William T. G. Morton, M.D. -- Sulphuric ether. 1852 : Referred to a select committee : Dr. William H. Bissell, of Illinois, chairman : The select committee to whom was referred the memorial of Dr. William T.G. Morton, asking remuneration from Congress for the discovery of the anaesthetic or pain-subduing properties of sulphuric ether.

Date:: [1852]

Credit: William T. G. Morton, M.D. -- Sulphuric ether. 1852 : Referred to a select committee : Dr. William H. Bissell, of Illinois, chairman : The select committee to whom was referred the memorial of Dr. William T.G. Morton, asking remuneration from Congress for the discovery of the anaesthetic or pain-subduing properties of sulphuric ether. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

23/135 (page 23)

$out pain ; and that he had faith and confidence that he was on the point of making the discovery. He says, in his narrative, rhat the anaesthetic accent, which he then had in view, was sulphuric cither, and the proof ad- duced is, in the opinion of your committee, equally conclusive in support of that fact. ■ , , . « t ^ n » u Theadore Metcalf sailed for Europe in the ship Joshua Bates on the . 6th day of July, 1840, on a tour, from which he returned in the fall of 1847. We give below a note addressed by him to Dr. Morton; and an extract from a letter to the trustees of the General Hospital, each a let- ter to N. J. Bowditch Esq., bearing directly on this point. In his note to Dr. Morton dated December 20, 1847, he says: I can only state that I remember to have met you at Mr. Burnett's store early in the summer of 1846, and to have had a conversation with you in regard to the medicinal qualities of sulphuric ether, a quantity of which you were then purchasing. I cannot, as you desire, give the pre- cise date, but know it to have been previous to July 6, as 1 left Boston on that day for a tour, from which I have but a few weeks returned. Boston, January 26, 1848. Sir : In answer to your inquiry respecting the nature of my interview with Dr. Morton, I can only add to my note of December 20, that the conversation was commenced by some inquiry on his part, concerning the nature and etiects of sulphuric ether, a vial of which he then held in his hand. In answer to his several questions, I gave him such information_as he could have obtained from any intelligent apothecary at that time, and also related to him some personal experience as to its use as a substitute for the nitrous oxide; adding the then generally received opinion, that its excessive inhalation would produce dangerous, if not fatal conse- quences. Some reference was made—but whether by Mr. Morton or myself, I cannot remember—to the unsuccessful experiments of his for- hier partner, Mr. Wells, with the nitrous oxide. It was one of those casual conversations which quickly pass from the mind ; and it was for the first time recalled to my memory, upon seeing, months after, in a French journal, an account of the anesthetic effects of eJher, the dis- covery of which was ascribed by the writer to a Boston dentist. •'I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, THEODORE METCALF. N. I. Bowditch, Esq. In his letter to the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital, dated Boston, January 6th, 1849, Mr. Metcalf saj-s: This belief is founded partly upon my memory of (he conversation with Morton and partly upon the fact that when in Italy, months after, I saw for the first time an account of etherization in a j^Wnch journal, \n which its discovery was ascribed simp it/to a 'Boston dentist;' I said at once that 1 was sure Morton must be the man, for he was engaged upon ether before I left home, and that I now knew why he had been so curious and at the same time shy in his conversation with me.'' ' If we consider the then pursuit of Dr. Morton, his earnest desire for information, and his anxiety to preserve his secret, his shyness with$

Licence and re-use

Contents