Character Experience/William Thomas Green Morton
Morton was born in Charlton, Massachusetts in 1819. As a young man he attended the Baltimore College of Oral Surgery. He began working as a dentist in 1842. From 1842 to 1843, he collaborated with Horace Wells, a slightly older dentist. Wells himself was also deeply interested in anesthesia, but their cooperation seemed to be It was unprofitable for both parties and it was difficult to get along, so at the end of 1843, the two finally parted ways.
A year later, Wells began experimenting with nitrous oxide (laughing gas) as an anesthetic, which he put to effective use in his medical practice in Hartford, Connecticut. However, the weather was not favorable, and a public performance he gave in Boston failed.
Morton himself is a dental practitioner, specializing in dental implants. To do this properly, the old tooth root must first be extracted. Before anesthesia was available, tooth extraction would be extremely painful for the patient. It is urgent to seek some appropriate anesthesia method. Morton correctly concluded that nitrous oxide was not effective enough to achieve his purpose. He wanted to find another way to find a more effective anesthetic.
Charles T. Jackson, a learned physician and scientist who knew Morton, suggested that he try ether. Ether has narcotic properties and was discovered by the famous Swiss doctor and alchemist Balassers more than 300 years ago. There were one or two printed similar reports in the early 19th century. But neither Jackson nor anyone else who wrote about ether ever used the chemical in surgery.
In Morton's opinion, ether might be a promising anesthetic. He tested it first on animals (including his dog) and then on himself. On September 3, 1846, a golden opportunity finally arose to try ether on patients. A man named Eben Frost rushed into Morton's office. He had a severe toothache that had to be extracted, and he was willing to accept any treatment that could relieve the pain of extraction. Morton gave him ether and then pulled out his teeth. When Frost regained consciousness, he complained that he felt no pain. Panacea! magic! magic! Morton saw a path to success, honor, and luck unfolding before his eyes.
Although the operation was witnessed and reported in Boston newspapers the next day, it did not attract widespread attention. Clearly a more dramatic performance was needed. Therefore, Morton asked Dr. John C. Warren, the senior surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to work together to perform a practical demonstration of Morton's anesthesia method in front of all the doctors. Dr. Warren nodded his approval and arranged a demonstration in the hospital. Performance. On October 6, 1846, in full view of a large group of doctors and medical students at the hospital, Morton inhaled ether to a surgical patient, Gilbert Abbott, and then Dr. Warren opened the patient's neck to remove a tumor. The anesthetic proved effective, and the performance was an extraordinary success. The performance was immediately reported in newspapers and was a direct result of the widespread use of anesthetics over the next several hundred years.
A few days after Abbott's surgery, Morton and Jackson submitted a patent application. Although the patent rights were granted to them the next month, a series of competitions for priority could not be avoided. Morton demanded major credit for the introduction of anesthesia, but was opposed by several others, especially Jackson. Morton hoped that his invention would make him rich, but he failed to do so. Most doctors and hospitals who used ether paid no royalties at all. The cost of Morton's legal battle for priority soon exceeded the money he made from his invention. Disheartened and destitute, he died in New York City in 1868, when he was not yet forty-nine.
Anesthetics/William Thomas Green Morton
The use of anesthetics in dentistry and major surgery is self-evident. Therefore, in estimating Morton's total impact, the main difficulty is how to divide the credit cited for anesthesia between Morton and others involved. The major others to consider are: Horace Wells, Charles Jackson, and a Georgia physician, Crawford W. Long. Taking these facts into consideration, I feel that Morton's contribution is far more important than that of any other person, so I include him in the list of the 100 people who influenced the course of human history.
Horace Wells did begin using anesthesia in his own dental practice almost two years before Morton successfully used it. But the anesthetic Wells used was nitrous oxide, which did not and could not lead to fundamental changes in surgery. Although nitrous oxide has some desirable properties, it is not a powerful anesthetic for use alone in major surgeries (it is used effectively in combination with other drugs today and is used in some dental procedures). But ether is a chemical with amazing effects and diverse uses. Its use revolutionized surgery. Today, in rare cases, drugs or combinations of drugs can be found that are more ideal than ether, but ether was the most commonly used anesthetic for a century after its introduction. Despite its shortcomings (it is flammable and nausea is a common side effect), ether remains probably the most versatile and unique anesthetic ever invented. It is easy to transport and most importantly it combines safety and effectiveness.
Crawford W. Long (1815-1878) was a Georgia doctor who used ether in surgery in 1842, four years before Morton's performance. But Long did not publish his results until 1849, by which time Morton's performance had already made the surgical uses of ether well known to the medical community. As a result, Long's work benefited only a few people, while Morton's success blessed the entire world.
Charles Jackson suggested Morton use ether and gave him helpful advice on its use. But Jackson himself had never effectively used ether in a surgical procedure, and he had no intention of telling the medical community about his knowledge of ether before Morton's successful performance. It was Morton, not Jackson, who risked his reputation by making a public performance. It seems highly unlikely that Charles T. Jackson would claim any responsibility for the performance if the patient, Gilbert, lay stretched out on the operating table.
Looking through the entire history, there are very few inventions that are as praised as anesthetics. Introduction to William Thomas Green Morton, and there are only a handful of people who have had such a profound impact on human health. In the past years, surgeons sawed off the patient's bones, and the patient was left in unbearable pain, heartbroken, and silent in bed. The Department of Surgery is as eerie as a devil's palace. This situation makes me feel horrified and shuddering when I think about it. To hell with this pain, it is surely the noblest gift any man can give to his companions.
Character Evaluation/William Thomas Greene Morton
In the "List of 100 People Who Influenced the Course of Human History" written by Mike Hart, Morton was ranked in the 37th position. The comparison between Morton and Joseph Lister is extremely apt. Both were medical scientists; both were famous for introducing new technologies that revolutionized surgery and childbirth; both had inventions that, with the benefit of hindsight, were easy to make; both were easy to make. Neither was the first to use this technology; both made this technology public and popularized through their own efforts; both must share the honor of their invention with others. The main reason why I rank Morton slightly ahead of Lister is that I think the introduction of anesthesia is a more important development in the long run than the introduction of surgical embalming. Modern antibiotics can, after all, compensate to some extent for the shortage of surgical antiseptic measures. However, without anesthesia, delicate or long-term surgeries cannot be performed. Even simple surgeries are often avoided, frustrating the patient, and leaving the patient with an empty knife and a sigh of relief.
Character Achievements/William Thomas Greene Morton
Morton’s public demonstration of practical methods of anesthesia on that morning in October 1846 was one of the greatest in human history. One of the watersheds. The inscription on Morton's monument sums up his achievements more aptly:
William T. G. Morton
Ended all surgical suffering,
Anesthesia helps to restore health to Jun Xunshu.
In the past, surgeries tore up the heart,
You have the scientific solution to cure the disease.