Jad Abumrad

Nice.

So Morton gets to work.

Morton sets up his gear, fills up the inhaler.

Puts it up to the guy's face.

And actually, because the valve system had just been constructed and he hadn't tested it, he actually literally had to manually operate the valves with every inhale and exhale of the patient.

And just at that moment, Morton turns to Warren and says, You're a patient, sir.

Dr. Warren brings the scalpel down to the patient's neck and cuts.

And really, for the first time in that room, you could hear the scalpel.

You could hear the breathing coming.

No squirming, no moving, no bulging eyes, no clenched fists.

It must have felt like a miracle.

By the end of the year, doctors in Europe were using surgical anesthetics.

In basically the blink of an eye, the most painful, horrible experience possibly imaginable became routine, even forgettable.

But also deeply peculiar, as was made clear to us when we talked a while back with one of our regulars.

Carl Zimmer.

Well, my wife and I, we were watching this movie one night.

It was called Birth, starring Nicole Kidman.

Did you like it?

I hated it.

No!