Ether Monument

The Ether Monument, also known as The Good Samaritan, is a statue and fountain near the northwest corner of Boston’s Public Garden.nIt commemorates the use of ether in anesthesia. Its design has been attributed to the Boston architect William Robert Ware and to the sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward. It is 40 feet (12 m) tall and is the oldest monument in the public garden.nThe statue depicts a medical doctor in medieval Moorish-Spanish robe and turban—representing a Good Samaritan—who holds the drooping body of an almost naked man on his left knee. The doctor holds in his left hand a cloth, suggesting the use of ether that would be developed in centuries to come.