uainted
with this property of ether while studying medicine in Philadelphia.
The young men and their friends were so well pleased with the effects
of ether inhalation, that "ether parties" became fashionable in that
section, as well as in other parts of the State. At these ether parties,
Dr. Long noticed that persons who received injuries while under its
influence felt no pain. On one occasion a young man received an injury
to his ankle joint that disabled him for several days, and he told Dr.
Long that he did not feel the slightest pain until the effects of the
ether had passed off. Observing these facts, Dr. Long was led to believe
that surgical operations might be performed without pain.

Dr. Long's theory was formed in 1841, but he waited for some time before
testing it, in the hope that a case of surgery of some importance--the
amputation of an arm or a leg--might fall in his practice. On the 30th
of March, 1842, Dr. Long removed a tumor from the neck of Mr. James
M. Venable. On the 6th of June, the same year, another small tumor was
removed from the neck of the same patient, and both operations were
painless. Mr. Venable inhaled sulphuric ether, and the effect of it was
to render him insensible to the pain of cutting out the tumors.

Dr. Long had told Mr. Venable that he would charge little or nothing for
removing the tumors under the influence of ether. The bill rendered
for both operations amounted to $4.50; but, small as the bill was,
it represented the discovery and application of ether in surgical
practice,--one of the greatest boons to mankind. Up to that time no
patient under the surgeon's knife had ever been able to escape the
horror and pain of an operation.

Dr. Long did not at once print the facts about his discovery. He wanted
to make assurance doubly sure. He waited in the hope of having an
important case of surgery under his charge, such as the amputation of
a leg or an arm. But these cases, rare at any time, were still rarer at
that time, especially in the region where Dr. Long practiced. He finally
satisfied himself, however, of the importance of his discovery, but,
having waited until 1846, found that at least three persons--Wells,
Jackson, and Morton--had hit on the same discovery, and had made
publication of it. Morton patented ether under the name of "Letheon,"
and in October, 1846, administered it to a patient in the Massachusetts
General Hospital.

In 1844, Horace Wells, a native of Vermo