The casket and the ribbon, or : The honors of ether / by William H. Dwinelle.

  • Dwinelle, William H.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The casket and the ribbon, or : The honors of ether / by William H. Dwinelle. 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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    Now, the inference of the Committee seems abso- lutely unavoidable, that Dr. Jackson, knowing, as he must have done, the importance of these first, test ex- periments—what science, skill and caution were neces- sary for their safety and success—could not have select- ed as his agent, such a man as his own witnesses rep- resent Dr. Morton to be; and that, having selected him, he could not thus have conducted himself, through- out the series of these experiments. Indeed, the deliberate claim, by Dr. Jackson, that these experiments were his—performed by his agent, and in his behalf, seems to us the act of a man, who, shunning all responsibility, during the period of danger and uncertainty, seeks, at last, to snatch away the prize wliicu had been fairly won, by the labors and services of another. The legal acumen shown by the Committee, is re- markable; it would do high honor to the most eminent practitioner. The fact that Dr. Morton's ignorance, (as manifested at his interview with Dr. Jackson,) was assumed, seems certain, from his having previously learned from Mr. Metcalf, the general properties of ether. The Committee, however, discover one circum- stance, in confirmation of this position, which had be- fore been wholly unnoticed, viz. that Dr. J. directed ether to be spattered on a handkerchief; thus really telling that it loas a liquid—so that when Dr. M. in reply, asked if it were a gas, he must have been con- cealing what he knew. The comparison of the testimony of Barnes and Mclntyre is also most able and satisfactory. Dr. Keep and Don Pedro Wilson, are placed in an interesting contrast—without a word, however, charging either