181 



occurred in the private practice of gentlemen in Boston and vicinity. 

 Dr. A. L. Pierson, of Salem, Mass., used ether with perfect success 

 in the removal of a fatty tumour as early as November 14th, 1846. 



On the 3d of November, 184G, Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow, one of 

 the surgeons of the hospital, read a paper to the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences, and on the 9th of November, to the Boston 

 Medical Improvement Society, detailing the facts which had fallen 

 under his observation, and vouching for the efficacy of this new agent 

 in annulling pain. This paper was published in the Boston Medical 

 and SurgiealJournal of November 18th, and deserves special notice 

 as the first medical publication on etherization, whereby the news of 

 the discovery was promulgated to the world. 



Within six weeks of the publication of this paper, ether had been 

 tested in London, and found warm advocates amongst the surgeons 

 of that metropolis; and in less than three months it was introduced 

 into the Parisian hospitals, and was highly eulogized by the leading 

 surgeons of Paris. From this point the fame of etherization spread 

 rapidly through Europe. While these events were in progress, the 

 practice was slowly adopted in the country of its birth ; several weeks 

 elapsed after the publication of Dr. Bigelow's paper before the sub- 

 ject was noticed by the medical press of the United States, and then 

 it was in tones of doubt and incredulity, and it was not for several 

 months that the practice became at all popular south of Boston. The 

 first operation performed under the influence of ether, in the New 

 York Hospital, was in February 1847. At the coming together of 

 the last meeting of the National Medical Association in Philadelphia, 

 but few of the members had any practical experience of the effects 

 of this novel remedy. 



This indifference to the discovery was probably owing to several 

 causes. One of the most prominent of which was the taint of 

 charlatanism which attached itself to its early history, and which 

 created a prejudice against it, in some minds so strong as to pre- 

 vent them from giving to the subject a full investigation. This 

 feeling against secret and patented medicines happily prevails 

 in the medical profession to a great extent, it is deep-rooted and 

 sincere, and is based upon the highest considerations of public 

 utility; if, in this instance, it was carried too far, the motive was, at 

 least, just and honourable ; and the fault lies more with the dis- 

 coverers, who attempted to conceal the nature of this new agent 

 under the name of "compound letheon," than with the profession. 

 Another reason why etherization was slowly adopted, was the in- 



