Volume 1

Some personal recollections and private correspondence of Dr. Crawford Williamson Long : discoverer of anaesthesia with sulphuric ether together with documentary proofs of his priority in this wonderful discovery / by Jos. Jacobs.

  • Jacobs, Joseph, 1859-1929.
Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some personal recollections and private correspondence of Dr. Crawford Williamson Long : discoverer of anaesthesia with sulphuric ether together with documentary proofs of his priority in this wonderful discovery / by Jos. Jacobs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    APPENDIX-DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE IN PROOF OF THE PRIOR AND ORIGINAL DISCOVERY OF SURGICAL ANAESTHESIA BY THE USE OF SULPHURIC ETHER BY CRAW¬ FORD WILLIAMSON LONG OF JACKSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, AND OF HIS USE OF THE SAME IN SURGERY PRIOR TO THE DATES OF ITS USE BY OTHER CLAIMANTS: These documents are in possession of Dr. Long’s daughters of Athens, Georgia, and kept in safe deposit—the originals of the following letters, certificates, affidavits, original entries, memoranda, etc. I Georgia, Jackson County. I certify that sometime during the early part of 1842, my son, James M. Venable, informed me that Dr. C. W. Long had cut out a tumor situ¬ ated on his neck; that the operation was performed while he was under the effects of ether, and that he did not feel any pain from the operation Some months later he informed me that Dr. C. W. Long had cut out an¬ other tumor without his feeling pain, while he was under the influence of ether. He made these statements to me soon after the tumors were cut out and before the cuts had healed. I have heard him speak of the oper¬ ations frequently since, and he always made the same statement. (Signed) Sarah Venable. September 17, 1849. II Georgia, Jackson County. I, Martha E. Pendergrass, do certify that I resided near the village of Jefferson, Jackson county, Georgia, in the year 1842, and in the month of . January or February of that year, James M. Venable of said county, now deceased, was at my residence and showed myself and others a tumor on his neck, and stated that Dr. C. W. Long, then of Jefferson county, now of Athens, Ga., was going to try the experiment on him, viz: to cut it out, while he was under the influence of sulphuric ether by inhalation. In a short time after this he %vas again at my residence and showed myself and others who were present the scar, and stated to us that Dr. C. W. Long cut out the tumor from his neck, while he was under the influence of ether by inhalation, and that he felt no pain during the performance of the operation. I do further certify that the said James M. Venable stated that he was unconscious of the performance of the operation and also un¬ conscious of pain during its performance. I do further certify that I heard it frequently spoken of by others that Dr. C. W. Long used sulphu¬ ric ether by inhalation to prevent pain in surgical operations in the years 1842 and 1843. (Signed) Martha E. Pendergrass. Sworn to and subscribed before me March 27, 1852. N. H. Pendergrass, J. P. Ill I, Edmund S. Rawls, of the county of Laurens of State of Georgia, certify that in the year 1842, I resided at my father’s in Jefferson, Jackson county, Georgia, and that I was present and witnessed Dr. C. W. Long cut out one tumor from the back of James M. Venable’s neck, and that he was under the influence of sulphuric ether when the operation was performed. Mr. Venable did not show any signs of pain when the operation was per¬ formed and stated after the operation was over that he did not suffer the least degree of pain from its performance. I frequently inhaled ether for