4i6 TWING B. WIGGINS 



began to etherize animals and so became convinced of the value 

 of the drug. He interviewed Jackson, who was a prominent 

 chemist, as to the nature of ether, and Jackson explained to 

 him how it could be inhaled from a dry folded towel without 

 danger. This was enough for Morton, who went home and 

 etherized himself into unconsciousness, reviving in a few min- 

 utes without any ill effects. He was now ready to try it on a 

 patient and that very evening a man of the name of Frost ap- 

 plied to him for the extraction of a painful tooth. Frost was 

 frightened and asked if mesmerism might not be tried. Mor- 

 ton replied that he had something better, and the man con- 

 senting, he applied to his nostrils a towel saturated with ether. 

 The patient became unconscious and a deeply adherent bicus- 

 ped tooth was extracted, the patient quickly regaining con- 

 sciousness. He vowed he felt no pain and readily gave Morton 

 a certificate of his experience. The feat was performed in the 

 presence of an assistant and of A. G. Tenney, a reporter for 

 the Boston Journal, and soon was widely advertized in the 

 newspapers. Soon after he successfully anesthetized a pa- 

 tient in the Massachusetts general hospital, and the eminent 

 surgeon, J. C. Warren, successfully removed a vascular tumor 

 situated just below the jaw on the left side of the neck. The 

 patient, Gilbert Abbott, after he had recovered his faculties, 

 said that he had experienced no pain, but only a sensation like 

 that of scraping the part with a dull instrument. 



A second and more complete demonstration was made the 

 following day and from that time on, the number and scope of 

 these operations increased as the use and physiological prop- 

 erties of ether became better known. The next step in the 

 exploitation of this great discovery was made when Henry J. 

 Bigelow in an able paper, read before the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences on November 3, 1846, announced the 

 facts to the world. This paper was published in the Boston 

 Medical and Surgical Journal on November 18. Bigelow wrote 

 an account of it to Francis Boott, a well known physician of 

 London, and through him its value was soon known to the 

 hospitals of London and Europe, where it was taken up with 

 enthusiasm. When Jackson saw that the discovery was likely 

 to make Morton famous and rich, he tried in every way, even 



