arefully washed, and dried, kept its appearance of cotton wool. In the
_Times_ of 4 Nov., is a notice of Gun sawdust (a powder now much used),
made by Mr. George Turner of Leeds.

Whilst on the subject of Chemicals, I may as well mention, what was much
talked of at the time--the discovery of sulphuric ether, when inhaled,
being an anaesthetic. Previous to this, Nitrous Oxide, or, as it was
called, "Laughing Gas," somewhat inadequately performed the same
function. This latter was discovered by Dr. Priestley, in 1776, and its
use, as an anaesthetic, recommended by Sir H. Davey in 1880, was put into
practice by Mr. Wells, in America, to lessen the pain in extracting teeth
in 1844.

The first notice of the inhalation of sulphuric ether that I know of, is
in No. XLV. of the _British and Foreign Medical Review_, which says:
"Just as our last proof was passing through our hands, we received from
our medical friends in Boston, the account of a matter so interesting to
surgeons, and, indeed to everyone, that we take the opportunity of
introducing it here. We know nothing more of this new method of
eschewing pain than what is contained in the following extracts from two
private letters, kindly written to us by our excellent friends Dr. Ware
and Dr. Warren, of Boston--both men of the highest eminence in their
profession in America--and, we may truly say, in Europe also. It is
impossible, however, not to regard the discovery as one of the very
highest importance, not in the practice of operative surgery only, but,
also, as Dr. Ware suggests, in practical medicine. We trust our friends
will forgive us for putting into print their private communications. The
importance of the subject, and the necessity of authenticating the
statements, are our excuses. The authors of the discovery are Dr. C. T.
Jackson and Dr. Morton.

Dr. Warren writes, under date of 24 Nov., that "In six cases, I have had
it applied with satisfactory success, and no unpleasant sequel." And Dr.
Ware (29 Nov.) says: "It was brought into use by a dentist, and is, now,
chiefly employed by that class of practitioners. He has taken out a
patent for the discovery, and has despatched persons to Europe to secure
one there also; so you will soon hear of it, and, probably, have an
opportunity of witnessing its effects."

Then follows a long list of operations performed in America--wound up
with this postscript: "Dec. 22. Yesterday, we had, ourselves, this new
m