I may patent this particular use of it, in this class of cases, and require my brethren to pay me a stipulated sum, or a certain per cent. of the fees they may receive, for the right to use it in such cases. Should I discover that tinct. cayenne pepper and tinct. opii, combined in certain proportions, will cure the cholera, I may claim the sole right to use them in cholera, however many persons may be dying around me for the want of them. If some Yankee were now in Bagdad, with a few gallons of these tinctures, with their use secured to him by a patent, would not he coin money? The use of a known remedy to produce a particular effect in any given branch of professional practice, or in the treatment of a given class of cases, is the principle involved. This, so far as I can discover, from a careful examination of the specification, is the exact principle implied in it. As to the rectitude of this principle, professionally, socially or morally, I say nothing. Each one can judge for himself. I believe the illustrations I have used above are correct and appropriate that is, if surgery and the practice of medicine are parts of one and the same profession. If surgery is a mere mechanical operation, and is to take its place in the same category as other operations in mechanics, then the case is altered. Success in the mechanic arts depends, not only upon the skill with which their processes are accomplished, but often upon the processes themselves, and when a man invents a process by which the same result can be accomplished better than before, he is permitted, by common consent, to enjoy the benefit of his invention for a limited time. If surgery puts in the same claim for its inventions, let it be divorced from the liberal professions-from the "humanities,"-and hang out before its office doors, as in the days of Ben Johnson, a staff wound with a red tape, as a sign that "surgery is done here." We all know the origin of the barber's pole; and, Mr. Editor, there is a more close connection between surgery and barbery, than one would at first imagine. Many of the operations of surgery are barbarous, and the operations of barbery are often surgical. Indeed many a poor wight would consider it no small alleviation of one of the miseries of human life, could he inhale the letheon before submitting to the most common operations of barbery. Mem. Barbers may use the letheon without infringing upon the patent. With the above remarks, which have extended much farther than I intended, I send you a copy of the specification, which has recently come into my hands, thinking that it will gratify the curiosity of many of your brethren. Yours, March, 1847. S. "The United States Patent Office.-To all persons to whom these presents shall come, greeting: This is to certify, that the annexed is a true copy upon the records of this office, of the specification of Jackson and Morton's Letters Patent, dated 12th Nov., 1846. "In testimony whereof, I Edmund Burke, Commissioner of Patents, have caused the seal of the Patent Office to be hereunto affixed, this twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and of the Independence of the United the same. To all persons to whom these presents shall come: Be it known, that we, Charles T. Jackson and William T. G. Morton, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented or discovered a new and useful improvement in surgical operations on animals, whereby we are enabled to accomplish many, if not all operations, such as are usually attended with more or less pain and suffering, without any or very little pain to, or muscular action of persons who undergo the same; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of our said invention or discovery. It is well known to chemists that when alcohol is submitted to distillation with certain acids, peculiar compounds, termed ethers, are formed, each of which is usually distinguished by the name of the acid employed in its preparation. It has also been known that the vapors of some, if not all these chemical distillations, particularly those of sulphuric ether, when breathed or introduced into the lungs of an animal, have produced a peculiar effect on its nervous system; one which has been supposed to be analogous to what is usually termed intoxication. It has never (to our knowledge) been known until our discovery, that the inhalation of such vapors (particularly those of sulphuric ether) would produce insensibility to pain, or such a state of quiet of nervous action as to render a person or animal incapable to a great extent, if not entirely, of experiencing pain while under the action of the knife, or other instrument of operation of a surgeon, calculated to produce pain. This is our discovery, and the combining it with or applying it to any operation of surgery, for the purpose of alleviating animal suffering, as well as of enabling a sur. geon to conduct his operations with little or no struggling or muscular action of the patient, and with more certainty of success, constitutes our invention. The nervous quiet and insensibility to pain produced on a person is generally of short duration; the degree or extent of it, or time which it lasts, depends on the amount of ethereal vapor received into the system, and the constitutional character of the person to whom it is administered. Practice will soon acquaint an experienced surgeon with the amount of etheric vapor to be administered to persons, for the accomplishment of the surgical operation or operations required in their respective cases. For the extraction of a tooth the individual may be thrown into the insensible state, generally speaking, only a few minutes. For the removal of a tumour, or the performance of the amputation of a limb, it is necessary to regulate the amount of vapor inhaled, to the time required to complete the operation. Various modes may be adopted for conveying the etheric vapor into the lungs. A very simple one is to saturate a piece of cloth or sponge with sulphuric ether, and place it to the nostrils or mouth so that the person may inhale the vapors. A more effective one is to take a glass or other proper vessel like a common bottle or flask. Place in it a sponge saturated with sulphuric ether. Let there be a hole made through the side of the vessel, for the admission of atmospheric air (which (hole) may or may not be provided with a valve opening downwards, or so as to allow air to pass into the vessel,) a valve on the outside of the neck opening upwards, and another valve in the neck and between that last mentioned and the body of the vessel or flask, which latter valve in the neck should open towards the mouth of the neck or bottle. The extremity of the neck is to be placed in the mouth of the patient, and his nostrils stopped or closed in such a manner as to cause him to inhale air through the bottle, and to exhale it through the neck and out of the valve on the outside of the neck. The air thus breathed, by passing in contact with the sponge will be charged with the etheric vapers, which will be conveyed by it into the lungs of the patient. This will soon produce the state of insensibility or nervous quiet required. In order to render the ether agreeable to various persons, we often combine it with one or more essential oils, having pleasant perfumes. This may be effected by mixing the ether and essential oil, and washing the mixture in water. The impurities will subside, and the ether, impregnated with the perfume, will rise to the top of the water. We sometimes combine a narcotic preparation, such as opium or morphine, with the ether. This may be done by any ways known to chemists, by which