The Con Man Who Invented Anesthesia
SciShow · Published on September 29, 2026
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Description
Throughout history, a few men have been associated with the invention of anesthesia. William Morton definitely didn't invent it, but he sure did popularize it. He also tried to disguise the actual chemical he used (ether) and patent it under the name Letheon. All that drama and more in this SciShow episode. Hosted by: Niba @NotesbyNiba (she/her) ---------- Support us for $8/month on Patreon and keep SciShow going! https://www.patreon.com/scishow Or support us directly: https://complexly.com/support Join our SciShow email list to get the latest news and highlights: https://mailchi.mp/scishow/email ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: ., Adam Brainard, Alex Hackman, Anita, Anne Herrington, Ashley Moquin, Bethany Matthews, Blood Doctor Kelly, Chris Curry, Chris Mackey, Chris Peters, Cye Stoner, David Johnston, Eric Jensen, Friso, Garrett Galloway, J.V. Rosenbalm, Jaap Westera, Jacob Puthoff, Jason A Saslow, Jeremy Mattern, Jon Coffman, Joseph Ruf, Jp Lynch, Kevin Bealer, Kevin Knupp, Lyndsay Brown, Matt Curls, Piya Shedden, Shaji John, Steve Gums, Timos Gies, Toyas Dhake, yeyette ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? SciShow Tangents Podcast: https://scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scishow.bsky.social #SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly ---------- Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vSqmZI8C5yqb9_Nv2mLy36c1hnblV_Xb9OItX16sYY-K32gNY_aKU5-JxFn-t3elGqOOcawU4AbQh02/pub
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