428 BAYARD HOLMES 



in 1842, but had failed to publish his achievement. The med- 

 ical profession in Boston gave the credit of discovering a gen- 

 eral anesthesia to Dr. Jackson. Dr. Morton had offended his 

 colleagues and violated the almost universal practice of the 

 American medical profession by securing a patent on his in- 

 vention. The French academy investigated the subject and 

 divided the Montyon prize, giving Dr. Jackson two thousand 

 five hundred francs for the invention of etherization and Dr. 

 Morton two thousand five hundred francs for the application 

 of the discovery to surgical operation. The mature judgment 

 of the profession is, however, expressed by Sir James Paget in 

 the Nineteenth Century, December, 1879, as follows: ''While 

 Long waited and Wells turned back and Jackson was thinking, 

 and those to whom they had talked were neither acting nor 

 thinking, Morton, the practical man, went to work and worked 

 resolutely. He gave ether successfully in severe surgical 

 operations; he loudly proclaimed his deeds, and he compelled 

 mankind to hear him." Whatever disputes there may be 

 between Wells, Jackson, Long and Morton, the discovery and 

 appUcation of ether anesthesia is an American achievement. 

 The demonstration of the action of nitrous oxide is not gener- 

 ally looked upon as the discovery of general anesthesia, though 

 in Hartford, Connecticut, a monument erected to Wells is 

 inscribed i — 



''HORACE WELLS. WHO DISCOVERED ANES- 

 THESIA, DECEMBER 10, 1844." 

 In Mount Auburn cemetery, near Boston, is a monument 

 bearing the inscription: — 



"WILLIAM T. G. MORTON. INVENTOR AND 



REVEALER OF ANESTHETIC INHALATION. BY 

 WHOM PAIN IN SURGERY WAS AVERTED AND 

 ANNULLED. BEFORE W^HOM IN ALL TIME SUR- 

 GERY WAS AGONY. SINCE WHOM SCIENCE HAS 



CONTROL OF PAIN." 

 The use of ether in midwifery was begun and advocated 

 by Dr. James Y. Simpson, of Scotland, who afterwards used 

 chloroform in its stead, and advocated the use of chloroform 

 in surgery. Many other general anesthetics have been used, 

 and mixtures of two or more ; but none of them has held place 