a combination of etheric and narcotic vapors may be produced. After a person has been put into the state of insensibility, as above described, a surgical operation may be performed upon him, without, so far as repeated experiments have proved, giving to him any apparent or real pain, or so little in comparison to that produced by the usual process of conducting surgical operations, as to be scarcely noticeable. There is very nearly if not entire absence of all pain. Immediately or soon after the operation is completed, a restoration of the patient to his usual feelings takes place, without, generally speaking, his having been sensible of the performance of the operation. From the experiments we have made we are led to prefer the vapors of sulphuric ether to those of muriatic or other kinds of ether, but any such may be employed which will properly produce the state of insensibility without any injurious consequences to the patient. We are fully aware that narcotics have been administered to patients undergoing surgical operations, and, as we believe, always by introducing them into the stomach. This we consider in no respect to embody our invention, as we operate through the lungs and air passages, and the effects produced upon the patient are entirely or so far different as to render the one of very little, while the other is of immense, utility. The consequences of the change are very considerable, as an immense amount of human or animal suffering can be prevented by the application of our discovery. What we claim as our invention is the herein before described means by which we are enabled to effect the above highly important improvement in surgical operations, viz., by combining therewith the application of ether or the vapor thereof substantially as above specified. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set out signatures this twenth-seventh day of October, A. D. 1846 CHARLES T. JACKSON, Witnesses, WM. T. G. MORTON. R. H. Eddy, W. H. Leighton. [Bost. Med. and Su r.Journ. On the employment of Ether in Surgical Operations. By the Editor of the London Medical Gazette. The burst of enthusiasm which has ushered in the use of ether as a means of rendering persons unconscious of pain, while under surgical operations, having had time to extend itself through the length and breadth of our land, it becomes us, as journalists, to consider calmly whether our present experience of the influence of this new agent is really confirmatory of, or in opposition to, the glowing paragraphs almost daily found in our newspapers-whether, in fact, the introduction of this medicine, for the purpose alluded to, has been productive of the unmixed good that the public have been led to believe, and whether, in estimating its value, medical men have followed that discreet, philosophical, and respectable course which might have been expected from the members of a liberal profession. It is a well known fact, that intoxication, whether produced by ordinary potations, by opium, by Indian hemp, or indeed by many other substances, does, when it is carried far enough, produce in the system a state marked by a more or less complete unconsciousness of pain; and this, with respect to opium and hemp, whether taken into the stomach, or when introduced into the lungs by smoking. The same, or a similar condition, is induced by the use of ether. It is true we have not been accustomed to introduce ether into the stomach for the purpose of inducing intoxication, previous to the performance of surgical operations; but we are by no means convinced that its effects would not be equally remarkable were it so applied, or that the plan might not be accompanied with less risk, than when it is introduced into the system through the agency of the lungs. While the stomach is modified for the reception of various substances, the lungs are organised for the introduction of atmospheric air, and it is constantly observed that the air-passages become impatient under the presence of the ether vapour, as well as under many other gaseous fluids. Under ether intoxication the most severe surgical operations may often be performed and the patient, when the influence is dissipated, will assure those around him that he has experienced no pain, and that he has been probably under the influence of a pleasant dream. It is, however, certain that under the knife, patients thus intoxicated will struggle, or even scream, violently; and yet, when all is passed, they will tell you that they have been totally unconscious of the pro ceeding which has given rise to it. It is also the fact, that many signs of exhaustion may be apparent afterwards, and they may be quite as decided as those which are observed after ordinary operations, and indeed much more than might be expected to occur after unimportant operations. How these circumstances are to be explained it is not easy to determine; some persons suggest that it is owing to a strong preoccupation induced in the brain by the intoxication,others maintain that the power of perception is for the time extinguished, as you stupify the brain and make it insensible to pain by an overwhelming dose of opium; and by them the convulsive movements are referred to a reflex action. Whether any of these explanations be correct is doubtful. The fact, however, still remains certain indications of pain are apparent, although the patient, when the influence has ceased, is not aware of anything which could have given rise to them; and certainly there is often as much appearance of exhaustion as might be expected from the apparent amount of suffering. These facts being admitted, it may next be asked-Can we determine in advance what dose of the vapour the patient may require to produce the wished-for effect, as we can determine what dose may be required by certain remedies to produce a given effect?-(as we know, in fact, that in nineteen cases out of twenty a scruple of jalap will purge a scruple of ipecacuanha will vomit.) Certainly not; for if we take two similar kinds of apparatus, with a like quantity of similar ether in each, of the same temperature, and let it be inhaled by two patients with the same rapidity,-in one the desired effects may be obtained within five minutes; in the other it may be not for a quarter of an hour; and there is no certain sign by which we can be assured that the patient has had enough. The state of the pupil and the state of the pulse are extremely variable, and therefore not to be relied on; probably the best test is the change in the breathing. Then it also happens with ether, as with opium, or, indeed, any species of intoxicating substance, that the form which the intoxication may assume cannot with any certainty be predicated. One man, under opium smoking, will become stupidly insensible-almost comatose; another will become furious and "run a muck," as is often observed in the East. Under ether, probably one case in twenty will be accompanied by this sort of excitement. Then, as to the operation itself, it is not always desirable that the patient should be unconscious: it is sometimes well to know how much suffering is experienced-whether nervous cords are unnecessarily interfered with, and so on. No surgeon, while opening a her nial sac, or making a section of the prostate, could regard without apprehension the chance of some convulsive movement. When a patient's senses are entire, these things do not often happen; but during intoxication he may bring his jaws together while a cutting instrument is in his mouth. Supposing it to be admitted, however, that the administration of ether under ordinary circumstances is a certain means of rendering |