Statements, supported by evidence, of Wm. T.G. Morton, M.D., on his claim to the discovery of the anaesthetic properties of ether : submitted to the honorable the Select Committee appointed by the Senate of the United States, 32d Congress, 2d session, January 21, 1853 / presented by Mr. Davis of Massachusetts, and referred to the Select Committee to whom had been referred the petition of sundry physicians of Boston and vicinity, in support of the claim of W.T.G. Morton, M.D., for the discovery of etherization.
- William T. G. Morton
- Date:
- 1853
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Statements, supported by evidence, of Wm. T.G. Morton, M.D., on his claim to the discovery of the anaesthetic properties of ether : submitted to the honorable the Select Committee appointed by the Senate of the United States, 32d Congress, 2d session, January 21, 1853 / presented by Mr. Davis of Massachusetts, and referred to the Select Committee to whom had been referred the petition of sundry physicians of Boston and vicinity, in support of the claim of W.T.G. Morton, M.D., for the discovery of etherization. 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.)
![cially put us on our guard. It is a sweeping Kind of -iHerre which covers everything; and if the imputed conversation be pri- vate, or if it be general, (as he often said, or ''always said,) it is often difficult to subject the evidence to the ordinary tests of surrounding circumstances and inherent probability, so as to fix its value. There is enough, however, in these deposiiions to show that they are of but little weight. It is to be remembered, in the first place, that they are in direct contradiction to the testimony of Whitman, Spear, Leavitt, and Hayden, and they contradict by strong implication the testimony of Mr. Metcalf and Mr. Wight- man, the character of all and each of whom is most satisfactorily vouched. The testimony of these two witnesses cannot be true, unless the first four above named entered into a conspiracy to carry a point by perjury; but, as to them, we have examined their evidence—we have tested it by its agreement with surrounding circumstances, and we are satisfied of its truth. This of itself would be enough to dispose of the testimony of Wilson and Hunt; but it is proper to look at the inherent char- acter of their evidence. Wilson, in the commencement of his deposition, swears, by way of recital, that Dr. Charles T. Jackson was the discoverer of the application of ether to produce insensibility to pain in surgical Mr. Mor- operations; and, among other things, he says, ' Morton first ton %pe]]gr claimed the discovery to be his own,' in February, 1847. To say Oct. 19, nothing of the looseness and total want of caution with which 1846, p. the fact of the disoovery is stated—a fact of which Mr. Wilson certainly had no knowledge whatever—he testifies directly against the recorded fact in the second particular, for Dr. Morton did claim the discovery as early as September 30, 1846, and his claim was given to the world the next day in the public prints. His claim, and his alone, was known to the surgeons of the hospital during the month of October, and his public circulars and the numerous answers to them, which he has exhibited to the com- mittee, show that during all that time, and at all times, he claimed the discovery publicly and to the world as his own. The witness goes on to say: ' In the administration of the ether I was guided by and solely relied upon the advice and assurances of Dr. Jack- See Dr. son, received through Morton. We never dared to follow Mor- p°265'- V'ton,s own directions,—mid adds that, if they had, the conse- Also, 'Dr. qucnces would probably have been fatal and etherization a failure. Bigelow And further, that he never knew Morton ' to apply it to a patient and others. ^n the office.^ This was from a most apparent fear and shunning of responsibility.1 Now as to the advice and assurances of Dr. Jackson, alleged to have been received from time to time through Dr. Morton,°we have no reason to suppose that any such repeated intercourse and communication took place during that time, and we have no evi-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21142695_0110.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
