Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Words Coach (https://www.wordscoach.com/dictionary), is unadulterated. Pronounced / ˌʌn əˈdʌl təˌreɪ tɪd /, with the primary stress on the third syllable and secondary stresses on the first and fifth syllables, this adjective means “not diluted or made impure by adulterating; pure” or “utter; absolute” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/unadulterated). Merriam-Webster says it means “not adulterated : pure” or “complete, unqualified” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unadulterated). It also says that its first known use is “circa 1719, in the meaning defined at sense 1” (ibid.).

But www.etymonline.com says that it appears first in the language in the “1530s, back-formation from adulteration, or else from Latin adulteratus, past participle of adulterare ‘to falsify, corrupt,’ also ‘to commit adultery.’ An earlier verb was adultery (late 14c. in the sense ‘make impure’), directly from the Latin verb, but this English verb also carried the meaning ‘commit adultery’” (https://www.etymonline.com/word/unadulterated). Now, we’ve had this before, where a word is defined by another word, so we have to look at the other word, adulteration.

Adulteration first appears “c. 1500, ‘act of adulterating; state of being debased by mixture with something else,’ generally of inferior quality, from Latin adulterationem (nominative adulteratio) ‘an adulteration, sophistication,’ noun of action from past-participle stem of adulterare ‘corrupt, falsify; debauch; commit adultery,’ from ad ‘to’ (see ad-) + alterare ‘to alter’ (see alter), though Watkins explains it as ad alterum ‘(approaching) another (unlawfully).’ Meaning ‘a result of adulterating’ is from 1650s” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=adulteration). So it means, basically, to change something for the worse.

It also has the meaning of adultery, so we might benefit from looking up the history of that word. It appears “c. 1300, avoutrie, from Old French avouterie (12c., later adulterie, Modern French adultĕre), noun of condition from avoutre, from Latin adulterare ‘commit adultery; corrupt,’ from ad ‘to’ (see ad-) + alterare ‘to alter’ (see alter). Compare adulteration. The spelling was corrected toward Latin from early 15c. in English, following French (see ad-).

“In Middle English, also ‘sex between husband and wife for recreational purposes; idolatry, perversion, heresy.’ As a crime, formerly classified as single adultery (with an unmarried person) and double adultery (with a married person). The Old English word was æwbryce ‘breach of law(ful marriage)’ (similar formation in German Ehebruch). In translations of the 7th Commandment it is understood to mean ‘lewdness or unchastity’ of any kind, in act or thought” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=adultery). So adultery is a specific kind of corruption that involves a specific kind of making something impure by mixing something into something that would otherwise be pure.

Now you might be wondering if there is a connection to the word adult. I mean, adults are the ones who commit adultery, right, and many people believe that a child cannot be corrupt (I think those are mostly people who have never had children). So does adult come from the same source? The answer is “no,” even though adult also appears in English in the “1530s (but not common until mid-17c.) ‘grown, mature,’ from Latin adultus ‘grown up, mature, adult, ripe,’ past participle of adolescere ‘grow up, come to maturity, ripen,’ from ad ‘to’ (see ad-) + alescere ‘be nourished,’ hence, ‘increase, grow up,’ inchoative of alere ‘to nourish,’ from a suffixed form of PIE root *al- (2) ‘to grow, nourish’” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=adult). So despite the similarity in spelling, one comes from the Latin root alterare and the other from the Latin root alescere.

On this date in 1842, “Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation” (https://onthisday.net/science/).

Ether “was originally discovered in 1540 by Valerius Cordus, a Prussian Botanist. He made ether by distilling sulfuric acid with fortified wine to make what he termed ‘oleum vitrioli dulce,’ or sweet oil of vitriol.  For the next 200 years, ether was used as a medicine, taken in drops as a stimulant to relieve spasms or convulsions” (https://histmed.collegeofphysicians.org/ether-in-surgery/). Then a funny thing happened: college students began to use ether as a recreational drug. At what they called “Ether Frolics,” “American students would cover their mouths and noses with ether-soaked towels, and thus go into a euphoric state” (ibid.). Dr. Long attended one of these “Frolics,” and he “observed the effects of ether and noticed that people who fell or got into fist fights did not feel any pain” (ibid.).

So he decided to try using ether during surgery. To us anesthesia is routine whenever we have a medical procedure done, but before 1842, the only anesthesia was a stiff drink, and it didn’t really work that well. Not only did patients dread the prospect of surgery, doctors did as well, or at least those doctors who could empathize with their patients. So on this date, Long “placed an ether-soaked towel over the face of James Venable and removed a tumour from his neck. This event predated Morton’s public demonstration of ether by four years, but was not disclosed until 1849 in the Southern Medical Journal, which was after Morton’s widely publicized feat. [William Thomas Green Morton was a dentist who demonstrated the use of ether as an anesthetic in 1846.] However, Dr. Long’s accomplishment in 1842 is now widely considered to represent the discovery of surgical anesthesia” (https://onthisday.net/science/).

Ether is not used very much as an anesthetic today, at least not in developed nations. It has several problems: it’s flammable, it can cause nausea and vomiting, it “was irritating to the respiratory tract, causing coughing and airway irritation in some patients,” and the “induction of anesthesia with ether was relatively slow, and patients often experienced a prolonged recovery period” (https://advancestudy.org/do-doctors-still-use-ether/). But some people have proposed returning to the use of ether in developing countries because it is relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture.

I was seven or eight years old when I got my tonsils out. I really don’t remember much about it except for the promise of ice cream. I don’t remember how much pain I experienced or how long I stayed in the hospital. I do, however, remember the ether.

The doctor put a mask over my mouth and nose, and he told me to breath normally and count backwards from 100. I think I got to 96. But what I really remember was that I found myself in an ocean of grey, and I felt like I was drowning in that ocean. The whole dream was momentary, but I clearly remember it. It was frightening, but it was vivid. I have never had that experience with any other anesthetic, and I have had a few surgeries over the years. I can imagine that it would still be effective, as long as it is unadulterated.

Today’s image is of a oil painting by Ernest Board of the first use of ether in dental surgery, by William Thomas Green Morton (https://daily.jstor.org/19th-century-anesthesia-and-the-politics-of-pain/).