The invention of anaesthetic inhalation, or, 'Discovery of anaesthesia' / by William J. Morton.

  • Morton, William J. (William James), 1846-1920.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The invention of anaesthetic inhalation, or, 'Discovery of anaesthesia' / by William J. Morton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ether in large quantities during the three preceding months, and had, moreover, questioned other authorities (Metcalf and Wightman) besides Jackson. But why did not Dr. Jackson himself “ try ether ?* Here, at least, would have been a slight advance, even if he failed in the trial. Jo meet this objection, he relates an experience occurring four years previously, in 1842, when he inhaled ether vapor to allay the irritation caused by the inhalation of chlorine gas. Here, again, there was nothing new. Pereira, in his famous work, then as now a familiar text-book, states, “ the vapor of ether is inhaled .... to relieve the effects caused by the accidental inhalation of chlorine gas.'1'’ f But Jackson says he became insensible to external impres- sions. Pereira writes: “If the air be too strongly impreg- nated roith ether, stupefaction ensues.” But at this point Jackson takes a great leap. He says he drew the inference that a surgical operation could be performed upon a person while in this condition. Well, perhaps he did draw this infer- ence, though one can not help regretting that he did not say so before his inference was proved to be a certainty, four years after, in 1846. I may infer that it is going to rain to-morrow. But it may not rain. If I wait till it rains to state my infer- ence, I am not a little ridiculous. And, after all, an inference is no more than a theory—a guess; it needs demonstration, proof, before it becomes knowledge. Every recorded experi- menter in the past, and, as we know, they were many, was possessed of this inference, and this, too, more strongly than Jackson was, for each of them acted upon his inference, the- ory, or guess, and attempted to produce surgical anaesthesia, which Jackson did not. Thus Jackson’s claim is clearly based upon an hypothesis—a supposition, and that not one original with himself nor ever made the subject of a demonstration by * “ Did you make one little experiment ? ” said the late Professor Louis Agassiz to Dr. Jackson at a meeting of the Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences, addiug dryly, after receiving a negative reply, “ It would have been better if you had.’’ On another occasion Professor Agassiz said, “If Dr. Morton had killed his first pa- tient, would you [Jackson] have accepted the blame just as now you ask lor the honor?” Dr. Jackson was silent. •[“Elements of Materia Medica,” etc. London, 1839. Cited from Dr. H. J. Bigelow.