The New York herald., 1878-07-09
THE DISCOVERY OF ANE ,THEsIA

To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-
An obituary OF DR.. c. W. Long, Of Athens, Ga, ap-
pears in late OF the HEKALD. in which be is al
iuded TO as 'the discovorer Of aDestnesa as xp.
piled to surgery" 'antedating the efforts OF
Wells, whoss experiments were more than tSo years
after, and Morton BY more than iour years" ruis
in 1s42
With no ~ish TO deract from the merits Of Dr. Long
little space to deaue his position more closely.
The above belongs that class OF post fIcso claims
winch mas slways sprung up the wake oi success
iui discovery. Whatever Dr.. Long did with sui
pnuric ether in 1912 was unknown to the world at
mat time, insiy yncAnt did he consider his
perience that he made no announcement or publica-
Iion OF 10 either TO his brother physicians or the
OnIy when DR.. Morton, IN lsl6 four years later
unaware Of the existence even oil Dr. LoDg-au-
nounsed his discovery ~ the world was greeted
with It's hearty upanim0us acceptance did DIR.
Long tnink IL worth waiie 70 M axe any CLAIMS; and
wo npd him unaer date OF December, lS49, after an
interval oil seven years, ior the hrst time punlely
setting orth his use OF ether III ious Operations IN
ls42. TINS IS the extent OF hts claim
II Dr. Long ''dscovored auHslhes,a as applied to
surgery IN ls42, one may we'll ask why lns millions
suffering the tofturcs OF surgical and other PAIN dad
not have the benefit oi II during the years IS43, 1874
lS45 aud wuat remained tor any to uiscOver
10 1885, when da.e cannot DO denied tnai the
OF painters surgery begany In October Of thai year
Sir Benjamin Brodio said, Ia puUlic discourse in
London:-"rhere Is no greater dosiasratum cuher u
medicine ur surgery than 10 have the ol Aaynx
or preventing bodily pam" Within tue very twenty
lour hours which .Brodie spoke tue permanent
attainment of the wish was announced IN Boston.
Then 1t was tnai "an@sthesia was applied 10 sur
gerry, or Brod,es words did not represent the med,
caI opinion OF his day The very word an@stbcsix
coined TO meet the new resuItA
Tho plausbiliiy OF the dcmaLd OF tho after-crop
OF rival claimants ike Long, Wells aud otnsrs 10 u
tie bonors OF absestassa, lies IN confuso
IN tue oi Tho wsrd di,covery The priuciple of
n9sthesia, Witnessed the accidental biliiy
TO pain, occurring In '.cther irocs" laughing gas
shows, or more SIMPLY ssiil, following u bow upon
tho head, DRUNKENNESS or poisonous drug ~ well
isolated aud barren attempts apply tnis principle
TO the voluntary annihiasfon OF pain, nave been
ths records Of historical tiTcL
scientifically the ADVANCE step to the periect discovery
not great one, for science was already IN pos
Session OF ai us data.
1he merit OF The discovcrcr lay In erecting these
DATA INTO ~ stem and forcing tho wurd To accept
tue fact vi an avaiabo process certain
70 occur when wanted aud sale induce at Will.
The nuittudinous sttcmps OF The past with nervo
pressure. drugs, nypnotisln, mesinsrisul, exttcnc
cold, electricity, the suggestion vi Jackson, tho III
teen eases oil tooth puing oi Wells, the four opera
tions oi Lone-all loft the world they found IT.
without al aslnesis. All thcs. efforts had proved in
adequate, Impractical uuaccepted They failed
affect or alter surgical prsctce IA any way.
Men had PLAYED ~ish the principle Of tbs gh thing,
but FrangIn brought II down TO the earth ana tanned
d freaKish aud uncertain element ~ dociIity. The
world held many VINO had CON unicateA al q dis
tance by the system of signals, but Morse spread
not OF electric tciography over the world In the
manner u may be sud OF nnnsthesa that,
whatever lhc steps taat led to pre0eucd H. when
Ue launched into the world, found 10 the hand
MILAN J. MORTON
No 2S EAST TnIsry-rnIRp srKEEr, July 6, 1873