Anaesthetic agents : the respectful notice, protest and memorial of W.T.G. Morton, M.D., discoverer and patentee of etherization : addressed to His Excellency the President, the honorable Secretaries of the Treasury, War, Navy, and Interior, touching the use of his discovery in the public service in violation of his vested rights under the letters patent of the United States.

  • Morton, W. T. G. (William Thomas Green), 1819-1868.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anaesthetic agents : the respectful notice, protest and memorial of W.T.G. Morton, M.D., discoverer and patentee of etherization : addressed to His Excellency the President, the honorable Secretaries of the Treasury, War, Navy, and Interior, touching the use of his discovery in the public service in violation of his vested rights under the letters patent of the United States. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    shock to the system in surgical operations, it is probable that they have an influence in (Jiminishinjr inorialily. In surgical operations in private practice, I have used the cliloric and sulphuric elhers, principally the former; also in many obstetric cases, andJH relieve suffering in painful diseases, often as a subslituie for opiuni; and I believe them to be used by most other practitioners of Boston and the vicinity for the same pur- poses, and with a satisfactory result. .. ,. Very respectfully, yours, S. MASON WARREN, One of the Surgeojis of the Mass. Gen. Hospital. Hon. W. H. BissELL. [Extract of a letter from John Ware, M. D., of Boston.] Their most important use is in the practice of midwifery. They are employed very generally in severe, protracted, and dangerous cases. My belief is, from my own experience, and from thel roncmrent testi- mony of all practitioners with whose opinions I am conversant, that ihey not only diminish, and soinetimes annihilate, thfe etiffering which is attendant on parturition, but that they lessen also the dread of it, which is so strong a feeling in the minds of females; and fiulher, that they render patients less liable to the subsequent ill effects of severe labors, especially those in which the use of instruments are necessary. I have etnployed or seen them employed in asthma, in croup, in con- vulsions of children and adults, in neuralgia, in the spasmodic affec- tions of fever, and in many other cases of a more indefinite character, into the description of which it is not now necessary to your purpose to enter. 1 have also employed them with signal advantage to alleviate the sufferings which occur toward the close of life, or in the act of death, in patients who have had irrecoverable diseases. Their introduction is regarded by all practitioners within my circle of acquaintance, whose opinions I should regard as of value, as the most, important discovery in practical medicine and surgery which has been made since that of vaccination by Dr. Jenner. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. W. H. BissELL. JOHN WARE. , [Extract of a letter from J. S. Jones, M. D., of Boston.] In the private practice in my vicinity the use of these anaesthetic agents is quite common in dentistry, in midwifery, and scarcely any operation of surgeiy is performed without its use. The reduction of dislocations and the adaptation of fractured bones, are materially aided by the effects of ether, besides the freedom from suffering enjoyed by the injured person when under its effects. Respectfully, yours, Hon. W. H. BissELL. J. S. JONES.