William T. G. Morton, American dentist and one of the founders of modern anesthesiology.
William Thomas Greene Morton - Biography Morton was born on August 8, 1819 in Charlton, Massachusetts, USA. As a young man he studied at the Baltimore School of Dentistry. Started working as a dentist in 1842. For a period of time from 1842 to 1843, he collaborated with Horace Wells, a slightly older dentist who was also deeply interested in anesthesia. However, in late 1843, the two finally parted ways.
In 1844, Wales tried using nitrous oxide (laughing gas) as an anesthetic. His operation in Hartford, Connecticut, was successful, but a public performance he performed in Boston failed. .
Charles T. Jackson, a physician and scientist whom Morton knew, suggested that Morton try ether. Ether was discovered to have anesthetic properties more than 300 years ago. However, before Morton, ether had never been used in formal surgery.
According to Morton, ether may be an effective anesthetic. He first tested it on animals (including his pets) and himself. On September 3, 1846, Eben Frost rushed into Morton's operating room and asked for a tooth extraction, expressing his willingness to accept any treatment that could relieve the pain of tooth extraction. Morton performed the surgery after inhaling ether, and when Frost regained consciousness, he claimed he felt no pain. Morton saw hope of success.
Boston newspapers reported on the surgery, but it still did not attract widespread attention. Morton requested the cooperation of Dr. John C. Wallen, a senior surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and performed a demonstration of Morton's anesthesia method in front of a group of doctors. Dr. Wallen agreed. On the morning of October 6, 1846, Morton inhaled ether to a surgical patient, Gilbert Abbott, in front of a large crowd of doctors and students at the hospital. Dr. Warren then removed the patient's neck tumor. The anesthetic proved effective, and the performance was immediately reported in several newspapers.
A few days after Abbott's surgery, Morton and Jackson filed for a patent. However, Morton soon fell into a long-term patent dispute, which ultimately cost him a lot of money in court. He failed to obtain the expected benefits from his invention.
In the fall of 1862 he joined the Army of the Potomac as a volunteer. He used his anesthesia skills on more than two thousand soldiers at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Wildness.
He fell while enjoying the cool air in New York's Central Park on July 15, 1868, and died soon after. He is buried in Brown Hill Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Morton's tombstone reads: "William T. G. Morton William Thomas Green Morton, the revealer of anesthetic inhalation, for his William Thomas Green ·Introduced by Morton, pain in surgery was prevented and eliminated. Before him, surgery was usually an extremely painful thing. After him, pain was scientifically controlled."
William Thomas Green· Morton - Character Evaluation
Morton and Horace Wales are usually regarded as the founders of modern anesthesiology. Although Hua Tuo of China also used anesthesia before, Hua Tuo’s method was not Before widespread use, anesthesia was never used extensively in surgery. Without anesthesia, delicate and lengthy surgical procedures would be impossible.
In the "List of 100 People Who Influenced the Course of Human History" written by Mike H. Hart, Morton was ranked 37th.