Testimonial of members of the medical profession of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston in behalf of Wm. T.G. Morton, M.D.

Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Testimonial of members of the medical profession of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston in behalf of Wm. T.G. Morton, M.D. 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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    We are convinced that he is the one who first resorted to ethereal inhalation for the purpose of producing insensibility to pain in a patient while undergoing a surgical operation; and that he is the one who first succeeded in efiecting this result. He was, indisputably, the first to urge the ana3Sthetic properties of the vapor of ether upon the attention of the medical profession; and thus succeeded in establishing the practice of anaesthetic inhalation. We therefore take great pleasure, and at the same time per- form an act of duty, in recommending the claims of Dr. Morton to the favorable consideration of our fellow citizens; and would cordially urge upon them the propriety of showing their estimate of his services by a substantial acknowledgment, such as is manifestly due from an enlightened community to one who has conferred upon its members so inestimable a benefit. We may refer to the annals of medicine in the Old World for many instances in which analogous discoveries of less moment have been recognized and paid for by European governments, sometimes even before their true value had been ascertained. The length of time which has elapsed since the adoption of etheriza- tion has only the more firmly established its position by demon- strating its safety and developing its usefulness. Our National Government has admitted the justice and im- portance of Dr. Morton's claims in the introduction of ethereal ansesthesia, but has neglected to provide the proper reward. Under these circumstances the plan of individual contribution has been successfully resorted to by the citizens of Boston and New York as the best suited to the temper of our people, and the most likely to reach a satisfactory conclusion. An opportunity is now offered to the citizens of Philadelphia to unite with their neighbors in the same work of benevolence and justice; and it is in this that we earnestly desire to interest them. We sincerely hope that our townsmen, in whose liberality and