William T. G. Morton

Infobox Scientist
name = William Thomas Green Morton
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birth_date = August 9, 1819
birth_place = Charlton, Massachusetts
death_date = July 15, 1868
death_place = New York City
spouse = Elizabeth Whitman
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nationality = United States
ethnicity =
field = Dentistry
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alma_mater = Washington University
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known_for = ether for a surgical operation
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William Thomas Green Morton (August 9, 1819 - July 15, 1868) was an American dentist and physician. He was born in Charlton, Massachusetts. He received his (honorary) M.D. at Washington University in Baltimore in 1852. He administered ether for a surgical operation at Massachusetts General Hospital on October 16, 1846.

This first successful public demonstration by Morton of ether as an inhalation anesthetic was an historic and widely publicized event. Many consider him to be the "inventor and revealer" of anesthesia. However, he was not the first person to use ether for surgical anesthesia. Dr. Crawford Williamson Long first used ether as an anesthetic during surgery on March 30, 1842, and although he demonstrated its use to physicians in Georgia on numerous occasions, he did not publish his findings until 1868, in The Southern Medical and Surgical Journal. Morton and Long's accomplishments were key factors in the medical and scientific pursuit now referred to as anesthesiology and allowed the development of modern surgery. Spread of the news of this "new" anesthetic was helped by the subsequent feud that developed between Morton and two other scientists that claimed to have made the discovery, Dr. Horace Wells and Dr. Charles T. Jackson. In contradistinction to Drs. Morton, Wells, and Jackson, Dr. Crawford Long never sought royalties or a patent from the discovery.

Biography

Born in Charlton, Massachusetts, William Morton was originally a dentist. His parents were James Morton, a farmer, and Rebecca (Needham) Morton. He studied under Horace Wells in Hartford, Connecticut. The two later became partners. Morton claimed to have graduated from Baltimore Dental College in 1842 (although research indicated that he had never attended dental or medical school). In 1843 he married Elizabeth Whitman of Farmington, Connecticut, the niece of former Congressman Lemuel Whitman. Her parents objected to his profession and only agreed to the marriage after he promised to study medicine, so in the autumn of 1844, Morton received tutoring from Dr. Charles T. Jackson at Harvard Medical School. He was eventually awarded an honorary medical degree in 1852 by Washington University in Baltimore.On September 30, 1846, Morton performed a painless tooth extraction after administering ether to a patient. This procedure led to an arrangement of a now-famous demonstration on October 16, 1846, at the Massachusetts General Hospital. At this demonstration Dr. John Collins Warren painlessly removed a tumor from the neck of a Mr. Edward Gilbert 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 United States and Europe. Morton received a patent for ether in the US, which was later revoked, and never received any royalties. He spent his declining years in an attempt to persuade Congress to provide him compensation for his discovery, but this never arrived. His pursuit of profit from ether administration was complicated by the fact that his former mentor Dr. Charles T Jackson had subsequently demonstrated the use of ether in Paris and claimed the discovery as his own without credit or mention of Morton (or C. W. Long).

In the autumn of 1862 he joined the Army of the Potomac as a volunteer surgeon, and applied ether to more than two thousand wounded soldiers during the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness.

Morton was in New York City in July 1868 when he went to Central Park to seek relief from a heat wave, but he collapsed there and died soon after. He is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Legacy

The fy|1944 Paramount Pictures film "The Great Moment", written and directed by Preston Sturges, is based on the life of W. T. G. Morton. Morton was ranked #37 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.

