[Letter to Hon. C. Cushing, Attorney General of the United States, concerning the patent issued to Dr. W.T.G. Morton].

  • Curtis, George Ticknor, 1812-1894.
Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Letter to Hon. C. Cushing, Attorney General of the United States, concerning the patent issued to Dr. W.T.G. Morton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    HON. G. CliSHING, Attdrney General of the United States. Sir—^Dr. W. t. G. Morton holds a patent for a new and useful improvement in surgical operations, which is described in his specification as consisting of the appli- cation of etheric vapor, by inhalation, producing thereby a state of insensibility to pain, while the patient is under the action of the knife or other instrument of surgical operation. I understand that the question of the valid- ity and scope of the patent has been referred to you by the President, with the view of some action by the gov- ernment on the subject of compensating Dr. Morton for the use of his invention in the army and navy of the United States. ' Assuming, what I understand to be conceded by the President, that Dr. Morton is the inventor or discoverer of what is now known in surgery as etherization, and that in the year 1846 Letters Patent were granted to him for this invention, while, at the same time, the gov- ernment have all along made use of the discovery in the army and navy without any compensation to the paten- tee ;—I presume that the question now referred to you is, substantially, whether the subject matter of the patent belongs to the class of inventions or discoveries intended to be embraced by the Patent Laws ; and, if so, wha(; is covered by the claim of the patentee ? [-■I