is all there ia to it. I assure you
there are worse things than ether
TOY WASHING MACHINES.