References

*Citation
id = PMID:15916010
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15916010
last=Pavlovskiĭ
first=L N
publication-date=
year=2005
title=Dentist William Morton is a founder of general anesthesia
volume=
issue=1-2
periodical=Lik. Sprava
pages=111-5
*Citation
id = PMID:12641171
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12641171
last=Heynick
first=Frank
publication-date=2003 Mar
year=2003
title=William T.G. Morton and "The Great Moment".
volume=51
issue=1
periodical=Journal of the history of dentistry
pages=27-35
*Citation
id = PMID:9540719
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9540719
last=Deranian
first=H M
publication-date=1997
year=1997
title=The great Morton-Jackson debate.
volume=46
issue=2
periodical=Journal of the Massachusetts Dental Society
pages=24-5
*Citation
id = PMID:8984612
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8984612
last=Morton
first=W T
publication-date=1996 Nov 23
year=1996
title= [SMW 100 years ago. William Thomas Green Morton and the discovery of anesthesia]
volume=126
issue=47
periodical=Schweizerische medizinische Wochenschrift
pages=2040-2
*Citation
id = PMID:8909661
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8909661
last=Westhorpe
first=R
publication-date=1996 Oct
year=1996
title=William Morton and the first successful demonstration of anaesthesia.
volume=24
issue=5
periodical=Anaesthesia and intensive care
pages=529
*Citation
id = PMID:8872680
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8872680
last=Vandam
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publication-date=1996 Sep
year=1996
title=The last days of William Thomas Green Morton.
volume=8
issue=6
periodical=Journal of clinical anesthesia
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*Citation
id = PMID:8151115
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8151115
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publication-date=1994 Jan
year=1994
title=Benjamin Perley Poore and his historical materials for a biography of W.T.G. Morton, M.D.
volume=49
issue=1
periodical=Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences
pages=5-23
*Citation
id = PMID:3540476
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3540476
last=Shampo
first=M A
last2=Kyle
first2=R A
publication-date=1987 Jan
year=1987
title=Morton: pioneer in the use of ether.
volume=62
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periodical=Mayo Clin. Proc.
pages=56
*Citation
id = PMID:3890908
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3890908
last=Leonard
first=A G
publication-date=1985 May 11
year=1985
title=Stamp recognition for William Morton.
volume=158
issue=9
periodical=British dental journal
pages=345
*Citation
id = PMID:3888002
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3888002
last=Ash
first=H L
publication-date=
year=
title=Anesthesia's dental heritage (William Thomas Green Morton).
volume=32
issue=1
periodical=Anesthesia progress
pages=25-9
*Citation
id = PMID:367405
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/367405
publication-date=1979 Feb 20
year=1979
title=Wimmiam McLintock Morton, T.D., L.D.S.
volume=146
issue=4
periodical=British dental journal
pages=128
*Citation
id = PMID:795512
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/795512
last=Rozar
first=L B
publication-date=1975 Jul
year=1975
title=Dr. William T.G. Morton D.D.S., discoverer of surgical anesthesia.
volume=39
issue=1
periodical=CAL [magazine] Certified Akers Laboratories
pages=6-8
*Citation
id = PMID:4572338
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4572338
last=Keys
first=T E
publication-date=1973 Mar
year=1973
title=William Thomas Green Morton (1819-1868).
volume=52
issue=2
periodical=Anesth. Analg.
pages=166
*Citation
id = PMID:5283677
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5283677
publication-date=1971 Apr
year=1971
title= [Two tormented lives. Horace Wells and William Morton]
volume=15
issue=117
periodical=Boletin de información - Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Odontólogos y Estomatólogos 2. a Región (Cataluña)
pages=17-21 passim
*Citation
id = PMID:5277344
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5277344
last=Asbell
first=M B
publication-date=1970 Oct
year=1970
title=William Thomas Green Morton.
volume=35
issue=2
periodical=Worcester medical news
pages=15-8
*Citation
id = PMID:5263393
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5263393
last=Andreae
first=H
publication-date=1969 Dec 1
year=1969
title= [The discoverer of ether anesthesia, dentist Morton, born 150 years ago]
volume=20
issue=23
periodical=Zahnärztliche Praxis
pages=276
*Citation
id = PMID:5319582
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5319582
publication-date=1965 Oct 11
year=1965
title=William T.G. Morton (1819-1868), demonstrator of ether anesthesia.
volume=194
issue=2
periodical=JAMA
pages=190-1
*Citation
id = PMID:14192801
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14192801
last=ALPER
first=M H
publication-date=
year=
title=THE ETHER CONTROVERSY REVISITED (MORTON WT), (JACKSON CT).
volume=25
issue=
periodical=Anesthesiology
pages=560-3
*Citation
id = PMID:13389978
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13389978
publication-date=1956 Oct
year=1956
title= [WILLIAM THOMAS GREEN MORTON.]
volume=3
issue=4
periodical=Revista española de anestesiología
pages=380-3

* Fenster, J.M. (2001). Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
* Louis Figuier " [http://books.google.com/books?id=4M8EAAAAYAAJ Exposition et histoire des principales découvertes scientifiques modernes] " p. 212 (Paris: Masson, 1851) (in French) contains an account of the discovery of anaesthesia with ether by Morton and Jackson and of its reception in Europe.