180 



pain? To this In' always replied in tlie negative; adding, hcwever, 

 that In- kiuw of the operation ; and comparing the stroke of the knife 

 to that of a blunt instrument passed roughly across the neck. Now 

 that the effects of inhalation," adds Dr. Warren, "are better under- 

 stood, this is placed in the class of imperfect etherization." <>n the 

 17th of October, this agent was administered a Becond time to 

 b patient in the hospital, from whom Dr. George Hayward removed 

 a fatty tumour of the arm. The operation lasted seven minutes, 

 ami the patient was entirely unconscious during its progress. 



At this stage of the proceedings, the surgeons of the hospital <le- 

 termined not to proceed with the experiments, unless informed of 

 the precise nature of the agent employed. This decision A\as com- 

 municated to Dr. Morton, who thereupon addressed a letter to the 



senior surgeon, Dr. Warren, informing him that the artiele used, was 



sulphuric ether. On the 7th of November, this fact was communi- 

 cated to a consultation of the surgeons in the case of a young girl 

 about to submit to amputation of the thigh, and it was unanimously 

 agreed that the ether should be administered to her as in the pre- 

 ceding cases. Dr. George Hayward, the operator, thus describes 

 the effect in this important case: — "The patient," says Dr. Hay- 

 Ward, "was a girl of 20 years of age, named Alice Mohan, who had 

 Buffered, for two years, with a disease of the knee, which terminated 

 in suppuration of the joint, and caries of the boms. For some 

 months before the operation, her constitutional symptoms had be- 

 come threatening, and the removal of the limb seemed to be the only 

 chance for life. The ether was administered by Dr. Morton. In a 

 little more than three minutes, she was brought under the influence 

 of it; the limb was removed, and all the vessels were tied but the 

 last, which was the sixth, before she gave any indication of con- 

 sciousness or Buffering. She then groaned and cried out faintly; 

 .-he afterwards said that she was wholly unconscious and insensible 

 Up to that time, and she seemed to be much surpri>cd, when she was 



told that her limb was off. She recovered rapidly, suffering Less 

 than patients usually do after amputation of the thigh, regained her 



Strength and flesh, and was discharged Well On the 22d of Decem- 

 ber."* From this time the inhalation of ether was adopted in the 



practice of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and received the 

 warm approval of the Board of Surgeons attached to that excellent 

 institution* Various instances of its successful employment also 



• See Dr. George Hoyward's Taper, Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. xxxvi., No. 12. 



