William Thomas Green Morton (August 9, 1819 - July 15, 1868) was responsible for the first successful public demonstration of ether as an inhalationanesthetic. Many consider him to be the "inventor and revealer" of anesthesia. However, he was not the first person to use ether for surgical anesthesia, Crawford Williamson Long was. Morton's accomplishment was the key factor to the medical and scientific pursuit that we now refer to as anesthesiology.
William Morton was originally a dentist. He studied under Horace Wells in Hartford, Connecticut. The two later became a partners. Morton decided to leave the dentistry profession to study medicine at Harvard.
On September 30th, 1846, Morton performed a painless tooth extraction after administering ether to a patient. This procedure lead to an arrangement of a now famous demonstration on October 16th, 1846, at the Massachusetts General Hospital. At this demonstration Dr. J. C. Warren painlessly removed a tumor from the neck of a Mr. Abbott. Following the demonstration Morton tried to hide the identity of the substance Abbott had inhaled (ether). He referred to it as "Letheon." He had intentions to patent the substance and profit from its use. However, the “letheon” was quickly shown to be ether, and it was soon after being used in both the U.S. and Europe. Morton was never successful in patenting ether.
Morton was promoted second lieutenant of his company on November 28, 1864, and, for a period after the Battle of Franklin, when the companies were diminished in numbers and the officers few, commanded Companies E and F together.
WilliamMorton, who was the sixth child of his parents' family, spent his boyhood and youth upon the old homestead in Pennsylvania, receiving a common-school education and being trained to habits of industry and those principles which form the basis of an upright and honest character.
Morton was one of the first to respond to the call for troops to aid in the preservation of the Union, and enlisted in the spring of 1861, in Co. E, 51st Ill. Vol.
WilliamMorton was born on Aug. 9, 1819, in Charlton, Mass.
Morton was jealous of his discovery, however, and refused to divulge the formula for his sleep inducer, which he called "letheon." He was issued a patent for letheon in 1846 and insisted on personally issuing licenses for the use of his discovery.
Morton's accomplishment was the key factor to the medical and scientific pursuit that we now refer to as anesthesiology.
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