For most of human history, cutting into flesh or pulling teeth caused excruciating agony. Strong liquor, herbal medicines, or even drugs like opium could not stop patients’ suffering. The introduction of anesthesia would change the practice of medicine forever. During the 1840s in Great Britain and the United States, a few courageous dentists and physicians experimented with nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and with ether and chloroform, two thick, sweet liquids that evaporated quickly in air. They discovered that these compounds sedated people or caused them to lose consciousness so that surgery and dentistry would be painless. Other medical practitioners were skeptical at first, but anesthesia soon caught on, especially after Queen Victoria requested chloroform for the birth of her eighth child in 1853. She remained conscious throughout the delivery, remarking in her journal that the effect was “soothing, quieting, delightful beyond measure.” This type of inhaler is named for the German surgeon Friedrich von Esmarch, who devised it in the 1870s. Before masks became common, physicians simply dripped chloroform or ether on a cloth or handkerchief and held it over the patient’s nose and mouth, which often caused skin irritation. The mask’s wire frame lifts the cloth away from the face and provides a larger surface area for evaporation of the anesthetic. The glass flask, with its original label, has a narrow metal spout to control the amount of chloroform poured or dripped. Tongue forceps helped to keep the patient from choking. Esmarch inhaler kits, simple and portable, were popular for military and civilian use through the 1950s. Anesthesia has advanced greatly since its beginnings, but scientists still do not understand exactly how and why anesthetic agents work in the body.