Just as hunger and thirst is a fundamental part of our lives, so is pain. Many cultures believed pain to be the will of God; Christianity interpreted it as a punishment for the fall of man. Those who attempted to relieve pain were considered blasphemous and were often burned at the stake. Futile, often deadly attempts to alleviate pain were made using soporifics or narcotics or a knock on the head. The first public use of ether as an anesthetic was on October 16, 1846 in Boston. Today this event is celebrated as “Ether Day,” the birthday of modern anesthesia. The story is, however, a tragedy: envy, craving for recognition, fraud, bankruptcy, and madness were the bitter companions of the main players.