The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-16
"THE GREATEST
 RENEFACTION"

''The greatest and most important benefaction ever made by man to the human race"-what is 1t? tsa-ig arase
 There is room for wide difference of opinion in answering that question. but half a century ago a committee of eminent physicians and surgeons made use of the phrase in assigning tthe credit for the discovery of anaesthes1a to Dr. William Thomas Green Morton.
 It was just three years ago today, Oct. 16. 1S46. that the great blessing, of anaesthesia was given to the world. On that date the applica- ton of ether as an agent for the relief of pain during surgical operations was first publicly made at the Massachu- setts General Hospital in Boston. A vascular tumor was removed from the groin of a man while the patient was unconscious. The use of ether was suggested by Dr. John O. Warren. @ Boston physician and ono of tn" foun- ders of the Massachusetts General Hospital, who had investigated the methods employed by Dr. W. T. G, Morton, a Boston dentist. in making the extraction of teeth painless. Although this and subsequent opera- tions performed by Drs. Warren. Hay- ward and Bigelow in the Massachu- setts General Hospital served to pop ularize ether as an anaesthetic in sur gerry, 1t soon became known that Dr. Morton was not the real discoverer of this benehcent agent,
 Many years before Sir Humphrey Davy had proposed the use of nitrous oxide gas as an anaesthetio, but noth- ing came of his proposal. In New England and in Georgia the inhalation of sulphuric ether was praetieed b- young people as a "parior game" those under the influence performing r ny peculiar antics, This suggested to pr, Crawford w, Long the possi- bility of it's use in surgery, Dr, Long, country physician of Georgia, in 1842 used ether as an anaesthedo dur ing an operation for the removal of a tumor from the neck of James W, Venable, a young man of twenty. Dr,
 Long continued to use ether for this purpose but he did not publicly an- nounce his discovery until 1S49.
 In 1s44 Dr, Horace Wells, a Hartford dentist, used nitrous oxide gas in his practice. He communicated his dis covery to pr. Morton, a former pupil, but the latter after. communicating with pr Charles T. Jackson, was ae
 vised to use sulphuric ether instead of
 Laughing gas."
 This led to Morton's adoption of ether in dentistry, and, through him,
 to the adoption of that anaesthetic agent in surgical operations at the
 Massachusetts General Hospital. A
 great controversy then began between
 the various claimants as to the rights
 of discovery. In November, 1s46, pr.
 Morton secured a patent, using the
 name of "Letheen," but the govern
 ment appropriated the discovery with
 out compensation. In carrying on this
 legal battle pr. Morton was financial
 ly ruined, and Dr. Wells became in- sane and committed suicide. Chioroform anaethesia was o.scov-
 cred by Davis Waldie, an Edinburgh
 chemist, and it was first put to the
 test by Sir James Simpson in 1S47
 the year following the introductiori
 of ether anaesthesia in America. For
 many years the medical profession was inclined to favor chloroform as an
 apaesthetic agent. but the tide has now turned again In favor of ether, as oe-
 ing far less dangerous than the dis
 eorery of the Scotch chemist.