Discovery by the late Dr. Horace Wells of the applicability of nitrous oxyd gas, sulphuric ether and other vapors in surgical operations : nearly two years before the patented discovery of Drs. Charles T. Jackson and W.T.G. Morton.

  • Wales, J.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Discovery by the late Dr. Horace Wells of the applicability of nitrous oxyd gas, sulphuric ether and other vapors in surgical operations : nearly two years before the patented discovery of Drs. Charles T. Jackson and W.T.G. Morton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    now says, that the paralysis of the nerves of sensation was so great during the continuance of the insensibility, that surgical operations might be performed upon a patient under its influence, without giving him any pain, yet we admit nothing in the least degree at war with the prop- osition we have advanced. His belief was mere conjecture, or theory, not known to be founded in truth, because not subjected to the infallible test of experiment. He himself regarded it in that light as late as the 26th of October, 1846, when he declared, under his own hand, that he had made the discovery in conjunction with Wil- liam T. G. Morton, and in the specifications of their joint patent made oath, that to the best of his knowledge and belief, it had not been pre- viously known. It is in the same light we view the remark of Sir Humphrey Davy, that as nitrous oxyd, in its extensive operation, appears capable of destroying physical pain, it may prob- ably be used with advantage during surgical op- erations, in which no great effusion of blood takes place. Neither of these conjectures approach- es the certainty of discovery, or partakes of its character, so that in the absence of every other pre- tension, it may be said with undoubted truth, that until the latter part of the year 1844, the prac-