382  EDITORIAL. 
An  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  modern  Anaesthesia.     By  the  Hon.  Truman 
Smith.     Hartford,  Brown  &  Gross. 
The  author  has  been  very  active  in  presenting  the  claims  of  the  late  Dr. 
Horace  Wells  to  the  honor  of  the  discovery  of  anaesthesia,  before  a  com- 
mittee of  the  U.  S  Senate  in  1852.  The  present  work  is  made  up  chiefly 
from  a  series  of  communications  to  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Reporter. 
The  author  has  been  very  earnest  in  his  endeavors  to  sift  truth  from  pre- 
tension, and  proves,  in  our  opinion  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  that  on 
the  10th  of  December,  1844,  Horace  Wells,  then  a  dentist  at  Hartford, 
Conn.,  conceived  the  idea  of  rendering  himself  so  insensible  by  the  inhala- 
tion of  nitrous  oxide,  that  he  could  have  a  tooth  extracted  without  pain, 
and  that  he  proved  it  on  the  following  day  by  experimenting  on  himself. 
It  was  not  until  the  30th  day  of  September,  1846,  that  W.  T.  G.  Morton, 
a  dentist  of  Boston,  Mass.,  used  ether  for  the  first  time,  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. We  commend  this  volume  to  the  careful  perusal  of  all  who  feel  an 
interest  in  the  great  discovery  of  the  unfortunate  Dr.  Wells.  M. 
Why  not  ?  A  Book  for  every  Woman.  The  prize  essay  to  which  the 
American  Medical  Association  awarded  the  gold  medal  for  MDCCCLXV. 
By  Horatio  Robinson  Storer,  M.D.,  of  Boston.  Boston,  Lee  &  Shepard, 
1867. 
This  little  book  is  "  issued  for  general  circulation  by  order  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  and  it  deserves  to  be  read  not  only  by  every 
woman,  but  likewise  by  every  man,  and  particularly  by  every  pharmacist. 
It  presents  the  subject  of  forced  abortion  in  a  calm,  but  earnest  manner, 
and  shows  it  to  be  a  crime  against  the  infant,  its  mother,  the  family  circle 
and  society  ;  it  treats  of  the  excuses  and  pretexts  that  are  given  for  the 
act,  discusses  its  frequency,  and  points  out  the  measures  of  relief.  We 
have  noticed  with  satisfaction  that  the  discussion  on  this  subject  is  kept 
up  in  medical  journals,  and  believe  that  beneficial  results  would  be  ob- 
tained if  it  was  discussed  also  in  pharmacial  circles.  It  is  a  well  known 
fact  that  there  are  certain  quacks, — for  physicians  they  cannot  be  called, 
though  they  possess  diplomas  from  whatever  medical  college, — whose  chief 
business  js  the  production  of  abortion  among  the  single  and  the  married. 
This  criminal  practice  is  discountenanced  by  every  respectable  physician, 
and  the  hoodwinking  at  this  crime  ought  to  be  frowned  down  by  every 
true  pharmacist.  Those  who  sell  those  numerous  nostrums  called  golden 
pills,  female  pills,  &c,  &c,  to  the  use  of  which  women  are  invited  by 
cautioning  them  against  their  use  during  pregnancy, — the  venders  of  such 
nostrums,  we  say,  did  they  never  reflect  on  the  improper  uses  to  which 
they  are  put?  Did  they  never  consider  themselves  aiders  of  and  accesso- 
ries to  the  crime  of  abortion  ?  If  they  did  not  consider  it  a  crime,  let  them 
read  Dr.  Storer's  book,  and  if  that  does  not  convince  them,  it  will  convince 
us  that  pharmacy  can  expect  as  little  from  such  followers  as  the  medical 
science  gains  from  the  graduate  in  medicine  who  degrades  himself  to  be- 
come an  abortionist.  M. 
