Dr. Morton Associates His Name With His Invention, Anesthesia

Dentist who developed and was the first to demonstrate ether as an anesthetic, a discovery which made painless surgery a reality. This was undoubtedly one of the greatest advances in medical history, so critical to modern medicine that he may in some respects be placed on a par with Pasteur.

Autograph Quotation Signed directly associating his name with his discovery, 1 page 8vo, no date. “Wm. T. G. Morton, M.D./ Anaesthesia &c &c/ Boston.”

Morton learned of experiments with gas as an anesthetic on animals, and with associate Charles Jackson developed what they named letheon (later called ether). Morton used this substance for the first time on a human in October of 1846, during a dental procedure. A week later Dr. John C. Warren used it for the first time in a surgical operation, and it was instantaneously recognized as a breakthrough. The number of surgeries annually performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital (where Warren practiced) was only 333 in 1846, but skyrocketed to over 8000 in 1869.

Thus, Morton’s invention made the modern practice of surgery possible. Morton’s own story does not have a happy ending, however. He and Jackson received a patent for ether, but soon fell to bickering over royalties. Then a Crawford Long claimed to have used ether before them. Morton spent his last days in expensive legal turmoil and died in poverty aged just 49. Because of his early death and obscurity most of his life, his autographs are extremely rare, this being the only one we have ever seen. In writing the word Anaesthesia after his name, he has created the perfect association, and a virtual calling card.