Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1873

WILLIAM THOMAS GREEN MORTON (1819-1868) William T. G. Morton, M.D.--sulphuric ether. Government Printing Office 1852 128 pp., 2 plates. 21.9 cm.

A successful Boston dentist, Morton is generally credited with the discovery of ether as a general anesthetic. His partner, Wells (see No. 1817), had used nitrous oxide with some success while Jackson (see No. 1675), Morton's preceptor during his two years of medical school, had used ether drops in filling teeth. Drawing on these experiences and after experimenting briefly with animals, Morton anesthetized a patient during a tooth extraction and less than a month later was able to make his celebrated demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital. A long and bitter controversy ensued as to the actual discoverer of the technique and, in this Select Committee report to the first session of the House of Representatives during the thirty-second Congress dated June 28, 1852, a recommendation is made that Morton receive $100,000 as compensation for surrendering the rights to his discovery.

See Related Record(s): 1817 1675

Cited references: Waller 14357a