The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-27
LONG AND STEPHENS WILL BE HONORED Georgia Will Send Statues to
 Washington
 WERE EARLY CLASSMATES (
Stephens Gained Fame as Statesman, Long Through Discovery and Appli- pication of Anaestetics-Died
 Before Recognition.

pication of Anaestetics-Died
 Before Recognition.
 Unusual interest attaches to the two
 statues which Georiga will send to
 Washington to occupy the inches allotted
 to that state in Statuary hall at the cap-
 itol, says the Washington Herald. The
 statues will be those of pr. Crawford w.
 Long, now almost universally conceded to l be the discoYerer of anaesthesia, and | Alexander II. Stephens, at one time vice
 president of the Confectionery member of 1 Congress, and governor of Georgia Most l of the statues now at the capitol per
 petuate the memories of men who gained
 fame through military channels, but the
 honors won by Long and Stephens are of
 an entirely different character.
 Oddly enough, the two men were class
 mates and roommates at the University
 of Georgia in their youth, and both grad
 uated from that institution. Stephens
 renown as a statesman rests on most 1 substantial basis in the south, and both
 he and Dr. Long have been highly hon | ored by the state in which they lived, and which they served so well in their respec- l tive fields. A lfesize portrait of Dr. Long hangs in the capitol at Atlanta and the university hospital, at Athens, bears his | name. At Jefferson, where his discovery of anaesthesfa was made, bronze tablet is set in the walls of his office to mark the spot where an anaesthetic was first used, March 30, 1S42. Dr. l.. G. Hardman of Commerce, Ga., through the Medical Society of Jackson county, some time ago presented to the town of Jefferson B monument to mark the spot where Dr. Long first operated on patient under the influence of an anaesthetic.
 pr. Lona's Title Established.
 While 1t has been claimed that Dr. Long was not the original discoverer of anaes- thesia, his right to that title seems to have been very clearly established It is stated on excellent authority that those for whom clairsS of priority have been made were at least four years behind Dr. Long in the practical use of an anaes- thetic. The patient on whom Dr. Long first used his anaesthetc, in the year all ready mentioned was James Venable, from whose neck several virulent tumors were removed About the same time Dr. Long performed several other similar operations, employing sulphuric ether and conducting the work without any pain whatever to his patients. These facts are said to be of record, having be- come at once known to all the practicing etr1 ia hot l which Dr. Long lived. It was not until | some four years later, or about 1S46. that pr. Morton of Massachusetts had one of his own teeth extracted painlessly while under the influence of ether. He immedi- ately reported the case to the Massa- chusetts general hospital, where the anaesthetc was adopted and used with entire success Five years from the date Of pr. Longs first painless operation, Sir James Y. Simpson, M. D., of Edinburg
 began the use of a preparation of chloro- form as an anaesthetic in his practice In spite of the prior claims of Dr. Long,
 which his friends say are indisputable, both Boston and Edinburgh have erected handsome monuments to Drs. Morton and Simpson respectively, as the discoverers of anaesthesia. As matter of fact, 1t seems that the claims of Dr. Wells of Connecticut antedated those of Dr. Nor ton.
 Henri Stuart's Gift.
 Many persons outside of Georgia have recognized the justice of the claims made | on behalf of Dr. Long. In 1882 Dr. Heri l Stuart, prominent citizen of New York
 presented to the state of Georgia a DOT l trait of Dr. Long as the originator of painless operations. Being of modest and | unostentatious temperament, pr. Long l himself took no positive steps to establish l his right to his epochal discovery He was fully content with the thought that l he had ameliorated human suffering and was only anxious that the means should | become the property of all those able to administer them intelligently Henry w. Grady, the famous Georgia editor, said at one time: Tt was Crawford ". Long who gave to the world the priceless boon of anaesthesia." Alexander Stephens, in an address before the alumni of the Uni | versity of Georgia, on August 5, 1879, said of the university, that it had given to the world Dr. Long, the discoverer of l anaesthesia, "a discovery which had done
 more to alleviate human suffering than
 any other of the time" The Orleans l Parish Medical association passed reso- | luton uniting with the medical fraternity 1 of Georgia in recommending that the memory of Dr. Long be commemorated by the erection of a statue The members of the association referred to Dr. Long as one whom they regarded with pride and admiration, not only as one of the south's most illustrious sons. but as one of the greatest benefactors that America had given to the world" His claims for the recognition and gratitude of his fel- low men," the resolution went on to say,
 rest upon benefactions which are not limited by the boundaries of his state or nation, but are as vast as humanity it. self"
 Action of Eclectic Association. The National Eslectic association. at an annual meeting held at Cleveland, O., June Is. 1879, passed a similar reso- lution unanimously.
 This association" 1t said, takes this | action to declare it's appreciation and recognition of the inestimable service rem dered to medical science and humanity, and to express its consideration of the vast debt of gratitude (hitherto unrecog
 nized) due to tho late Dr. Crawford w. Long of Athens, Ga, the discoverer of anaesthesia, and hereby agrees to cor i dially unite in any public endeavor to | honor, his memory"
 | Dr. Westmoreland of Atlanta, in a pa- l per which he once read before the Geor- l gla Medical society, gave some interest 1 ing facts about pr. Long and his time. | Tn Dr. Longs vicinity" said Dr. West l mn md in, la ~I