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William Thomas Morton
1819—1868 |
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Few Men Have Done so Much for Mankind and
Received Less |
Until the discovery of ether as an anesthetic by
William Thomas Green Morton, surgical operations
caused excruciating pain. Few men have done more
for mankind, yet strangely, Dr. Morton is
relatively unknown. ■ Dr. C. Warren, the most
eminent surgeon of his day, performed the first
public operation with Morton’s discovery on
trial. Dr. Warren said later, “This is the most
valuable discovery ever made, because it frees
suffering humanity from pain.” ■ William T. G.
Morton was born August 9,1819 near Charlton,
Massachusetts. His ancestors were among the
earliest Scottish arrivals in America in the
late 17th century. Morton started a dental
practice in 1842 but he was disturbed about the
pain caused by the dental practices of the time.
■ Although others had experimented with pain
killers before Dr. Morton, none was successful
and no one pursued the goal with such
determination and singleness of purpose. In
fact, the greatest physicians of the time said
there was no way of preventing pain. Dr. Morton
first used ether successfully as an anesthetic
in the extraction of a tooth on September 30,
1846. Sixteen days later, he administered ether
while Dr. Warren painlessly removed a neck tumor
from a young man. ■ Dr. Morton’s independent
demonstration of ether in surgery made its value
known to the medical world for the first time.
Reduced to poverty by his dedication to his
work, he tried to recoup his fortunes with a
patent on ether as an anesthetic, but a dozen
spurious claims bedeviled him the rest of his
life and made a patent virtually impossible. His
discovery brought him almost nothing but
poverty, persecution and heartache. He died in
New York City July 15, 1868, at age 48.
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Wayne Rethford, President Emeritus
Illinois Saint Andrew Society
Scottish-American History Club
2800 Des Plaines Avenue
North Riverside, IL 60546
©2014 |
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