Responses to the Interrogatories of R. H. Dana

Dublin Core

Title

Responses to the Interrogatories of R. H. Dana

Subject

Ether
Anesthesia
Townsend, Solomon David, 1793-1869.

Description

At the request of William T. G. Morton, “to be preserved in perpetual remembrance of the thing,” sixteen physicians--John Collins Warren and Henry Jacob Bigelow among them--with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the ether discovery and its first surgical uses submitted depositions to the Suffolk County Justices of the Peace in 1852 and 1853.

In the deposition displayed here, S. D. Townsend, who was present at the initial demonstration on October 16, describes the first capital operation--a leg amputation--performed on November 24 and discusses the substitution of a sponge for the inhaler.

Creator

Townsend, Solomon David, 1793-1869.

Date Created

1853-02-14

Has Format

United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee, to which was referred the various memorials in regard to the discovery of the means by which the human body is rendered uniformly and safely insensible to pain under surgical operations. Statements, supported by evidence, of Wm. T.G. Morton, M.D. on his claim to the discovery of the anaesthetic properties of ether ... Presented by Mr. Davis of Massachusetts, and referred to the Select Committee to whom had been referred the petition of sundry physicians of Boston and vicinity, in support of the claim of W.T.G. Morton, M.D., for the discovery of etherization. Washington, 1853, pages 355-376.

Format

text

Extent

2 handwritten pages.

Language

English.

Type

text

Identifier

Acc. 2880

Provenance

Gift of Dr. David W. Cheever to the Boston Medical Library, 1902.

Files

0004592_dref.jpg
0004593_dref.jpg

Citation

Townsend, Solomon David, 1793-1869., “Responses to the Interrogatories of R. H. Dana,” OnView, accessed March 29, 2024, https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/items/show/18068.