Anesthesia Operations at Massachusetts General Hospital

United States Congress
Select Committee to Whom Was Referred the Memorial of Dr. William T. G. Morton
William T. G. Morton : Sulphuric Ether, February 23, 1849
[Washington, 1849]
Deposited by the Boston Public Library in the Boston Medical Library, 1904

As part of this minority congressional report on the ether discovery, Henry Jacob Bigelow submitted a statistical analysis of all surgical operations performed at Massachusetts General Hospital using either ether or chloroform for anesthesia up to April 1, 1848—some 154 cases in all. Comparative statistics from the clinic of Jefferson Medical College and the New York Hospital indicate only 18 and 19 cases respectively were treated during that same period.