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The Discovery of Ether AnesthesiaJumping on the 19th-Century Bandwagon
James F. Crenshaw, MD;
Elizabeth A. M. Frost, MD
Arch Fam Med. 1993;2(5):481-484.
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IN THE 33rd Congress of the United States, in 1854, a bill was introduced in the Senate, No. 210, entitled, "Act to Recompense the Discoverer of Practical Anaesthesia." The sum of $100 000 was decided on to honor the designee.1
However, identification of the individual to whom this title should be awarded sparked a bitter debate that lasted throughout much of the latter part of the 19th century.1-3 The original contenders for the award were Horace Wells, the Hartford, Conn, dentist who used nitrous oxide in 1844 successfully for the extraction of teeth; Charles Jackson, the analytical chemist who suggested the use of ether to the third contender; and William Morton, who, with much publicity, anesthetized patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, in 1846. The issues became more complicated when added evidence from Senator W. C. Dawson of Georgia suggested that ether was probably first used for
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
New York Medical College Valhalla, NY
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