LPHURIC ETHER, &c.

"In the autumn of 1846, it was announced in the public
journals that a dentist in Boston, W. T. G. Morton, had
discovered a method of extracting teeth without pain. Dr.
Morton, it seems, was satisfied that he could increase his
business to any extent he pleased, if he could only discover
a method by which he could extract and insert teeth without
any pain to the patient. Having some knowledge of the fact
that, by inhaling the vapor of ether, a state of
insensibility could be produced, he applied to Dr. Charles
T. Jackson to know if it could be done with safety. It
occurred to him that it might produce such a degree of
stupor that a tooth might be extracted without a
consciousness of what was doing [_meaning_ being done]. On
the 30th of September, 1846, he inhaled the vapor himself,
and found that he remained in an unconscious state eight
minutes. On the same day, he administered it with success to
a man who called to have a tooth extracted. The man, on
recovering his consciousness, did not know that any
instrument had been applied to his tooth. On the 16th and
17th of October, at the suggestion of Dr. Morton, ether was
administered to two patients at the hospital, who were to
have surgical operations performed. The experiment was
successful. As soon as the fact was known, it was generally
applauded by the newspapers as a wonderful discovery, and
the question came up, To whom belongs the honor, and who
shall reap the reward? Dr. Jackson, in a letter to M.
Beaumont, published in Galignani's Messenger, in Paris,
January, 1847, says, 'I request permission to communicate to
the Academy, through you, a discovery which I have made, and
which I regard as important to suffering humanity.' It
appears that the idea of using ether to render a person
insensible _to pain_, was original with Dr. Morton, and that
Dr. Jackson did no more than give Dr. Morton some
information respecting the nature of ether, and the best
mode of inhaling it. But as Dr. Jackson was better known as
a man of science, Dr. Morton consented to take the patent in
the name of both, and Dr. Jackson sold out his share to Dr.
Morton for ten per cent. of the income that might be derived
from the sale of rights to use the discovery.

"In February,