Report [of] the Committee on military affairs and the militia : to whom was referred the petition of Dr. William T.G. Morton, asking compensation for the discovery and gift to his country and mankind of the application of ethereal vapor as a safe and practical anesthesia, or pain subduing agent.

  • United States. Congress :1863). Senate.
Date:
[1863]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report [of] the Committee on military affairs and the militia : to whom was referred the petition of Dr. William T.G. Morton, asking compensation for the discovery and gift to his country and mankind of the application of ethereal vapor as a safe and practical anesthesia, or pain subduing agent. 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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    less operation with the probe and the knife. His nepenthe is used in all operations in the army and navy, and we are safe in saying that no sum which could be named would induce the United States to forego its use. It was used for fourteen years, as far back as the Mexican war, and down to the expiration of the patent. To his legal right to indemnity and compensation for this, no one who regards the mandates and pro- hibitions of the Constitution can doubt. The legal liability of the United States for this has been judicially determined in the suit above referred to. This is independent of all consideration of merit in the discovery. It is a legal right; it is property; and it is all the prop- erty the petitioner has left to him. It has'been taken by the United States, and it has been applied to public use. It is debt due Dr. Morton, and long withheld. He is, also, in the opinion of your com- mittee, entitled equally to compensation for its use to the present time, and, hereafter, down to the expiration of an extended patent, accord- ing toordinary law and the usage of the department; and he is enti- tled, not in strict law or, perhaps, in legal equity, but in sound political morality, to liberal consideration for the priceless service which he has rendered to his country and its people in every condition of life. We are satisfied that Dr. Morton is the discoverer. We think him entitled to liberal compensation and reward, in accordance with the usages of this and other governments in such cases. The only question as to this claim is the amount. A bill twice passed the Senate appropriating a hundred thousand dollars to the discoverer. Former committees and heads of departments, at a time when there was not a tithe of the evidence that the use of the discov- ery by the United States now furnishes of its value to the government, reported in favor of and recommended appropriating one hundred thousand dollars to enable the President of the United States to pro- cure the surrender of Dr. Morton's patent. The medical faculty say its value is such that, if it were only to be purchased with large sums of money, millions of dollars would readily and properly be paid by persons who are subjects of the pain the dis- covery is competent to avert or relieve; and that Dr. Morton onght to have a monument of gold as high as Trinity Church steeple. Though it may be utterly impossible to determine the proper bounds within which merit is to be rewarded in a ca.se like the present, in which an humble individual is the donor and the whole nation the re- cipient, we can appropriate a sum of money which will reimburse and indemnify him for expenses and sacrifices in bestowing this boon, and place his future life beyond the reach of poverty, and in this manner do justice to ourselves. An account stated, supported by satisfactory evidence, shows that Dr. Morton has expended in money, and time, and sacrifice of profes- sional business, more than two hundred thousand dollars in discover- ing, defending the discovery and his rights thereto, and perfecting and giving the nation this pain-destroying agent. Tour committee are of the opinion that some compensation is due, but they report these facts for the information of the Senate, without any recommendation.