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.)
![no contemporary written paper or pen-mark, under the hand of Dr. jackson, or some one or his numerous friends or pupils, re- .3 to a.tl<iS: tut discovery ? I\o private memorandum 01 ins Is not own, detailing his experiments and his scientific deductions from this a good them; nothing, in case of sudden death, to connect his name with ^f1*^0 t-lie the discovery, and secure the discovery itself to the world ? vcntion of The paper above referred to, of November 13, 1846, written gun-cotton, after the discovery had been in fact made—after the first capitalIn tlai| operation had been successfully performed under the superinten- (ion>t know dence of Dr. Morton, and after Dr. Jackson had nearly made up which dis- his mind to claim the discovery as his own, was enclosed to M. coverypro- Elie de Beaumont, with directions to file it in the Academy of mogt es_ Arts and Sciences of Paris, but not to break the seal until thereto citcment. directed. This paper, its seal and its custody, show that Dr. Jack- It is curious son knew how to save a a?cret and yet preserve the evidence of a sh0VL\^ y discovery; and it shows that he was not negligent or tardy, but have teen hastened to take a formal contingent possession of this discovery overlooked in Europe before he witnessed, even as a spectator, a eingfe opera- Letter °'0f tion under the influence of the new anaesthetic agent. It seems Dr. Jack- that he had not yet fully made up his mind to claim the &]&-sontoJ.I>. covery. He wanted further verification of the safety and efficacy ^^neyi of the anaesthetic agent before he- took the decisive step of an- nouncing it as his own. He therefore directed the letter making the claim to the discovery to be deposited, seahd, in the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Paris, not be opened until he should direct. The success of the pain-subduing agent from that day till the first of December, 1846, removed all doubt. The discovery was established. It already stood first in rank in the discoveries of the century, and fame, and honor, and rewards awaited the dis- coverer. Dr. Jackson, on that day and under these circumstances, wrote the letter last above copied, to M. Elie de Beaumont, di- recting him to open the sealed packet, and publish him, Dr. Jack- son, to Europe, as the discoverer. Considering the man and the discovery ; the inestimable value of the discovery : the knowledge of the man, and his capacity to appreciate its value; his full application of it when satisfied that the discovery was in fact made, and his eager promptitude in then seizing and appropriating to himself at least all that was his; your committee cannot believe it possible that he should have been for a long time in earnest pursuit of the discovery, that he should have made it and perfected it in 1841-'2 by experiment and deduc- tion, that he should, for nearly live years have been in possession of it and with his full estimate of its value, and yet that he should not in its inception or progress record it, somewhere, at some time, on something more fixed and reliable than mere frail, uncertain, and mutable memory.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21142695_0095.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
