Anaesthesia : who made and developed this great discovery.
- Gardner Quincy Colton
- Date:
- 1886
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Anaesthesia : who made and developed this great discovery. 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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![In the latter part of 1847 Wells returned from Europe, and was astonished to learn that Dr. Morton had obtained a patent for Ether, and claimed the honor of the discovery of anfesthesia ! An exciting discus- sion followed between them on the subject in the Boston Medical Journal. This discussion so worked on the sensitive nature of Wells, that he became de- ranged and committed suicide. This took place on the 24th of January, 1848. Up to this period no one had attempted to use the gas save Wells. After the death of Wells, Dr. Morton claimed that Niti'uus Oxide was not an ancesthetic, and that insensi- bility to pain could not be produced by it; therefore he, Morton, was the discoverer of anaesthesia ! And Dr. Jackson endorsed this view, stating in his work on Chemistry, that he had tried the gas with large ori- fices and small orifices and could not produce insen- sibility with it. Subsequently, when Jackson learns that some man's name is going down to posterity as a great discoverer, he claims the discovery of anaesthe- sia, inasmuch as he suggested the trial of Ether to Morton. A violent discussion followed between them on the subject. Dr. Morton, in his claim that Nitrous Oxide was not an anaesthetic, virtually admits that Dr. Wells was the discoverer of anaesthesia, ])rovided that Nitrous Oxide was an anassthetic, and that pain could be de- stroyed by it. Dr. Morton's claim to be the discoverer of anaes-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21029271_0014.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
