ACHIEVEMENTS OF SURGERY 429 



against ether. The use of nitrous oxide <2;as as an anesthetic 

 fell into oblivion until 1867, when Cooley reported 20,000 

 administrations for the extraction of teeth. Since that time 

 it has maintained a narrow field of usefulness for short anesthe- 

 sias in the offices of dentists. But during the past few 3'cars 

 it has come into more general use for protracted anesthesias 

 especially when mixed with oxygen or ether vapor. 



Probably not one in a hundred thousand who have been 

 anesthetized for a surgical operation has ever heard the name 

 of Morton. He never profited by his invention financially, and 

 little public recognition of this great achievement has ever been 

 granted. Congress repeatedly refused to honor him; the trus- 

 tees of the Massachusetts general hospital tardily and reluc- 

 tantly presented him one thousand dollars. The French acad- 

 emy of sciences divided his honors with Dr. Jackson. When the 

 golden jubilee of his discovery was celebrated in 1896 in almost 

 every operating room and clinic in the world, the significance of 

 his contribution first received anything like a public and gen- 

 eral recognition. 



One of the earliest achievements in American surgery was 

 the method of reducing dislocations by manipulation, invented, 

 practiced and taught by Nathan Smith, of New Hampshire 

 (1762-1839) . This can hardly be appreciated as a great achieve- 

 ment unless we look at the methods previously in vogue. 

 The torture v/hich patients endured with dislocated joints 

 in pre-anesthetic days with wheel, block and tackle, can only be 

 conceived of b}^ a perusal of ancient literature and a study of 

 the illustrations of these procedures. The method by ma- 

 nipulation is one which has grown into a complete science and 

 has lately been extended even to the treatment of congenital 

 dislocation of the hip. He also taught and practiced trephina- 

 tion for suppuration within the skull and founded Dartmouth 

 medical college. He was a great leader of all medical thought. 



Ephraim McDowell, of Danville, Kentucky (1771-1830), 

 first performed rational ovariotomy with a favorable result. 

 He was originally from Virginia, and studied in Edinburgh, 

 Scotland (1793-94). He practiced in the neighborhood of 

 Danville, and acquired an enviable reputation as a surgeon. 

 In December, 1809, he performed an ovariotomy upon a Mrs. 



