The New York herald., 1921-06-06
Fame for the Man Who Tells.

Fame for the Man Who Tells.
Dispatches from Athens. Georgia.
indicate that the university Of that
State Is bit perturbed because our
Hall OF Fame has recognized DR.. w.
t. G. MORTON as the discoverer OF
an@sthesia just about the time that
the University OF Georgia was about
to confer similar honor upon DR..
WILLIAM CRAWFORD LONG.
There need be no squabble about
the matter. The Southern college
may heap honors as 1t will upon the
Georgian LONG. There is no ques-
tion that he used ether to produce
unconsciousness during an operation
four years before DR.. MORTON, the
Boston dentist. made his first public
demonstration. DR.. j. MARION SIMS,
whose statue is in Bryant Park and
who made more beneficial use Of
an@sthetics than any other surgeon
of his day. declares in his history Of
the discovery of ether that DR.. LONG
was the first ito Intentionally pro-
duce anasthesia for surgical opera
tions," and he adds that the discov-
cry was not an accident but was rea-
soned out in "a philosophical and
logical manner"
Nothing stood in the way Of DR..
LONG being as celebrated rs DR..
MORTON except his own silence. If
he had made public in 1912, as DR..
MORTON did In 1876, the great ac-
complishment, DR.. MORTON probably
would have remained obscure. But
it was MORTON who put ether into
general use. His glory was almost
Immediately disputed by the friends
Of DR.. CHARLES T. JACKSON, under
whom MORTON had studied. DR..
JACKSON had demonstrated, in 1888,
that sulphuric ether could produce
insensibility. This had been already
shown by FARApAY's experiments in
1918. In 1900 Sir HUMPHREY DAvY
had suggested the use of laughing
gas as an anesthetic. So there.
within half a century, is the progress
sive chain: DAvY, who suggested:
FARADAY, who made sure; JACKSON,
who demonstrated: LONG, who actu-
ally removed a tumor from an ether.
lied patient but kept silent: and
MOTION, who not only operated but
published.
1t would be possible to 90 back even
further than DAvY In the search for
the beginning Of anasthesia. Lines
in PLrNY and HERoDoTUs suggest that
the ancient surgeons knew of 1t, and
there is evidence that DR.. IIoA THoA,
a Chinese of the third century, used
hemp extract to produce unconscious
ness before operating. But the world
is inclined to bestow the laurels OF
discovery upon him who puts the ben
eft at every mans use. We know
that the Norsemen visited this conti-
nent, but 1t was COLUMBUS who
showed it to the world. We know
that OERsTED of Copenhagen discov-
cred the basic principle Of the tele-
graph a century ago, but MORSE made
the telegraph real. The elements OF
the telephone were known before
BELL was born. but BELL gave the usa-
BILE article to the world. HUMPHREY
DAvY made a platinum wire incan-
descent, but EDISON is the man who
made it possible for the whole
world to read and work under elec-
trio light.
Some day some genius will produce
a motor fuel to supplant gasolene at
one-fifth the cost. The next day sew
enteen other geniuses will present
evidence that they discovered the
same stuff years before. But this is
selfish. although grateful. world.
Il rarely thanks a man for what he
knows but does not tell. That is why
DR.. MORTON has enjoyed greater fame
than DR.. LoNg.