William T. G.

Morton
Date City
Birth 9.8.1819 Massachusetts M
Death 15.7.1868 New York city N

James Morton (farmer) Rebecca (Needham)

(Father) (Mother)

WTG MORTON

C clerk

Worked as P printer at Boston

S salesman

Entered dental surgery

Baltimore College

Left graduation

Studied at HARTFORD with dentist HORRACE WELLS

Entered Havard Medical School

Left without graduation

Honorary degree from the Washington University of Medicine

in Baltimore, which later became the College of Physicians and
Surgeons.

Morton married Elizabet Whitman (Her parents objected to

Morton's profession and only agreed to the marriage after he
promised to study medicine.)
 September 30, 1846,
Morton Performed painless tooth extraction with ether

Henry Bigelow

Arranged for demonstration of ether

October 16, 1846

Ether Dome of the Massachusetts General Hospital.

surgeon Dr. Warren

patient Mr. Abbott

operation tumor from the

neck

Morton tried to hide the identity of the substance

Referred it to as LETHEON

patent was issued for "letheon"

The medical community at large condemned the patent as

unjust and illiberal

Morton's pursuit of credit for and profit from the

administration of ether was complicated

Complicated by the claims of Jackson and Wells as

discoverers of ether
 Morton applied to Congress for "national recompense" of
$100,000

Morton was Star defense witness in one of the most

notable trials of the nineteenth century, that of John White Webster
who had been accused of the murder of Dr. George Parkman.

Joined the Army of the Potomac as a volunteer surgeon,

and applied ether to more than two thousand wounded soldiers

Morton was in New York City in July 1868 when he went to

Central Park to seek relief from a heat wave, where he collapsed
and died soon after.

Morton's life and work were later to become the subject of

the 1944 Paramount Pictures film The Great Moment.

Morton was ranked #37 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most

influential figures in history.

Up
on his death in 1868, Morton's tombstone was engraved:
"Inventor and Revealer of Inhalation Anesthesia: Before Whom, in All Time,
Surgery was Agony; By Whom, Pain in Surgery was Averted and Annulled; Since
Whom, Science has Control of Pain."