Ether Monument undergoes face-lift and a good scrubbing

The first sculpture in the 169 -year-old Public Garden was not a memorial to a war hero, a tribute to a mayor, or the bust of a governor. Instead, the first public art in America's earliest botanical garden was a 40 -foot granite fountain dedicated to a drug.

The Ether Monument commemorates the use of ether as anesthesia during surgery in 1846 at nearby Massachusetts General Hospital , an operation that revolutionized medicine. The 138-yearold memorial near the intersection of Arlington and Beacon streets, however, fell into disrepair. Its four lion-head fountains stopped spurting water in the 1970s, and its granite had grayed.

``Most people don't know there is an Ether Monument," said Dr. Rafael Ortega , an anesthesiologist at Boston Medical Center. ``For a variety of reasons, even many physicians aren't aware that the monument exists."

Last night, the memorial got a fresh start. It was rededicated after an extensive restoration, funded in part by $220,000 from the city. The figures and marble friezes have been cleaned, invigorating images of the good Samaritan, an angel of mercy, and ether use in Civil War hospitals. Antiquated plumbing has been replaced so water is again flowing from the fountains, and backers hope that new lights will increase public consciousness of the sculpture.

``The monument itself sort of memorializes a major step forward in modern healthcare," said Dr. Jonathan Griswold , an anesthesiologist at Tufts New England Medical Center . ``People were exceedingly afraid of surgery, and rightfully so. Most limbs were removed with people awake."

Andrew Ryan