The ether discovery / [by Richard H. Dana, jr.].

  • Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., 1815-1882.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ether discovery / [by Richard H. Dana, jr.]. 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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    Dr Morton, in his memorial, makes the follow- ing statement, the truth of which, he assures us, Dr. Jackson will not deny : In 1844, and , [two ladies of Dr. Jackson's family,] were under my treatment for dental purposes, and it was necessary to extract teeth in each case, the operation being painful and the ladies showing an unusual degree of sensitive- ness. The last named lady, in particular, before the extracting of each tooth, remained several hours in the operating chair, unable to summon courage to endure the operation, and begging to be mesmer- ized, or that I would give her something to make her insensible. Dr. Jackson was present, and made efforts to encourage the lady, but did not suggest any mode of producing insensibility. It should be borne in mind that these were per- sons with whose sufferings Dr. Jackson would sympathize intensely ; and that this was after the two instances in which, according to his own account, he inhaled ether, and on which alone he now places his claim of pre-discovery. Dr. Jackson introduces the affidavits of two stu- dents, who were in his laboratory, at the time of the interview with Dr. Morton, Mr. Geo. O. Barnes and Mr. James Mclntire. It must be borne in mind that Dr. Jackson admits it was known that ether would produce insensibility. Dr. Warren states insensibility and exhilaration, as its known and established effects, understood for many years, not only by the scientific, but by young men in colleges, &c. And Dr. Brewster, the distinguished American dentist at Paris, in his letter to Dr. Morton, speaking of Dr. Jackson's claiming to have told Dr. Morton that ether would produce insensibility, remarks— Why, it required neither a physician nor a chemist to tell you that; as there is scarcely a school or community in our country where the boys and girls have not inhaled ether to produce gayety, and many are the known cases where it has produced insensibility. In- sensibility is a word of wide signification. The question is, whether Dr. Jackson knew that ether would produce that wonderful effect which alone entitles this to be called a discovery, and commu- nicated this knowledge or confident belief to Dr. Morton. Mr. Mclntire represents Dr. Jackson as saying only this : As he [Dr. Morton] was going, Dr. Jackson told him he would tell him something that would make the patient insensible, and that he could do what he had a mind to with them. This is the entire communication, and was made freely, in presence of his students, and without interrup- tion of his occupation. Mr. Mclntire represents Dr. Morton as inquiring about ether, as if he were entirely ignorant of it, but this, as appears by all the evidence, was a mistake, arising, however, out of Dr Morton's intentional concealment of the ex- tent of his experiments and designs. The other witness, Mr. Barnes, represents Dr. Jackson as saying that perfect insensibility would be produced. Dr. Jackson's meaning, however, is plain; since (as Mr. Barnes testifies) in answer to further inquiries from Dr. Morton, Dr. Jackson then briefly described his own experi- ments and their effects. These effects were merely, in his own words, a peculiar sleep or unconsciousness. And he has, on solemn oath, declared, in the application for the patent, that it was not known that the inhalation of ether would render a person incapable, to a great ex- tent, if not entirely, of experiencing pain while under the action of the knife or other instrument of operation of a surgeon calculated to produce pain. And, in the pamphlet, he says, It still remained to be ascertained, whether this uncon- sciousness was so perfect, that, during its contin- uance, no pain would be produced by wounding instruments. Mr. Barnes also represents Dr. Jackson as using this phraseology, that the patients would fall back in the chair insensible ; and you can do with them as you please, without their knowing any- thing about it, or feeling any pain ; so that you can take out their teeth at your leisure. This phraseology is evidently stronger than Mr. Mclntire's. If the reader thinks it stronger than Dr. Jackson's sworn statement, and his pamphlet, that is a matter to be settled between Dr. J. and his witness. But perfect accuracy of recollection cannot be expected in a case like the presenV. Mr. Barnes says that he was engaged, at the time, in an analysis, that the conversation was in two different rooms, and that he did not hear it all. Nearly eight months elapsed before he gave his deposition, and in the .interval the subject had become matter of heated controversy and frequent conversation and dispute. Mr. Barnes had con- tinued in the way of intercourse and sympathy with Dr. Jackson, the esprit du corps of the office was raised, and Mr. Barnes naturally entered warmly into the feelings and views of his instructor, a native of the same town with himself. The remarks of Professor Greenleaf, in his Trea- tise on Evidence, are well deserving of attention in this connection. Such evidence, therefore, as to oral declarations, is very liable to be fallacious, and its value there- fore greatly lessened by the probability that the declaration was imperfectly heard, or was misun- derstood, or is not accurately remembered, or has been perverted. * * It frequently happens, also, that the witness, by unintentionally altering a few of the depressions really used, gives an effect to the state- ment completely at variance with what the party actually did say. The truth is, Dr. Jackson told Dr. Morton what was known on the subject of ether, and in describ- ing its effects he used such words as these—stu- pefaction, unconsciousness, peculiar sleep, insensi- bility, or the like, it is impossible and immaterial to determine which. If the reader will compare Dr. Morton's ac- count of this interview, in his memorial, with that of Mr. Mclntire, he will see that the difference between them is very slight. Both agree that the conversation began by Dr. Jackson's asking Dr. M. what he was going to do with his bag; that Dr. M. replied in a way to leave the impression