Evening star., 1926-03-21

| l. day that ether was first used
in surgical operation q mar
| IL BILE statue of DIR. Crawford w.
Long OF Georgia will be
unveiled In the Hall Of Fame OF the
United States Capitol building. The
exercises, national and even world.
wide In their appeal. will take place
March 80. They will bring responsive
ness In the bosom OF every soldier
who has been wounded on the field
Of battle; every man. woman or child
who has been under the surgeons
knife.
BY such exercises and the presenta-
ton of a statue Of Or. Long, the State
| OF Georgia gives notice that this one
time smalitown doctor and surgeon
| Is an immortal because OF the boon he
gave suffering humanity. In the Hal
Of Fame, or Statuary Hall. each State
| may place the statue of but two of
her sons.
Georgia. through her legislature
has selected DR. Crawford w. Long
and Alexander III. Stephens, vice pres
Ident of the Confederacy and lated
statesman in the national Congress
1t Is a remarkable coincidence that
DR.. Long and Alexander III. Stephens
were in the same class at the Uni.
vers!ty OF Georgia, and, Furthermore.
they were roommates. Now. through
all the years that are to come, their
marble statues are to be roommates
| in the National Hall Of Fame.
The story of DIR. Longs discovery
of the possibilities of ether as ar
| anesthetic and his first application
OF that drug In a serious surgica
operation is one of human interest al
the way through. He was so modest
| that for time no claim for credit
was sent to any medical association
nor did It receive the publicity that
goes nowadays with any discovery ir
the fields of medicine. surgery. the
arts or inventions. Fortunately. DIR
| Longs neighbors knew about it anf
signed affidavits that a painless oper
alton had been performed by' him.
These affidayits. now yellowed by
age. were produced by DR.. Longs de
scendants when claimants arose In
later years and attested the first use
OF ether as an anesthetic. They
were exhibited early in this century
at a medical convention in London,
and DR.. Longs portrait now hang
In the Anesthetic Hall of the Royal
Society of Medicine, London.
The placing of a statue Of DR.. Long
In the National Hall of Fame il
brought about by popular subscription
There is no provision in Georgia con-
| stitution or law for an appropriation
by the State for such a purpose. So
the Crawford w. Long Memorial AS.
sociation was formed and chief
mover in 1t was DR.. Joseph Jacobs,
! of Atlanta. a pioneer druggist in the
Georgia capital. Years ago DR.. ia
! cobs served as an apprentice pharma-
cist in the drug store of DR.. Long al
Athens. Most of the subscriptions
came from pharmacists, doctors an
surgeons who sought everlasting
recognition of the humanitarian serv-
Ices Of DR.. Long.
LOW DR.. Long discovered 81 years
i ago that sulphuric ether was an
anaesthetic is thus told by DIR. Jacobs:
| "The story Of DR.. Longs discovery
| of anaesthesia is an interesting re-
| cital. He was, when he settled at
jefferson. Ca, full of the friendly
eiow' Of young manhood. and soon
sought the society of the young peo-
pie Of his town and surrounding coun'
try: 49, .,,..o,,, of
| the youth and social spirits Of the sec
| ton to meet at the hospitable home OF
some resident, when one OF the chief
| amusements of the occasion was for
| the assembled company all to sprinkle
sulphuric ether on their handkerchiefs
| and inhale the escaping odors. The
participants were differently affected.
Some sang, some danced, others
mounted chairs. some harangued,
| some dashed wildly about the room.
But all were conscious Of their own
and the antics of others.
"Dr. Long noticed after one Of these
t'ether frolics' that several bruises that