Ether
Pronunciation:EE-thur
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:60-29-7
Formal Names:Diethyl Ether, Diethyl Oxide, Ethoxyethane, Ethyl Ether, Ethyl Ox-
ide, Sulfuric Ether
Informal Names:Anesthesia Ether, Sweet Vitriol
Type:Inhalant.Seepage 26
Federal Schedule Listing:Unlisted
USA Availability:Some sales of the chemical are restricted because it can be used
for manufacturing controlled substances
Uses.Although the substance has been available for hundreds of years it
was not used as a drug until the nineteenth century began. The compound
relaxes muscles and increases blood sugar levels. For decades it was a stan-
dard anesthetic but has been superseded by chemicals that work faster, that
are better tolerated by patients, and that are less of a fire hazard. Nonetheless,
knowledgeable medical personnel can use ether safely without complicated
equipment, and the drug remains common where high-tech medical facilities
are not common or nonexistent. In liquid form ether is used medically to clean
skin surfaces before putting on adhesive tape and is used to help take off
adhesive tape.
The gas format is used recreationally (sometimes along with chloroform),
but drinking liquid ether is a more common recreational usage. Effects of
drinking are similar to those produced byalcoholbut appear faster and last
briefly. People feel stimulated and confused, may experience euphoria and
hallucinations, may have difficulty walking, and sometimes pass out. Ether
drinking is associated with Ireland, where the custom was adopted in re-
sponse to temperance movement restrictions on alcohol’s availability in the
1800s. Ether drinking has been known in other European countries also, as
well as the United States. In America during the 1800s ether was drunk on
occasions ranging from a professional medical society meeting to weddings
and quilting bees. Such a range indicates wide social acceptance of the prac-
tice. The substance was considered less harmful than alcohol. While using
ether, nineteenth-century writer and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes made
notes about spiritual insight that he felt was opening to him with the drug’s
help, but afterward he found the notes to be gibberish.