Omaha daily bee., 1896-07-05

leading the dog, which walked rather
queerly. and said:
Poor Mig. I've had him asleep a long
time. l was afraid | had killed him?'
"Do you put the fish asleep, too?' !
asked laughingly.
Il try to-" he said quite seriously, "but
have not succeeded yet
| laughed again, thinking it was all {
joke, but my husband became very grave
end said:
The time will come, my dear, when !
will Danish pain from the world
1t was at this time also that he used to
bottle up all sorts Of queer bugs and insects,
until the house was full of crawling things.
He would administer ether to all these lit
tie creatures, and especially to the big
green worms he found on grape vines.
I remember how DR.. Morton's friends
laughed at these queer experiments and | am
afraid l joined with them sometimes, but
he continued on his way undaunted, fire.
must be some way of deadening pain"
HIS EARLY ATTEMPTS.
AS he began to near success | became
alarmed, for, not satisfied with trying the
ether on bugs and animals, my husband be
gan experimenting upon himself. One day
he told me that he had put himself to sleep
for eight minutes, that time having elapsed
when he Looked at his watch after rega1nlnG
Consciousness.
After that my vivid imagination pictured
him killing himself some day. and l wa?
haunted by a dread whenever he left Tie
house that he would never return alive. In
vain my husband attempted to quiet my
fears. which were increased by the words OF
my friends. who declared that DR.. Morton
would end by killing himself or some one
else and begged me to look out for him.
After DR.. Morton had concluded from his
experiments upon lower animals that 1t
might really be possible to put people tc
.1...', Nth tho nuDnpu he had discovered
re sent out his assistants Offering a reward
of S. to any person who would have a tooti
drawn while under the influence OF his pan
annulling agency. There we're many peopl'
suffering from aching teeth that needed to
be extracted, and the So was an object, but
no one could be induced to take the risk.
Finally his two assistants allowed him t.
experiment upon them, but the result was
not satisfactory, because Of impurities in
the ether. Having detected this, my hus-
band. with characteristic persistence, at
once procured a supply of pure ether, and
unwilling to wait longer for a subject, shut
himself up in his Office and tested it upon
himself with such success that for several
minutes he lay there unconscious.
That night Dr.. Morton came home late,
In a great state of excitement, but so happy
that he could scarcely calm himself to tell
me what had occurred, and !, too, became
so excited that | could scarcely wait to hear.
At last he told me Of the experiment upon
himself. and | grew sick at heart as the
thought came to me that he might have died
there alone. He went on to say that he wa?
resolved not to sleep that night until he had
repeated the experiment and declared that
late as it was, he must still find a patient.
Returning to his office he could find no one
who could be induced to have a tooth drawn
by the painless method" which was what
the doctor was now so eager to demonstrate,
Discouraged he was on the point of etheriz
inn hip,Snlf nnnp mora and having one OF MS
assistants extract a tooth from his own
head, when there came a faint ring at the
bell.
HIS FIRST PATIENT.
1t was long past the hour for patients,
but there stood a man with his face all
bandaged and evidently suffering acute
pain. And strangest of all were his words;
Doctor" he said, Il have the most
frightful toothache and my mouth is so
sore | am afraid to have the tooth drawn
Can't you mesmerize meY'
The doctor could almost have shouted
with delight, but, preserving his self-pos-
session, he brought the man into his once
and told him he could do something better
than mesmerize him. Then he explained
his purpose of administering the sulphuTic
ether and the man, eagerly consented
without delay, my husband saturated a
handkerchief with ether, and held 1t over
the mans face for him to inhale the fumes,
The assistant, DR.. Hayden, who held the
lamp. trembled yisibly when DR.. Morton
introduced the forceps into the mouth OF
the man and prepared to pull the tooth,
Then came the strain, the wrench, and the
tooth was out, but the patient made
neither sign nor sound, he was quite UNI
conscious. DR.. Morton was oyerjoyed at this
result. Then, as the man continued to
make no movement, my husband grew
alarmed. and it flashed through his mind
that perhaps he had killed his patient.
Snatching up a glass of water, he emptied
1t full into the face Of the unconscious
man, who presently opened his eyes and
looked about him in a bewildering way.
"Are you ready now to have the tooth
out?" asked the doctor.
81 am ready" said the man.
well it is out now" said the doctor.
pointing to the tooth lying on the floor.
"No?" cried the man in greatest amaze
ment, springing from the chair, and being
a good Methodist shouted, GLORY, Hallelu-
jah!" AT that moment DR., Morton felt
that the success of sulphuric ether was as
sured.
THE DISCOVERY TESTED.
From that time my husband was unceaS
Ing in his efforts to bring his discovery
before the medical world, and, after many
discouragements, he succeeded in inducing
DR.. John G. Warren. senior surgeon in
the Massachusetts, General hospital, to allow
him to visit the hospital and try his dis
cOyery upon a patient who was about to be
operated upon. The night before the opera
ton my husband worked until 4 o'clock In
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