The ether discovery / [by Richard H. Dana, jr.].

  • Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., 1815-1882.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ether discovery / [by Richard H. Dana, jr.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    Boston, of unusually extensive reputation for his time of life. He is a married man, with a family, having married into a highly respectable and well-known family in Connecticut. He has never received a college education, and did not prepare himself, in early youth, for one of the learned professions. He acquired a competent knowledge of dentistry, and attended two full courses of medical lectures in Boston, including those of the professor of chemis- try. The certificates of this attendance he has now in his possession. To acquire additional knowl- edge of chemistry, he entered Dr. C. T. Jackson's office, and boarded in his family, in 1844. Dr. Jackson gave Dr. Morton the following certificate, to aid him in gaining admittance to the American Society of Dental Surgeons : To the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the American Society of Dental Surgeons : Mr. W. T. G. Morton, dentist, entered his name with me as a student of medicine, March 20th, 1844, and attended to practical anatomy, in the Massachu- setts Medical College, during the winter of that year; where he dissected with diligence and zeal, and paid special attention to the anatomy of the head and throat—parts of human anatomy particularly important to the surgeon dentist. He also studied Bell's and other standard works on anatomy, and attended the lectures of Drs. Warren, Hay ward, and other professors. I would recommend him as a suitable person for admission as a dental surgeon. He is a skilful operator in dentistry, both in the surgical and mechanical departments, and has studied the chemical properties of the ingredients required for the manufacture of artificial teeth. Charles T. Jackson, M. D. Dr. Morten was, for a while, in partnership with Dr. Horace Wells, but this connection was dis- solved, and Dr. Wells established himself in Hart- ford, Conn. In December, 1844, Dr. Wells came to Boston, and requested Dr. Morton to introduce him to the officers of the Medical College, in order that he might make some remarks, and try his ex- periment to produce insensibility by the inhalation of nitrous oxide gas. Dr. Warren on Etherization, (p. 85,) cited ante, says, Sir Humphrey Davy himself successfully employed the inhalation of nitrous oxide for the relief of pain. In this country, Dr. Horace Wells, of Connecticut, made many trials of this gas in 1844. In the autumn of that year he came to Boston, and, in company with Dr. Morton, visited me at the Medical College, for the purpose of re- questing that the medical class should have an opportunity of hearing some remarks on the use of the nitrous oxide for the prevention of pain. These remarks were actually made, and at a subsequent day a trial of the gas took place. This trial was the extraction of a tooth. Dr. Morton was present. Dr. Wells, in his pamphlet, admits this to have been a failure. Dr. Wells does not profess to have tried, or made any allusion to, the use of ether, at this time. Dr. Morton, in his memoir to the French Academy, says, that after this experiment his mind was frequently directed to this subject, and that he read books, and made inquiries, occasionally, bear- ing upon it. Of this, we have, besides his own statement, the evidence of the following bill, which shows that, about six weeks after Dr. Wells' ex- periment, he purchased several books, some of which contained information on the subject of ether, and, among others, Pereira's Mat. Med., referred to above. Boston, May 3, 1845. Dr. Morton, Bought of Benj. B. Mussey, 1 Hooper's Dict'y, . . . . $ 3 00 1 Duitt's Surgery 3 00 1 Carpenter's Physiology, . . . 3 25 1 Churchill's Mid., . . . . 3 25 1 Wilson's Anat., . . . . 3 25 1 Watson's Pract., . . . . 3 00 1 Pereira's Mat. Med. 1 Webster's Chem., 18 75 6 50 25 25 . 2 50 Received Pay't, &c, $27 50 B. B. Mussey, By &c. &e. But there is one fact which, we submit to the judgment of every reader, raises a fair presumption in favor of the truth of this statement. It is well known that Dr. Morton has given unusual atten- tion to the branch of mechanical dentistry, that is, the business of preparing and fitting sets of artificial teeth. This requires the extraction of several teeth at once, usually a very painful operation : one which deters many persons from undergoing it, and obliges many to abandon the attempt after having entered upon it. This is especially the case with delicate females. Thus, Dr. Morton had a direct pecuniary motive, bearing almost daily upon him, to alleviate or annihilate pain under his operations. Probably no man has had this motive pressing upon his pe- cuniary interests more than the mechanical dentist. The operations of the surgeon are necessary, and are seldom performed until they are inevitable. Those of the mechanical dentist are voluntary with the patient, mostly mere matter of greater or less convenience, of luxury or appearance. This is probably the reason why Dr. Wells, whose occu- pation had also been chiefly mechanical dentistry, rather than any man of science or of the learned professions, took up this subject in 1844. As it is unnecessary to offer formal proof of notorious facts, it may be stated here that Dr. Wells, soon after the experiment of 1844, gave up dentistry, and was employed variously, part of the time in preparing and exhibiting a collection of birds, and afterwards as an agent for the sale of shower baths. And, still later, he went to Europe to purchase pictures for resale in this country ; he was there engaged in this enterprise, when he put in his claim to this discovery; and remained in the same business until his death, in January, 1848. We will now present the evidence on the point, that Dr. Morton did experiment upon this subject, and for this end, in the summer of 1846, some