The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-08-05

/, The tout ensemble is that of a fine
old gentleman who, like the good wine be
J always drank, improves with age. :
asked him If the democracy proposed to
make the canvass lively from now until the
J election. He said no; they had opened al
GallipoilS early with view of giving the
: people something to ''claw on" and now il
was proposed to let the thing sweat until
ABOUT tne nrs5 week in September. By
that time, he said, the Farmers would
have done their harvesting. and then
the fun would begin. "If you want to see a
good old fashioned, roueing campaign-one
that will make your blood tingle," said our
venerable uncle, "come over and take a
trip around our state about the 10th OF sep
tember." What majority do you expect,
Gov. Allen?" inquired. ooh, I have not
set any stakes. shall be reelected without
the shadowof doubt. The BOYS intend to
put me- through handsomely, and am not
borrowing any trouble about the figures"
THE DISCOVERER OF ANlESTHESIA.
DESUNcIATIoN OF THE MORTON AND JACKSON
FRAUDS = THE HONOR REALLY BELONGS TO
| RD HORACE wELLs-sToRY OF THE FIRsTUsR
OF GAS AS AN AN-EsTHETICAL AGENT.
An item has been published in the Senti-
mel regarding the statue about to be un-
yelled in Hartford, Conn.,, to the real dis
coverer of anasthesis. In regard to the
discovery the Hartford Courant has this 10
say: Elsewhere in to-dayis paper we give a
description of the bronzs statue which was
Yesterday placed in the park as fitting
memorial OF the discovery of the moeiern
ansesthesia, the late DIR. Horace Wells of
this city. 1t was made at the oiut expense
OF the state and the city, and will stand for
all time as witness to their conviction
that DIR. Wells was the first to discover the
practicability ofrendering the human system
insensible to pain during dental and surei-
cal operations The idea suggested itself
to DR.. Wells during lecture in this city on
the 10Th of December, 1874, at which nitrous
oxyd gas was administered to persons in
the audience By Mr.. G. @. Cotton of New
YORK; Among those who inhaled the gas
was Mr.. Samuel A. Cooley, who became un-
usually excited, and in jumping around
among the seats injured both of his shins
quite severely. On Cooley's recovering his
self-possession DIR. Wells inquired OF him
whether he felt any pain from the injuries he
had received. He replied that he was not
| conscious o. having received any injury,
but upon examination blood was found to
| be running down his ankles in great profu-
sion, aud the skin was much abraded
Instantly DIR. Wells expressed to q friend
his belief that the gas would render a man
so insensibie that teeth might be
| EXTRACTED WITHOUT PAIN.
he reiterated this opinion the same evening
to brother dentist, and after some consid-
Grafton he declared that he would take the
gas the next day and have defective TOOTH
"a large molar) extracted, and thus test the
correctness of his theory. The next morn
ing MIR. Cotton administered the gas and DR..
| Riggs extracted the tooth. Mr.. Wells, upon
| recovering consciousness, exclaiming "a
| new era in tooth pulling-it did not hurt me
more than the prick of a pin" Such is
briefly the beginning of what, in its subse-
qhent development, has proven to be one of
L hlQaainnc n M m ~
| tho persons named are now alive to bear
| witness to the truth of the statement con-
corning the origin of the anssthetic idea,
| DR.. Riggs, DIR. Cotton and Mr.. Cooley, but
DR.. Wells is not here to defend his claim as
the originator-a claim which has been at
tackled by individuals who should rather
have acknowledged the fact and with graft
tude. We do not propose to enter upon
a discussion OF the claims of Messrs. Morton
aad Jackson to bs thu discoveries of an an@s-
thetic agent-they claim TO have first
used ether in surgical operations, but the
assertion is always so stated as to to leave
upon the reader the impression that il was
the original discovery of an ap@sthetic agent.
Two recent instances may be mentioned.
In Harper's Magazine for February last is an
| article entitled, First Century of the Re-
public" it is stated that "ether was known
tor many centuries before Drs. Morton and
Jackson brought il into notice as an anes-
thetic in 1876" Not word is said about DIR.
DR.. Wells's discovery of an aDa aesthetic
in 1S44-two years previously. The first
edition of Appleton's Cyclopaedia, in its
arGicle upon "Anse sthetics," while it does not
state the case fairly for DR.. Wells, does not
commit the
GRAVE ERROR
of asserting that his claim dates
subsequent to that of Drs. Morton
and Jackson as does the new edition
Speaking of ether the last edition says:
"But its application as an agent for the re-
let of pain during surgical operations was
general hospital in Boston, October Is. 1876,
by DIR. w. I. G.. Morton of that city
On January End, of the next year, new
claimant came before the public in the per-
son of DR.. Chas. T. Jackson of the same civ;
and still later the same claim was advanced
in behalf of DR.. Horace Wells of Hartford"
Here DR.. Wells is placed still later than Drs.
Morton and Jackson in the line of claimants.
1t is not directly asserted in either extract,
1t will be noticed, that the original discovery
OF an anesthetic agent was made by Drs. Nor
ton and Jackson, bus only that ether was
brought into use by them in 1916 and AZ.
Possibly they lnay be entitled to some
credit tor the general introduction of ether
into surgical practice, but the substitution
of ether for gas would not merit the name OF
discovery, and so though the celebrated DR..
simpson, of Edinburgh, who himself
brought eiloroform into use an sDssthe-
tic, for he awards the credit OF the original
discovery to DIR. Wells. But in fact DR..
Wells did use ether in 1916, and actually
went to New York in that year and an
nounced his discovery to DR.. Valentine
Mott, telling him that che had used ether in
the extraction of teeth, and believed that it
might be used tor the same purpose in
great surgical operations" The TACT OF the
discovery in 1914 by DIR. Horace Wells, of
this city, of method of rendering the sys
tenn insensible to pain under surgical oper
atoms, is as clearly established as any fact
in history, and whether the agent employed
chloroform or chloric ether, is of no account
the modern idea of procuring an@sthesia
in the human system originated with DIR.
Horace Wells, and it is fraud upon the
public by suppressng certain facts to give |