The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-08-27

operations usually come before village
i. practitioner, in the presence Of the physicians
and citizens Of the country. never dreaming OF
any secret personal advantage, but, like a
true and conscientious physician, doing all in
his power To test the merits Of his discovery
IN MS limited sphere Of action. / say unfor-
tunate, because during that time the same dis
cOyery was made By others, and through the
enterprise OF Morton. who was actuated BY Wis
ions oil an immense fortune, its success was
. thoroughly demonstrated by the eminent sur
geons Of the Massachusetts General Hospital
through the enlarged facilities afforded by
that institution.
DR.. Sims says in the paper before referred
TO Longs operations were not secret. He
made no mystery about the substance given
To prevent pain. He took ont no patent for
his discovery ~ did Morton and Jackson He
did not attempt to convert il into a money
speculation He published it before all men.
1t was not hidden from the world True, his
was very contracted world. He was waiting
10 test his great discovery in some practical
operation. lie lived in obscure little town
whore there were no railroads and no ponder
Gus machinery to MAIN his felIow-men, and
the amputation Of leg or in
the lie 81 a country doctor. While he was
still waiting for larger operations before COM
municatiug his discovery to some scientific
journal, the labor- OF Wells, and Morton, and
Jackson aud >impA,ins burst upon the world.
Athens, in March 1884, he said to Long: You
have the advantage OF priority in date and in
the first OF ether an,esthesia, but
have the advantage OF priority OF publication
Now. upon this point, Long, Wells, Morton
and jackson stand individually upon the same
level. Long exhibited 10 medical men and To
the community his operations under ether
1872 Wells exhibited to medical men and
10 the community his operation OF the extract
ion Of teeth under the influence OF nitrous
oxide gas tlS4J. Morton exhibited to med
zeal men and the community the use of MS Sc
cret remedy, Ietheon' (1846), as an anasthet-
ic. But Morton was fortunate in showing his
patent remedy to the great surgeons OF Boston
And it was not Morton, but it was Warren and
Hayward and Bigelow who performed the
operations at the Massachusetts General Hos
pital oct, 1870, on patients to whom Morton
gave his 'Letheon,' that the world owes the
immediate and universal use of ansesthesia in
surgery. Ii Morton could have had his way
he would have deodorized the ether and
kept it a secret from the world. Meth
or Wells nor Morton nor Jackson ever
published a word on the subject till it burst
forth in blaze from the labors OF the hospital
surgeons already named.
In bringing this subject before this Associa-
ton now, ii Is not my object to invite another
controversy over the ether question. All
dead, and a sufficient length OF time
has now elapsed for all prejudice and
ask for a fair. unbiased decision / have en-
deavored to show that Dr. Long was the first
person to produce anasthesia for surgical pur-
poses As now practiced. That his processes
perfect in all their details, and the an;es-
thesia complete. That his operations were
done in public, and the composition of the an
aesthetic concealed from no one. That his claim
to the discovery has been ignored solely on the
ground of his delay to publish it in scientific
journals, and that the same objection is appli- |
cable with equal and even greater force to the |
other claimants. That Congress refused to
make appropriation to the other claimants
after learning OF his prior discovery.
/ now therefore ask the formal recognition |
by this Association of Crawford w. Long, NJ. |
D., as the discoveIer of modern anathesia. |
claim that Morton's recognition by the scienti- |
ic world-was the result OF accidental circum- |
stances and that it is the duty of the medical |
profession of the United States in its organized |
capacity, to divulge the facts and to correct the
error
With some it may not be so gratifying to |
national and local pride to concede the honor |
OF the great discovering to an humble practi-
toner in the obscure village OF Georgia. rather |
than to the more prctentious claimants in the |
classical city OF Boston. But if the claim is
sustained by sufficient evidence no considera-
tons of personal preference, local pride or
=" precedent y should be allowed to rob it of its
just reward. Fiat jaStitiu, eseitm Tadt.